Spiritual Gifts IV

1 Peter 4:10 “ As each one has received a special GIFT, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”

Let me preface this by saying that this is not a magic formula for identifying your Spiritual Gift nor is it some new method. It is, however, a practical and Biblical approach to identifying your Spiritual gift. Let’s review the other three steps before we get into the fourth.

STEP ONE: Realize that your have a Spiritual Gift.
I know a lot of your were probably wondering why I started of with this as a first step. The reason being is that there are many Christians who are taught more about Psychology in the Christian life than they are taught about Spirituality in the Christian life. In fact, (please don’t take this bold statement as arrogant) I would venture to say that most Christians don’t have a clue about the Spiritual Life. Therefore it is necessary that we start at the beginning and that is realization. Only when we believe that we have a Spiritual gift can we begin to identify and employ it.

STEP TWO: Walk by the Spirit
Walking by the Spirit is a prerequisite for the Christian way of life. In fact, walking by the Spirit is the Christian Way of Life. Apart from walking by the filling ministry of the Holy Spirit it is impossible to identify and employ your Spiritual gift. Walking by the Spirit requires confession, correction, and positive volition (choice) toward the plan, will, and Word of God. WE MUST CHOOSE TO WALK BY THE SPIRIT! Walking by the Spirit is a daily, continual, commitment outlined for us in Romans 12:1-2. (Please read)

STEP THREE: Study God’s Word on the subject of Spiritual Gifts
It is of the utmost importance to gain a full understanding of God’s Word on the subject of Spiritual gifts. This requires you to understand the difference between temporary and permanent Spiritual gifts. This requires you to understand the purpose for the temporary gifts that were used by the Apostles in the book of Acts. On the devotion I listed the nine Spiritual gifts that are active today in the church but if you would like more information on temporary and permanent Spiritual gifts, I recommend that you use these links to study. Introduction to Spiritual Gifts. 19 Spiritual gifts; Temporary Spiritual gifts; Permanent Spiritual gifts; Spiritual gifts and the plan of God; Temporary Spiritual gifts part 2 ; Spiritual Gift problems; Spiritual gifts and Love ;

STEP FOUR: Prayer
If you are one who is searching for your Spiritual gift; how much time do you spend in prayer with regard to your gift? The identification of Spiritual gifts should be a matter of careful, continuous, and confident prayer on our part. It seems pretty simple according to Scripture. All you have to do is ask God the Father to disclose to you which particular gift the Holy Spirit has given you. He is your heavenly Father and He absolutely knows. Why not ask him? If you want wisdom, direction and guidance about Spiritual gifts, then who is better than God from which to seek it? Ask God through persistent and consistent prayer.

James 1:5 “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”

James 1:5 starts out with a first class condition in the Greek language “if”. This doesn’t mean that maybe you do, maybe you don’t lack wisdom as it sounds in the English. It means that everyone lacks wisdom; therefore, since we all lack wisdom let us ask God AND IT WILL BE GIVEN TO HIM. This is a promise from the Word. Grab it right now and apply it. Don’t get confused though. It doesn’t say that it will “immediately” be given to him. It says it “will be” which is a promise of delivery at some point in future time, not immediately. This can absolutely be applied to Spiritual gifts. Grab this verse and start applying consistently and persistently. Remember that God is accountable to His own character to fulfill His promises. This is one of those promises. Apply it and He will fulfill it.

Matthew 7:7-8 “Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened.”

In this verse the verbs ASK, SEEK, and KNOCK are all in the present tense in the Greek language. The present tense in the Greek language adds continuity to the verb. It should read “keep on asking”, "keep on seeking”, and "keep on knocking”. If you are wanting to identify your Spiritual gift, then you are going to have to keep on asking, seeking, and knocking, and God’s Word promises that you will receive, find, and open the door that leads to the understanding of your gift. We will look at this verse in more depth tommorrow. Right now just concentrate on asking. There is no one better to ask than God. Without asking there is no receiving; without seeking there is no finding; without knocking, there is no opening.

Tomorrow we will wrap up this lesson with step five. I pray you all have a great day.