Spiritually Gifted to Give: The Equipping Gifts

Thanks for allowing me a Thanksgiving break and detour last week. I so enjoyed writing my Thanksgiving blog post...just relishing in the goodness of God. If you missed it, you can read it here... The Familiar.

Now back to Spiritual Gifts...

I don't want you to miss anything, so if you are just joining us in this series on spiritual gifts, you probably want to read the previous posts.

God Believes in You


Spiritual Gifts: Not a Secret


Spiritual Gifts: They Are Just That!


Spiritual Gifts: What They Are NOT (Includes an assessment)

Although spiritual gifts assessments are not the all-in-all, they can be very directional in helping us discover our gifts. Another way to discover your gifts is to recognize where and how God uses you. Do you often find yourself ministering to the needy and helpless? You most likely have the spiritual gift of mercy/compassion. Do you volunteer or get asked to teach often in the church? Then teaching is probably one of your spiritual gifts. Do friends frequently call or text or email you asking for advice? Perhaps you have the gift of wisdom or encouragement/exhortation. See how that works? Start observing where and how God is using you and that is probably a sure sign of your spiritual giftedness.

Another way of recognizing your spiritual gifts is to gain a good knowledge of specific spiritual gifts. Today, let's discuss the gifts that equip others.

Apostle/Missionary:  The person with this gift has a heart for a particular geographical area and seeks to find ways to reach that area for Christ. Apostles have a burden for unreached people groups and are able to easily overcome cultural barriers. Cautions: Because missionaries often work on their own, they need some type of accountability. They also need to be aware of pride and neglect of personal spiritual health.

Evangelist: Though we all have been commissioned to share the gospel of Jesus Christ, people with the gift of evangelism "ooze out the gospel." (My words.) Seriously, these people can be at a store and before the clerk has rung up their last item, they are talking about Jesus. Though many preachers are evangelists, not all evangelists are preachers. In fact, many people with the gift of evangelism never have a public platform. Their passion is to see people come to faith in Christ and they develop a simple and practical way of sharing Jesus with others. Cautions: Evangelists need to realize that bringing people to Christ is just the beginning and that people need discipleship beyond that. Also, they need to remember that this gift is not superior to any other.

Pastor/Shepherding:  People with this gift spiritually feed, nurture, and protect a group of believers. Remember that you may have this gift and never pastor a church! Pastoring is often seen in small groups. It is the ability to love on people and help them grow in their relationship to Jesus. Cautions:  Do not neglect your own personal or family needs because you are bearing so many others' burdens. Be aware of pride because sometimes those you shepherd can put you on a pedestal.

Prophet: Yes, this gift is still used today!  How? People with the gift of prophecy are able to assess a situation and speak the truth of God's Word into that situation. They are serious listeners to the voice of God and are not timid about sharing what they hear. Prophets defend God's Word and are deeply moved by sin or apathy in the body of Christ. Cautions: People with the gift of prophecy MUST be in God's Word to know the truth of God's Word! They must not lean on their own understanding. They must guard against pride and condemnation of others.

Teacher:  Teachers are able to effectively communicate truth and knowledge of God's Word to others. As a result, students are able to make life application with that knowledge. Teachers love researching God's Word and often enjoy word studies, historical searches, and cross-referencing. They are able to bring simplicity to a difficult subject. Cautions: Teachers must rely on the spiritual anointing of God instead of their natural ability to teach. Teachers need to be responsible and accountable for what they teach.


Do you have any of these equipping gifts? Are you already using those gifts to glorify God and build the body of Christ? Or maybe you need help identifying these gifts in yourself? I would love to hear from all of you! Please comment to let me know that this series is helpful. Thanks!


P.S. If you do not follow me on Twitter or Facebook, I would love to connect with you there...

Unwrapping the equipping gifts,


Kelli

The Familiar

They are there.


Tucked in between dashes to the grocery store or the office or the school.


They are there. 


Waiting to be seen, to be heard, to be noticed and given attention.


They are there.


Sometimes showing out, but only to give pleasure and delight.


They are there.


And they often come and go without a glance, without recognition, without acknowledgement.


They are the precious gifts that God has given us in our familiar.


They are the beautiful golden leaves on the trees that are intermixed with the reds, oranges, and the greens.  They are the clouds that either separate to form pillows that you can name or that come together and present a masterpiece yet to be attained.


They are the sunrises in the morning or the sunsets in the evening. They are the blades of grass that glisten in the morning, full of dew and readiness.

They are the ways that God makes Himself known to us through His amazing creation. 


They are in our familiar. We often take them for granted. 


But when we focus on God, our familiar becomes fascinating. We recognize the Giver and the gifts. 


Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances...   1 Thessalonians 5: 16 - 18


Lord, give us eyes to see the beauty of your gifts. Fascinate us with the familiar. We are thankful.


Happy Thanksgiving, friends! I am thankful for each of you.


Kelli


Linking with Women Living Well today and Jen at Finding Heaven and Winsome Wednesday...

Spiritual Gifts: What They are NOT

Now we know what spiritual gifts are and why we have them. It is also important to understand what they are NOT.

• Spiritual gifts are not the same as natural talents. Having a talent means you can do something well. Having a spiritual gift means you have been given a special ability (anointing) to do something well because of the power of the Holy Spirit within you. God created us with certain natural abilities and then spiritually gifted us with certain gifts. Can they overlap? Certainly.  Sometimes our spiritual gifts are spiritual "extensions" of a natural talent. On the other hand, our spiritual gifts can sometimes provide special abilities where we lack naturally. Either way, we recognize that our God is incredibly detailed and knows in advance what to give us naturally or SUPERnaturally so that we can do what He has called us to do.
• Spiritual gifts do not allow us to make excuses for not fulfilling our roles as Christians. For example, just because we do not have the gift of evangelism doesn't mean we don't continue to share the love of Jesus Christ with others. And just because we don't have the spiritual gift of mercy doesn't mean that we have an excuse to be unkind or negligent.
• My spiritual gifts are not for bragging rights. Every believer has been given spiritual gifts. Even though some gifts are more visible than others, there is no gift that is superior. There is also not a gift that is inferior. All our gifts are necessary in the body of Christ for it to function as God intended.
• My spiritual gifts are not to be used without having love as a motive. Any other motive is selfish, and my gift is no longer being used in the power of the Holy Spirit.  LOVE is imperative. 

So, what do you think? Has this been helpful? I hope so.  And if you need to take a spiritual gift assessment to help you discover your gifts, I have included a link below to another site where you can either complete the assessment online or download it. Remember, assessments are only to be used as directional tools. If you feel you have a gift in which you do not score highly on the test, feel free to still include it as one of your gifts. You will notice that the inventory that I am linking to is not exhaustive and does not include all of the gifts. Again, this is just for discovery and directional purposes. And this inventory is free!  There are others online and in stores that you can pay to take. Even still, no assessment is perfect or complete. We must rely on the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the affirmation of others to truly know what our gifts are.

FREE SPIRITUAL GIFT INVENTORY FROM SPREADING LIGHT.COM

Feel free to comment with any questions and I will get back with you. I LOVE YOUR QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS and will answer them by responding in the comments or in another blog post.

Have a great weekend. Don't forget to be thankful for the gifts you have!

Unwrapping the gifts - the spiritual ones,

Kelli

Spiritual Gifts: They are just that!

If you are just joining this blog series, you might want to go back and read God Believes in You and Spiritual Gifts: Not a Secret. 

Spiritual gifts are just that. GIFTS. You cannot earn them, work for them, stand in line for them, or volunteer for them. They are GIFTS and they are given to each of us who follow Christ. And I always say, if you don't like the gifts you are given, well, you can take that up with the Holy Spirit! 

"All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and He gives them to each person, just as He determines." 1 Corinthians 12:11

I don't believe the Holy Spirit is selfish about them, either. He gives them freely and graciously! Most people who have gone through my classes have at least three gifts that are evident to them. I find that many more gifts continue to surface as a person grows in his/her relationship with God and seeks to serve Him in many ways. In other words, sometimes we are not aware of gifts until we have had opportunities to use and develop certain gifts. And then there are times that God equips us with gifts necessary for a specific ministry situation, even if they are not our primary set of gifts.

So why do we even have spiritual gifts?

• Our use and development of our spiritual gifts glorify God. People see God and not us...He is made known. 
• Our spiritual gifts help other people when we use them as God intended. For example, when we use the gift of teaching, we are helping others understand the Word of God. Those with the  gift of mercy/compassion see people in need and reach out to help them. 
• The body of Christ (the Church - individual churches and the CHURCH as a whole) is strengthened and built up when we identify and develop our spiritual gifts. Similar to our physical bodies, when the parts of the body of Christ function and thrive, the body is healthy, stable, and productive. 

I know that many of you are anxious to complete an assessment. But I feel it necessary to lay a strong foundation about spiritual gifts in general before we start getting specific.

Coming Thursday: What Spiritual Gifts are Not.  ( And hopefully, the assessment)

So, tell me. Do you know what your gifts are? Have you ever been frustrated with the gifts you have been given? Are you using your gifts to build up the body of Christ? Please comment!

Unwrapping the gifts - the "spiritual" ones,

Kelli

Linking up with SDG...if you have never visited this blog, you need to.  Jen is a terrific writer and loves the Lord!

Spiritual Gifts: Not a Secret

I am constantly amazed at the number of Christians who are not aware of their spiritual giftedness. It motivates me, actually. I want to stand on the street corner, write a blog (ha!), tweet, whatever to educate believers about their spiritual gifts. They are not meant to be a secret!

Flikr

I am guessing there are a couple of reasons why this lack of knowledge exists:
1. Never thought about it
2. Not necessary to think about it
3. If I don't know my spiritual gifts, I don't have to use them.


Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12: 1, "Now about spiritual gifts, I do not want you to be ignorant." Thanks for cutting to the chase, Paul. In other words, Corinthian church, you are ignorant about them! Not only were they not informed about their individual gifts, but they had taken it on themselves to assign superiority to certain gifts. 


Ok, so what about you? Do you know YOUR spiritual gifts? If you do know them, are you using them? Developing them? Or are you taking the easy way out, preferring not to know them so that you are free not to use them?


Friends, spiritual gifts give us the opportunity to glorify God, serve others, and build up the Body of Christ.  And they remind us that we have a special place of service within the Kingdom. 


There is no one else who can do what God has called you to do like you do it. That's why He called you.


Next week I will provide an assessment for you folks that are not sure what your gifts are.  And then we will start looking at the gift descriptions.


In the mean time, PRAY that God would reveal how He has spiritually gifted you. ASK others in your life where they see fruit, and you will often find your gifts. 
So, what comments or questions do you have that we can cover in weeks to come?


Unwrapping the spiritual gifts,


Kelli

Tool or Idol?

I am a contributor to the Keeping It Personal blog team and today I am posting my first article.  Please join me over there and show me some comment love HERE and THERE. (Please.)  I would love to know what you think.  This is a small digression from the Spiritual Gift topic, but a heart message nonetheless. 

I am away at Staff Retreat, so pray for the wonderful team of leaders that I serve with at Christ Community Church.  I will be back to post on Thursday...

SO HERE'S THE LINK TO MY ARTICLE....

 Tool or Idol?

See you soon.  Much love to all...

Unwrapping the gift of discernment,

Kelli

God Believes in You!

Thanks for all of you who entered in the giveaway for Teri Johnson's empowering book, Overcoming the Nevers. It was such a fun day to interact with Teri and hear her heart!

THE WINNER OF THE SIGNED COPY IS.... Daniela Castila!  (Daniela, please email your mailing address to kelli{at}ccclive{dot}org. Thanks! Congratulations!

We are going a new direction for November and December on the blog. We are going to be discussing Spiritual Gifts and Personalities. I am so excited to share this with you...I think it will have impact on your life.  So, join me the next few weeks on Mondays and Thursdays as we explore how God has created us and how He wants to use us to glorify Him and benefit others. Today is a foundational message.

Photo credit: only Alice, flickr

God gifts every believer.

“Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.” 1 Cor. 12:7

GOD is the giver of spiritual gifts! 

EVERY believer has at least one gift – usually more than one.  Why?  because

God believes in you.

He loves you.  He has a plan for your life.  He wants to use you.

One of the greatest blessings of my ministry at CCC is spending an hour with people after they go through the SHAPE class. During this hour, God allows and empowers me to speak truth and life into someone’s heart.  God loves and believes in us, and He wants us to know He has a purpose for our lives, no matter what we have done.  


Jesus spoke words of truth into Simon Peter while He was still on earth.  “Who do you say that I am?”

Peter exclaimed, "You are Christ!"

“Jesus replied, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.  And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church...’”  Matthew 16: 17 – 18

Even though Christ knew that Simon Peter would soon deny Him three times, He also knew that Peter would be the one to proclaim the Gospel on the day of Pentecost and be the rock on which His church was built.  He believed in Peter and He believes in you!

Paul goes on to emphasize this in his book to the Corinthian church. “We are Christ’s ambassadors as though God were making His appeal through us.”  2 Cor. 5:20

Wow!  We are His representatives.  We have been entrusted with the gospel of Christ because He chose us to be his ambassadors.

Isn’t it amazing that He could have accomplished His purposes all by Himself, but He chose to use us?  Every member of the body of Christ is a minister!  He has gifted us to join Him!


Do you need to hear that God believes in you? That He has gifted you to join Him in accomplishing His purposes? Please comment and let me know.


Unwrapping the gifts God has entrusted us with,


Kelli