If you are lucky or blessed enough to receive spiritual gifts from the holy spirit, you must do all you can to use them to the best of your ability. Once you’ve been endowed with these gifts, you have a responsibility to use them for God’s will. To do that, you must be able to access these gifts and use them knowledgeably.
A quick internet search will yield many sources, all of whom claim a different number of gifts from the Holy Spirit. However, many of these gifts overlap, and some lists are not complete. The Bible mentions nineteen gifts in the New Testament. Once you know them, you must develop the habits that will unlock these many blessings from God.
The Nineteen Spiritual Gifts are the Following:
|
|
There is no definitive set of instructions on connecting with your gifts. On top of that, everyone is different. What could work for one person may not work for the next person. However, there are several habits you could enhance or develop that may help you access them better.
19 Habits That Connect You to Your Spiritual Gifts
This article will explain habits that can make you connect with your spiritual gifts. Surprisingly, these habits also apply to everyday life. See how you hold power to connect at least one practice to each of these blessings. Below are 19 habits that can help you connect with your spiritual gifts.
1. Administration – Be proactive.
A person with the gift of administration is meant to lead the church by implementing plans and organization. It’s similar to leadership, but instead of leading through inspiration, they lead through tasks. Being proactive is a habit of any effective administrator. You know what needs to be done, so you get it done promptly.
2. Apostleship – Be a great storyteller.
Apostleship is a gift that the Holy Spirit gives to those meant to spread the church to places where the church may not be. People with this gift learn to tell stories well. After all, if you’re going to keep your audience’s attention, a well thought out, well-timed, and well-spoken tale is the perfect way to do that.
3. Discernment – Listen without bias.
This gift is also known as distinguishing between spirits. You can practically sense the difference between real people and fake people, good and evil, or truth and lies. However, to do this, you must learn to listen to truly listen to people whether you agree with them or not. You must practice seeing the truth in a situation without bias.
4. Evangelism – Communicate effectively.
Evangelists are expected to spread the word of God, especially to lost souls and nonbelievers. They must do this without fear of talking to strangers. To do this, an evangelist must be a “people person.” They must be able to communicate effectively with anyone, no matter their differences.
5. Exhortation – Be passionate.
The gift of exhortation is essentially the gift of being a motivational speaker. If you have this gift, you must help uplift people who may be wavering in their faith. You must be a cheerleader for God. This requires an extreme passion for what you believe in.
6. Faith – Think positive thoughts often.
The gift of faith is not unlike having faith. The advantage of faith means that you have an unwavering dedication to God; when he asks you to move, you move. You can’t be a negative person and have this steadfast dedication. It would be best if you learned to think positive as often as possible.
7. Giving – Be kind to others.
The gift of giving means that you freely give to those who are in need, and you enjoy doing it. A mean person is rarely going to be a giver. Someone who truly gives without expectation must be kind and compassionate towards others.
8. Healing – Take care of yourself.
The gift of healing doesn’t only mean you heal others. It means you must also heal yourself. After all, if you don’t take care of yourself, you’ll be unable to help anyone else. Ensure you take care of your mental, spiritual, and emotional health to connect with this gift fully.
9. Interpretation – Be persistent.
This is understanding and explaining the next gift, the gift of tongues, or interpreting what people are telling you. You may not do this correctly the first time. It can be uncomfortable at first because there aren’t many people who receive this gift. However, keep at it, and you will eventually master it.
10. Tongues – Be fearless.
This is the other part of the previous gift. You can’t have both of these spiritual gifts. Rather than interpretation, you are the person that has been blessed with the ability to speak God’s languages. However, people who speak in tongues can’t interpret the message. It can be scary when God takes over you and delivers this message through you – it’s almost as if you’ve lost control of your body. However, let go of your fear and give yourself over to God to connect with your gift fully. It’s an incredibly divine experience, not one to be afraid of.
11. Knowledge – Read a lot.
The gift of knowledge can absorb, interpret, and reiterate a vast collection of knowledge to others. You aren’t going to one day wake up with all the experience in the world in your head. You must actively seek it out daily. Reading a lot will give you access to a vast assortment of knowledge.
12. Leadership – Learn to inspire others.
The gift of leadership is more than telling others what to do. It’s caring about them so genuinely that you want to lead them in the right direction, towards salvation. To lead people, you must inspire them, so work on being an inspirational person.
13. Mercy – Be empathetic.
The gift of mercy allows you to share the burden of another until God lifts that burden from them. While being empathetic is more of a natural trait than a learned one, it doesn’t mean you can’t learn to strengthen your empathy. Work on this to fully connect with your gift.
14. Miracles – Be open-minded.
The gift of miracles can be a great responsibility. With this gift, you connect others to the glory and blessing of God. You never claim this power for yourself. To do this, you must be open-minded and ready to share God’s glory in whatever way he deems worthy.
15. Pastor/Shepherd – Be attentive to details.
Many people think of the pastor as a leader, and in a sense, he/she is. However, they are more of a protector of the flock and a guide, making sure to keep the community connected with God. To do this, the pastor must be attentive to small changes in his congregation that alert him/her to potential problems (the devil sneaking in). Do you have any idea of what does a Christian do when their pastor sins?
16. Prophecy – Trust your instincts.
The gift of prophecy is an incredible gift in which you can share God’s revelations. This means that you must be able to interpret God’s revelations. That requires using your instinct. Don’t second-guess yourself. The Holy Spirit gave you what you need to analyze these revelations.
17. Service – Be humble.
The gift of service is a gift that often puts you in the background. Your role is in assistance to others who may be a more public figure. This means that you must be humble and accepting of your background role. You are no less important than anyone else, but you must be satisfied with possibly receiving less public recognition.
18. Teaching – Honesty is the best policy.
If you have been blessed with the gift of teaching, you will be held to a higher standard than all others. This is because you have the sole responsibility of bringing God’s instructions to his flock. It’s a huge responsibility, and it requires you to give these lessons straight as God intended, not to interpret them to your liking.
19. Wisdom – Have a heightened self-awareness.
At first, wisdom and knowledge may seem like the same gift, but they are vastly different. Knowledge is knowing things; wisdom has the perspective to apply this knowledge to life. You must be self-aware to be wise. So first, you must understand that you are not perfect. You are simply a humble servant of the Lord. This clarity will allow you the ability to make sound judgments, which is what wisdom centers on.
Final Thoughts on Connecting to Your Spiritual Gifts
The Holy Spirit doesn’t grace just anyone with spiritual gifts. If God chooses you to share these gifts, you are indeed an extraordinary individual. God chose you, so you must believe that you are worthy to receive a spiritual gift.
Believing that you are worthy is half the battle of connecting with spiritual gifts. The other half is living a life that allows you to tap into your talent fully. Although the 19 habits above are written as one habit correlating with one gift, they are all great habits to practice no matter which advantage you have.
Keep practicing these 19 habits, let God work through you, and stay humble. You’ll find that connecting with your spiritual gift becomes an effortless task that enriches your life as well as the lives of others. Be blessed!
