It’s time
to begin to open the spiritual gifts and discover which ones are yours!
May’s Awakening, Day 5
For
by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more
highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in
accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each
of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the
same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member
belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace
given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying,
then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching,
then teach; if it is to encourage,
then give encouragement; if it is giving,
then give generously; if it is to lead,
do it diligently; if it is to show mercy,
do it cheerfully. Romans 12:3–8 NIV
There is no set order of the
spiritual gifts so we will address them in the order that we find them
presented in the New Testament. The primary twenty spiritual gifts are
discussed in four main blocks of Scripture: Romans 12:3–8; 1 Corinthians
12:4–11; 1 Corinthians 12:27–31; and Ephesians 4:11–13. Most of 1 Corinthians,
Chapter 12, is a discussion of spiritual gifts and their importance and use in
the body of Christ. None of the listings in these Scripture blocks are complete
and there is also overlap, so all the passages must be taken together, plus a
few more, to gain a full understanding. Over the next few days, we will give a
brief description of each of the gifts and then ultimately direct you to
resources where you can more fully discover your personal gifts, so you can
become more spiritually mature and effective in the tasks that God has for you
to do. Let’s begin to open the gifts!
Prophecy.
The gift of prophecy is the distinctive ability to receive and boldly
communicate the truth of God, in an immediate and divinely inspired message,
despite the potential consequences, that generally serves to call people into
righteous living. The divinely inspired message may be in the form of a
warning, exhortation, instruction, or judgment to make manifest the truth in a
person’s heart and to guide that person to God or God’s plan. The gift of
prophecy is most misunderstood, as it is not a prediction of the future, but
speaks into current situations. Because of the sensitive nature of the gift of
prophecy, the gift of discernment must always be possessed as well.
Service.
The gift of service is the distinctive ability to identify and meet the
practical needs of others, bringing about a sense of community and wholeness to
the body of believers. This is a function of you personally seeing what needs
to be done and you personally doing whatever it takes to get it done. This is
different from the gift of helps, where you are usually helping another
with a ministry function or task and not directly overseeing it yourself. Both
of these gifts, service and helps, are extremely common among believers.
Teaching.
The gift of teaching is the distinctive ability to employ a logical,
systematic, and disciplined approach to biblical study in
preparation for clearly communicating those truths that are relevant and
necessary to the spiritual health and well-being of believers, such that the
students are empowered to learn and act upon the information. The gift of
teaching empowers the holder to learn, prepare, and deliver the information
usually by public speaking. The gift of teaching is one excellent example where
a natural talent or ability may be transformed into a spiritual talent, but
this need not be the case! A professional teacher will not always have a
spiritual gift of teaching. Sometimes, the spiritual goes in synchrony with the
natural, but oftentimes, they are quite different. The Holy Spirit is the one
who knows best, and attempting to undertake spiritual ministry outside of your
spiritual gifting will most often result in ineffectiveness. Tomorrow we will
look at the final four gifts in Romans.
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