Spiritual Gifts - Part III

Today, we are going to finish up our discussion of Spiritual Gifts.

As we look to find how God is trying to use us, we should remember one more thing. God will work in our spirit to give us a desire to succeed in the work that He has planned for us. In other words, God knows how we are made – He knows our deepest passions. After all, He has created us and knows our hearts and our spirit. He will work in conjunction with this to do His work. Our passions tell us where we serve. They give us direction and motivate us. Our passions energize us in our work. As we go through the process of determining what our Spiritual Gifts are, we need to keep in mind what our passions are as well.

For example, God may have given me the gift of teaching. However, I am not so sure I would be very successful teaching young children or angry people. I don’t have the passion for that. My heart is not there. But teaching adults about Jesus is my passion. So, it isn’t enough for me to recognize that my gift is teaching, but I also have to recognize that my passion is for building God’s kingdom. By putting these together, I am not teaching Children’s Sunday school or training prisoners but I am preaching on Sunday mornings. God always works with us; we need to work with Him as well. When we work with God, we allow His Spirit to work through us and we are capable of using these Spiritual Gifts to do His work. God, knowing our passions, works with us to make sure that we have the power and desire to use those gifts properly.

Which brings us to the big question: How do we know that we are using our Spiritual Gifts? Wouldn’t it be great if I could give you a test, and after taking the test, you knew what your gifts were? In fact, I’ll bet that we’ve all taken a Spiritual Gifts inventory test at some point. However, after a short burst of excitement over “knowing” our spiritual gift, we quickly find ourselves back in the same place we were prior to the test. We wonder whether we got it right and whether the test was right or that we got the wrong answer. Unfortunately, a test will not give you the answer to what your spiritual gift is. It certainly can help point you in the right direction, but we cannot depend on any test.

As we struggle to learn what our spiritual gift is, there are several things we should be doing. The first is praying. We need to lift up our concerns to God and ask Him to guide us in this. Ask for Him to lead you down the right path.

The next is studying. We need to be familiar with what the Bible has to say about the gifts, the Holy Spirit’s work, God’s heart, God’s desire for each and every one of us, those in His church and those who don’t yet know Him.

We need to set aside time every day for both of these disciplines. After all, your boss wouldn’t give you a job to do if he knew that you never did it before and had no idea how or why your are doing it – he would make sure you were brought up to speed on the project, understood what was expected and give you training to be successful. As we try to determine what our spiritual gifts are, we need to do whatever we can to be prepared for the work God is calling us to. Prayer and Study are the ways we prepare ourselves.

Determine what your passions are. What are the kinds of people you would like to help or work with? Children? The sick? The elderly? Those in need? Prisoners? The list goes on…who are your passions for? What issues are you concerned about? Education? Crime? Poverty? Health or disease issues? Again, the list goes on…what are you passionate about? If you knew there was something that you could do and that there was no way for you to fail, what would it be? What would you want written on your tombstone and your obituary? If a stranger asked you what you do and you could choose anything, what would you say? What do you love to talk about and can talk about it all day and night? These are the kinds of questions you need to ask yourself as you explore how God has made you. After answering these questions, you need to create some choices: what are some things that you can do that would fit these parameters? How do these fit with the list of gifts from the Bible?

What is God showing you through all this? Think about what God has done in your life and how He has been leading you. What have been your success stories? What have been your failures? What did you truly enjoy doing? What have you done well? Reflect on the answers to these questions as you search for the gift God is trying to work through you.

Then do something! You can’t just sit around and wait for something to happen. You need to start. Sometimes, you get it wrong the first time. And the second time. And so on. But you will never know until you go out there and try. The saying that you can’t hit a ball unless you swing the bat is true here. You cannot know what your gift is until you get up and try to do different things. After all, your gift will probably be something that you’ve never tried before because you weren’t able to do it before. But now that God is doing it through you, you can do it! You need to step out and try or you will never know.

Then watch and listen to see whether you got it right. Are you being successful? What are others saying? Do they think you are working in your gifting? Ask people you trust to give you an appraisal of what you are doing.

Service is part of your spiritual journey, and your calling to serve may evolve over the course of your life. These questions-to-ask are all part of a cycle that needs to be repeated throughout your life. Sometimes you will find opportunities through exploration and experimentation, and sometimes opportunities to serve will find you. Be open to God's call in your life, and enjoy the journey!

Remember, Satan does not want you to discover your Gifts; he wants you to ignore your responsibility and nurture of one another! So, does Satan have your attention, or does Christ? Go. Ask yourself the hard questions. Take the time to figure out what your passions are. Do the work to try out your thinking by volunteering and working to serve. By doing these things, you WILL find what God wants to do with your life, the true meaning and purpose of your life. It is not an easy road, but it is one of the most important things you can do. And once you do it, the rewards will be great – on Earth, but more importantly, in Heaven.

Send mail to david@TheArkNY.org with questions about the church or comments about this site.
Last modified: Oct 10, 2007