Hey Believer? What’s your spiritual gift?
No, no. Not the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, or self-control. All those are fruit, the proof that the Spirit of God lives in and directs you.
No, not music or acting or accounting. Those are talents, and while every talent is a gift from God, Peter was talking about the spiritual gifts that God gives each of us to use in service to Him by serving other believers.
Things like administration, exhortation, prophecy, mercy, service, teaching, discernment, evangelism, wisdom, healing, faith, and more. (You can read about these in Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, and Ephesians 4.)
These gifts are supernatural, as in, we couldn’t do them as well as we do without the Spirit’s participation.
I mean, I can be an administrator for a time and do quite well in it, but there are those for whom the act of administration is like breathing and results in incredible outcomes. Supernatural.
Often others see and recognize our gift before we do. That’s okay. That means you’re using them in service like you’re supposed to.
Several years ago I took an evaluation to help determine what my spiritual gifts are. Talk about learning a lot! I found out that mercy isn’t one of the strongest in me, but prophecy and exhortation (encouragement) are. So, I will proclaim truth to you, use it to uplift you, then turn you over to someone else to bandage the wounds that come naturally from having to correct one’s course.
Ugh! That sounds sort of blunt, doesn’t it? It is NOT that I don’t care about your wounds! God knows I’ve experienced enough of my own. I’m talking about having someone with the amazing gift of mercy minister to you, because then instead of feeling like I care, you’ll feel like you’ve been touched by God Himself. Much, MUCH better.
So, what’s your gift(s)? There are several tests/evaluations that can help you figure the answer to that question out. It’s really fun to take one within a group to learn together how God has gifted each of you differently in order to best serve one another.
When you know your gifting, you’ll understand why some things you try seem so effortless, while others are like pulling hen’s teeth. That understanding will help you choose the things where you can best help in the Church.
To get you started, this site has a good explanation of the gifts and how they are generally used among believers.
Coffee, Bible, Journal.
