I was in Sunday School today and we were discussing Spiritual Gifts. It made me think about you. Most of you probably know what your gift may be, but I would be almost certain that at least one of you may not. You may sometimes wonder to yourself if you even have one, and what it may be. I would like to ease your concern if you were wondering if anyone who has accepted Jesus Christ has been given a spiritual gift. We are given spiritual gifts so that we can do the work of the Lord. If you think you have a certain gift, then ask yourself if you are using it in the way the Lord intended!
Do you use it in Church or in your every day walk with Christ? Well for me, I was always wondering what was my spiritual gift. I would hear that Church word and thought that was for the Worship Leader, the Pastor, Sunday School Teacher, and you know those old leaders of the Church, Deacon's! :)
One day I got a phone call from our beloved old Pastor, Brother Walt, that he wanted to meet with me about something. I remembered being kinda nervous because he did not call me "Scooby", but called me by my actual name. This was not like Brother Walt to not call me Scooby, or half the church for that matter, as it was because sometimes he could not remember everyone's names. Well, I showed up in his office and he wanted to talk to me about being a Deacon.
I did not even know what all a Deacon did other than help with the Lord's Supper. He begin to tell me he had been watching me over the years and felt I had a gift of serving. I asked, "I do?"! He said he felt I did because I come up here to mow the lawn, help with VBS, and did my part in helping with other areas of service. He said that I seem to really enjoy serving. All I could say was, "Oh"! I did not know what else to say. I then asked what would I have to do. He smiled and told me to just keep doing what I had been doing.
Obviously he talked to me about the other parts concerning what a Deacon role, and how I needed to follow the example of 1 Timothy 3 for the qualifications of a Deacon, but I knew it was an honor to be thought of as a servant.
I tell you this little story about myself because I think or hope we have all been encouraged by someone who has seen our potential of a Spiritual Gift. Have you been told you have a certain gift but never knew it? Or maybe you thought you had a Spiritual Gift in something, but you just felt God is not using you? Have you ever asked a Staff Member to allow you to use it, if you are not already doing so? This is the part of the devotional you are supposed to take a minute and think. :)
I'll wait...
Well I am glad you thought about this because it is really important in your daily walk with Christ. If you think you have a gift in something, and God is not using you, is it possible that is because it is not really your gift? Compare that with what you are doing. Are you even really using your perceived gift? Do you even have that desire to use it? Are you frustrated all the time? See, I believe in the words of Psalm 37:4 that says, "God will give you the desire of your heart if you delight in the Lord." You may ask, what does 'delight in the Lord' mean? Well, it means that our heart truly finds peace and fulfillment in Him. When we delight in the eternal things of God, our desires will begin to parallel his and we will never go unfulfilled. Matthew 6:33 says, "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."
God wants us to use our Spiritual Gift because that is the reason he gave it to us in the first place. I also want to mention that you should never think your Spiritual Gift is not as important as someone else's. Paul was very clear about telling the Church this in 1 Corinthians 12. Can you even imagine what it would be like if everyone in the Church had the same gift? We would have the worst Tone Deaf Worship Leader, the worst children workers, the worse servants, teachers, and so on. God gifted us individually with a certain gift because He knew how He wanted us to use it to bring Glory to Himself; as we are not gifted to bring glory to ourselves. So if you are serving in the Church and you never get credit for something you do, or did, do not despair, as over 95% of the church will not get any credit publicly because it is not about you. What I feel we should do is to thank God that He has given us a gift in the first place, because it will bring us so much joy in our lives. Is it not joy that we really want??
I hope you will think about this tonight before bed. Ask your friends and family what they see that your Spiritual Gift may be. There is a questionnaire you can take that will help you figure it out if no one can tell you; and you are just not sure yourself. Please try and figure this out so you can start using your Spiritual Gift. Sometimes, we stop using and sharing the gift we were given by God, which is a shame. We just stop using it for many reasons; but, I pray you will find your Spiritual Gift again, and all the joy it will bring to everyone.
God bless,
E. Talk