If you are
a believer of Jesus Christ and you are filled in the Holy Spirit, then surely you
have a gift (or more) and you are anointed to bless others!
You may be
asking, “If I’m not called to serve God (as my full-time vocation) in the ‘5-fold ministry office’ (i.e. apostle,
prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher as in Ephesians 4:11-16), and I’m not
called to assist God’s appointed 5-fold ministers with the ‘3 ministry-assistance gifts’ (i.e. helps, administrations,
varieties of tongues [intercessory prayers] as in 1 Corinthians 12:28), what else
can I do?”
If you
read Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12 carefully, Apostle Paul was teaching about
the gift of the Holy Spirit to the whole Body of Christ. As long as you are
a member in the Body of Christ, you are given at least a spiritual gift with a necessary role (see Romans
12:4-5; 1Corinthians 12:12-27).
Having then gifts differing according to the
grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let
us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our
ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts,
in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with
diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. (Romans 12:6-8 NKJV)
I believe the
common gifts for all believers are mentioned above in Romans 12:6-8. These are
prophesying, ministering, teaching, exhorting, giving, leading, and showing
mercy. There are seven of them in total. So I call them ‘7 ministerial-gifts’.
I believe
you can apply your ‘natural gifts/talents’
(i.e. writing, drawing, singing, cooking, repairing, plumbing and others) with any
of the ‘9 gifts of the Holy Spirit’
(i.e. word of wisdom, word of knowledge, faith, gift of healings, working
miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, different kind of tongues and
interpretation of tongues as in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10) endowed upon you while
functioning your ministerial-gift(s).
As the Holy Spirit is very creative in giving a variety and a different
combination of spiritual gifts to individuals, don’t limit Him or yourself. Let
your spiritual gifts be expressed through you in the way you feel the most
natural and comfortable.
Here are
some of the examples for the ‘7
ministerial- gifts’:
Prophesying
You
prophesy with the ‘gift of prophecy’, sometimes with a ‘word of wisdom’ and a ‘word
of knowledge’. You may convey with different languages that you have mastered
or through singing as the Spirit leads. You may even draw it if it’s a prophecy
received in a vision.
Ministering
(diakǒnia = attending/serving)
You attend
to the sick by praying for them with the ‘gift of healing’, even with the ‘working
of miracles’ when the Lord chooses to move that way. You may be enabled to counsel
the broken-hearted with the ‘gift of healing’ and to encourage with ‘the gift
of exhortation’ too. You may be able to cook a comforting meal for those who
are sick or those who have just lost their loved ones. You may do plumbing
works for widows and the poor for free. You minister to those who lost
life-direction with ‘word of wisdom’.
Teaching
You teach
young believers from your knowledge of the Word of God. You give prophetic
teachings by functioning in the ‘gift of prophecy’. You can teach by writing a
book or, in a website or, even a fictional story book so that others may profit
from your teaching. People will find your teaching interesting and
life-changing because of the ‘gift of teaching’ in you. If you are gifted to
teach the children or youth, they will love your teaching and you will be their
‘hero’, and they will grow up to be strong and rooted in God’s Word.
Exhorting
People
will naturally look for you when they need ‘a shoulder to cry on’, someone to
lend an ear and to seek advice. Sometimes you may exhort in a gentle way,
sometimes with ‘strong advice’ according to the wisdom of God. In this case,
you are also functioning in the ‘word of knowledge’ and ‘word of wisdom’.
Sometimes, you may function in the ‘gift of faith’ to pray and speak faith into
people’s lives.
Giving
This
giving is not to the poor but for the ministries of God to expand His Kingdom.
You may function in the ‘gift of faith’ to prosper in your business ventures.
You may be functioning in the ‘word of knowledge’ and ‘word of wisdom’ to know
which business project you should invest in, which ministry you should sow your
financial seeds into, and how much you should sow. Nevertheless, know that once
you have given the finance to any of God’s ministries according to God’s
instructions, the money is no longer yours. You have no more ‘say’ or
stewardship over the money you have sown. It has become God’s responsibility to
ensure that the money is put to good use through that particular ministry. The
Lord will continue to bless your business/career and prosper you as you sow
according to His guidance. One good example is Lydia, a business woman who sold
purple linen and provided for Paul’s ministry (see Acts 16:14, 40).
Leading
You may
not be an official leader but the Lord entrusts and enables you to lead a group
of His people who need guidance from a leader. It may be a women’s group, men’s
group, youth’s group, even children’s group. It can be an outreach ministry
group, healing ministry group or prayer group. The Lord is so creative He can
create any group for you. If the Lord gives you the gift to lead, He will make
sure He gathers the people for you. You don’t have to strive, persuade, dictate,
intimidate, or be a ‘control freak’ to be a leader. People will yield willingly
to your leadership even if you think you are a lousy leader. Aquila and
Priscilla were a great couple with their own tent-making business but also with
the gifts to lead (see Acts 18:2-3, 18, 26; Romans 16:3; 1 Corinthians 16:19).
Showing
Mercy
You will
naturally have the compassion for the poor and needy. The Lord will give you
the open doors for funds and finance if He appoints you into mercy ministry. He
will touch people to sow into your ministry when you need the fund. There may
be some evidences of the ‘gift of faith’ to pray for finance and sowers, ‘gift
of healing’ for those who are hurt and needy, even ‘the work of miracles’ when
you need to provide for more people. You may use your natural talents like
cooking or sewing in order to bless the needy too! Dorcas (Tabitha) in the Bible
was a respected and much loved woman in her society for providing winter clothes
for the poor and needy (see Acts 936-39). If you are functioning in this gift,
don’t just aim to provide, but also pray towards seeing the needy rise up in
faith to provide for themselves and their families. Therefore, preaching the
gospel is crucial as people need to know their Saviour who is also their Provider.
This may also involve ‘the gift of exhortation’ and ‘the gift teaching’.
Paul told
Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:6-7 not to be afraid to stir up and to use the gift of
God which is in him. It is the Holy Spirit who distributes the gift(s) to each
believer according to His will (see 1 Corinthians 12:11). When the gift is
given, it comes concurrently with the grace/anointing and the faith to function
in it (see Ephesians 4:7; Romans 12:3). For example, the anointing to prosper in
your career/business and to provide for the expansion of the Kingdom of God comes
along with the ‘gift of giving’. Just take the first step, start practising
your gift by faith, and you’ll see the anointing increases.
Assuredly,
you don’t have to feel inadequate when it comes to using your gift. And never
compare your achievement with others in the Body of Christ. It’s God who has
chosen you, not you choose Him (see John 15:16). It’s never by self-effort or
your own ability, but by the Spirit of the Lord. God is not looking for capable
people but He’s always on the look-out for humble and willing vessels who would
glorify Him through their lives. Just minister your gift to one another as a
good steward of the grace of God given to you (see 1 Peter 4:10-11; 1
Corinthians 1:26-31).
On the other hand, do not limit the functioning of your gifts to
just within the Body of Christ. You’ll be surprised how effective your
preaching of the gospel is to the lost when it is combined with your gifts. Ask
and allow the Lord to give you the wisdom to do it.
Remember,
the key to receiving greater anointing in operating your spiritual gifts is to
use it more and always with the right motive – that is to benefit others and
not to profit yourself (see 1 Corinthians 12:7).