HOW TO IDENTIFY YOUR SPIRITUAL GIFTS

Do you know your spiritual gifts?

As a Christian, understanding your spiritual gifts can be a powerful tool in discovering your purpose and fulfilling God’s plan for your life. Spiritual gifts are special abilities given by the Holy Spirit to believers to help them serve God and others.

Without the Holy Spirit, as Christians we are powerless. When Jesus ascended, He gave us the Holy Spirit so that we would receive power to witness to people about Jesus (Acts 1:8). It is our responsibility to allow the Holy Spirit to manifest God’s ministry and power through the gifts He has given.

The gifts of the Holy Spirit can be categorised in various ways, but one common classification is into three groups: establishing gifts, ministry gifts, and supporting gifts. Here are some examples of each category:

1. Establishing gifts:

• Apostleship: The gift of being sent by God as a messenger or ambassador to establish and build up the church.
• Prophets: The gift of speaking God’s truth and will to others, often with a sense of urgency and warning.
• Evangelism: The gift of sharing the gospel with unbelievers and leading them to faith in Christ.
• Pastoring: The gift of shepherding and overseeing God’s people and meeting their spiritual needs.
• Teachers: The gift of communicating God’s truth in a clear and understandable way, and helping others to grow in their faith.

2. Ministry gifts:

• Prophecy: The gift of speaking God’s truth and will to others, often with a sense of urgency and warning.
• Healing: The gift of restoring physical, emotional, or spiritual health through prayer and faith.
• Miracles: The gift of performing supernatural signs and wonders that confirm the gospel message.
• Discernment: The gift of recognising and distinguishing between truth and error, good and evil, and the spirits of God and of the devil.
• Faith: The gift of trusting in God’s promises and power even in the face of adversity and uncertainty.
• Word of wisdom: The fact that this gift is described as the “word” of wisdom indicates that it is one of the speaking gifts. This gift describes someone who can understand and speak forth biblical truth in such a way as to skilfully apply it to life situations with discernment.
• Word of knowledge: This gift involves understanding truth with an insight that only comes by revelation from God. You can understand the deep things of God and the mysteries of His Word.
• Speaking in tongues: It involves the divine ability to speak in languages previously unknown to the speaker.
• Interpreting tongues: This gift understands what a tongues-speaker was saying even though they did not know the language that was being spoken, and interpret for everyone to also understand.

3. Supporting gifts:

• Administration: The gift of organizing and managing people, resources, and tasks effectively.
• Leadership: The gift of leading and guiding others in a godly manner, with wisdom and humility.
• Teaching: The gift of communicating God’s truth in a clear and understandable way, and helping others to grow in their faith.
• Hospitality: The gift of creating a welcoming and comfortable environment for others, especially strangers and visitors.
• Serving: The gift of meeting practical needs and helping others with humility and compassion.
• Giving: The gift of generously and joyfully sharing one’s resources and possessions with others.
• Mercy: The gift of showing compassion and kindness to those who are suffering or in need.
• Encouragement: The gift of building up others through words of affirmation, comfort, and exhortation.

It’s important to note that these gifts are not exhaustive or exclusive, and different believers may have different combinations and expressions of them. The purpose of these gifts is to equip the church for its mission of proclaiming and demonstrating the gospel of Jesus Christ, and to bring glory to God.

Now, that you know the different types of spiritual gifts, identifying your spiritual gifts can be a process of self-discovery and prayer. Here are some steps you can take to help you discern your spiritual gifts:

1. Seek God’s guidance through prayer

The Bible teaches us that it is the Holy Spirit who distributes the spiritual gifts to each person (1 Corinthians 12:11). Therefore, who better to ask than God, Himself. Prayer is the most important aspect of discerning your spiritual gifts. Ask God to reveal to you the gifts He has given you and to show you how to use them for His glory.

2. Study the Bible

The Bible lists several spiritual gifts, and studying the scriptures can help you understand the nature and purpose of these gifts. Read passages such as Romans 12:6-8, 1 Corinthians 12:4-11, and Ephesians 4:11-16. Knowing what the spiritual gifts are and understanding how they function will help you to identify the spiritual gifts God has given you and how He best wants you to use them.

3. Look at your natural talents and abilities

God often uses our natural talents and abilities as a foundation for our spiritual gifts. Think about the things you enjoy doing and the skills you possess. How can you use these talents to serve God and others? We see in the Parable of the Talents that each servant was given talents according to their ability (Matthew 25:15). Talents are equivalent to resources such as gifts, skills, time, money etc. God has given us spiritual gifts according to our abilities to do the work of God on earth before Jesus’ return. Look at the qualities and abilities God has given you, those can be the very thing God has entrusted you with to use to advance His kingdom.

4. Consider feedback from others

Ask trusted friends and family members to give you feedback on your strengths and weaknesses. They may see gifts in you that you haven’t yet recognised. Some things about yourself you can easily miss because they may come so naturally to you, and therefore you see them as insignificant. But the trusted community that you have around you can pick up on these strengths about you and edify you to use them. Also, we all have blindspots no matter how self-aware we think we are, therefore it is essential to have godly counsel to hold you accountable and help you mature in your weaknesses and gifting God has put within you (Proverbs 12:15).

5. Serve in your church and community

The Bible teaches us that as the body of Christ, we are all members of one body, each member having their own function (1 Corinthians 12:12-27). Meaning that each believer has their own part to play in advancing the kingdom of God, we all have a purpose. So, volunteering and serving in your church and community can give you a sense of what areas of ministry you are passionate about and gifted in. Look for opportunities to serve in different areas and see where you feel most fulfilled.

6. Seek guidance from spiritual leaders

Talk to pastors and other spiritual leaders in your church who can provide insight and guidance in discerning your spiritual gifts. They may be able to offer a different perspective or provide resources to help you in your journey. We see this with Paul and Timothy. Paul was a mentor to Timothy and he saw the spiritual gifts that were in him, and he helped him mature in them, so that he could pursue God’s call on his life to pastor and build churches (1 Timothy 4:14-16).

Remember that discovering your spiritual gifts is a process that takes time and patience. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t immediately know what your gifts are. Keep praying, seeking God’s guidance, and exploring different opportunities to serve. As you continue to grow in your relationship with God, your spiritual gifts will become clearer and you’ll be able to use them to glorify Him and serve others.

However, specifically knowing our spiritual gift does not excuse us from serving God in areas outside our gifting. That is not how the spiritual gifts work. God calls us to obediently serve Him in all things. He will equip us with whatever gift or gifts we need to accomplish the task He has called us to.

Leave a comment sharing what spiritual gift the Holy Spirit has distributed to you. Also, share this blog post to anyone you know who will benefit from learning how to identify their spiritual gift(s).

Stay blessed,

Divine L.