What spiritual gifts has God given you? What are you doing with these spiritual gifts? Most Christians have no idea what a spiritual gift is. According to Nelson’s Bible Dictionary, a spiritual gift is something bestowed by God the Holy Spirit upon Christians for the purpose of building up the Church. The 4 places they are listed in are Romans 12:4-8, 1st Corinthians 12:1-11, Ephesians 4:7-13 and 1st Peter 4:10-11. These 4 passages suggest that none of these lists are meant to be comprehensive.
While some of the gifts are more visible (apostles, healing, teaching, etc.) than others (gifts of service, compassion, helps, etc.), they are all of equal value to God. We don’t get to choose our gift. It is given to us by God. We may also have more than one spiritual gift and our strongest ones may change over time.
Do you know what your spiritual gifts are? There are several ‘tests’ that can help you discover what they may be. One of them is at www.spiritualgiftstest.com. Scroll down and read the FAQ’s, then click on “Take our test”. There are other good ‘test’ sites also. For a good description of spiritual gifts, go to www.ldolphin.org/rrrgifts.html.
I knew some Christian brothers who were what we used to call ‘motorheads’ or ‘grease monkeys’. You’d prop open a car hood and these guys were in heaven. They decided to take their love of cars, use it to glorify God and build up the Church. They announced that they would be offering a free oil change to single moms on a particular Saturday afternoon. If people knew of any single moms, they could invite them. They had over 40 single moms show up. Talk about a blessing to those moms. These guys definitely had the gift of service.
I knew of another couple that just loved cleaning things. Yes, you heard that right and NO I won’t give you their contact info. Every Saturday, they and their team would clean the church. Their service went very unnoticed by the average church member but it was noticed by God (Luke 8:17). Praise God for people like that.
My spiritual gift is teaching. When I’m teaching, I’m on a spiritual high. There are few things more satisfying than the feeling you get when you’re using your spiritual gift.
God has given you spiritual gifts. But like Christmas presents under the tree, they remain ‘wrapped’ until you decide to unwrap them. Even then, they’re not useful until you use them. One last thought…you will be accountable to God for what you have done with what He has entrusted to you (Matthew 25:14-30).
So what are your spiritual gifts. How are you or how do you plan on using them? Write and let me know.
For His Kingdom,
Dave Maynard
https://bsssb-llc.com
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