TALENTS AND GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT - by DOREEN LIFARD

TALENTS AND GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

I have known a number of people with different gifts and talents. It is a blessing seeing all that for the glory of God!

I came to realize that God reveals Himself in so many ways and works with us in different ways for His kingdom and He gives gifts and talents for a reason.

I am pretty sure that everyone is blessed with something from God whether we know it or we don't. 

At some point in my life I have been struggling to know what I can do best of all the things I have been doing! What I really enjoy doing even if I am not paid for or not for the sake of pleasing someone or some kind of an obligation...

The thing that I am free to do no matter what, something that I long to do for the rest of my life.

All these unknowns kept me thinking and searching. It was kind of trying to explore who I really am, what am I supposed to do. 

Some kind of searching for my purpose but along the way, I encountered these two things 

'TALENTS AND GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT' and I wanted to know more about these...!! You may be knowing something but trust me, if you continue with this lesson, you will get to know some issues that are going to be useful to you in making the most of your life for God's own glory!!!

I asked myself

1.     What are these (talents and gifts of the Spirit)?

2.     Are they the same?

3.     Where do they come from?

4.     For what purpose?

5.     How do I discover them in me?

Please keep in touch as I will be answering these questions to impart knowledge about this area of talents and the gifts of the Holy Spirit....!!!!

SECTION 2

I am all excited about this lesson for sure because it touches our lives in a very special when. At some point, this are adds meaning to our lives.

A promise is a promise! As I said the other day that I will get to answer some questions as we go on with this lesson, here I am starting today and my prayer is that all this knowledge gets us to higher level of thinking than we were yesterday and will trigger something in our hearts to get to know more about this in a specific way meaning that, how do they really apply in our lives, individually.

Well, let us start with the key area, perhaps you have been using these words or heard some people speaking about them... Let us get into the meaning of these two, talents and gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Talent
A talent is a pattern of thought, feeling or behavior that happens repeatedly and can be productively applied. Is a natural skill and it is innate, can not be acquired.

1.     Talents determine your moment to moment reaction to your environment. 

2.     Results in your consistently pattern of thoughts or behavior where by conscious effort is needed to deviate from those patterns.

I strongly believe that each one of us is born with a talent whether we know it or we don't, whether we are using our talents or not, whether we appreciate the talents we have or not. Whether you are a believer or a non believer, you have a talent. And all talents come from God even though there are those who misuse their talents by not letting God be glorified through them.

Knowledge and skills are not talents as they can be acquired. Talent is an inborn thing. Has something to do with genetics. People inherit from their parents, grandparents, great grandparents and so on. God chose a family thing as a way to pass on talents to people. You can not acquire a talent but you can acquire skills and knowledge to enhance your talent.

There may be two people doing the same thing but the one with a talent will enjoy more doing that and will use less effort as compared to the one who is not talented in that area.

What you know reveals more about your experience and education than who you are at the core. God gives us talents to help us fulfill the purpose He has for us here on earth. It is like He has equipped us with the necessary tools for the job. And this plays part in your identity.
Stay tuned for more and God bless you so much!!!

SECTION 3

Last time we talked more on talents, and before we get to compare and contrast talents and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, let us talk about the gifts!

Gifts of the Holy Spirit

We can simply define gifts as something given without expecting payments. When we talk of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, we are not paying to get them. 

The bible says that in the book of 1 Corinthians 12:11 "All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines." NIV. The Holy Spirit gives the gifts as He pleases.

The God gives not just for no reason but He has a predetermined purpose and a plan of what He gives.

We read from Ephesians 4:10-13

 "He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe. 11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 

12 to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." NIV

We can see that verse twelve explains to us why are we given what we are given. The gifts and ministries that God give us are for the church. The church is supposed to be perfected to reach the standards of Christ and we are not yet there and so God wants to use His people, the church so as the church can be perfected!

From the book of Rom 12:3-8 the bible says  "For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. 4 Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. 7 If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; 8 if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully." NIV

Unlike talents, not everyone have these gifts, they are only found in believers. The people who have agreed to give their lives to Jesus Christ and are filled with the Holy Spirit.

In the next session we are going to see in deep on the differences of the two, so keep in touch.

              to be continued... 

FROM: http://lifarddoreen.blogspot.com/