God created the world around us. God created
us. God didn't build a toll booth to collect user fees for life. Instead, life
is free, and being in the created world is free; it's a gift. We humans are the
ones who attach fees to what has been freely given to us.
The biggest gift of
all, however, is not other people, and is not nature, or the universe, or
family. The biggest gift in all of existence is that we are given the Giver. But Jesus is not walking among
us today. So another gift has been given - God in yet another way, the divine
Spirit through whom Christ is still in effect right here and now. This Spirit
leads, shapes, empowers, and gives us joy. The gift a Christian lives in every
day, most fundamentally, is the Holy Spirit.
Gifts of the Spirit are special abilities
provided by the Holy Spirit to Christians for the purpose of building up the
body of Christ. The list of spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10 includes
wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits,
speaking in tongues, and interpretation of tongues. Similar lists appear in
Ephesians 4:7-13 and Romans 12:3-8. The gifts of the Spirit are simply God
enabling believers to do what He has called us to do. 2 Peter 1:3 says,
"His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness
through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness."
The gifts of the Holy Spirit are part of the "everything we need" to fulfil
His purposes for our lives.
Gifts of the Spirit - The Definitions
There is some controversy as to the precise
nature of each of the gifts of the Spirit, but here is a list of spiritual
gifts and their basic definitions.
o
The gift
of wisdom is the ability to make
decisions and give guidance that is according to God's will.
o
The gift
of knowledge is the ability to have
an in-depth understanding of a spiritual issue or situation.
o
The gift
of faith is being able to trust God
and encourage others to trust God, no matter the circumstances.
o
The gift
of healing is the miraculous ability
to use God's healing power to restore a person who is sick, injured, or
suffering.
o
The gift
of miracles is being able to perform
signs and wonders that give authenticity to God's Word and the Gospel message.
o
The gift
of prophecy is being able to proclaim
a message from God.
o
The gift of
discerning spirits is the ability to
determine whether or not a message, person, or event is truly from God.
o
The gift
of tongues is the ability to speak in
a foreign language that you do not have knowledge of, in order to communicate
with someone who speaks that language.
o
The gift
of interpreting tongues is the
ability to translate the tongues speaking and communicate it back to others in
your own language.
o
The gift
of administration is being able to
keep things organized and in accordance with God's principles.
o
The gift
of helps is always having the desire
and ability to help others, to do whatever it takes to get a task accomplished.
Which One(s) Do I Have?
The Holy Spirit distributes the gifts of the
Spirit as He sees fit (1 Corinthians 12:7-11). God does not want us to be
ignorant of how He wants us to serve Him. However, it is very easy for us to
get caught up in what spiritual gift(s) we have and then only serve God in that
area of ministry. That is not how it works. God calls us to obediently serve
Him. He will equip us with whatever gifts of the Spirit we need to accomplish
the task or tasks He has called us to. Yes, God calls some to be teachers and
gives them the gift of teaching, but that does not excuse the person from
serving God in other ways as well. Is it beneficial to know what spiritual
gift(s) God has given you? Of course, it is. Is it wrong to focus so much on
spiritual gifts that we miss other opportunities to serve God? Yes!
Today’s Question
Why are spiritual gifts needed in the church
today?
There is no magic formula or spiritual gift
test that can tell you what gifts of the Spirit you possess. What we need to
focus on is serving God. Do you see a need in your church? Do what you can to
meet it. Is there a position in a ministry that is vacant? Pray as to whether
God would have you fill it. If we seek God's will and obey His leading, He will
always equip us with whatever gifts of the Spirit we need. Spiritual gift tests
can be of some value in determining what areas God has especially gifted you.
As always, though, place far more emphasis on God's Word and submitting to the
Lord's leading than you do on the results of a spiritual gift test.
What Are the Gifts Used For?
The Apostle Paul indicated that the gifts of
the Spirit are equally valid, but not equally valuable. Their value is
determined by their worth to the church. In dealing with this matter, he used
the analogy of the human body. All members of the body have functions, Paul
declared, but some are more important than others (1 Corinthians 12:12-26). The
service of each Christian should be in proportion to the gifts which he
possesses (1 Corinthians 12-14). All believers, as members of the body of
Christ, must be serving together in order for the body to be fully-functional.
That is why a church needs pastors, teachers, helpers, servants,
administrators, those with great faith, etc. All of the gifts of the Holy
Spirit working together are needed to produce the full potential of the church.
Since the gifts of the Spirit are gifts of grace, their use must be controlled
by the rule of love - the greatest of all the gifts of the Spirit (1
Corinthians 13).
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