Do You Know What Your Spiritual Gifts Are?

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Hello and welcome. This is Diane Lake, your host, and I'm going to be sharing

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how you can understand and apply the prophetic through practical terms,

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practical ways, and practical means that make it relevant to everyday life so

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that you can prepare the way for the Lord's purposes to manifest in the

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earth. This is Preparing the Way, the Practical Prophetic. Well, hello guys and

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welcome to episode number 49 titled, Do You Know What Your Spiritual Gifts Are?

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Well, most recently I've been bringing you a prophetic word in each of my new

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episodes, but recently I felt that the Lord spoke to me that as the body of

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Christ, it's time to get ourselves trained. So my topic today is going to be

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an introduction to spiritual gifts. You could call it spiritual gifts 101 if

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you'd like. Now for some of y'all this might be review, but I've learned not to

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assume that everyone has the knowledge that I think they might have or that I

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already have. For example, last April our ministry hosted a prophetic gathering

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together with some of the leaders from Christian International Ministry and

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there was a point where a speaker asked for a show of hands if you did not know

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what your spiritual gifts were. And I was honestly shocked that the majority of

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attendees raised their hands. Partly that was because for the most part those in

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the attendance at that conference were what I would have called fairly mature

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and in the prophetic. They were a spirit-filled audience and I had thought

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there would be a lot less people raise their hands. So I've learned it's the

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best not to assume that people know what their spiritual gifts are and how can we

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get ourselves trained in the body of Christ if we don't know that, right? So

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Ephesians 4-11 which I'll be talking about a little bit more later tells us

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what the equipping or five-fold gifts are. And I want to read a few verses from

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this passage in Ephesians 4 because it tells us why becoming trained in the

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word and in the ways of the Spirit is so important. So let me read verses 11 to

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16 in the New King James Version. And he gave himself some to be apostles, some

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prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of

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the saints, for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,

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till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of

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God to a perfect man. See we have to go somewhere until we all get here. To the

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measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ that we should be no longer

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children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the

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Turkmen in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting. But speaking the

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truth in love may grow up in all things into him who is the head, meaning Christ,

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from whom the whole body joined and fit together by what every joint supplies,

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according to the effect of working by which every part does its share and

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causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. So knowing

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what your spiritual gifts are effectively allows us to be joined and knit

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together and every part can do its share. So the body of Christ can function

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properly. All right. So that's just laying a foundation for why I'm going to be

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talking about what I am today, because sometimes I don't remember to go back on

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teach on subjects. Now in the beginning of my podcast, the early episodes, I did

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that quite a bit. Actually, one of the most downloaded episodes to this day is

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one on overcoming oppression, demonic oppression, and that's teaching. So there

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are many of those back in the early podcast. But as of late, I've been doing

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a bit more prophetic words. So we'll see where the Lord goes with this from here.

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Now before I get into kind of the nuts and bolts of spiritual gifts 101, I want

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to share some testimony with you. I'm not going to give you my whole

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testimony. If you want to hear that, go back to our very first episode, which was

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called the power of testimony and breaking free from ungodly mindsets. But

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part of my testimony at that time, where I'm going to tell you this story is that

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I was at a point where I was really struggling as a stay at home wife and

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mom, and this is how the Lord got hold of me because I was not in a good place.

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Okay, so you can listen to that episode if that interests you. But at that time in

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my life, it took every ounce of my strength just to maintain my daily routine

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and to get successfully through my day. Now I'll tell you that I had three kids

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and that's all part of my testimony. And at the time I was telling you this

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story, I'm imagining that they are 1210 and eight, let's say. And so I had my

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hands full, lots of responsibilities, but even simple chores like preparing meals

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for my family felt like a monumental challenge. I was not doing well in many

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kinds of ways, not emotionally, not spiritually, not physically. So as I said,

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go listen to our first episode, you'll get more background. But at that time we

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were attending a church regularly and I remember receiving a phone call from that

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church that we were attending. Someone asked me if I would cook a meal for a

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family in the church who had just had a baby. Now honestly, I feel sorry for the

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poor woman who was on the end of the other end of that line because I launched

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into a discourse. She didn't catch me at a good time in which I elaborated on the

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fact that the mother, the pregnant mother had known she was having a baby for

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nine months, right? Which should have been plenty of time in my opinion for her

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to prepare meals ahead in advance and put them in the freezer. And you're

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thinking, oh my gosh, really, did you do this? I know, I know, this is even an

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over-exaggeration too, but it was pretty much what I said. I told her if

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anybody needed help with cooking, it was me and I was already to be signed up for

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someone to bring me a meal if they would. And of course, I was never asked to do

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anything similar in this church again. The woman on the other end of the line

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was speechless, believe me. So aside from oppression and hopelessness that I lived

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with at that time, guess what? I also now know that my lowest rated gift is

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serving and my second lowest is mercy and compassion. So I'm trying to make a

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funny story of it, but you probably have already guessed this, even though I was

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not in a good place and should not have done what I did. It was where I was at

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the time. So recurring requests of this nature though, from the church life, fed

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an underlying current of frustration and that factored into my response as well.

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My unfortunate response, I will say, because that was something that I did not

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have any kind of desire to do and did not receive any life from. And that's what

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I would get asked to do, things I didn't want to do. So thanks the Lord, I've grown

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enough past that a course I would never react that way to that kind of request

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now. But between the sorry state I was in at that time, like I said, plus the

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building frustration, I did have a meltdown. But again, I have come to

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understand that when you are gifted to do certain things, it will bring you a

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sense of life, of fulfillment, of joy, satisfaction. And if you feel, this is

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a word for someone right now listening, if you feel coerced, if you feel drained,

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frustrated, maybe even manipulated into doing things that you have no desire to

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do, you might need to reevaluate the areas that you're serving in, because

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operating in your spiritual gifts should bring you live and bring life to

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others. All right, so I hope that story can help you make some connection in

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your own life and mind to see where you're at, and some of those areas. So

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let's start talking about spiritual gifts 101. This is very introductory, very

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basic. I'm going to start by reading Romans 12, 6 to 8 in the new

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international version. It says, we have different gifts according to the grace

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given us. If a man's gift is serving, let him serve. If it is teaching, let him

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teach. If it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully. In other words, we're

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supposed to be doing the things that we're gifted in, right? It's a natural

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process. It's exactly what God designed that for. There are three main passages

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in scripture that outline spiritual gifts. All right, the first one I just read

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from Romans 12, 6 to 8 lists what we call the motivation gifts. These are hard

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wired into us at birth, personality, all that temperament. You can begin to

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recognize these tendencies in others by what they gravitate towards or what

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motivates them. Someone who is highly gifted in compassion, for example, might

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consistently champion the underdog or be drawn to rescuing animals. That's a

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compassion gift. An exhorter, for instance, cannot help but encourage. And a

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server tends to be very good with their hands. Could be building, construction,

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mechanic, cooking, anything. In 1 Corinthians 12, 8 to 10, we read about

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the manifestation gifts. These are the expression and activity of the Holy

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Spirit for the purpose of ministering to other people. These gifts are realized

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after Spirit baptism and are best developed in a nurturing atmosphere

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that allows for instruction, activation, and encouragement until they can reach

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maturity in those gifts. And finally, we read from Ephesians 4 already. Ephesians

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4-11 lists the five-fold or equipping gifts. These are meant to equip the body

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of Christ until they reach unity and maturity. And you might not know

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initially whether you have an equipping gift. It's usually confirmed both by God

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and by other believers over a period of time. So you're not going to know that

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right off the bat if this is a new topic for you. Well, the expression of your

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gifts, as I said, should bring you freedom and life. So I'm going to tell

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you more from my own personal experience again. For 30 years, I'd been a believer

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and I had never received teaching on spiritual gifts and no much about it or

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even really acknowledged perhaps that they existed. Then shortly after I became

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spirit-filled, this was in my early 40s, I took a spiritual gifts test through my

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new church which gave me the first glimmer as to why I'd been so frustrated

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in church life for so many years. So even though the information I'm conveying

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here is basic in nature, it quite literally transformed my life. I found

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freedom for guilt. I was guilty all the time. Free from guilt is what happened

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because I had thought that I wasn't supposed to be serving in the areas but

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I learned that just because someone expected it from me did not need, I

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did not necessarily need to be doing it if you can understand what I'm saying. And

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I can more readily understand the motivations and the tendencies of other

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people. The churches that I'd previously attended to be coming spirit-filled

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offered very few avenues for women to serve. Opportunities in areas that are

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more in line with my gifting, which are like teaching and the prophetic, they

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simply did not exist. And to make it worse, the tasks and the jobs that

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I was asked to do, pressured to do, would be things like food, hospitality, and

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nursery. And when I did do them, I was miserable doing them out of obligation

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or guilt and of course that's not the way you want to live. And again, I was

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barely surviving taking care of my own kids at that time. I didn't want to be

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watching someone else's in the nursery if you can catch my drift. So again, we're

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all called in some way to serve, so don't let me get you the wrong idea. But now I

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can recognize that something of that nature is not my assignment, not

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unless God directs it for some specific reason. And there's great freedom and

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wisdom in recognizing what our God-given gifts are and we can learn to set

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boundaries when assignments are not from the Lord. And acquiring a basic

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understanding of spiritual gifts also gave me more insight to my personal

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relationships, which is interesting because for instance, I could never

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understand why my husband refused to state his preference when it came time

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to go out to eat and choose a restaurant. He just simply wouldn't tell me where he

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wanted to eat. And it may seem trivial, but back then it really irritated me that

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he would consistently insist that I choose the restaurant. But now I realize

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it wasn't that he was disengaged or didn't care because that's kind of what I

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thought, see? It was because he's extremely gifted in the pastorial

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gifting. So he's hardwired, you could say, to nurture and to put others first. It's

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generally, it's genuinely, excuse me, more important to him that I'm happy, way

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more than that he's happy. He puts other people first and it can seem sometimes

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to be like he's excluding his own desires, but it's really not that way. These

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kinds of insights can not only improve the relationships in your family, but

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within church bodies and workplaces. And as the added bonus, as I said, they can

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free us from guilt. I used to think that I was a bad mother because I didn't like

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to cook, which is kind of a funny example. But now I realize it's related to how

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I'm gifted or not gifted in this case. I'm not really wired to serve and it does

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not bring me life to cook. Now, what's interesting is that I can cook and I do

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it and I'm fairly good at it, honestly, but not like when I had to feed my

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family all those meals every day. I mean, now it's more like it's my husband and I

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and we're freed to cook our own meals even if we feel like it. But I especially,

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of course, enjoy indulging my family on holidays and special occasions and of

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course, we still express hospitality and entertain others. But I no longer feel

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guilty that cooking is not a priority in my life. I understand that there's other

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things I'm wired to do and that I would rather do and I'm learning to balance

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things like that with my God-given strength. Does that make sense? And there's

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some passages you can check out. You could see Acts 6, 1 to 4 in Romans 12, 13, if

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you want to look at some scriptures that relate to some of what I'm telling you

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there on your own. So what's so special about the different gifts that we have

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each been given is that as we discover our own strengths and weaknesses, we

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balance each other out. We're not all supposed to be doing the same thing.

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Whatever your gifts are too, remember that God gave them to you deliberately, not

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indiscriminately, and He intends them to bring both you life and to those around

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you, obviously. Alright, so let's kind of wrap this up here by coming back to what

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our title was. So how do I know? You might be listening. How do I know what my

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spiritual gifts are? Well, to start with, you have to understand spiritual gifts 101.

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What are they and how can we recognize them, right? But we can demystify it. We

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can demystify how to find your giftings. Because as I said, part of your spiritual

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gifts involve evaluating what you already tend to be good at or what you're

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already drawn to. For example, from the time I was a young girl, I already knew

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that I did not want to be a doctor or a nurse. Why? Well, as it turns out, these

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gifts are highly driven by the gifts of compassion and serving, at least if you're

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doing them for the right motivations or reasons, correct? But I did, as a young girl,

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have a desire to be a teacher. Believe it or not, I used to set up a pretend

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classroom. I had pretend students with names. This is real. And I actually would

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pretend I was the teacher in this classroom. It's something I did for fun.

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And no surprise, it turns out that one of my strongest giftings is teaching,

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other than the prophetic, which is probably the strongest. But I already

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mentioned in the previous section that someone who's drawn to focus very, you

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know, highly motivated to rescue animals, let's say, or to champion the underdog,

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they're going to have a strong gift of compassion. And someone who sees things as

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very black and white, very right or wrong with very little gray area, tends to be

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highly gifted in the prophetic. Now, these are not hard and fast rules, but you

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can kind of follow the logic here and see where the gift is going to take you,

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where the tendencies are going to take you. But while I'm talking about this, let

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me say that there is a distinct difference between the gift of prophecy,

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which is what we are told to seek after in 1 Corinthians 14-1, and the office of

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a prophet. Okay, I'll say that again, there's a huge difference, a distinct

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difference between the gift of prophecy, which we seek after from 1 Corinthians

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14-1, and the office of the prophet. And I'm going to insert this here, because I

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feel like the gift of prophecy and the office of the prophet can be the most

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misunderstood. So this is just a little extra, you don't have to pay for this

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little extra information here, okay? So I'll explain a little more. The office of

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the prophet is different than the gift of prophecy because it carries a

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governmental authority and a role that has higher responsibility. The gift of

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prophecy is for edification, exhortation, and comfort. Whereas someone with the

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office of a prophet, remember we read that in first, excuse me, in Ephesians 411,

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the office of a prophet is to flow in the areas of guidance, instruction, rebuke,

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judgment, and revelation. Whatever Christ chooses to speak for the purpose of

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purification and perfection in his church. Prophets are also given the

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special ability to recognize God's gifts and callings on other individuals. They

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can activate people into their ministries. It's not unusual for me to

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recognize someone's gifting in them and activate it. Not everyone who prophesies

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is a prophet, okay? Sometimes that's confusing, I know. But not everyone who

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moves in miracles is an apostle. So you can see what I'm saying because a sign

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of an apostle is that they move in miracles. But just because you move in

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miracles doesn't make you an apostle. Same with prophecy. Just because you

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prophesy it doesn't make you a prophet. Now you can do a simple Google search and

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it will reveal several options for spiritual gift tests because remember

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we're still talking about how to find your spiritual gifts. Or you can ask your

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pastor or a spiritual leader in your life if they have evaluations available or

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can help you find one. But keep in mind this is just a starting point and it can

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help you get headed in the right direction. Okay? It's not the be

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all and end all but it's a start. But please understand this is very important.

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I've touched on it before. In order to know just what your spiritual gifts are,

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if at all possible, you need to be involved in a body of believers. Whether

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it's a church setting or some kind of home or house group that believe in

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and practice the gifts. That way they can provide guidance, activation and

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oversight. That way you learn to recognize your own gifts and you receive

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confirmation from others what those particular gifts are. But ideally, you've

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got room to practice those gifts and express them and become mature as well.

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All right. So if that's not possible, you need to find some resources to help you

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kind of get jump started as well. And you can always email me info at

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starfireministries.org and I can help point you in the direction or any of

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these. The basic article is on my website. It's a I think that title of the message

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that some of this content is from from is called the life giving expression of

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spiritual gifts and any article like this where I teach, I will give you some

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resources at the end in the end notes. All right. Well, bless you for listening

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and I'm just going to pray over you right now. Lord Jesus, anyone who is wondering

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at this moment, how do I go about finding my spiritual gifts? Lord, let it be that

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some of the things that we have talked about today and that I have said will get

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them headed in the right direction, help them find the right people to connect

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with, whether it's a church or a house group, some kind of spiritual direction

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father, give them the right resources, help them connect and plug them in father

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to the body of Christ in just the perfect way so that they can utilize those

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expressions of the Holy Spirit that you have given them that we all might do our

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part that we fitly are operating as a whole and healthy body of Christ. In

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Jesus name, amen. Well, blessings and thank you for listening to Preparing the

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Way, the Practical Prophetic. If you've enjoyed today's episode, please

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subscribe to our show and also please rate and review it on iTunes because

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your positive review helps us reach more people with our message and please visit

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our website at www.starfireministries.org. Be sure to sign up for our newsletter

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there and you can also donate, read our latest articles and keep up to date with

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all of our social media sites there. Thanks again and I'll talk to you next time.