Do You Know What Your Spiritual Gifts Are?

0:00 Hello and welcome. This is Diane Lake, your host, and I'm going to be sharing how you can understand and apply the prophetic through practical terms, practical ways, and practical means that make it relevant to everyday life so that you can prepare the way for the Lord's purposes to manifest in the earth. This is Preparing the Way, the Practical Prophetic. Well, hello guys and welcome to episode number 49 titled, Do You Know What Your Spiritual Gifts Are? Well, most recently I've been bringing you a prophetic word in each of my new episodes, but recently I felt that the Lord spoke to me that as the body of Christ, it's time to get ourselves trained. So my topic today is going to be an introduction to spiritual gifts. You could call it spiritual gifts 101 if you'd like. Now for some of y'all this might be review, but I've learned not to assume that everyone has the knowledge that I think they might have or that I already have. For example, last April our ministry hosted a prophetic gathering together with some of the leaders from Christian International Ministry and there was a point where a speaker asked for a show of hands if you did not know what your spiritual gifts were. And I was honestly shocked that the majority of attendees raised their hands. Partly that was because for the most part those in

1:30 the attendance at that conference were what I would have called fairly mature and in the prophetic. They were a spirit-filled audience and I had thought there would be a lot less people raise their hands. So I've learned it's the best not to assume that people know what their spiritual gifts are and how can we get ourselves trained in the body of Christ if we don't know that, right? So Ephesians 4-11 which I'll be talking about a little bit more later tells us what the equipping or five-fold gifts are. And I want to read a few verses from this passage in Ephesians 4 because it tells us why becoming trained in the word and in the ways of the Spirit is so important. So let me read verses 11 to 16 in the New King James Version. And he gave himself some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints, for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect man. See we have to go somewhere until we all get here. To the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ that we should be no longer children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the Turkmen in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting. But speaking the truth in love may grow up in all things into him who is the head, meaning Christ,

3:04 from whom the whole body joined and fit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effect of working by which every part does its share and causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. So knowing what your spiritual gifts are effectively allows us to be joined and knit together and every part can do its share. So the body of Christ can function properly. All right. So that's just laying a foundation for why I'm going to be talking about what I am today, because sometimes I don't remember to go back on teach on subjects. Now in the beginning of my podcast, the early episodes, I did that quite a bit. Actually, one of the most downloaded episodes to this day is one on overcoming oppression, demonic oppression, and that's teaching. So there are many of those back in the early podcast. But as of late, I've been doing a bit more prophetic words. So we'll see where the Lord goes with this from here.

3:59 Now before I get into kind of the nuts and bolts of spiritual gifts 101, I want to share some testimony with you. I'm not going to give you my whole testimony. If you want to hear that, go back to our very first episode, which was called the power of testimony and breaking free from ungodly mindsets. But part of my testimony at that time, where I'm going to tell you this story is that I was at a point where I was really struggling as a stay at home wife and mom, and this is how the Lord got hold of me because I was not in a good place. Okay, so you can listen to that episode if that interests you. But at that time in my life, it took every ounce of my strength just to maintain my daily routine and to get successfully through my day. Now I'll tell you that I had three kids and that's all part of my testimony. And at the time I was telling you this story, I'm imagining that they are 1210 and eight, let's say. And so I had my hands full, lots of responsibilities, but even simple chores like preparing meals for my family felt like a monumental challenge. I was not doing well in many kinds of ways, not emotionally, not spiritually, not physically. So as I said, go listen to our first episode, you'll get more background. But at that time we were attending a church regularly and I remember receiving a phone call from that

5:34 church that we were attending. Someone asked me if I would cook a meal for a family in the church who had just had a baby. Now honestly, I feel sorry for the poor woman who was on the end of the other end of that line because I launched into a discourse. She didn't catch me at a good time in which I elaborated on the fact that the mother, the pregnant mother had known she was having a baby for nine months, right? Which should have been plenty of time in my opinion for her to prepare meals ahead in advance and put them in the freezer. And you're thinking, oh my gosh, really, did you do this? I know, I know, this is even an over-exaggeration too, but it was pretty much what I said. I told her if anybody needed help with cooking, it was me and I was already to be signed up for someone to bring me a meal if they would. And of course, I was never asked to do anything similar in this church again. The woman on the other end of the line was speechless, believe me. So aside from oppression and hopelessness that I lived with at that time, guess what? I also now know that my lowest rated gift is serving and my second lowest is mercy and compassion. So I'm trying to make a funny story of it, but you probably have already guessed this, even though I was not in a good place and should not have done what I did. It was where I was at the time. So recurring requests of this nature though, from the church life, fed

7:10 an underlying current of frustration and that factored into my response as well. My unfortunate response, I will say, because that was something that I did not have any kind of desire to do and did not receive any life from. And that's what I would get asked to do, things I didn't want to do. So thanks the Lord, I've grown enough past that a course I would never react that way to that kind of request now. But between the sorry state I was in at that time, like I said, plus the building frustration, I did have a meltdown. But again, I have come to understand that when you are gifted to do certain things, it will bring you a sense of life, of fulfillment, of joy, satisfaction. And if you feel, this is a word for someone right now listening, if you feel coerced, if you feel drained, frustrated, maybe even manipulated into doing things that you have no desire to do, you might need to reevaluate the areas that you're serving in, because operating in your spiritual gifts should bring you live and bring life to others. All right, so I hope that story can help you make some connection in your own life and mind to see where you're at, and some of those areas. So let's start talking about spiritual gifts 101. This is very introductory, very basic. I'm going to start by reading Romans 12, 6 to 8 in the new

8:42 international version. It says, we have different gifts according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is serving, let him serve. If it is teaching, let him teach. If it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully. In other words, we're supposed to be doing the things that we're gifted in, right? It's a natural process. It's exactly what God designed that for. There are three main passages in scripture that outline spiritual gifts. All right, the first one I just read from Romans 12, 6 to 8 lists what we call the motivation gifts. These are hard wired into us at birth, personality, all that temperament. You can begin to recognize these tendencies in others by what they gravitate towards or what motivates them. Someone who is highly gifted in compassion, for example, might consistently champion the underdog or be drawn to rescuing animals. That's a compassion gift. An exhorter, for instance, cannot help but encourage. And a server tends to be very good with their hands. Could be building, construction, mechanic, cooking, anything. In 1 Corinthians 12, 8 to 10, we read about the manifestation gifts. These are the expression and activity of the Holy Spirit for the purpose of ministering to other people. These gifts are realized after Spirit baptism and are best developed in a nurturing atmosphere

10:17 that allows for instruction, activation, and encouragement until they can reach maturity in those gifts. And finally, we read from Ephesians 4 already. Ephesians 4-11 lists the five-fold or equipping gifts. These are meant to equip the body of Christ until they reach unity and maturity. And you might not know initially whether you have an equipping gift. It's usually confirmed both by God and by other believers over a period of time. So you're not going to know that right off the bat if this is a new topic for you. Well, the expression of your gifts, as I said, should bring you freedom and life. So I'm going to tell you more from my own personal experience again. For 30 years, I'd been a believer and I had never received teaching on spiritual gifts and no much about it or even really acknowledged perhaps that they existed. Then shortly after I became spirit-filled, this was in my early 40s, I took a spiritual gifts test through my new church which gave me the first glimmer as to why I'd been so frustrated in church life for so many years. So even though the information I'm conveying here is basic in nature, it quite literally transformed my life. I found freedom for guilt. I was guilty all the time. Free from guilt is what happened because I had thought that I wasn't supposed to be serving in the areas but

11:51 I learned that just because someone expected it from me did not need, I did not necessarily need to be doing it if you can understand what I'm saying. And I can more readily understand the motivations and the tendencies of other people. The churches that I'd previously attended to be coming spirit-filled offered very few avenues for women to serve. Opportunities in areas that are more in line with my gifting, which are like teaching and the prophetic, they simply did not exist. And to make it worse, the tasks and the jobs that I was asked to do, pressured to do, would be things like food, hospitality, and nursery. And when I did do them, I was miserable doing them out of obligation or guilt and of course that's not the way you want to live. And again, I was barely surviving taking care of my own kids at that time. I didn't want to be watching someone else's in the nursery if you can catch my drift. So again, we're all called in some way to serve, so don't let me get you the wrong idea. But now I can recognize that something of that nature is not my assignment, not unless God directs it for some specific reason. And there's great freedom and wisdom in recognizing what our God-given gifts are and we can learn to set boundaries when assignments are not from the Lord. And acquiring a basic understanding of spiritual gifts also gave me more insight to my personal

13:21 relationships, which is interesting because for instance, I could never understand why my husband refused to state his preference when it came time to go out to eat and choose a restaurant. He just simply wouldn't tell me where he wanted to eat. And it may seem trivial, but back then it really irritated me that he would consistently insist that I choose the restaurant. But now I realize it wasn't that he was disengaged or didn't care because that's kind of what I thought, see? It was because he's extremely gifted in the pastorial gifting. So he's hardwired, you could say, to nurture and to put others first. It's generally, it's genuinely, excuse me, more important to him that I'm happy, way more than that he's happy. He puts other people first and it can seem sometimes to be like he's excluding his own desires, but it's really not that way. These kinds of insights can not only improve the relationships in your family, but within church bodies and workplaces. And as the added bonus, as I said, they can free us from guilt. I used to think that I was a bad mother because I didn't like to cook, which is kind of a funny example. But now I realize it's related to how I'm gifted or not gifted in this case. I'm not really wired to serve and it does not bring me life to cook. Now, what's interesting is that I can cook and I do it and I'm fairly good at it, honestly, but not like when I had to feed my

14:55 family all those meals every day. I mean, now it's more like it's my husband and I and we're freed to cook our own meals even if we feel like it. But I especially, of course, enjoy indulging my family on holidays and special occasions and of course, we still express hospitality and entertain others. But I no longer feel guilty that cooking is not a priority in my life. I understand that there's other things I'm wired to do and that I would rather do and I'm learning to balance things like that with my God-given strength. Does that make sense? And there's some passages you can check out. You could see Acts 6, 1 to 4 in Romans 12, 13, if you want to look at some scriptures that relate to some of what I'm telling you there on your own. So what's so special about the different gifts that we have each been given is that as we discover our own strengths and weaknesses, we balance each other out. We're not all supposed to be doing the same thing.

15:50 Whatever your gifts are too, remember that God gave them to you deliberately, not indiscriminately, and He intends them to bring both you life and to those around you, obviously. Alright, so let's kind of wrap this up here by coming back to what our title was. So how do I know? You might be listening. How do I know what my spiritual gifts are? Well, to start with, you have to understand spiritual gifts 101. What are they and how can we recognize them, right? But we can demystify it. We can demystify how to find your giftings. Because as I said, part of your spiritual gifts involve evaluating what you already tend to be good at or what you're already drawn to. For example, from the time I was a young girl, I already knew that I did not want to be a doctor or a nurse. Why? Well, as it turns out, these gifts are highly driven by the gifts of compassion and serving, at least if you're doing them for the right motivations or reasons, correct? But I did, as a young girl, have a desire to be a teacher. Believe it or not, I used to set up a pretend classroom. I had pretend students with names. This is real. And I actually would pretend I was the teacher in this classroom. It's something I did for fun.

17:09 And no surprise, it turns out that one of my strongest giftings is teaching, other than the prophetic, which is probably the strongest. But I already mentioned in the previous section that someone who's drawn to focus very, you know, highly motivated to rescue animals, let's say, or to champion the underdog, they're going to have a strong gift of compassion. And someone who sees things as very black and white, very right or wrong with very little gray area, tends to be highly gifted in the prophetic. Now, these are not hard and fast rules, but you can kind of follow the logic here and see where the gift is going to take you, where the tendencies are going to take you. But while I'm talking about this, let me say that there is a distinct difference between the gift of prophecy, which is what we are told to seek after in 1 Corinthians 14-1, and the office of a prophet. Okay, I'll say that again, there's a huge difference, a distinct difference between the gift of prophecy, which we seek after from 1 Corinthians 14-1, and the office of the prophet. And I'm going to insert this here, because I feel like the gift of prophecy and the office of the prophet can be the most misunderstood. So this is just a little extra, you don't have to pay for this little extra information here, okay? So I'll explain a little more. The office of the prophet is different than the gift of prophecy because it carries a

18:39 governmental authority and a role that has higher responsibility. The gift of prophecy is for edification, exhortation, and comfort. Whereas someone with the office of a prophet, remember we read that in first, excuse me, in Ephesians 411, the office of a prophet is to flow in the areas of guidance, instruction, rebuke, judgment, and revelation. Whatever Christ chooses to speak for the purpose of purification and perfection in his church. Prophets are also given the special ability to recognize God's gifts and callings on other individuals. They can activate people into their ministries. It's not unusual for me to recognize someone's gifting in them and activate it. Not everyone who prophesies is a prophet, okay? Sometimes that's confusing, I know. But not everyone who moves in miracles is an apostle. So you can see what I'm saying because a sign of an apostle is that they move in miracles. But just because you move in miracles doesn't make you an apostle. Same with prophecy. Just because you prophesy it doesn't make you a prophet. Now you can do a simple Google search and it will reveal several options for spiritual gift tests because remember we're still talking about how to find your spiritual gifts. Or you can ask your pastor or a spiritual leader in your life if they have evaluations available or can help you find one. But keep in mind this is just a starting point and it can help you get headed in the right direction. Okay? It's not the be

20:12 all and end all but it's a start. But please understand this is very important. I've touched on it before. In order to know just what your spiritual gifts are, if at all possible, you need to be involved in a body of believers. Whether it's a church setting or some kind of home or house group that believe in and practice the gifts. That way they can provide guidance, activation and oversight. That way you learn to recognize your own gifts and you receive confirmation from others what those particular gifts are. But ideally, you've got room to practice those gifts and express them and become mature as well.

20:52 All right. So if that's not possible, you need to find some resources to help you kind of get jump started as well. And you can always email me info at starfireministries.org and I can help point you in the direction or any of these. The basic article is on my website. It's a I think that title of the message that some of this content is from from is called the life giving expression of spiritual gifts and any article like this where I teach, I will give you some resources at the end in the end notes. All right. Well, bless you for listening and I'm just going to pray over you right now. Lord Jesus, anyone who is wondering at this moment, how do I go about finding my spiritual gifts? Lord, let it be that some of the things that we have talked about today and that I have said will get them headed in the right direction, help them find the right people to connect with, whether it's a church or a house group, some kind of spiritual direction father, give them the right resources, help them connect and plug them in father to the body of Christ in just the perfect way so that they can utilize those expressions of the Holy Spirit that you have given them that we all might do our part that we fitly are operating as a whole and healthy body of Christ. In Jesus name, amen. Well, blessings and thank you for listening to Preparing the Way, the Practical Prophetic. If you've enjoyed today's episode, please

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