Spiritual Gifts, 43

 ~ Spiritual Gifts – Key Principles~

 

Opening Comment  ~  “Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.  Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.  Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures” (James 1:16-18). 

 

Key Principles  ~  Here are some of the primary principles regarding Grace Gifts that should always be kept in mind:

 

1.      Spiritual gifts relate to what a believer does in the way of ministry.  Natural abilities and skills are for both inside and outside of direct ministry.

 

2.      Every believer has gifts.  “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it” (Ephesians 4:7).  “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good” (1 Corinthians 12:7).  Also see, 1 Corinthians 12:11 and 1 Peter 4:10.  

 

3.      All believers have multiple gifts (1 Corinthians 1:7; 2 Corinthians 9:8).  

 

4.      No one believer has all the gifts.  There is no need for self-sufficient “super-saints” (1 Corinthians 12:29-30, 8-10). 

 

5.      There is no one gift which all believers excel in (1 Corinthians 12:8-10).  But all are to strive to improve source gifts such as love, compassion, mercy, etc. 

 

6.      Each member has a separate combination of gifts.

 

7.      Each member must function in his own way.  God does not want all believers to have the same ministry or exact methodology.

 

8.      All members are to function in harmony together for the good of the overall God focused effort.

 

9.      Specific spiritual gifts and spirituality are NOT directly related.  For example, a person can be ministering from a dry well.  This is why some prominent spiritual leaders sometimes succumb to temptation. 

 

10.  Spirituality has to do with Godly character and being conformed to the image of Christ (1 Corinthians 3:1-3, 13:1-3) as opposed to the grace gifts they have been given by their Creator.  This has frightening implications!  (And explains many events - such as Jonestown.)

 

Closing Comments  ~  “Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.  Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.  Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership.  Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all.  Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine.  Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you” (1 Timothy 4:12-16).

 

“Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.  For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:6-7).

 

“As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (1 Peter 4:10).

 

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW blog.

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