Discovering Your Spiritual Gifts

Three Basic Steps to Find Your Spiritual Gifting (1 Cor 12:28-31)

Khen Lim

Image source: gracethrufaith.com

Have you ever asked yourself what your purpose is in life? Have you ever thought that your life has something to do with what God intends for you to be? Have you figured what you must do with the life that has been given you?

That sense of purpose invariably leads us to an understanding of what God has endowed us that we can then use to forward His kingdom by playing our part in the building up of the Body of Christ. And God does that by giving each of us the opportunity to discover the spiritual gifts that He has stowed away in us and if there is anything more amazing and intriguing in life than this, I’m still waiting to know because, believe me, it is thrilling, overwhelming and powerful.

The verses we read in 1 Corinthians 12 as well as Romans 12 and 1 Peter 4 reveal to us in detail what these spiritual gifts are and how we should utilise them. These gifts not only reflect God’s nature and His design and intended direction for our lives but we also carry them in us as a mirror for others to identify Him within our makeup.

Because of this, we should use our spiritual gifts to express our joy, satisfaction and gratification instead of burying our heads in the sand, not bothering to find out and not wanting to get involved. If we allow ourselves the opportunity to know what our spiritual gifts are, we will also discover our deep spiritual roots and heritage and when we do, two things will happen.

Firstly God will use us to connect to Him, meaning we will get to know Him more intimately as He draws us close to His love, wisdom and power. Secondly He will open up our souls so that we realise how much each of us need His forgiveness and redemption. We will learn how far we have separated ourselves from Him and how much we yearn to be near Him again.

Although much has been written about how we can discover our spiritual gifts, we can condense them into three broad and simply steps.

Firstly, take heed.

One of these days, you might sense a natural surge of energy welling from within. You might feel an empowerment to do or say certain things that you normally wouldn’t have the strength to otherwise. You might then realise it mightn’t after all be you! 

Famous Scottish Olympian Eric Liddell once said to his sister why he had delayed his move to China as a missionary: “I believe God made me for a purpose. For China. But he also made me fast! And when I run, I feel His pleasure.”

Will McDavid in his blog post on ‘Virtues’ wrote, “Thank God, my faith, hope and love comes not from myself, nor discipline, nor actions, nor habits but from the One who elicits them.” The One who elicits all also likens them to His good pleasure and when we take heed of His enjoyment, it makes us enjoy it too.

There are always clues when you are face to face with your spiritual gift. Perhaps it’s your reaction to a particular situation that gives it away. In the event of a problem, it is always people who are spiritually gifted in shepherding who will show concern for the afflicted to ensure they are cared for and that they continue to grow in Christlikeness. And then those with a gift of intercessory prayer will immediately rise to the occasion, saying, “We must pray about this” and then those gifted in leadership will automatically seek solutions in response.

Secondly, have a go.

By now, you may have some idea of what spiritual gifts God may be given you. A good thing to do now is to make a list of what you think they could be. Perhaps you discovered you have a knack for evangelism, encouragement or hospitality. Maybe even some form of leadership. 

Once you have built up the list, it’s a good time to exercise your options and the best thing to do is to seek a volunteer position in the ministry in which that gift would be best suited to. 

Trying out in your voluntary position will offer you the best glimpse of whether you’re cut out for it or not. In other words, you’d soon discover if that is the spiritual gift you are given. In some cases, you might have some church members giving you their opinions!

I remember in my younger days a spell in the healing ministry in another church, which, despite alleged visions from others and a promising start, only made me realise I wasn’t made for it. I’d spent many months, sometimes with another church member in tow, visiting wards at a local public hospital and also at times, responding to requests to visit and pray for patients I have no familiarity with. 

To cut to the chase, it all ended in tears when I witnessed the father of a family flat-line before my eyes followed by hysterical crying from the surrounding wife and children. I was disillusioned and had failed to feel the pleasure of God. I searched in desperation only to feel the despair of realising that it just wasn’t my thing.

The miracle of healing wasn’t my spiritual gift but I guess, in the end, part of learning what one is good at is to have a go, which can at times involve pain and hardship in realising what one isn’t good at. 

However as you explore other possibilities, you will invariably find yourself in an immersive experience in which you could lose yourself in. This is when time flies and you won’t even know it. This is when you will have a special and deep connection with God and that’s where you pick that road and begin your spiritual adventure.

Thirdly, flesh out your gift.

In 2 Timothy 1:6, Paul wrote to Timothy reminding him to “fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave” him when he laid his hands on him. This is an encouragement to grow what spiritual gift God has given each of us and one of those ways could be to help someone else who is in a similar ministry as you are. To be his mentor is to handhold another church person to start his own discovery process because you have the experience to do so.

Shortly before he was killed by a carjacker, the comic character Ben Parker says the line to his nephew, Peter Parker (Spiderman), “With great power comes great responsibility.” God could have said this to each of us as well when He imbued in each of us, a spiritual gift that would enable us to play our part in the ultimate building of the Body of Christ. It is God who gave us this gift. So we must hold ourselves accountable in fanning it into flame.