When The Holy Spirit Moves By Dirkie Van Der SpuyMuestra

What Are the Spiritual Gifts?

The Holy Spirit’s spiritual gifts are spiritual workings, gifts and abilities that God grants to every believer through grace and love in order to build up the Church, bring people closer to God and extend His kingdom. 

The spiritual gifts are not your natural talents, but a small portion of God’s blessing that He wishes to give to someone through you. A Spirit-filled Christian is someone who has received gifts from the Holy Spirit for the purpose of passing this on to other people. You do not have this as a personal gift inside you; it is something that is received from God and that will spiritually enrich and build up the person to whom you pass it on.

In other words, the Holy Spirit gives those special abilities to believers for the purpose of building up and extending the kingdom of God. Ultimately, the purpose of the spiritual gifts is to enable God’s will to be done on earth and to glorify His Name. The purpose of the gift is therefore not simply something that is given to you, but which is given for the purpose of growing, equipping, building up and blessing others.

The believer is purely an instrument through which God works in another person’s life—through His Spirit. One could say that we are simply the postal worker delivering the gift parcel of God. No one can “earn” a gift by doing good works—God does not give spiritual gifts to people because a person is good, or as a reward for a good life or spiritual maturity. God gives these “power tools” to whomever He wishes for the building of His kingdom.

As believers, it is our task to be obedient, open and receptive to being used by the Holy Spirit in God’s service. We must be God-dependent and allow the Spirit to function through us with His gifts.