Spiritual Gifts IV

Let us have a look at a few spiritual gifts that are also spiritual habits, the differnce is "do you find this easy or hardwork?"

Evangelism - All Christians are to develop the spiritual habit of sharing their faith. We are all called to spread the Good News that we have recieved, but do you find that easy or hard work? If you find sharing your faith difficult and never ends positively, you need to develop this habit but it is not one of your spiritual gifts. If you find it easy then perhaps this is your spiritual gift. People with the evangelism gift often find that when they share their faith with non believers it has positive results. Whilst others struggle to see results, these people not only have positive results but also gain energy from sharing their faith with nonbelievers.

Exhortation - All Christians are to develop the spiritual habit of encouraging other followers of Christ. The Christian community should be an encouraging group of people, but do you find it easy or hard work? People with the exhortation gift tend to spend more time with believers rather than non believers. People with this gift are not afriad to challenge other believers into a deeper relationship with God. Exhortation is more than teaching other believers about God, it also involves sharing, challenging, affirmation and personal accountability.

Teaching - at times we are all placed in a situation where we have to teach somthing about God to another person, do your find it easy or hard work? People with the teaching gift may not be a professional teacher or receive any formal training. The Holy Spirit gives the teaching gift to certain people who have an extraordinary ability to make theological concepts easy to understand. People with a teaching gift can explain of the most complex concept in a way that other believers can understand. Those with a teaching gift are involved in the process of Catechesis, one of the most important tasks of the Church.

Service - All Christians are called to serve the church, but do you want to run and hide or are you the first to volunteer? People with the service gift are always available to a variety of groups in the church. Sometimes we may not know what these people do, we just know that they are always serving. People with a spiritual gift of service usually serve without seeking thanks or praise, because they serve from the Grace of the Holy Spirit.

These are just four spiritual gifts that are similar to spiritual habits that all Christians should develop, the question to ask is "do you find this easy or hardwork?" If you find it easy then perhaps this is a spiritual gift. If you find it hard work, then keep working on this spiritual habit.