Happy Monday Friends!! I hope that Mother's day was a blessing to each of you and I hope you have had a wonderful day so far.
Today marks the first day of our journey into the world of spiritual gifts. I'm going to begin a series of Monday blogs on spiritual gifts and how important they are in the life of a believer. It is my personal opinion that spirtual gifts are extremely important in the lives of Christians and guide the believer's usefulness in the kingdom of God not only inside the church but outside the walls of the church and into the global church community. If you are someone who has never taken a serious look at the gifts you have been given, I'd like to encourage you to take a spiritual gift inventory online at http://www.churchgrowth.org/ and select the free individual spiritual gifts inventory. I've found this particular spiritual gifts inventory to be so helpful and clear and it doesn't take very long to complete. Once you complete the survey, reading my blog will be a lot clearer and easier to understand.
I'm planning to spend each Monday looking at specific gifts and areas of service that fit well for that gift but I want to go deeper. I want to look at how spiritual gifts truly can help us to find the right career and help us to make good choices when making decisions. Knowing how we are gifted can help us to resist the urge to get over-extended and be more selective in areas where we serve and grow. I want to look at how spiritual gifts work and how God will give us primary gifts that stay with us consistently and then He will equip us with gifts as needed on either urgent situations or areas of service where we need to grow and expand our confidenct. I'd like to explore helping us to understand further how we can assess whether we are operating in the spirit or outside the spirit -- it's really quite easy to determine with just a few quick tips and then I'd like to draw in the Fruits of the Spirit which are different than spiritual gifts - but we have access to them even more powerfully when we are confident in walking in our gift-set.
I do hope you'll join me as we take this journey. I believe you'll be enlightened, encouraged and that you'll enjoy learning more about these extraordinary presents from our loving Father and learning how we can be better stewards of them.
To someone who is a new believer, the idea of spiritual gifts may seem like a strange concept. No worries. We're going to start at the beginning. What is a spiritual gift and how can I know what I have?
Spiritual gifts are given to the believer by the Holy Spirit according to God's will and they are meant to serve and build up the body of Christ. There are many mentions of different gifts in Scripture. The term "spiritual gifts" comes from the Greek words charismata (gifts) and pneumatika (spirits). They are the plural forms of charisma, meaning "expression of grace," and pneumatikon meaning "expression of Spirit." While there are different kinds of gifts (1 Corinthians 12:4), generally speaking, spiritual gifts are God-given graces (special abilities, offices, or manifestations) meant for works of service, to benefit and build up the body of Christ as a whole. (Reference: http://www.christianity.about.com/)
Here are a few Scripture references that list different spiritual gifts
•Romans 12:6-8 •1 Corinthians 12:4-11, 28-31 •Ephesians 4:7-13 •1 Peter 4:10
A spiritual gift is different than a talent or skill. The major difference is that the spiritual gift doesn't really require any training or practice -- just being aware of the gift and willing to use it sharpens the gift into usefulness. Talent (such as singing, writing, dance, playing instruments, acting, visual arts, etc.) isn't necessarily spiritual though it is God-given. Talent is a natural ability but to be better, it will take more training and practice. There are millions of unbelievers who have exceptional talent. A skill is learned. (any type of profession, technical or trade skill comes from training and practice - talent may be a part of it, but the training differenciates the skill from talent. Again, skills aren't spiritual in nature but are God-given.) Gifts, talents and skills should all be used to serve and benefit the body of Christ but for our purposes we will focus on the Spiritual gifts and their significance.
When we meet again next Monday, we'll take a look at "Service" and "Administration". So if you haven't had a chance to find out what your gifts are, you'll have a week or so before we begin looking at the individual gifts.
I hope you'll enjoy this. I ask for your prayers as I write this information to share with you. I am passionate about spiritual gifts, but I don't want this to be about my passion -- I want this to be yet another way to encourage you to know who you are in Christ and just how special and unique you are. I believe you'll be so encouraged when you become comfortable in your gifting and that will lead to a much more peaceful and confident walk with Christ and in serving the body of Christ with your gifts.
SO...know and grow - be blessed and not stressed! Have an awesome week!! Amy
Today marks the first day of our journey into the world of spiritual gifts. I'm going to begin a series of Monday blogs on spiritual gifts and how important they are in the life of a believer. It is my personal opinion that spirtual gifts are extremely important in the lives of Christians and guide the believer's usefulness in the kingdom of God not only inside the church but outside the walls of the church and into the global church community. If you are someone who has never taken a serious look at the gifts you have been given, I'd like to encourage you to take a spiritual gift inventory online at http://www.churchgrowth.org/ and select the free individual spiritual gifts inventory. I've found this particular spiritual gifts inventory to be so helpful and clear and it doesn't take very long to complete. Once you complete the survey, reading my blog will be a lot clearer and easier to understand.
I'm planning to spend each Monday looking at specific gifts and areas of service that fit well for that gift but I want to go deeper. I want to look at how spiritual gifts truly can help us to find the right career and help us to make good choices when making decisions. Knowing how we are gifted can help us to resist the urge to get over-extended and be more selective in areas where we serve and grow. I want to look at how spiritual gifts work and how God will give us primary gifts that stay with us consistently and then He will equip us with gifts as needed on either urgent situations or areas of service where we need to grow and expand our confidenct. I'd like to explore helping us to understand further how we can assess whether we are operating in the spirit or outside the spirit -- it's really quite easy to determine with just a few quick tips and then I'd like to draw in the Fruits of the Spirit which are different than spiritual gifts - but we have access to them even more powerfully when we are confident in walking in our gift-set.
I do hope you'll join me as we take this journey. I believe you'll be enlightened, encouraged and that you'll enjoy learning more about these extraordinary presents from our loving Father and learning how we can be better stewards of them.
To someone who is a new believer, the idea of spiritual gifts may seem like a strange concept. No worries. We're going to start at the beginning. What is a spiritual gift and how can I know what I have?
Spiritual gifts are given to the believer by the Holy Spirit according to God's will and they are meant to serve and build up the body of Christ. There are many mentions of different gifts in Scripture. The term "spiritual gifts" comes from the Greek words charismata (gifts) and pneumatika (spirits). They are the plural forms of charisma, meaning "expression of grace," and pneumatikon meaning "expression of Spirit." While there are different kinds of gifts (1 Corinthians 12:4), generally speaking, spiritual gifts are God-given graces (special abilities, offices, or manifestations) meant for works of service, to benefit and build up the body of Christ as a whole. (Reference: http://www.christianity.about.com/)
Here are a few Scripture references that list different spiritual gifts
•Romans 12:6-8 •1 Corinthians 12:4-11, 28-31 •Ephesians 4:7-13 •1 Peter 4:10
A spiritual gift is different than a talent or skill. The major difference is that the spiritual gift doesn't really require any training or practice -- just being aware of the gift and willing to use it sharpens the gift into usefulness. Talent (such as singing, writing, dance, playing instruments, acting, visual arts, etc.) isn't necessarily spiritual though it is God-given. Talent is a natural ability but to be better, it will take more training and practice. There are millions of unbelievers who have exceptional talent. A skill is learned. (any type of profession, technical or trade skill comes from training and practice - talent may be a part of it, but the training differenciates the skill from talent. Again, skills aren't spiritual in nature but are God-given.) Gifts, talents and skills should all be used to serve and benefit the body of Christ but for our purposes we will focus on the Spiritual gifts and their significance.
When we meet again next Monday, we'll take a look at "Service" and "Administration". So if you haven't had a chance to find out what your gifts are, you'll have a week or so before we begin looking at the individual gifts.
I hope you'll enjoy this. I ask for your prayers as I write this information to share with you. I am passionate about spiritual gifts, but I don't want this to be about my passion -- I want this to be yet another way to encourage you to know who you are in Christ and just how special and unique you are. I believe you'll be so encouraged when you become comfortable in your gifting and that will lead to a much more peaceful and confident walk with Christ and in serving the body of Christ with your gifts.
SO...know and grow - be blessed and not stressed! Have an awesome week!! Amy
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