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The Gifts
We’ve learned that spiritual gifts are given to all Christ followers by the Holy Spirit in order to build up others. The Bible lists many gifts throughout several passages in the New Testament. In no particular order, they are prophecy, serving, teaching, encouraging, giving, leading, showing mercy, administration, wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, discernment, speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues, apostleship, evangelists, and pastors.
Many theologians do not believe this is an exhaustive list; that when the Apostle Paul wrote about them, he was mentioning some of them but not necessarily all of them. Regardless, the gifts that are listed in the Bible tend to be the ones that are the most commonly possessed by believers.
Many of these gifts are easy to understand while some may take a little more time to learn about. For example, the gifts of teaching, giving, encouraging, and serving are self-explanatory. Yet, truly grasping what it means to have discernment, wisdom, or the ability to speak or interpret tongues might need more detail. God’s gifts were never meant to confuse us, so it’s wise for us to learn about all of them even if we only have one or two.
While these gifts are all so very different, they are given by the same Spirit. We all have gifts but we do not have all the gifts. To think that one person will have every gift listed goes against Paul’s exhortation to us which says, “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.” Each of our gifts make a complete set in the body of Christ! When administered appropriately, we complement one another with our gifts and that makes the body of Christ quite beautiful.
The next day of this Plan will be exciting as we will learn more about discovering how God has gifted us by His Spirit. There is something so incredibly special when we learn about and grow in our gifts in order to make a great contribution to profit others.
Reflect
- Of the gifts mentioned above, which ones are you unfamiliar with?
- For a deeper study, learn about each of the gifts by reading different Bible versions as well as from a variety of Christian sources.
About this Plan
You hear people talk about their gifts, and you see certain people doing things that seem so natural to them. But what about you? You may ask, “What are my spiritual gifts?” In this 4-day Plan, you’ll learn about different spiritual gifts, how to discover yours and the ultimate motivation that must propel you when to use them.
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