Dear Friends,
As we continue our look into spiritual gifts, let me recap what we
have thus far discovered. Each believer is given a spiritual gift(s) at the
time of his or her conversion. They are sovereignly given, not because of
anything we have done to deserve them, but simply because God loves us,
and it is out of the abundance of His love that He provides them for us. They
are not meant to be stored but to be shared. They are given for service, to equip
each individual believer to build up the body of Christ. They are given “
for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of
the body of Christ (Eph. 4:12).
As believers we will be held accountable for the use of our gift(s)
when we stand before God at the Bema seat of judgment. “For we must all
appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for
his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” ( 1
Cor. 5:10).
We discovered that spiritual gifts are irrevocable, and while they
can go unused or even abused, we can’t lose them.
Having said this, the question becomes how do we discover them.
Let me suggest eight things you can do to discover your spiritual gift(s)
1. Make prayer and the subject of spiritual gifts a matter
of informed study. Examine the passages which addressing the use of spiritual
gifts in the Bible. Go on the Internet and type in “spiritual gifts,” and you
will find a multitude of verses and articles covering this subject. Pray that
God would reveal to you what spiritual gift(s) you might possess.
2. Look within and ask yourself what are my personal
interests and abilities? Reflect on what you like to do and what you do
well, and experiment in different situations where your interests and abilities
intersect with the gift you are using.
3. Go to the Internet and click on one of the many different spiritual
gift assessments available to get an idea of what your spiritual gift(s) may
be. There are many variations of this questionnaire, and the one we use in our
church is the Modified Houts Spiritual Inventory.
4. Be open and don’t zero in on only one gift to the exclusion of
others. Try and put yourself in situations where you can experiment with any of
the gifts that might be appropriate for the task you are performing.
5. Look for feedback and affirmation from others when you are
using a particular gift. Sometimes others will provide you the best insights
into whether you are gifted in a particular area. "I love the way you are
always helping others, (gift of helps or service), or you seem to have an
incredible ability in to communicate God's truth (gift of teaching) are
examples of the kind of feedback that might be helpful.
6. Ask yourself if I enjoy and find fulfillment in exercising the
spiritual gift I am exercising. It wouldn't make sense for God to give us a
gift(s) that we didn’t enjoy exercising.
7. Ask yourself, "Am I getting better performing actions
where my gift is being utilized?
8. Be sensible. Don’t force yourself into a particular
gift if it does not appear to be given to you. Many of us would love to be
preachers, but the validation of that gift may be readily revealed in the
pews by the number of people you have put to sleep.
I hope this information on spiritual gifts has been helpful and
that you will take a moment to let me know anything you have discovered about
the use of your gifts.
In closing I challenge you with the words Paul wrote to
Timothy: Stir up the gift of God within you”(2 Timothy 1:6).
Yours in faith and friendship,
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