 1 Peter 4:10 "As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace." What a beautiful thing God has designed for the believer! He has so graciously given to every Christian a 'Spiritual Gift'! You and I received at least one or more the moment we accepted Christ as our personal savior. This gift was something that we did not have prior to our personal encounter with the Lord. We may have had abilities, before we got saved that are still valuable and useful, but nothing compares to the 'Spiritual Gift' that God has bestowed upon us! There is a difference between a 'Talent' and a 'Spiritual Gift'. A talent/s were things we had the ability to do before we got saved, such as: anything associated with the arts, cooking, sewing, building things, etc... There are many skills that individuals possess. God gave spiritual gifts for the purpose of building up the Christian body of Christ. Every believer that we come in contact with should be benefitting from our spiritual gift. They should be able to identify what that gift is. We, on the other hand should be using it, as well as looking for every opportunity to utilize it! The local church is not the place to show off what we think we can do. It isn't the place to put our abilities on display for the attention we may receive as a result. That would be selfish use of what has been given to us; neither is it appropriate to use the church to work out any lack of affirmation, or the lack of self esteem. Those are personal matters we should be working on with the Lord when we are daily sitting at His feet. Spiritual Gifts:
In 2 Timothy 1:6, 7, Timothy was told to "Stir up the gift that is in you." In other words, revive it, and rekindle it. "God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." Timothy was told not to be timid and afraid to use what he had been given for he had been given the spiritual grace (enablement) for his ministry work. He was given a spirit of power and not one of fear. God's power accompanies our spiritual gift! The Holy Spirit that you and I were sealed with, imparts power to us. This power works in conjunction with our spiritual gift, resulting in effectiveness. This same spirit of love will move our heart to testify of Christ (using our gift), as well as help us to do it in love towards others. The motivation behind our use of any spiritual gift has to be 'Love', other than that, we are using it for self and it won't be effective! We have been given a spirit of sound mind, this means that the Spirit of God transmits what is sensible and true. The Spirit of God reveals thoughts that are sensible, and true. When we are using our gift/s, people will be drawn to God. Always keep yourself in good standing with God. Sin hinders and leaves us ineffective. Walk in obedience to God and let Him use you mightily among His people!
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