Martyn Llyod-Jones (The Sovereign Spirit: Discerning His Gifts):
The miracles, including the power of healing, were always something occasional, determined by the Spirit…All these gifts, as I shall be emphasizing, are under the sovereignty of the Spirit. He decides when and how and where. We must never think of it as automatic, that you just pull a lever and there it is, it has all happened. That is entirely foreign to the New Testament. A power was given, a commission was given on particular occasions, and then the miracles happened (pg. 43)
The…position is that of those who assert that the full and miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit ought always to abide in the church, and that it is only from want of faith that we do not possess them now…The teaching of the Scripture is that these things are to be considered in terms of the lordship of the Spirit. It is he who decides. “He giveth to every many severally as he wills.” It is he who chooses (pg. 47).
We must not say “only” for New Testament times nor must we say “always.” The answer is, “as he wills,” as the Spirit wills. It is always right to seek the fullness of the Spirit – we are exhorted to do so. But the gifts of the Spirit are to be left in the hands of the Holy Spirit himself (pg. 48).
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