What Are Your SPIRITUAL Gifts?
June 30, 2008 09:39 AM EDT
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"Now, brothers and sisters, I want you to understand about spiritual gifts. You know the way you lived before you were believers. You let yourselves be influenced and led away to worship idols-things that could not speak. So I want you to understand that no one who is speaking with the help of God's Spirit says, "Jesus be cursed." And no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," without the help of the Holy Spirit. There are different kinds of gifts, but they are all from the same Spirit. There are different ways to serve but the same Lord to serve. And there are different ways that God works through people but the same God. God works in all of us in everything we do. Something from the Spirit can be seen in each person, for the common good. The Spirit gives one person the ability to speak with wisdom, and the same Spirit gives another the ability to speak with knowledge. The same Spirit gives faith to one person. And, to another, that one Spirit gives gifts of healing. The Spirit gives to another person the power to do miracles, to another the ability to prophesy. And he gives to another the ability to know the difference between good and evil spirits. The Spirit gives one person the ability to speak in different kinds of languages and to another the ability to interpret those languages. One Spirit, the same Spirit, does all these things, and the Spirit decides what to give each person."---I Corinthians 12:1-11 (NCV) "Everyone is gifted, but some people never open their package."---Anonymous OK, I am about to go on vacation for a week (whew hew!) and while I know that God has the ultimate say so (Proverbs 16:9), my plan is to not resume these until next week. However, in the meantime, I did want to leave a little homework for you. Yesterday, I had to do an article on spiritual gifts for a "secular" publication. As I was doing my research, it inspired me to go online and take a few tests to see what mine were. Consistently, I got "wisdom", "discernment" and "teacher" as my top gifts. That's not to brag. That's actually to affirm you of something---well, a couple of things. First, that God made you JUST AS YOU ARE for a reason. You may be different from those around you, but you know what? THAT'S OK because it serves a greater purpose; one that human eyes can very rarely see. (I Corinthians 2:14) Unfortunately, both in and out of the Church, we have gotten to a place where we are trying to create "toy soldiers"---everyone thinking the same, sounding the same, looking the same. You can't fight a war, especially one of a spiritual warfare (Ephesians 6:12) with toys! Everyone's assignments and specialties are granted, by God, without repentance, for a reason. (Romans 11:29) The gift/skill of wisdom cannot do what the gift/skill of healing can. The gift/skill of prophecy cannot do what the gift/skill of tongue interpretation can. But they are ALL NEEDED and vital in this world. I have a friend (shout out to Brian Watts) who often says that one of the biggest problems in Christianity today is that there are commandments (laws that everyone must keep), convictions (which are based on your personal relationship with the Holy Spirit---James 4:17) and preferences. The problem is that too many people are preaching (and judging---Proverbs 31:9, John 7:24) based on preference rather than commandments. Say a word, say a word! We have to get to a place where we are more Word-based than flesh-driven; where we rely on the power of God more than the wisdom of man (I Corinthians 2:5), especially when it comes to seeking out God's plan for our individual lives. Which brings me to my point. I really want to encourage each of you this week to make the time to take two online spiritual gifts tests: 60 questions: www.christianet.com/bible/spiritualgiftstest.htm 140 statements: www.kodachrome.org/spiritgift/ Once you get your results, make some more time to think about what the Holy Spirit has placed within you. Then, find scriptures surrounding your gifts (this will offer you comfort and support). Whatever's revealed to you, remember that they are GIFTS. You have been given "a special ability or capacity", but also "something given voluntarily without payment in return, as to show favor toward someone, honor an occasion, or make a gesture of assistance". No matter what you look like, where you live, or your educational or financial background, you have something to celebrate today. You, through the power of the Holy Spirit, are gifted! A lot of us live less-than-lives because we don't understand our purpose, our callings or the gifts that have been placed within us. So many of us are focused on what we do wrong from day to day---for indeed WE ALL fall short of God's glory (Romans 3:23)---that we don't understand the abilities placed in us to make things right. Most of us quote that we can do all things through Christ (Philippians 4:13), but then when a challenge presents itself, we act like we don't have access to overcoming it---not eventually, immediately (Isaiah 65:24, Philippians 4:19). I have grown to accept that Spirit and flesh are often on two different time zones (Acts 1:7---Message, 2 Peter 3:8), but the "when" is not nearly as important as the fact that God's Word can be trusted and so there is no "if". Christ told us that "whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." (Matthew 18:18). When it comes to the obstacles in your life, get to praying (Proverbs 15:8), get some agreement (Matthew 18:19-20), tap into your gifts (Romans 12) and keep it movin'! I hope this excites you. Oh, and one more thing. Yesterday, I emailed this out to people in my intimate spiritual network. One of my friends had the exact top three that I did. It doesn't make us any less distinctive. Do you know why? I'm glad that you asked: "Till I come, devote yourself to [public and private] reading, to exhortation (preaching and personal appeals), and to teaching and instilling doctrine. Do not neglect the gift which is in you, [that special inward endowment] which was directly imparted to you [by the Holy Spirit] by prophetic utterance when the elders laid their hands upon you [at your ordination]. Practice and cultivate and meditate upon these duties; throw yourself wholly into them [as your ministry], so that your progress may be evident to everybody. Look well to yourself [to your own personality] and to [your] teaching; persevere in these things [hold to them], for by so doing you will save both yourself and those who hear you."---I Timothy 4:13-16 (AMP) Even though we have the same gifts, we still have different purposes and uses for them. There's no time to be thinking about what someone has that I may not, or how someone may use what they've got that's similar to mine. Luke 12:48 says that to whom much is given, much is required. Anything that you have been given by divine sources is much! Something the wife of my friend (shout out to Marcella Watts) often says is "Why do we trip? We're vapor." (James 4:14) In other words, time is short and God has entrusted us with much. There's no (life)time to waste. So, Happy Monday, ya'll. It's not a holiday based on the world's calendar, but if you take those tests, I believe you are about to open up one of the best gifts you could ever receive, especially wrapped just for you by the Holy Spirit. It simply doesn't get any better than that! ©Shellie R. Warren/2008
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Comments: 3
I have been blessed with many gifts [Thank you Jesus] of decernment, prophesy, wisdom, knowledge, courage and to teach. I'm very grateful for my gifts.
Following are the top three results of your Spiritual Gifts Test:
Score Spiritual Gifts Scripture Reference
100% Wisdom James 3:13-17
100% Teacher Hebrews 5:12-14
100% Servant/Helps Acts 6:2-4
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THIS LAST PART SHOCKED ME BECUASE I KNEW THE TRUTH OF MY GIFTS BUT OTHERS CONSTANTLY DOUBT ME SO IT'S NICE TO HAVE AN ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF MY SUPERNATURAL GIFTS FROM AN INDEPENDENT SOURCE.....THANKS AGAIN.
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These gifts exceed the normal ability level of an individual that may come through life experience or knowledge. In fact many refer to these gifts as a "supernatural ability" vs. "natural ability" that a person may posses.
Everyone has God-given talents, but He also bestows supernatural abilities to those believers who will give themselves over to His Spirit. These individuals are used for ministry in His Kingdom to help members of the body of Christ. They are also used to extend the church's witness and ministry into the world.