I am not a theologian. I'm trying to figure things out for myself and this is what God has helped me understand after reading scripture, various websites, and Bible studies.
Spiritual gifts vs. natural talents
1 Corinthians 12:7
"But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good."
My cousin can sing. My daughter can draw and paint. My uncle is a natural teacher. My sister is a great actor. My brother-in-law has natural charisma and can work a crowd and is a wonderful MC. These are their natural talents. I am sure I have natural talents, but mine are not as obvious as these. Natural talents exist from a young age and are molded by environment and experience. All these talent can be used by God and come from God, but they are not spiritual gifts.
Spiritual gifts become apparent and grow as your relationship with Christ grows. As you spiritually mature, you begin to change and traits or abilities that had not before been present begin to appear. These are spiritual gifts. They are given by the "[Holy] Spirit for the common good." If you are growing in your relationship with Christ, this is easy to understand. You already feel that you are changing, so it's easier to understand how those changes could bring about these "gifts". The thing is, when we talk about gifts, we think speaking in tongues, and healing, and prophecy and it starts to sound weird and scary and silly and superstitious. I agree. I don't think I could really feel comfortable having a conversation about this with a non-believer. The best I can do is try to explain where I am, in my spiritual journey and to try to make the connections.
Over the past year, I have witnessed changes in me. I am less worried. I am more able to look back and see where God's has worked in my life. I can see that when things were the worst, He was there, and brought me through them. Because I have seen the evidence of this over and over, I am beginning to trust God more. Because I trust God more, I am more able to have faith that whatever situation I'm currently in, will turn out for the best. As my relationship with God grows, my faith grows. As my faith grows, I am more able to encourage someone who is going through a difficult time. Faith and Encouragement are both spiritual gifts. I am not claiming that those are my gifts, but I can see that pattern and it helps me understand spiritual gifts.
Identifying Spiritual Gifts
My family tells a story of the spiritual gift test that was given at my grandmother's church. After all the results were calculated, the pastor announced those results to the congregation. Bob has the gift of charity. Or June has the gift of discernment. As my grandmother sat there on the pew beside her adored husband, the pastor read out 'Marilyn has the gift of celibacy.' I can only imagine the giggles and the looks exchanged between their friends and family. I'm willing to bet my grandfather was teased a bit after that service.
I have been thinking quite a bit about my spiritual gifts and how God wants me to use them. I decided to take a test, not because I think an online test can really give me any true spiritual insight, but because I hoped it would give me a place to begin my investigation. The test results showed the top gifts based on how I answered the questions. They were:
Mercy (compassion towards those who are suffering)
Exhortation (encouragement)
Faith (confidence, certainty, trust)
Serving and Ministering (to help or aid with love)
I'll admit, I had to look up the gift of mercy. I totally didn't understand that one, but after defining each of the gifts, I felt like these made sense for me.
Mercy - I'm a bleeding heart liberal
Exhortation - I want people to feel good, not bad
Faith - I trust God
Serving/Ministering - I am very helpful
I've got this!
Okay, lets pump the breaks, sister. Maybe I should spend, like 10 minutes, really looking at this stuff. Let's go a little deeper than the definition, shall we?
Using Your Spiritual Gifts: You Mean You Are Supposed to DO STUFF?!?!?!?!
Romans 12:6
"And since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let each exercise them accordingly..."
I did a quick Google search and found some easy to understand descriptions of each of these gifts on spiritualgiftstest.com. I'm sure there are many other resources available, but these worked for me.
Immediately Mercy sounds appealing to me. The idea is that you walk along side, be present for, help carry the burdens of someone who is suffering. The idea of being present to literally comfort someone who is in the midst of the storm sounds so rewarding. The problem is that once I pick up that burden, it's really hard for me to put it down. What if it is too much? What if I become overwhelmed? What if I really screw up?
Faith is even worse! "...if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move." Matthew 17:20. Is that the bar that has been set? The idea that there is some massive miraculous measure of my faith is a bit overwhelming. It's enough to make anyone shy away from claiming that gift.
The good news is that God directs you and shows you when and where you are needed. Having Mercy doesn't necessarily mean that you are responsible for every suffering person. Someone with the gift of exhortation isn't responsible to lift and encourage every person she comes across in her daily life. Faith doesn't mean that you are never scared or never worry. Hospitality doesn't mean that you make your home into a boarding house for the homeless. God doesn't expect one person to do all His work. The body of Christ is supposed to work together. You are not supposed to do it all on your own. There will also be times that you need to be encouraged or need someone else to support you during your time of struggle. If you listen to God, He will show you to whom you need to minister and how and when. He will give you the words to encourage someone or show you a need that you can meet.
Gifts in Action
As I was thinking about all these things, I thought, I'll never have the kind of faith that Peter had in Acts 3: 1-10. But God showed me a point in my life that I had the kind of powerful faith that can move a mountain. About ten years ago, my marriage was falling apart. My husband wanted to leave. I asked him to stay, and he agreed, but we barely spoke. He couldn't look at me. I turned to God. I spent every lunch break alone with my Bible and God. I read everything I could find about love and about marriage. God revealed so much to me during that time about His love for me and gave me the strength to show my husband unconditional love. One day as I prayed, God directed me to flip through my calendar and to randomly mark a date. I circled the number and wrote "It will be okay" in the space. I completely forgot about doing it until months later, I flipped the page on my calendar and saw it. Those few short months later, everything was okay. My marriage was well on its way to being healed and now, all these years later, my marriage is better than it has ever been.
Unless you have been there, where your relationship looks like the aftermath of a tornado, you may not appreciate the miraculous healing my marriage experienced. If you ask the people closest to us, my mother for example, she would tell you that God performed a miracle in our lives. There is no doubt. I don't share this to pat myself on the back for sticking through a rough patch or for fixing my marriage on my own. I share it because I experienced God's assurance that it would be okay. I KNEW it despite all the evidence I had to the contrary and God delivered.
The truth is, I am not even sure I'd feel comfortable telling another Christian what spiritual gifts I have identified. I'm afraid they'd just me more harshly in those areas. I'm afraid that I wouldn't live up to God's standard every day and that I'd been a poor reflection of Him. (That's why I don't have a fish emblem on my car.) I don't know that I have to announce my spiritual gifts. I can give my testimony of faith without claiming I have the gift of faith. Maybe all I need to do is follow God's direction for my life and use my gifts as He directs me.
Spiritual gifts vs. natural talents
1 Corinthians 12:7
"But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good."
My cousin can sing. My daughter can draw and paint. My uncle is a natural teacher. My sister is a great actor. My brother-in-law has natural charisma and can work a crowd and is a wonderful MC. These are their natural talents. I am sure I have natural talents, but mine are not as obvious as these. Natural talents exist from a young age and are molded by environment and experience. All these talent can be used by God and come from God, but they are not spiritual gifts.
Spiritual gifts become apparent and grow as your relationship with Christ grows. As you spiritually mature, you begin to change and traits or abilities that had not before been present begin to appear. These are spiritual gifts. They are given by the "[Holy] Spirit for the common good." If you are growing in your relationship with Christ, this is easy to understand. You already feel that you are changing, so it's easier to understand how those changes could bring about these "gifts". The thing is, when we talk about gifts, we think speaking in tongues, and healing, and prophecy and it starts to sound weird and scary and silly and superstitious. I agree. I don't think I could really feel comfortable having a conversation about this with a non-believer. The best I can do is try to explain where I am, in my spiritual journey and to try to make the connections.
Over the past year, I have witnessed changes in me. I am less worried. I am more able to look back and see where God's has worked in my life. I can see that when things were the worst, He was there, and brought me through them. Because I have seen the evidence of this over and over, I am beginning to trust God more. Because I trust God more, I am more able to have faith that whatever situation I'm currently in, will turn out for the best. As my relationship with God grows, my faith grows. As my faith grows, I am more able to encourage someone who is going through a difficult time. Faith and Encouragement are both spiritual gifts. I am not claiming that those are my gifts, but I can see that pattern and it helps me understand spiritual gifts.
Identifying Spiritual Gifts
My family tells a story of the spiritual gift test that was given at my grandmother's church. After all the results were calculated, the pastor announced those results to the congregation. Bob has the gift of charity. Or June has the gift of discernment. As my grandmother sat there on the pew beside her adored husband, the pastor read out 'Marilyn has the gift of celibacy.' I can only imagine the giggles and the looks exchanged between their friends and family. I'm willing to bet my grandfather was teased a bit after that service.
I have been thinking quite a bit about my spiritual gifts and how God wants me to use them. I decided to take a test, not because I think an online test can really give me any true spiritual insight, but because I hoped it would give me a place to begin my investigation. The test results showed the top gifts based on how I answered the questions. They were:
Mercy (compassion towards those who are suffering)
Exhortation (encouragement)
Faith (confidence, certainty, trust)
Serving and Ministering (to help or aid with love)
I'll admit, I had to look up the gift of mercy. I totally didn't understand that one, but after defining each of the gifts, I felt like these made sense for me.
Mercy - I'm a bleeding heart liberal
Exhortation - I want people to feel good, not bad
Faith - I trust God
Serving/Ministering - I am very helpful
I've got this!
Okay, lets pump the breaks, sister. Maybe I should spend, like 10 minutes, really looking at this stuff. Let's go a little deeper than the definition, shall we?
Using Your Spiritual Gifts: You Mean You Are Supposed to DO STUFF?!?!?!?!
Romans 12:6
"And since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let each exercise them accordingly..."
I did a quick Google search and found some easy to understand descriptions of each of these gifts on spiritualgiftstest.com. I'm sure there are many other resources available, but these worked for me.
Immediately Mercy sounds appealing to me. The idea is that you walk along side, be present for, help carry the burdens of someone who is suffering. The idea of being present to literally comfort someone who is in the midst of the storm sounds so rewarding. The problem is that once I pick up that burden, it's really hard for me to put it down. What if it is too much? What if I become overwhelmed? What if I really screw up?
Faith is even worse! "...if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move." Matthew 17:20. Is that the bar that has been set? The idea that there is some massive miraculous measure of my faith is a bit overwhelming. It's enough to make anyone shy away from claiming that gift.
The good news is that God directs you and shows you when and where you are needed. Having Mercy doesn't necessarily mean that you are responsible for every suffering person. Someone with the gift of exhortation isn't responsible to lift and encourage every person she comes across in her daily life. Faith doesn't mean that you are never scared or never worry. Hospitality doesn't mean that you make your home into a boarding house for the homeless. God doesn't expect one person to do all His work. The body of Christ is supposed to work together. You are not supposed to do it all on your own. There will also be times that you need to be encouraged or need someone else to support you during your time of struggle. If you listen to God, He will show you to whom you need to minister and how and when. He will give you the words to encourage someone or show you a need that you can meet.
Gifts in Action
As I was thinking about all these things, I thought, I'll never have the kind of faith that Peter had in Acts 3: 1-10. But God showed me a point in my life that I had the kind of powerful faith that can move a mountain. About ten years ago, my marriage was falling apart. My husband wanted to leave. I asked him to stay, and he agreed, but we barely spoke. He couldn't look at me. I turned to God. I spent every lunch break alone with my Bible and God. I read everything I could find about love and about marriage. God revealed so much to me during that time about His love for me and gave me the strength to show my husband unconditional love. One day as I prayed, God directed me to flip through my calendar and to randomly mark a date. I circled the number and wrote "It will be okay" in the space. I completely forgot about doing it until months later, I flipped the page on my calendar and saw it. Those few short months later, everything was okay. My marriage was well on its way to being healed and now, all these years later, my marriage is better than it has ever been.
 |
| me and my hubby 2008 |
Unless you have been there, where your relationship looks like the aftermath of a tornado, you may not appreciate the miraculous healing my marriage experienced. If you ask the people closest to us, my mother for example, she would tell you that God performed a miracle in our lives. There is no doubt. I don't share this to pat myself on the back for sticking through a rough patch or for fixing my marriage on my own. I share it because I experienced God's assurance that it would be okay. I KNEW it despite all the evidence I had to the contrary and God delivered.
The truth is, I am not even sure I'd feel comfortable telling another Christian what spiritual gifts I have identified. I'm afraid they'd just me more harshly in those areas. I'm afraid that I wouldn't live up to God's standard every day and that I'd been a poor reflection of Him. (That's why I don't have a fish emblem on my car.) I don't know that I have to announce my spiritual gifts. I can give my testimony of faith without claiming I have the gift of faith. Maybe all I need to do is follow God's direction for my life and use my gifts as He directs me.
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