Spiritual Gifts : A Spiritual Gift

This week assignment was very interesting and fascinating. We are all born with gifts and talents. Having God-given gifts inside us that has the power to give life, direction, and purpose. First Peter 4:10 says” As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of Gods varied grace”. God works in different ways in each of us.

Spiritual Gifts are special divine empowerments given to us through the Holy Spirit. These Gifts however are not for our own personal benefit, instead the main purpose is to equip us to be able to serve and glorify the Lord while Jesus continues His ministry though us. When we use our Spiritual Gifts to glorify the Lord we are contributing to the overall heath and growth of the church. 1 Peter 4:10-11 shows us that we have each been given a Gift by the Holy Spirit and when we use that Gift we find the strength we need to build up the Church. The Gifts of the Spirit are messages of wisdom, knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, miraculous powers, prophecy,

In chapter four of, Gracious Christianity, it covers the spirit of life. Basically, the Spirit that is given by God gives us life mentally, physically, and spiritually to all Christians (78). One concept the authors talk about was powerful, “Instead, we

The various gifts of the Holy Spirit as listed in Scripture are conveyed according to the will of the Holy Spirit to every man for the eventual purpose of the edification and building up the church body.

God has blessed each of us with our own set of gifts. These gifts, ultimately for his glory, exist to help us help others in some fashion. In week two of this course, an assignment to assess and discuss our own gifts was completed. In order to fulfill the assignment an assessment was completed. According to the assessment, my gifts are craftsmanship, exhortation, helps, encouragement, giving, and wisdom. Each gifts holds a purpose and connects to other similar gifts.

Spiritual Gifts, talents, and skills: Christ gave you a spiritual gift so you could be more effective in ministry, as you and the body of Christ uses their spiritual gifts, He can minister to the universe through

Something important I found when I read a little more about the novel, is that it was banned and censored in various parts of the world, but especially in the southern United States. The south was offended not only by the crudity, but realistic way Twain portrayed the pre-Civil War American society. Racism, slavery, superstition and morality are some of the most important topics of the novel. Here, Huckleberry Finn is portrayed as an outlaw, some kind of outsider who has grown in complete freedom and therefore a person who neither knows nor applies the rules of society. Huck is a person who does not distinguish what is right or wrong, but who is carried away by his particular way of understanding the world.

The Holy Spirit’s gift of counsel has given me the ability to see the best way to follow God’s plan. By receiving the Eucharist, Jesus Christ shares a love with us that is too great to keep to ourselves. By serving our families, friends, and all of those in our community, we are building up the Kingdom of God. He Holy Spirit gave the gift of wisdom to me at baptism so that I may recognize the importance of keeping God central in our lives. To build up the kingdom of God, I must be patient in order to display the peace of Christ.

God equips us with Spiritual gifts, a heart, abilities, personality and experiences to help others. “Each one should use whatever gift he’s received to serve others.” 1 Peter 4:10

The Holy Spirit plays a very vital role in the lives of each and every believer; He can strengthen us with a strength that we cannot even begin to muster up in ourselves. He can bring us joy that we cannot even begin to find in the things of this world. He can bring peace to our lives more than anything that we can ever find on this earth. “The Holy Spirit which is primarily an energizing process, is also a revealing, refining, consuming, illuminating process, and one by which we are made to glow with love to God, and love to man, and love to souls.”

I agree with these results according to the inventory. I do consider that one of my strengths is to have the ability to encourage others. For me, this is an important part of love in action. Motivating people toward action and making people feel that they are part of a church. I do also think my other two gifts are very important. Those with this gift are able to identify with others and to experience what others are going through. I am glad to be one of those people who have this gift. As Christian, I am called to evangelize and reach out to the lost with the Gospel.

The Patristic Period has great examples of theologians who believed in spiritual gifts as those demonstrated in the Apostolic church. Tertullian, in his work entitled “Against Marcion”, mentions the practice of interpreting tongues. In “A Treatise on the Soul”, Tertullian says,” For seeing that we acknowledge the spiritual ‘charismata’ or gifts, we too have merited the attainment of the prophetic gift.” In “Against Heresies” by Irenaeus, he states that there are believers who posses a prophetic gift and there are those who speak all kinds of languages through the Spirit. These are just two theologians who had witnessed or believed in spiritual gifts although most of the apostles, if not all had died by this time.

One example of this is in 1 Corinthians 12:12 as it states, “just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.” When simply reading text like this, people might think the Bible is referring to Christ’s physical body, however, it is actually referring to Christ’s body of followers. The body is also called the Church, and by Church it means the followers of Christ that have accepted Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. As a follower of Christ, Christians are called to service, to share the hope of Jesus, to love one and other, to worship, to encourage truth and bring glory to God. As we recognize the ways God has gifted us, we should use our talents for the reasons listed above. The ways each individual is gifted are what makes up the parts of the Body of Christ that we can contribute, as they differ person to person. As the physical body is intricately made of many parts the Body of Christ is as

The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father, and is equal in essence and in power in the Trinity to the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit was originally sent by Jesus after his ascension into heaven, Jesus himself saying that he would send a “helper” after he departed from the earth. This spirit is worshipped just as the Father and the Son are, and also participated in the creation of the world, sustaining and giving life continually to all things, and exhibits the uniqueness and characteristics of the third person in the Trinity. This is the same Holy Spirit that divinely inspired the infallible word of God, and although the canon is now closed, the Holy Spirit still works powerfully and constantly in the life of the church and in believers. The Holy Spirit is the giver of spiritual gifts, which are given at conversion and help the believer become more like their creator. The presence of the Holy Spirit is evident in the life of all true believers, and this Spirit turns cowardly men into mighty warriors for Christ who accomplish actions way beyond their natural ability.

First, he grounds the use of all the gifts in the Lordship of Jesus Christ (“Therefore... no one speaking in the Spirit...”1 Cor. 1:3). Here, it is seen that the “gift and gifts of the Spirit serve as the external manifestation of the triumph and enthronement of Christ.”4 Furthermore, in 1 Cor. 1:7-11, the point is made that the “exercise of any gift of the Spirit is the ministry of the word given to God’s people,” and that “the ministry of God’s revelatory word is central to the use of all other gifts... they give expression to that word in various ways.”5 This is why, in an eclectic grouping of the various giftings (found in 1 Cor. 12:8-11, 1 Cor. 12:28, Rom. 12:6-8, Eph. 4:11, and 1 Pet. 4:11), the work of the ministry of the word of God is paramount, that is, “the revelatory word through the apostle and prophet is foundational, while all else is informed by and flows from this.”6