One subject I do not hear discussed often is spiritual gifts. It is a facet of the Spirit that I find integral to my personal ministry at least, but no one else seems to want to put much emphasis on it. "You should find your spiritual gift!" they say. Then they drop the subject.

My spiritual gift is Discernment. This means I can tell what kind of person I'm encountering by their mannerisms; I can Judge them. Not in the sense of a "final judgment"; this is a reserved privilege as we all know; but I can weigh and measure a person's soul based on their expressions and responses.

I also have an keen interpretation of the Bible, although I don't know if this is through my Gift of Discernment. I would like to think so, but I think anyone with a measure of wisdom equal to mine would be able to interpret it just as well, or better.

I wanted to bring this to your attention, and to ask: What is your spiritual gift, and how do you use it? Are you familiar with it, or are you just learning you have it? Do you recognize your gift in other people?

Discuss, if you will.

I always thought discernment of spirits had to do with being able to tell what (if any) demonic or angellic spirits are influencing the person(s) you are talking too. Not so much by their physical responses (although being able to read body language is important) the spiritual gift operates on more of a spiritual level whereas you get insight from the spirit of God concerning others.

My primary gift is that of teaching as I was blessed by God to be able to teach anything I know to someone willing to learn.

I have excercised other gifts from time to time such as prophesy, word of knoledge, word of wisdom, helps, giving, speaking in tounges & evangilism; but I know that those are not my primary focus & cannot "pull them out of my hat" whenever I want - but I can share a scripture at a moments notice.

The gifts are important to bring the church into God's fullness but they are not the end all be all of christianity; once we get a gift we shouldnt be "satisfied" with our christian experience - we need to grow in grace & continue to be conformed to the image of Christ as we go on.

The gifts are primarily for us to be able to convert (or help the Holy Spirit convert) unbelievers & for us to comfort believers.

Just remember that the gifts are not as important as the giver of the gifts - as long as God is our primary focus he will supply us with all the gifts we need to accomplish His missions & right on time too.

God bless

I think that discernment when it pertains to teaching and understanding is more like Spirit-guided wisdom. Discerning sprits is another thing, but I have both of these qualities and I don't exactly know where to draw the line.

You said it best when you mentioned getting insight from God concerning others. God knows each of us better than we know ourselves, and part of the gift of Discernment is God imparting knowledge to you so that you can understand what other's mannerisms mean for that person. It's more than just reading body language.

Pastor Charles Stanley just finished up on a series of Spiritual Gifts (per Romans 12:6-8). It was very comprehensive and covered a lot of ground (including working in the Spirit vs. working in the flesh). I believe Pastor Stanley is a Baptist preacher down in Atlanta, GA, and his website is www.intouch.org. He seems like a pretty humble guy who just loves the Lord, so I enjoy hearing his teachings. He reminds me a lot of Steve (another humble guy). I think my gifts lie between exhortation and mercy.

As for the "manifestation" of the Spirit spoken of in I Corinthians 12:7-11, maybe I've worked "within" these from time to time without even realizing it until I look back on the matter. I think that God can have us operating within each gift from time to time, as the need arises and as the Spirit gives us the faith. My husband is like you; he can discern people's actions and motives very quickly. I'm a little more "gullible" which is why I stay in the Word (reading the Scriptures) every day so I can tell when someone's trying to feed me "a line" and when they're speaking the Truth.

It would be an interesting subject for Steve to touch on, though. Good question!

This is a good idea. The issue of Spiritual gifts is a greatly misunderstood topic. On one hand it is simply ignored and on the other it is elevated to the point of being completely out of control. I have not seem what Charles Staley has done with the subject, but I trust he has done a good job. I respect his teaching.

Blessings,
Steve T.