Spiritual Gifts
When you accepted Christ, you not only got saved…you were given something very special from God: a giftedness to serve God in a unique way. God’s plan for your life is that you would meet a specific need in the church family, and He has gifted you in a special way to meet that need.
“As each one of us has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” —1 Peter 4:10
If you have trusted Christ, then you have a spiritual gift! Even if you don’t know what it is or don’t feel particularly gifted in a specific area, the Bible teaches that you do have a special gift that you can use to serve God. And, believe it or not, your gift is vital to the work of God in our church family, otherwise God would not have placed you here.
God’s Word teaches that as a member of His Body, you are important to His work in this place. He has appointed you a gift and a purpose for being here…and you will greatly enjoy discovering and using that gift for His purposes!
WHAT SHOULD YOU DO WITH THIS SPIRITUAL GIFT?
Peter writes in his 1st letter that God wants you to be a “good steward” of His gift to you! The best way to do that is to begin now discovering, developing, and using your gift to serve the Lord and His church. The great result of using your gift is that the entire church family ministers to each other and to the community. That’s the way the church, the Body of Christ, is supposed to work!
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Important Reminders
SERVING OUTSIDE YOUR SPIRITUAL GIFTS
Keep in mind that oftentimes the Holy Spirit gives us more than one gift which serves to keep our other gifts in check or harmonize to create a blended gift that God uses in unique ways. This is another reason why each and every one of us has a unique role to play in the Kingdom even if your gift may seem just like someone else you know!
Scripture commands us to minister in many areas whether or not we have the corresponding spiritual gifts. For example, Scripture clearly tells us that some have the following gifts, yet all are to minister in these ways… (gifts to some, commands to all). Often we are faithful to these commands after we discover our particular spiritual gifts.
- Serve one another (Galations 5:13)
- Exhort each other (Hebrews 10:25)
- All give (2 Corinthians 9:7)
- Make disciples (Matthew 28:19)
- Be kind (Ephesians 4:32)
- Walk by faith (2 Corinthians 5:7)
- All witness (Acts 1:8)
LOVE NEVER FAILS
No matter what spiritual gifts we have received, the Christian virtue of love must accompany the exercise of those gifts; otherwise they will prove unfruitful.
“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned,1 but have not love, I gain nothing.” – 1 Corinthians 13:1-3
TALENT OR SPIRITUAL GIFT?
Talents have to do with techniques and methods; gifts have to do with spiritual abilities. Talents depend on the natural ability, gifts on the spiritual endowment. Talents instruct, inspire, or entertain on a natural level. However, when a gift is exercised, something supernatural happens in and through the one who is ministering.
SHAPE
Of course there is more to you than your spiritual gifts. God has also given your HEART (passion), ABILITIES (talents), PERSONALITY, and EXPERIENCES which all work together to make you uniquely you.
- Spiritual gifts
- Heart (passion)
- Abilities (talents)
- Personality
- Experiences
“Whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” – 1 Peter 4:11