1 Corinthians 12:4-6 "There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working but the same God works all of them in all men."
MacArthur points out that spiritual gifts fall into 2 distinct areas, 1 is speaking and 2 is serving. Speaking would be prophecy, knowledge, wisdom, teaching,and exhortation. Serving would be leadership, helps, giving, mercy, faith, and discernment. The purpose of these gifts is to edify the church and bring glory to God. These gifts are all given by the Holy Spirit and given according to the will of the Spirit. We can try to develop strength in an area of a gift but we will struggle and will not become natural to us unless it is willed by God.
Have you ever had a teacher who wasn't gifted to teach people and wasn't captivating?
Have you ever heard of somebody claiming that they could see the future but their predictions were wrong?
Some gifts were given more abundantly in different time periods. As you could imagine and so read in the scriptures, the gift of prophecy was a lot more prevalent during the Old Testament and even more so in the OT and NT than we see today. However I believe the gift of teaching might be more seen today than it was in the Bible times (that might just have been because of the whole population difference). In either case it is important that we pray to have our spiritual gifts revealed to us so we can embrace them and use them to build the kingdom. Can you imagine pursuing an area of ministry or even a job where the demands didn't fit your skill set (God-given talent)? Talk about wheels spinning with no where to go!
Does anyone know their spiritual gifts?
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