Saturday, December 09, 2006

Opening Your Spiritual Gifts (Day 7)

The first thing you need to do to determine your spiritual gifts is to ask.

Paul writes in the New Testament: “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned” (Romans 12:3).

When assessing what God wants us to do for the mission of the Church, we’re to take an inventory of our strengths, weaknesses, skills, and passions. That means asking questions and not being afraid of the answers. But who should we ask?

First: Ask God. Ted thought that he had the gift of administration and asked God to confirm it. With this gift he was sure that he could lead a ministry of his congregation. Over the next week, Ted understood that he’d been involved in wishful thinking. He’d thought that the administrators of his church’s ministries were important and that he’d wanted to be a big shot. But he saw that administration wasn’t one of his gifts. He looked for other ways to serve.

Second: Ask Christian friends. These must be people who will speak the truth to us in love. (Ephesians 4:15) Mary felt that she had the gift of teaching. She was leading a class of thirty-something parents and felt that it was going well. But she wanted to know that what she was doing pleased God. So, she asked a trusted Christian friend to sit in on her class. The friend’s enthusiastic affirmation told Mary that she was in sync with God’s plans for her.

Tomorrow, who else to ask in finding one’s gifts.

The first thing you need to do to determine your spiritual gifts is to ask.

Bible Passage to Ponder: “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned” (Romans 12:3).

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