The study of spiritual gifts really isn’t one of those things that you just button up and file away, so I suppose that in truth, none of my thoughts is really quite “final,” yet there is a time to move on to other things and let a study simmer for a while before coming back to it again.
How can we put our gifts into use in real life?
That question is both easy and hard to answer, because it is multidimensional in nature. The easy part is this: Start serving in a ministry area that relates to your gift. If your gift is one of those that needs to be developed, then put yourself in an environment where development can take place. See? Simple!
Of course, your church environment can complicate things if this sort of thing isn’t encouraged there. Like anything else, you might need to do a little investigating to determine how much you will be allowed to do, particularly if you aren’t well known in the congregation. Should you have a gift such as teaching, and you are in a church that only allows denominationally trained teachers, then you can either get their training or find a congregation in without that requirement
Obviously, I can’t list every single possibility here, but I think you get the idea.
There is another possibility that is even more of a challenge, and that is that you might be what I sometimes call a “lone Christian,” meaning that you choose not to be involved in a church at all. If this is the case, your gifts are going to be very hard to really put to use. Yes, I know you can worship in nature, at the seashore, at home, on the bus and at the mall… great. Yet if you have followed this study, surely it has occurred to you by now that shunning community with other Christians isn’t the way God set things up.
I realize that many people might have had a bad experience of one sort or another. I also realize that there are some lousy churches and church leaders out there. Do you think that they are all bad? If so, how would you be in a position to know that?
We all know what the word “assume” spells…
If you aren’t in a church, then go find a suitable church… there are churches that are nothing short of awesome out there! Are they perfect? Well, probably not, so you’ll fit right in!
OK, that’s probably sufficient to make the point; use your gifts for God’s glory and to build the body of Christ! Take the risk, make the effort, and you will be glad you did!
Life Project Blog 
Long ago, I learned that you do not have to form a committee and get things organized in order to do what you believe needs done. Not everyone has a heart for that thing like you do. The solution? Just do it. Do it alone. If you want to teach, go out and find people to teach. I you want to help people in the inner city, then go and do it. In such instances, as others in a congregation see or hear about what you are doing, sometimes the spark flickers into a tiny flame and they begin to get a heart for what you had all along, and it spreads. You are not going to answer to God based on what you could get the congregation to do, but on what you personally did.
Amen!
Amen, indeed!
I really enjoyed the series. And – as I mentioned before – it’d be great to have them in a booklet. PS: I enjoyed the online test – it just strengthened what I believed already – Teacher.
Interesting; so many gifted teachers blogging!
Having sat on my hands to see the whole convoy drive past … I find I want to sit on my hands some more. This series has dropped some pebbles which are taking longer than usual to reach the bottom. I read the words, followed the questions, took the test, thought I would have something to contribute – and instead find your whole “gifts” sequence in suspended animation. Stuff is happening. Just not to my schedule!
All that is important right now is saying a sincere thank you. Because you have kicked a few cogs He has yet to connect with the rest of them. And that is a real gift. Because oddly – I am enjoying the waiting! 🙂
Thank you!
This morning the cogs turned!
Uh Oh, not the cogs again! 🙂
All in His time!
Don, I think spiritual gifts are meant to be used daily – with family, with neighbors, with someone you happen across at a restaurant or on the street. We don’t need church to offer them, we simply need love. 😉
Could be, depending on the particular gift 🙂
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