How Do I Discover My Spiritual Gifts? 6 Bible Tips

As I pondered ideas from a Bible text today, something particular caught my attention that answers the question: How do I discover my Spiritual Gifts?

I’d like to share that with you today.

I was studying the Bible in the book of Romans, and came across one of the lists of gifts of the Holy Spirit that the word of God presents to us.

Before answering the question: How do I discover my Spiritual Gifts?, allow me to share with you a list of what the gifts of the Holy Spirit are according to the Bible.


What are the 22 Spiritual Gifts?

in the word of God, there are three (non-exhaustive) lists where gifts of the Holy Spirit are mentioned.

The lists are found in Romans 12:6-8; 1 Corinthians 12:4-11; and 1 Corinthians 12:28.

The spiritual gifts identified in Romans 12 are prophecy, service, teaching, exhortation, giving, leadership, and mercy.

The list in 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 includes the word of wisdom, word of knowledge, faith, healing, miraculous powers, prophecy, discernment of spirits, speaking in tongues, and interpreting tongues.

The list in 1 Corinthians 12:28 includes healing, serving, management, and various kinds of languages.

On this Bible study, we will focus on the list of Romans 12, our next step to address our question on How do I discover my Spiritual Gifts?, is to talk about what Paul says about them in the Bible.


What does Paul say about Spiritual Gifts?

In order to answer this particular question, I would like to share with you a very important idea that came to me when reading the gifts in Romans 12.

Let me invite you to read with me this short text.

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.

For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us.

If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

Romans 12:3-8

In the case of the early church, to which Paul wrote in Rome, there seemed to be confusion.

Apparently, there were people who had received spiritual gifts that stood out more.

These people could consider themselves special or better than others.

However, in the face of this, the apostle Paul recommends keeping the right perspective.

He recommends not to make a mistake thinking that they were “special”, instead he motivates them to stay humble.

Among the community, there were those who, seeing what God was doing through this particular group of people with supernatural gifts, considered them in a higher position of privilege than others.

There could also be the case of those who, comparing themselves to such cases, didn’t see in themselves an ability that seemed equally amazing, thus thinking that they had received no gift, and that they had nothing to contribute to God’s work.

But they were wrong, God had indeed given them a suitable gift, they just needed the right perspective to discover it. It is in that premise that lies the ideas to unravel today’s question of: How Do I Discover My Spiritual Gifts?


How do I know my gift and talent from God?

For some of us, our understanding of the subject of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is limited to supernatural or extraordinary things.

Things like speaking languages we didn’t know before, healing the sick, having some kind of vision, or that kind of thing.

Which indeed the Bible mentions as gifts of the Holy Spirit.

However, if we look at the gifts of the Holy Spirit stated in the bible, “supernatural” gifts are not the only ones. Therefore discovering your spiritual gift might take a little broader perspective.

Let’s have a look at some bible ideas or tips to answer the question: How Do I Discover My Spiritual Gifts?

#1 Your gift doesn’t have to be “supernatural”

Something I found interesting in today’s text is finding that the Bible not only talks about those kinds of miraculous gifts, but mentions as gifts of the Spirit powerful skills that we can consider more “normal”, and therefore we let them go under the radar.

You may have or have not received a notoriously special gift from God, such as healing the sick, but you might have received another as equally powerful, necessary and extremely useful such as teaching, encouraging, leadership or one of the others.

Therefore, my first recommendation is that you keep an open mind on what your gift may be.

#2 Your gift can be equally powerful, yet less shinny

In today’s scripture, the Bible tells us that serving others is a gift from the Holy Spirit. That’s a gift accessible to all of us, and even though it might not going to make us be on the news, it is equally valuable for God’s kingdom.

There is also the gift of teaching others, a gift so beautiful and so useful, yet in today’s culture, oriented to fame and popularity, might seem underappreciated.

What about one of my favorite gifts, that of exhorting or lifting the spirits of others. Without a doubt a precious gift and one of my favorites.

Also, the gift of helping people in need is mentioned. A gift to which we all, to the best of our ability, have access.

A very special gift that is also mentioned in this list is the gift of leadership. A gift that we all even have and that we can exercise on larger or smaller scales in different contexts.

And finally, this Bible text mentions one of my favorite gifts, the gift of mercy. Seeing the needs of others as if they were our own.

If you start considering that the gift God may have equipped you with could be one of the kind I am mentioning above, it will be much easier for you to discover and appreciate it.

#3 God appreciates Spiritual Gifts differently than we do

As we saw in the previous paragraph, there are all kinds of gifts that most believers possess to a greater or lesser degree, unfortunately, nowadays we may not appreciate them to the extent that God does.

According to scripture, they are equally extraordinary, equally useful, and equally valuable gifts in God’s perspective.

We may fall into the error of thinking that by not doing something extraordinary, we do not have a gift of the Holy Spirit. But in such a case, we are wrong.

Learnning to consider all gifts equally valuable, and look at them the way God does.

#4 God’s grace is multiform

The word of God also mentions that:

Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.

1 Peter 4:10

God’s grace is multiform, and so are the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Perhaps we have paid too much notice to what shines.

We have forgotten that the Christian life things that seem simple are also the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Therefore, although they may seem simple to us, they are truly extraordinary.

#5 Pray

#6 Explore different gifts


Conclusion

The next time you ask yourself: How Do I Discover My Spiritual Gifts?

question I want to ask you is, what goods, what means, what blessings, what things, what capabilities God has given to you?

As normal as they may seem to you, they are a gift from the Holy Spirit that you have already received.

You can use it to help God’s work on earth and bring his kingdom closer to those around you.

I hope these words have been a blessing to your life.

Discover Your Spiritual Gifts: The Easy-to-Use Guide That Helps You Identify and Understand Your Unique God-Given Spiritual Gifts by C. Peter Wagner.

the purpose of spiritual gifts


What do you think? How Do I Discover My Spiritual Gifts? What circumstance are you going through? Let us know in the comments.

Blessings and a hug.

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