The Alabaster Jar: Discovering Your Spiritual Gifts

Did you know that God has given every single one of His children a gift? Not just any old gift that can rust away but a spiritual gift hand-picked by God specifically for you! Yep, He has. He has given all of His kiddos a special ability to serve Him so the Body of Christ is uplifted and encouraged. Now, that's my kinda gift!

Well, as a new believer I wanted to use my gifts for Him but I didn't know what they were. So I just decided to jump into ministry hoping I'd figure them out along the way. I tried several different ones and I kinda felt like Goldilocks going from one bowl of porridge to the next hoping to find the right fit for me!

Being that I liked to read books and I had worked in retail as a teen, I figured I would serve in our church's bookstore since they were in need of servants. Well, the time spent there was like death for me! I thought I was going to die of boredom. It clearly was not the right fit. Later I moved on to teaching Sunday School to 4th graders and let me just say I found it to be more like babysitting rather than teaching. Nope, that's not it. Afterwards I started writing letters to encourage women in the Lord but either that got old or I just didn't have a clear enough vision to keep at it, (there were no blogs back then), smile. And throughout the years I served dinner ministry to new mamas but I quickly learned that I needed dinner ministry at my own house every night of the week!

Step #1 to Discovering Your Spiritual Gifts

Jump into ministry and find out what you're drawn to. Get exposed to various ministries. Don't be fearful of not knowing what to do or how to do it. It's good to experience different things.

A few years later into my walk, I attended a women's conference and one of the sessions that was going to be discussed was discovering your spiritual gifts. I was thrilled to death! I couldn't wait to discover what mine were because the 'porridge' I had been eating still didn't seem right. I had already read the several passages in the Bible about the various gifts and I had been involved in ministry....but I felt like something was still missing.

The speaker that evening went through the Bible passages on spiritual gifts so she didn't teach me anything new, but she did say one thing that stuck out to me. It was something along the lines of this: "You'll know what your spiritual gifts are when your heart beats fast in that specific area."

Hmph! That's it?

No other meter to figure out what my gifts are?

That seems, well, too simple.

Teacher, is that all you've got?

I walked away from the session pondering her statement.

As the conference continued later that evening, many women came forward and shared their testimonies, struggles, and prayers. And what was shared was some heavy stuff: physical abuse, sexual abuse, abortions, murders, affairs, drug/alcohol addictions. There wasn't a dry eye in the place. Well, except for mine. I seriously thought there was something emotionally wrong with me because I wasn't crying! I think in that moment I figured out I obviously didn't have the gift of compassion!

And then something strange happened. A young girl in her 20's stepped up to the microphone and shared this, "I'm new in the Lord and I just want to learn how to be a Godly woman." My heart burst open for her and tears poured down my face and I couldn't stop it. I actually felt a little ridiculous crying over a statement like that. In fact, I even said to myself, "Get a hold of yourself, woman! What's wrong with you?" In a sea of over 500 women, I wanted to go find her. To grab her hand and let her know I'd help her! It was in that moment that my heart was beating fast! My spiritual gifts light bulb just went on!

Step #2 to Discovering Your Spiritual Gift:

You'll be passionate about serving the Lord in that particular capacity; your heart will beat fast!

A couple of years later I was asked to lead a Bible study at our church. I had only been walking with the Lord for about 5 years. I had a toddler boy who wasn't even 2 years old yet, AND I had just given birth 2 weeks earlier to my second son. To top it all off, the study we were going through was the book of Revelation! I was so excited, yet terrified at the same time. However, I was compelled to answer the call even though my life's circumstances screamed, "sleep in!" I also did not feel like I knew enough of the Word of God to lead a Bible study, let alone the book of Revelation. But you couldn't hold me back from serving the Lord in this area!

Step #3 to Discovering Your Spiritual Gift:

You'll be compelled to serve Him in your area of giftedness.

Now of course I'm assuming that you've prayed for the Lord to reveal to you your spiritual gifts first! And for a list of them, you can read them here. Also, feel free to check into a Spiritual Gifts test for they will offer you some valuable insight as well!

Various Spiritual Gifts

Apostles
Prophets
Evangelists
Pastors
Teachers

And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. Ephesians 4:11,12

Wisdom
Knowledge
Faith
Gift of healing
Working of miracles
Prophesy
Discerning of spirits
Speaking in tongues
Interpretation of tongues

For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 1 Corinthians 12:8-10

Serving Others
Teaching
Encouragement
Giving
Leadership
Kindness

In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly. Romans 12:6-8

Don't let your lack of knowing your spiritual gifts or even fear stop you from serving the Lord. Get out of the boat and go serve Him! I know you'll be blessed if you do so.

Now that I've discussed ways to unwrap your spiritual gifts, next, I'm going to move into using them! More specifically when ministry becomes a drain on you or when you've experienced frustration or failures, or even heartache and pain. Yeah, I happen to know a thing or 2, or maybe 3 or 4 things about these experiences!