Carole Korakas

Although it has great potential, a diamond in the rough looks like an ordinary rock.

A diamond only takes on beauty - and worth - when cut by an experienced jeweler. The jeweler must skillfully removed the rough edges. If a diamond is simply cut flat, with no facets – it is neither transparent nor reflective of light. It seems to absorb the light. When a diamond is cut with many facts, it beautifully reflects light. It is impossible for any one facet to reflect the light alone or more beautifully than the others.

This is a picture of the body of Christ. We, as the body, have great potential for ministering to a lost, hurting, and dying world. However, without the intervention of Christ and our being yielded to Him, we appear no different than a social/civic club. Each individual in the body represents a facet in the diamond. When we allow Christ to remove our rough edges (sin, pride, insecurities, immaturity, etc.) and fashion us (mature and purify us), we have great potential for kingdom purposes. However, it is only when we function with other members of the body that we have great worth and beauty - like a multi-faceted diamond. No one member is any more significant than the others. It takes all members working in unison to be effective in being the church that God has called us to be.

Jesus said, “I am the light of the world” (John 9:5). When one member attempts to out-shine the others, His Light is neither seen through them nor reflected from their ministry; it is as if they absorb His glory. Just as a diamond with many facets reflects light, so do we as a body working in unison reflect The One True Light to a world that desperately needs Him. When each member exercises their unique gifts to fulfill what God has called them to do in unity with other believers, then He is glorified as His Light is reflected.

“By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35). We demonstrate that love by embracing and respecting one another’s unique gifts and callings. Then will the world know that we are truly His disciples.

Carole Korakas

Remember playing dress-up when you were a little girl? Remember pretending that you were a princess? You’d pretend that you had on royal attire – dress, shoes, jewelry, hat, gloves, purse, and jewelry. The formal wear indicated a special occasion was at hand. The accessories were the finishing touch that indicated you had it all together. And the jewelry was a display of wealth.

When you put on these things, you were transformed – not only your outward appearance, but your whole demeanor. With the donning of such finery, you became refined. You would maintain a poised countenance and walk with grace. You had an optimistic outlook on the life you perceived would be perfect. Multitudes loved and respected you. You had such hope for the things you’d accomplish.

God’s hope for you is much greater than anything you could imagine. His love is so great for you that He gave you the precious gift of His only Son, Jesus Christ (John 3:16). Through Him, you become a child of God. You no longer have to pretend that you are a princess. You are royalty. You are a radiant daughter of the King of the Universe.

The robes of righteousness with which God clothes you have a splendor far superior to the royal attire you donned as a child. These robes transform us from the inside out. They replace shame, guilt, rejection, depression, addiction, inferiority, hopelessness, poverty, and sickness with forgiveness, acceptance, joy, purpose, hope, resourcefulness, success, health, intimacy, and fulfillment. He alone is able to give you exceedingly, abundantly above all that you can ever ask, hope, or imagine (Ephesians 3:20). He alone desires to meet your every need ... to fulfill the desires of your heart (Psalm 37:4). For He came that you might have life ... and have it more abundantly (John 10:10).

You were created by Him for this specific time (Esther 4:14) because He has a plan and purpose for your life. Because His plans for you are good, you have hope for the future (Jeremiah 29:11).

You have a royal edict to arise and shine (Isaiah 60:1). He tells you in 1 Peter 2:9 that “you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” Although you may not have an earthly kingdom over which to rule, He has placed others within your scope of influence. You have family, friends, and acquaintances which He desires to touch through you. You have everything to give them; for you have Him . And He, the King of the Universe – who has unlimited love, mercy, grace, wealth and resources, makes everything He has available to you.

Your King has a crown jewel available for you that will make any earthly jewel pale in comparison. This precious jewel is His Holy Spirit (John 3:34). He will enable you to fulfill the purposes God has for you. He tells you in His Word that faith without deeds is dead (James 2:26). Demonstrate your faith in Him by doing the good deeds necessary to fulfill the destiny that He has for you. Then will others be blessed through you.

Remember ... you are royalty .

While the scriptures are inspired by the Holy Spirit and must be spiritually discerned, we will gain greater understanding of some passages when we read them with cultural sensitivity. Just consider the following verse.

“Whoever believes in me, as the Scriptures has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” By this he meant the Sprit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive (John 7:38-39).

John 7:38 tells us that out of our belly living waters shall flow. During the time and culture that the Scriptures were written, the belly was considered to be the center of emotions. In our culture, we consider the heart to be our center of emotions. Just consider the symbolism we use in everyday language: tender-hearted, cold-hearted, that touched my heart, heart-ache, that ministered to my heart, and spoke to my heart. All of these make perfectly good sense to us, because we are accustomed to this (culturally sensitive) language. However, to a foreigner whose culture did not use the heart as the center of emotions, they’d think we were a bit strange. Imagine ... an organ that was sensitive to temperature, touch, and sound.

We are created in the image of God. Even our emotions. Even Jesus was tempted in every way, but was without sin. He must have been tempted to be angry, depressed, bitter, jealous, envious, hopeless, etc....

These emotions aren’t bad. We just can’t be ruled by them. God gave them to us so that we could experience things just as fully as He does. As such, we are to respond just as “fully” as He would. I believe these emotions are given to spur us on to Godly action, not keep us bound in godless inactivity.

Our emotions are perhaps one of the hardest things to gain control over. When these emotions are in check because they have been dealt with, not by our own willpower, but by the activity of the Holy Spirit, then can “living waters flow.”

Jer 17:13 refers to God as a “spring of living water.” Water is necessary for growth and health. It nourishes, sustains, and gives life. God is our source of Living Water. And the Living Water that He pours through us is His Holy Spirit.

His Holy Spirit in us nourishes, sustains, and produces fruit. Galatians 5:22 tells us that “the fruit of the Sprit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” The fruit of His Holy Spirit isn’t something that just happens. It is the result of His activity in our lives, especially in our emotions. We choose to let Him deal with these areas in our lives. We can’t just choose to be gentle, but allow Him to deal with whatever would interfere with our being gentle. Then can He demonstrate gentleness through us.

Fruit, whether it be oranges, apples, grapes, figs, or watermelons, consist primarily of water. Without water, the fruit would be little more than a bit of pulpy fiber and a few seeds that are probably too shriveled to reproduce.

So it is in our lives. Without Holy Spirit, we produce little more than good deeds. There is no real fruit – and certainly no fruit that remains. Also, the fruit has no “seeds” that reproduce themselves and lead to eternal life for another. We must have Holy spirit flowing freely in order for lasting fruit to be produced.

Some people, because of their personality or temperament, seem to have fruit. A quiet person can seemingly have a gentle spirit. An outgoing person can seemingly have joy. However, these are not the same as the fruit of the Spirit. Fruit of the Spirit is a supernatural activity within us that enables us to choose to demonstrate Christ’s character. It is His supernatural activity through us that enables us to make a choice to act in a Christ-like manner rather than react.

Without Christ’s supernatural activity within us, we may react to certain situations with emotional responses. At times, we can be quite emotional. Unforgiveness, depression, sadness, and being out of control are some typical emotional responses to various situations.

With this in mind, let’s paraphrase the scripture that we read in John 7:38-39 (“Whoever believes in me, as the Scriptures has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” By this he meant the Sprit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive.).

When we believe in Jesus and allow Him to work in our lives, God will flow through our lives – especially through our emotions -- in the form of His Holy Spirit to produce lasting fruit.

Let’s choose to let living waters flow through us.

Carole Korakas

We read many descriptions of the ministry of Jesus in the Scriptures. Among the functions of Jesus’ ministry are those of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher. We read these descriptions in the following verses.

“Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house” (Hebrews 3:1-2).

“And He said to them, “What things?” So they said to Him, “The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people” (Luke 24:19).

“Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, [evangelizing] preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people” (Matthew 9:35).

“Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away” (1 Peter 5:2-4).

“This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him” (John 3:2).

Our ministry is an extension of the ministry of Christ. We read in Ephesians 4:11, “And He Himself [Christ] gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ ...”

Jesus gave spiritual gifts and callings to us. Jesus knew that no one person would be able to carry the weight of His complete ministry, so He took His mantle (a spiritual garment) and divided it based on the functions of His ministry. This is why some are called to be called to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors or teachers. This list does not indicate a gifting hierarchy of office callings — suggesting that one office/gifting in more superior to another. It simply lists the functions of Jesus’ ministry.

We read in Ephesians 4:7, “But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.” In other words, these five gifts are examples of how Jesus has given each one of us a measure of His grace for ministry as a gift. Grace means, “that which affords joy, pleasure and delight.” These gifts are given so that we will have joy, pleasure and delight when fulfilling the ministry that He has called us to.

The key to understanding this passage of scripture is the phrase, “for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry.” People who are called to these various offices are called for the purpose of equipping others for the work of ministry. Notice, they are not called to do all the work, but to equip and enable others to do the work of ministry.

Every one of us is called to ministry — in some capacity. Before we were knit together in our mothers womb, God knew us and had a particular purpose/ministry in mind while forming us. We were fashioned for a particular purpose ... to fulfill a particular ministry. Our ministry may be to our family, in our place of work, or with the people we meet every day. We may be actively involved in a ministry either within or outside the walls of the church ... or we may be in a time of preparation for entering our ministry.

Just consider various drinking utensils. There are tea cups, mugs, coffee cups, various stem ware, water glasses, tea glasses, etc. Each has a similar function in that they each hold a beverage for the purpose of drinking. However, the temperature and particular variety of beverage that they hold varies according to its design. So it is with us. Each of us is a vessel filled with Holy Spirit for the purpose of being poured out upon others. Just as we partake of a beverage through a drinking utensil, others will partake of Holy Spirit through us. However, the way in which Holy Spirit pours out as well as the particular flavor and temperature depends upon the purpose for which we were designed.

For a long time, people have aspired to be recognized with the title of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor or teacher. Many want to be called Pastor Polly, Prophet Pete, or Evangelist Earl. When we demand a title to be attached to our name, it is usually because we desperately need affirmation of our calling. When we have a title, we tend to feel that we are entitled to something ... whether it be honor, respect, power, control, or recognition. We use a title to entitle us to those things that will meet the deep needs in our self. Because our needs are being met, the authority that comes with that calling is compromised. It’s not about a title, it’s about the function of Jesus’ ministry, allowing others to see Him in us, and ministering to and equipping one another.

God created us for relationship, first with Himself and then with others. When we rest in Him and allow our needs to be met through Him, we can truly have a heart for one another and even prefer one another over ourselves. We will minister unto the Lord and then to one another. Our hearts desire will be to love and serve Him above all else — even above building a name for ourselves, establishing our “spot” in ministry, or desiring respect and recognition. We have the most effect in the relationships that we have with others. I’m convinced that it’s the things we do everyday — the way that we steward the relationships that we have — that yields the greatest fruit. For example, a long time before I was afforded the opportunities to write articles/book, I used the opportunities that were before me to write cards and letters to people.

We must realize that a key to our relationships with others and opportunities in ministry is humility. God gives grace to the humble. (See James 4:6) This word carries with it the understanding that we do what is best for others without demanding recognition. The ones whom God has called to “anything” are humble people and understand that others in the body need to be equipped so that they can fulfill their ministry.

I’d like for us to look at these five (apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers), not as offices for a few elect, but as spiritual languages. Reading this scripture more closely, just consider the following. If He gave apostles to equip the saints for the work of ministry, then wouldn’t He also give some people an apostolic language so that they could relate to and understand and be equipped by the apostles? If He gave prophets, wouldn’t some be given a prophetic language so that they could understand and be equipped by the prophets? If He gave evangelists, wouldn’t some be given an evangelistic language? If He gave pastors, wouldn’t some be given a pastoral language? If He gave teachers, wouldn’t some be given a teaching language?

Gary Chapman wrote and spoke on the five love languages several years ago. He identified several ways in which people in intimate relationships express love. They were acts of service, physical affection, giving time, verbal affirmation, and giving gifts. Although we usually use each of these languages at some point in most intimate relationships, we have a primary and secondary love language. They determine the way in which we give and receive love. For example, if my love language is physical affection, then I would tend to show my love (most often) to those I am close to by hugging them, patting them on the back, holding their hands, or stroking their head. Consequently, I would need to receive love in this way to really feel loved. If someone tried to show me their love to me through an act of service such as vacuuming the floor or emptying the garbage cans, my need to receive love would probably not be met (and I would not feel loved) if this were not my primary or secondary love language. Mr. Chapman’s point in this revelation was that we need to understand our own love language and also that of those whom we love so that we can express our love to them in a language that they can understand.

Also, consider students within a classroom. Each student has a different learning style. All of the styles need to be used/demonstrated so that all students can easily learn. However, each person has a style that makes it easiest for them to learn.

All five of these spiritual languages are necessary in the body. Each has a vital function and should be evident within a body. Every person has a significant purpose within the local body. It excites me to see different people sharing in different capacities. When we hear from one another, our lives will be enriched and we will grow as we hear a variety of spiritual languages. The “topic” being discussed needs to be shared in a variety of ways so that each person’s spiritual language is spoken.

For several years, I’ve loved studying the Bible. Because of my interest in understand the Word, I’d join Bible study groups. I’d be excited about them and would pour a few hours of preparation time into them. I’d be so blessed by what God spoke to me during those times. I’d come back to the group ... and before long I felt as if I were going to explode. I was so frustrated. I’d leave the group with friends saying how blessed they were and commenting about how good it was. I knew that God had ministered to me tremendously through the same material prior to meeting together, but I’d feel so empty as I left the group. This left me feeling so frustrated. I couldn’t understand why I wasn’t blessed by listening to the discussion among the group. Consequently, I experienced the same frustration as I listened to many well known Bible teachers/preachers. I now understand it was because they weren’t speaking my spiritual language. There were some people that I’d listen to and would be so excited about hearing what they were ministering. I loved to listen to Paul Zink (New Life Fellowship in Jacksonville, FL), John Paul Jackson (Streams Ministries, North Sutton, NH), John Bevere (JBM, Colorado Springs, CO), Rick Joyner or Steve Thompson (MorningStar School of Ministry, Charlotte, NC). [This certainly isn’t an exhaustive list of those whose ministries I’m blessed by; please don’t feel left out if you aren’t included in this list.] These people aren’t superior to any other, but they were speaking my spiritual language. I now understand that I respond to Biblically-sound revelatory teaching.

Our spiritual language determines the way in which we relate to others. It determines not only the way that we express ourselves, but also the way that we receive from others. We need to know our spiritual language so that we know to whom we are connected. We’ve heard that “As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend” (Proverbs 27:17). Just consider that you are a single blade. The only way for you to be sharpened would be for you to be raked across something else. But, just consider being a blade joined to another ... as in a pair of scissors. The cutting motion would help to maintain a sharp edge. That’s what happens when we are rightly connected to others in the body — we are sharpened.

I am not a prophet (and don’t want to be), but I am prophetic. This spiritual language is the way that God wired me from birth. From the time that I was a young child, I dreamed and saw things in a different way. I also have a teaching language and a pastoral language. Although my spiritual language is different from my primary calling, it determines the way that I fulfill my calling. My primary calling (other than being a worshiper, wife and mother) is to write. I love writing and teach through it. My spiritual language determines the flavor of my writing. Since I have a prophetic spiritual language, I listen to the Lord and seek to communicate His heart through writing. Since I also have a pastoral language, I encourage and nurture through writing. If my primary spiritual language was evangelistic, my writing would reflect strong evangelistic type messages.

We need to understand how God has wired us ... how He has fashioned us. Just consider, if we know our spiritual language, then we know to whom we are connected. When we are rightly connected within our giftings and callings, we can learn from one another, encourage one another and be ministered to by one another. Then will we be equipped for the work of ministry so that we fulfill the destiny that God has ordained.

Jesus said in John 14:12, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.” Jesus was essentially saying that we, as part of His bride, would do the same awesome things that He did because we would be empowered with His Holy Spirit. When each of us walks in the ministry that He has called us to, we collectively will do a greater number of works than He alone did. (We cannot have greater power than Jesus; a student is never greater than his teacher.)

Paul, in 1 Timothy 2:7, identified three functions to which He was called. He was identifying His spiritual languages. Let’s seek to understand our spiritual languages by considering the following questions. Think about which group of questions consistently reflects who you are most of the time.

• Do you have the courage and ability to keep others moving forward in new directions?

• Do you give guidance and lead due to your spiritual maturity and experience?

• Do you live a life of holiness?

• Do you have a strong sense of right/wrong & defend what is right/fair?

• Do you have a strong sense of the Spirit’s leading?

• Do you often offer guidance and impart revelation?

• Do you desire to take gospel to those who need it?

• Are you able to encounter and overcome obstacles to the gospel?

• Can go into areas of strife, turmoil and dissension?

• Are you usually nurturing and comforting to others?

• Do you enjoy working among people?

• Are you often protective of others?

• Do you know the ways of God?

• Do you remind others of priorities and foundations?

• Do you hear God’s voice through the Scriptures and give words of life to others rather than words of knowledge?

Each of these “spiritual languages” reflects the ministry functions of Jesus. We need all of them in a body and each of us needs to receive from each of them at times. Like our eating habits, we need a well balanced diet — eating from all the food groups. However, the spiritual food group that we need to eat from the most needs to be our primary spiritual language.

Recognize those who have the same spiritual language as you. Recognize those who have similar giftings and callings. Father desires that we be rightly connected to others. It is when we are rightly connected to others that we will move forward in His ways and be equipped to fulfill His purposes.

Scripture taken from the new King James Version. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.