Monday, October 29, 2007

Discovering Your Spiritual Gifts



All month long we have been studying spiritual gifts here at Grace Church in our Sunday morning service series, “To You…from God.” Last Sunday we gave the tools you need to now discover and develop the gift or gifts that God selected just for you. They are:

EDUCATION: The first step to discovering your spiritual gift is to study spiritual gifts so you know what they are, which ones are available today, and the definition of each gift. This is what we have done on Sunday mornings all month long.

EXPECTATION: Discovering your spiritual gifts involves diligently asking God to reveal them to you. This isn’t a game of spiritual “hide-n-seek”. God wants you to know your gift so that you can be involved in the church in ministering to others.

ELIMINATION: Take a careful look at the definition of each gift available today. Write a “Y” next to the gift if you feel it could describe you. Write an “N” next to the gift if you know that there is no way on God’s green earth that you have that gift. Write a “U” next to the gift if you are unsure.

EXAMINATION: Along with the self-evaluation that you did under the previous step, you could also take a spiritual gifts test. One of the best tests I have seen is conducted by Dr Elmer Towns (http://www.elmertowns.com/spiritual_gifts_test/). It is free of charge and gets you an answer immediately. Be careful. Sometimes we tend to answer these questions according to how we wish we were rather than how we really are. I took one of these tests onced and it showed that my main gifts was “mercy.” If you know me, you know that mercy is not one of my gifts. The best way to examine is by giving two or three other people the list and definitions of the gifts and asking them which gifts they see in your life. These people must be strong, Spirit-filled Christians who have a proper understanding of the gifts and who know you very well. Now look at these lists and see what gifts are on multiple lists. These are your potential gifts.

EXPERIMENTATION: Now take your list of potential gifts and try using them. As you do, look for three things. First, look for desire…do you enjoy using the gift? Second, look for ability…are you capable of using the gift? Finally, look for blessing…did you see God bless your using the gift?

EVALUATION: Now evaluate. Ask yourself the following questions. Is this gift a Biblical gift for today? Can others see this gift in my life? Do I have a desire to use this gift? Do I have ability in using this gift? Have I seen God bless my using this gift? Have I prayed resulting in a confidence that this is one of my spiritual gifts (Colossians 3:15)? If the answer is “yes” to all of these questions, you can be pretty sure that this is at least one of your spiritual gifts. If the answer to any of these question is “no,” you may need to continue experimenting and praying about that gift. If several answers are “no,” you can pretty much bank on the fact that this is not one of your spiritual gifts

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