WHERE should the Gifts of the Spirit be exercised?

If you looked at the modern-day Charismatic church, you might think the answer is "on a stage" or "in front of a camera" and the person (or people) using the gifts would probably be some type of "celebrity" minister(s).

And what has been the outcome of such a model? The pressure "to perform" has led to fake prophetic words (i.e. Shawn Bolz) and many "claims" to people being healed that in fact were not healed at all (i.e. Benny Hinn).

I fully understand why there has been the current exodus from the Charismatic church. At best, they end up moving into another Christian tradition that has more integrity and less fakery. At worst, they deconstruct and lose their faith entirely.

To quote one of my mentors, "the misuse of something does not warrant its disuse but rather its RIGHT use!". While I can sympathize with those who journey into non-Charismatic churches (i.e. Reformed), the fact that the Gifts of the Holy Spirit continued after the Apostolic age is not an issue of debate. The evidence from the centuries after the death of the Apostles, prove that the supernatural, so-called "sign gifts" of the Holy Spirit continued. They did NOT CEASE as the "Cessationists" teach. 

But if the Gifts exists today, which they do, WHERE then should they be used? 

The platform, the conference, the TV program or even in front of somebody's video camera for a livestream or for later online posting are simply the WRONG places! Has God worked in those contexts? Absolutely. I've seen people radically healed at a big conference. I've witnessed large meetings where accurate prophetic words were received and given (which I could confirm were genuinely prophetic).

First of all, according to the Apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Corinthians, one context that is appropriate for the use of the gifts of the Spirit are in the local church gathering. Wait, wasn't I just saying the large meeting wasn't the right context? YES. And the earliest Christians were meeting in house church contexts. Re-read the Book of Acts. Carefully study early Church History. The church met in homes for the first couple hundred years of Church History. Only in the 3rd Century do we find our first Church building and even that was small!

And what have we seen in our small house-sized church gatherings? We have seen the gifts of the Holy Spirit in operation. It is in this context that they can be weighed, judged and properly used. We saw a man healed of cancer (literally his tumor disappeared) after we prayed for him in our small church meeting. More recently, two of our church members gave prophetic words that were very specifically for a guest who was visiting for the first time. This has happened through the years in our own personal experience HUNDREDS OF TIMES. No hype. No cameras. No celebrity Christians. Small meetings. 

And a second answer to the WHERE question? That would be OUTSIDE the 4 walls of a church building with people we meet wherever we go. This has been the place where we have seen the most healings and the most prophetic words, specifically the Word of Knowledge. This number goes into the THOUSANDS. No cameras. No hype. Just as we have lived our lives in several different countries. Loving the ones in front of us.

This happens EVERY WEEK. Last week I was out with a buddy and we saw several total strangers healed after God revealed to us their problems. 

God has never changed. 

So, my advice to any fellow Charismatic who has "ears to hear" - STOP going to the conferences! STOP looking to the "celebrity" Christians! GET AWAY from the stages! And simply ask God to use you with the people you meet and encounter wherever you go. This actually was much of the way that Jesus Himself ministered. So many of His miracles happened while He was on His way to the next gathering. 

*DISCLAIMER* - I exhort you to TRY THESE THINGS wherever you go - today, tomorrow, next week and for the rest of your lives.