I recently read a story about an elderly lady who was a member of Charles Surgeons congregation.
This elderly lady was one day visited by Charles Spurgeon in her poor wretched house. Mr Spurgeon on arriving in the house noticed a frame certificate hanging on the wall. This was a certificate she had received when a wealthy man she had cared for died. She did not know what was written on the certificate because she could not read. I doubt if the framer could read either. It is said that Mr Spurgeon read and found out that the wealthy man had left this woman his entire vast estate. Yet this woman was living in poverty not knowing not realising her inheritance. She lived in penury.
I wonder how many of us today like this woman with a framed certificate on the wall, are living in spiritual poverty and hand outs, without a knowledge of its worth. We walk around with our Bible; we read it, put it on the table, under the pillow yet miss out or are ignorant of the promises of God in His word for us.
Paul the Apostles makes it clear in his word to the Corinthian church to desire these spiritual gifts, he says in 1 Corinthians 12:7-11 (NLT)
“A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice ; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge. The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said."
For the church to grow, for the body to become stronger we all must arise and begin to stir up the spiritual gifts in us.
Our spiritual gift goes beyond talent. Whilst talent is a marked innate, a natural endowment or ability for natural accomplishment which can either be developed or acquired through training. A spiritual gift is what it says it is a gift. You don’t have to pay for it, it is a free gift from God, and hence the term spiritual gifts. It is given to benefit others and not just ourselves.
You might ask me where do I start from? I will say to you first and foremost you need to desire it.
Secondly you have to either discover it or rediscover it. Seek the Lord in the place of prayer, fasting, praise worship, in His Word. Ask the Holy Spirit to uncover your spiritual gifts to you. In addition begin to look at what you enjoy doing, what is your natural ability, what do you do best? Do a “spiritual gifts discovery chart” exercise (you can find one in this month’s Revival Times magazine).
Thirdly, you must develop it just as Paul said to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:6 “This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you." Your gift just like a natural talent needs developing. Whatever your gift is you must nurture it. Get trained up, you might want to enrol in a bible school, read, study, and get yourself a mentor.
Fourthly, depend on the power of the Holy Spirit. It is His gift and He will enable you to operate with supernatural power.
Finally, it is time to put it to use in order to help others. This is called deployment.
It is time for you to take your gift off the wall and claim that which belongs to you. You are gifted; don’t let anyone lie to you. Arise today, unlock your spiritual gifts and begin to shine!
