I’m going to take up my (electronic) pen and start addressing the spiritual best gifts given to the church, starting with the gifts of healing. But before I do, I’d like to take a poll. We are told by the Lord that “to every man is given a gift by the Spirit of the Lord.” So, of the list of best gifts found in D&C 46, which do you, dear reader, have?
Here is the list:
#1: To some it is given by the Holy Ghost to know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that he was crucified for the sins of the world.
#2: To others it is given to believe on their words, that they also might have eternal life if they continue faithful.
#3: And again, to some it is given by the Holy Ghost to know the differences of administration, as it will be pleasing unto the same Lord, according as the Lord will, suiting his mercies according to the conditions of the children of men.
#4: And again, it is given by the Holy Ghost to some to know the diversities of operations, whether they be of God, that the manifestations of the Spirit may be given to every man to profit withal.
#5: And again, verily I say unto you, to some is given, by the Spirit of God, the word of wisdom.
#6: To another is given the word of knowledge, that all may be taught to be wise and to have knowledge.
#7: And again, to some it is given to have faith to be healed;
#8: And to others it is given to have faith to heal.
#9: And again, to some is given the working of miracles;
#10: And to others it is given to prophesy;
#11: And to others the discerning of spirits.
#12: And again, it is given to some to speak with tongues;
#13: And to another is given the interpretation of tongues. And all these gifts come from God, for the benefit of the children of God.
#14: And unto the bishop of the church, and unto such as God shall appoint and ordain to watch over the church and to be elders unto the church, are to have it given unto them to discern all those gifts lest there shall be any among you professing and yet be not of God.
Now, if you have more than one of these gifts, tell all that you have (or think you have.) Also, which ones do you want to have?
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LDS Anarchy 
According to my patraiarchal blessing, the gift of tongues and interpretation of tounges, which confuses me, any insight? Also, I feel I have the gift of discerning of spirits, I truly can feel people’s spirits along with their feelings, if that makes any sense.
Heather, I wrote a three part article on the gift of tonges (part one, part two and part three), but I have no personal experience with these gifts, as I do not have them nor have I been around anyone who has had them. I’d say that the person to give insight about them is you. I’m curious to hear of your experience.
However, like yourself, I possess the gift of discernment of spirits and I know what you are talking about. Thanks for the visit and comment.
Thanks for your answer, and your articles, they were informative. Idon’t have any expereince that I know of yet with the gifts of tongues and interpretation of tongues. I really though they were something reserved for prophets an dmissionaries. I suppose I can just do my best and hope that when it comes time to use these gifts, I will be worthy of doing so. Sometimes I do wonder, though, if there is maybe an everyday life sort of manifestation of these gifts. I often find myself in the middle of peoples’ arguments, where I can fully understand both sides and see where they are misunderstanding each other. I don’t really know how to explain it. Also, I can always understand small children, what they say and what they need. I hadn’t really thought about it until I was talking to my mother in law who made an interesting comment. I haven’t decided what I think about it, she said maybe part of having that gift is my ability to “communicate” with animals. No, I’m not saying I have conversations with them. They just are always drawn to me and tend to trust me, especially when I talk to them. I am probably making myself sound like a wierdo, really I’m not these are just my ponderings. 🙂 I have to say, I also have the first gift on the above list. I KNOW Jesus lived and died for us, there is no denying it.
I don’t see why the gifts of tongues and interpretation couldn’t be applied to the animal kingdom. After all, Noah had to deal with wild, ferocious animals. I doubt he just beat them into submission. He probably just talked them into being obedient to him, using these gifts. Also, for all we know, the power Jacob spoke of in Jacob 4: 6 is the gift of tongues. If the trees (plant kingdom) and mountains and waves understood Jacob, he must have been speaking their language. I put no limits on these gifts.
1,3,4,5,6,7,10,11 are spelled out in my pb. interpretation of tounges randomly. discernment of spirits range literally scared my mission president said i had past him and that no one was qualified to help me there.. it was my dominant listed gift with knowledge. what scared the pres was that not only can i discern presence and intent with a range that would get me in the stake presidents office in hour.. had to take a vow secrecy.. this however is anonymous. I can also visually see the spirit world and those in it at will like Enoch did in the pearl of great price. gotta go this forum is awesome!
1,5,6,7,8,9.
Regarding 5 I believe my PB mentions it when it says “You will have the wisdom to take of your body so that it will be ready at all times to respond to the demands placed upon it.” I heard people define wisdom as not just true knowledge but the ability to apply that truth. I have seen several time in my life when i come to a realization of something about my health I should do differently. I am not a health nut. I don’t care much about staying alive for ever. I have felt if you can enjoy the food was is the use of living? But then something clicks and I suddenly accept certain health codes for myself without a problem and maintain them.
8 I think many people think if you have the gift of healing you can heal in all circumstances. That runs counter to other well established principles such as …”according to your faith so shall it be done…” And Mark 6:5 in Spanish it says He “couldn’t do any miracle there..”
9 I believe this is different than say healing someone. To my It would be akin to commanding the storm to cease and having it happen right then.
I have ever been reluctant to admit that I have all the gifts, because I have always expected them to be much more powerful than they have been in my life. But, having looked over my entire life yet again, and examined all the various manifestations I have received, I must finally admit that I do, in fact, have every gift, and my reluctance was unjustified, because these gifts are administered in many different ways, and the ways that they have been administered in my life, while not always being exactly as shown in the scriptures, have been bona fide. Imperfect faith gives an imperfect manifestation, so I expect as my faith increases and becomes more perfect, so will the empowerment of these various gifts I have received.
Here is the list of gifts I have, in the order that I received them:
The numbers correspond to the numbers in the post.
Just a historical note for me only
After having gone over many of the manifestations I have received over the course of my life this past week (see the above comment), I revisited the vision I saw in the year 2000 and discovered that my initial interpretation was off slightly. I had seen a great miracle, which did not exist at that time, nor could it exist, and so, since the vision was of the future, as indicated by the accompanying manifestation of the Holy Ghost, I had assumed that the vision was of something that would be in the next life. This was a correct interpretation, however, I have re-interpreted the vision, given that I now have 15 years more experience in the things of the Spirit, and I now know that that impossible miracle that I saw will occur in this life, as well as the next. So, I misunderstood the Spirit when it was manifested to me that this thing I saw pertained to the future. I put the time too far ahead. (Btw, I revisited and re-interpreted the vision about two days ago.)
LDSA, I was curious about gift #2 “to believe on their words”.
Why is this “the best gift”?
If someone receives a knowledge that Jesus is the Christ and communicates that information to me, why would it require a gift of the Spirit to believe on their words?
With this gift you can obtain all the others.
D&C 50:17-22 –>
It requires His things to understand His things.
This is a bit confusing.
Because a church member is someone who has already believed on the words on the preacher that Jesus is the Christ. I would think that this gift should be given only to non-members.
What can be the situation where an existing church member would need this gift?
Unless you have the gift of belief, there isn’t any way you can be saved. If you believe, get baptized, then disbelieve, you don’t really think that you are going to be saved, do you? This gift is required for salvation. Only those who believe on Jesus Christ and are baptized, as Jesus said in 3 Nephi 11, get saved.
Seems like you think this is a general “gift to believe”. Is it the same as the gift of faith spoken of in 1Cor 12:9?
But I was under the impression that it was a narrowly-defined gift of “believing on their words” or “believing on the testimony of those who were given by the Holy Ghost to know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God”.
Doesn’t this interpretation imply that it is impossible for one to have this gift unless one has heard a first-hand testimony of someone who was given by the Holy Ghost to know that Jesus is the Christ?
It’s the same gift of faith. It is simply the gift to believe the word of God, whether that word is written by the power of the Holy Ghost or spoken by the same power. It is not a general gift to believe whatever you want to believe, or to believe things that are true (whether they are the word of God or not.) It is the gift mentioned as held by the receiver in D&C 50.