Day 72: Ten Truths of the Gifts, Part 2

Author: Pastor Larry & Pat Downing

Yesterday, we considered the first five of ten truths that the Bible teaches about spiritual gifts. Today we’ll consider the last five.

6. The gifts tend to be developmental in nature. That’s why we’re told in 1 Corinthians 14 to perfect the gifts. Jesus said, in Luke 19, that to him who has, more will be given. We need to continue using the gifts to see them developed. All the gifts are this way.

7. The gifts are not proprietary. They are not my gifts, nor can I use them whenever I want to. They are for the Body.

8. The use of each gift will be confirmed by the Body of Christ. There’s no true ongoing function of a gift unless it has ratification from other believers. That’s why we need to encourage and arm one another.

9. Individual exercise of a gift emerges from a combination of desire, prayer and need. What are the desires that God has placed in my heart? What comes to me while I’m praying? What need is the Holy Spirit calling me to address? It’s when we consider the matrix of these things that God begins to individually appoint us to our particular mission, our unique calling.

10. The last thing about the gifts is perhaps surprising: only a few of them occur in a church service. If you look carefully at the gifts of the Spirit as they occur in the book of Acts, the gifts mostly occur in the marketplace. The majority of them occur in everyday service to Christ or in the functioning of the Body outside of the worship service, in ministry to the world.

Some assume that when we come to a service, the Holy Spirit is limited to working in that service. When the Church is dispersed the rest of the week, some think of the Spirit as inactive, waiting to work until we assemble again. But the Spirit wants to work through His Body every day of the week. He seeks to bring His people into wholeness. We need—the Church needs—the gifts of the Spirit.

Adapted from George O. Wood, Living in the Spirit: Drawing Us to God, Sending Us to the World (Springfield, MO: Gospel Publishing House, 2009).

What is the Holy Spirit saying to me?

ACTIVATION

• Write down and begin to practice ways you can actively develop your spiritual gifts.

• Look for opportunities to use your gifts outside of the church.

FURTHER STUDY

Luke 19:26; Ephesians 4:16; Romans 12:1–5

Pastor Larry & Pat Downing
Foothills Community Church
Collections of thoughts from varied sources
Scripture verses from KJV or NIV unless specified