OVERVIEW
Understanding My Spiritual Gifts
How We Are to Serve:
The key thing to remember is there are…
- no right or wrong gifts
- no right or wrong styles
- no right or wrong passions
They are just different!
In fact, you can have…
- Any Spiritual Gift, with
- Any Personal Style, with
- Any Ministry Passion
Here are some key things you need to know about what Spiritual Gifts ARE… and what they are NOT!
Spiritual Gifts ARE…
- special abilities
- given to us by the Holy Spirit when we receive Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord
- distributed to every believer according to God’s design and grace
- given to you for the edification of and service to the Body of Christ
Spiritual Gifts ARE NOT…
- natural talents, such as singing, athleticism, speaking ability and so forth
- the Fruits of the Spirit, such as love, joy, peace, and so forth
- specific church positions, such as pastor, Sunday school teacher, small group leader, and so forth
- Christian disciplines, such as fasting, prayer, study, tithing and so forth
In fact, natural talents are given to people at physical birth and, of course, are given to us by God Himself. On the other hand, Spiritual Gifts are given to us at our Spiritual birth by God through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
Sometimes a natural talent can be transformed into a Spiritual Gift by the Holy Spirit. For example, someone with a natural talent as a manager can have this gift transformed into the Spiritual Gift of leadership and administration. Or take the case of the exceptional salesperson who, when they receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, also receives the gift of evangelism. By the same token, the natural singer, by the power of the Holy Spirit, may receive the gift of service whereby the singing talent is used to enhance worship and to help others to praise God.
Here’s the bottom line: when you received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you received at least one Spiritual Gift. This gift is to be used to build up the Body of Christ. It is not for your personal and private use! For this reason, it is critical to your spiritual development that you come to understand your Spiritual Gift and how it, in concert with your personal style and your Ministry passion uniquely positions you to work in the building of the Kingdom and the Body of Christ.
As you work with your Spiritual Gifts coach, open your mind, your heart and your soul to receive what the Holy Spirit has for you! As you complete these exercises, do so honestly (it’s about where you really are, not what you necessarily think you should be) and with a spirit of submission ready to receive what God has in store for you and to use your Spiritual Gifts to work in His service.
Please click here to return to the re:shape overview page.
This instruction is adapted, in part, from the workbook titled Network Participants Guide by Bruce Bugbee and Don Cousins with Wendy Seidman. This book is published by Zondervan, copyright 1994, 2005 by Willow Creek Community Church and Bruce Bugbee. For a more complete treatment, see this book.