Spiritual Gifts are a blessing from God that are given to demonstrate His great love for us.
In writing to the church in Corinth, and to us, Paul speaks in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 of the community of believers being like a body that functions well only when each part fulfills their function, and he is clear to specify that we cannot operate in isolation. We need each member of the body for the fullness of our blessing.
In the beginning of chapter 13 Paul writes of “the most excellent way.” He says this in verse 1… “if I do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.”
Paul teaches us that Spiritual Gifts are a demonstration of God’s love for people.
And then in chapter 14 Paul gives us this exhortation; “Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit.”
As members of the body (which is a description of our connection together in community a of faith) we must demonstrate love by blessing others with the spiritual gifts given to us by God. I encourage you to seek God and ask for the release of His gifts in your life – people will be blessed as you do.
Finally, there’s no way we can fully explain this here. But I’ll leave an excerpt from 1 Corinthians 12 here, from the Message Bible. Use this in your prayers and see what God does!
God’s various gifts are handed out everywhere; but they all originate in God’s Spirit. God’s various ministries are carried out everywhere; but they all originate in God’s Spirit. God’s various expressions of power are in action everywhere; but God himself is behind it all. Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits. All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people! The variety is wonderful:
- wise counsel
- clear understanding
- simple trust
- healing the sick
- miraculous acts
- proclamation
- distinguishing between spirits
- tongues
- interpretation of tongues.
All these gifts have a common origin, but are handed out one by one by the one Spirit of God. He decides who gets what, and when.