Wednesday, 18 March 2009

• Gifts From God

              I recently finished up a short class at my church. One of the pastors was teaching on spiritual gifts. These were my top three spiritual gifts:

   

              Singleness.

              Enduring Suffering.

              Voluntary poverty.

             

  My first thought was, "AWESOME! Those are the most perfect gifts for a novelist! Hahahah!" Just goes to show that God often equips you for what you're meant to do. ~.^

  It was a very enlightening class. Did you know that 80% of the churchgoers are not even aware they have spiritual gifts? And every believer is guaranteed to have at least one gift.

   

  But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another.

   [[1 Corinthians 7:7B]]

   

  There are lists of gifts in the Bible as well.

   

  Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and  there are varieties of service, but  the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of  wisdom, and to another the utterance of  knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.

  [[1 Corinthians 12:4-11]]

   

  Wisdom, knowledge, healing, tongues, prophecy, discernment is only scraping the surface I'm sure. No list in the Bible is complete.

  The tests we went through as part of this course showed that I had some very peculiar latent gifts as well. (In other words, these gifts I weren't actively using for some reason or another.)

  As Christians, we're all responsible for our gifts. The more gifted you are, the more responsible you are. So if you're a Christian with profound gifts like deliverance or prophecy, you better use those gifts very, very carefully.

  It's kind of sad really. Spiritual gifts have been given such a bad reputation by people who've fallen off the path. People have tried to use a gifts they don't actually have. They have used a gift for the wrong reasons. Or they have stepped outside the bounds and used it without consulting God. Physical, emotional, and spiritual disaster resulted. Those types of disasters sour everyone's opinions of gifts.

  And yet, an enormous potential for good exists in these gifts when they are used the way God intended. I mean, look at prayer. Prayer has shown itself to be awful powerful. It just works. (That's always been important to me that spiritual practices not only have tangible results/evidences, but also positive, helpful, or otherwise good effects.) It's the strangest thing, wandering through life and watching reality line itself up for you, no matter how hopeless or tough a situation is. If simple prayer can do this, think of what other gifts can do.

   

  The disasters left behind by others who have misused God's gifts stand as a grim warning. This is not something to be taken lightly. And yet, a door has opened. My mind is full of "What if?" My curiosity is intrigued. I want to see and find out. After all, what do I have to lose? Before anything else, I intend to give my latent gifts a thorough exploration.

  This is going to be interesting~!

   

  Other Gift Scriptures:

  [Romans 12:3-8 & 1 Peter 4:10]

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