WHAT ARE SPIRITUAL GIFTS?

So you might have heard the term before called spiritual gifts. And you’re like I’m gifted this way and that way but how am I gifted spiritually? What does that even mean?

Well first off there are four main views on spiritual gifts today:
Cessationist: Spiritual gifts were only for the early church and are not relevant today.
Continuationist: Spiritual gifts are for today, but the “sign” gifts need to be looked at and tested with caution.
Charismatic: Spiritual gifts are for every generation, and they should be practiced today. This view is limited by scripture with no additions to the Word.
Hyper-charismatic: Spiritual gifts are for every generation and contemporary revelations are equal to Scripture.

But ok what is a spiritual gift?

Well spiritual gifts are kind of like your talents or things you’re gifted with, but they are given to you by the Holy Spirit and you receive them throughout your walk with God. Every believer has at least one spiritual gift, but many people have more than one. Typically spiritual gifts are always active in your life, but sometimes the Holy Spirit equips you with a specific gift for a specific moment. God chooses when and which gifts each of us receive.

The main places in the Bible that we learn about spiritual gifts are from 1 Corinthians 12-14, Romans 12, and Ephesians 4. From that scripture we can begin to build a list of spiritual gifts. They are words of wisdom, words of knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment, tongues, interpreting tongues, apostleship, evangelism, pastor, teacher, service, encouragement, giving, leadership, and mercy.

Some people look at those lists and limit the gifts to them. Since we do not have a complete list it can be fairly unclear as to what all of the gifts are, which in turn, creates much disagreement in the church. One big mistake is to deny spiritual gifts all together. Another is to pick one and think that it’s better than the others because God’s will is not accomplished if love is not the main motivation behind the gifts.

We don’t have time to break down every gift there is, but if you want to learn more, we talk about it in the Bible Study, or you can just Google it. There are a bunch of amazing spiritual gift tests available for you to take and show you which spiritual gifts you have most likely been equipped with. Once you know your top gift, or gifts, research them, dive in and learn how God has set you apart specifically to fulfill His plan for your life.

My spiritual gifts are giving and faith, sometimes it’s teaching. And once I figured those out I was able to focus my attention more on how I can impact the kingdom of God. And that’s my goal for you too. So have fun with it.

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