Are You Using Your Spiritual Gifts?

"Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit,
and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord (Jesus Christ),
and there are varieties of working, but it is the same God (the Father)
who inspires them all in every one.
To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good."
1 Corinthians 12:5-7

As part of my Lenten journey, I am revisiting my spiritual gifts. Have you ever taken a spiritual gifts test? I took one many years ago - promptly filed in a church filing cabinet somewhere. I thought, then, that they (?) would call me if/when they found a place to use my gifts. No one ever called...

As I've matured, I decided that it is my responsibility to recognize, grow my gifts and be more open to the Holy Spirit to utilize my gifts. We are all gifted with spiritual gifts - defined in Holy Scripture - if we claim them. God created each of us uniquely and for a purpose...and then equips us to fulfill His purpose with unique spiritual gifts.

For the sake of clarity, it might be best to define and categorize spiritual gifts (which may vary slightly by denomination) into three categories related to God's revelation in creation, proclaiming the Gospel and the supernatural workings of God:

God's Revelation in Creation

Giving - cheerfully & generously beyond their tithe
Hospitality - can really make people feel at home
Mercy - demonstrates empathy through action toward those who are troubled
Voluntary Poverty - consciously maintain a lower standard of living than they can afford
Knowledge - able to develop new ideas valuable for the church
Organization - understands goals for specific areas of ministry and makes effective plans to reach those goals
Wisdom - help others to apply existing knowledge to specific situations
Artistic Creativity - dance, art, music, writing
Craftsmanship - anyone skilled with their hands
Music - singing & playing music

Proclaiming the Gospel & Helping People Grow in Knowledge of Christ

Evangelism - communicate the Gospel to non-Christians leading them to faith
Missionary - able to utilize gifts in another culture
Apostle - spiritual leaders recognized inside & outside their church
Counseling - serves others through comfort, admonition & encouragement
Leadership - able to set goals for the church AND communicate them so people volunteer to achieve them
Shepherding- able to assume long-term personal responsibility for the spiritual well-being of others
Teaching - able to communicate the Truth in a manner that helps others learn
Helps - used to lighten the load of others
Service - offer the gift of service to meet goals
Singleness - able to exercise gifts content in singleness

The Supernatural Workings of God

Faith - able to discern, with an unusual degree of confidence, the will of God
Prayer - pray for concrete requests over long periods of time
Suffering - enables Christians to suffer for their faith while maintaining a joyful, victorious spirit
Discernment - able to distinguish between truth & deception
Interpretation - interprets the messages sent in tongues
Prophecy - serve as the vehicle for divine messages and communicate it to others
Tongues - able to use a language they have never learned in prayer or for a public message
Deliverance - able to help others suffering from demonic oppression
Healing - serve as God's instruments for restoring the health of others without medical tools
Miracles - serve as human instruments through whom God performs powerful acts that surpass natural laws.

Are you using your gifts from the Holy Spirit, sent to strengthen us in service, to build the faith? My strongest gifts, according the the test I took, include prayer, suffering, mercy, faith, miracles and knowledge. Maybe I found the best environment to use my gifts in homeschooling my children...

When we use our gifts, we no longer have to rely solely on our human wisdom and understanding to carry out our commitments to God and His beloved children.