God Has Given You A Unique Spiritual Gift

It is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
–Philippians 2:13

God has given every Christian a unique spiritual gift. When you were born in this world physically, you were born with certain natural abilities. When you were born again into the kingdom of God, you were reborn with a spiritual gift. We find a listing of those gifts in Romans 12:6-8: “Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.”

I sometimes ask people if they know what their spiritual gift is. I have gotten a lot of interesting responses to that question. Somebody said, “God has blessed me with the gift of singing.” Somebody else said, “My gift is working with my hands.” One person said, “My gift is making pies.” Those are not spiritual gifts–those are natural abilities. There is a difference between a natural ability that you are born with and a spiritual gift that you are reborn with.

A spiritual gift is the desire and power God gives you to accomplish His purpose. Philippians 2:13 says, “It is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” God is working in you to give you a desire and also the power to work for His pleasure and purpose.

What is a spiritual gift? First of all, a spiritual gift is a desire. Some people call it a motivation. Your spiritual gift is a unique desire or motivation that God has given you to accomplish His purpose. Some people have been given the gift of prophecy, some the gift of exhortation, some the gift of teaching, some the gift of serving, some the gift of leadership, some the gift of mercy, and some the gift of giving. The spiritual gift that God has given you is a unique motivation you have to share the love of Christ with other people and accomplish His purpose. The Bible says you have one of the seven gifts that are mentioned in Romans 12:6-8.

Second, a spiritual gift is also a power. It is a specific power that the Holy Spirit has given you to accomplish God’s purpose. When you are using your spiritual gift, God will bless that effort in your life more than any other. When you are using your spiritual gift, people will say, “You are a natural at that.” It is an enabling power that God has given you.

Now, in one sense we are all to perform all the spiritual gifts. God wants us all to be merciful. He wants us all to serve. He wants us all to give. We are to do all of the gifts, but God has given you one specific motivation that is your bottom-line reason for wanting to serve Christ–the channel through which you serve Christ. The Bible says, “As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (1 Peter 4:10).

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Today’s devotion is excerpted from “Discovering Your Spiritual Gift” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2014.

Scripture quotations are taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.