Spiritual Gift

For the purpose of this week's study on spiritual gift, I decided to post some useful information to identify and exercise your spiritual gifts.

(1) Offer yourself to God as a living sacrifice, out of gratitude for His mercies to you. Give
yourself to serve Him sacrificially, selflessly, through serving others. This is the starting place
Paul specifies in Romans 12:1-2. It should also be our starting place.

(2) Study the Scriptures which not only name the spiritual gifts, but also describe their
function. The gift of exhortation, for example, is illustrated by the life of Barnabas, the “son of
exhortation.”

(3) Be obedient to the commands of Scripture. We are commanded to give (verse 13). Pray
for wisdom and insight as to how you may give in a way that pleases God. I am convinced that
for every vital spiritual gift there is a corresponding command to perform this function. Ask
God to open your eyes as to how He wants you to obey in each vital area. As you begin to obey,
take note of those things in which God’s blessing is confirmed by others and becomes clear to
you. Develop this particular ability further, and seek different ways to implement this gift.

(4) Look for needs, and seek to meet them. Look for those who are weaker than you, and
serve them from your strength. Spiritual gifts are given in order to meet the needs of others.
Others needs are all about us. We need but the eyes to see them and the obedience to
respond to them by God’s grace and power. Look in your church bulletin. Who are those in
need this week? What needs are going unmet in the church? Is there a need for Sunday School
teachers? What an opportunity if you have the gift of teaching.

I am convinced that the matter of spiritual gifts is not as mysterious as some suggest and as it
might seem at first. If you have first given yourself to God, and you are seeking to obey Him
in the strength He supplies, you will know what He has given you to do, and you will have
the faith and the grace necessary to do it.