Stir up your Spiritual Gifts.  If you are a believer and filled with the Holy Spirit, the Father has given you one or more spiritual gifts. You may suspect God is using you but may not know what to call it.  If your church does not teach on the gifts of the spirit or that God can use you in the gifts, it is understandable that you don’t know.

If your church does not teach on the gifts of the spirit or that God can use you in the gifts, it is understandable that you don’t know.  Check out our post on the Nine Gifts of the Holy Spirit if you are not sure what gifts you are manifesting.  I didn’t know about the gifts either until I was taught.   Once you discover what your gifts are, there is something you have to do.

Stir Up Your Spiritual Gifts by Practice

It sounds funny when you say you need to stir up your spiritual gifts, but you do.   For example, some people are natural athletes, but if they want to go to the Olympics one day, they will have to practice faithfully to perfect that ability!  Having a gift means you have been given something special. You have to choose what you are going to do with it.  Are you going to put it in the closet on a shelf, or use it for which it was intended?

When I was a young Christian, our church had a ministry school each Summer.  We studied Scripture, learned how to witness and then we went out on the street and put into practice what we learned.  Yes, you have to practice what you are learning.

Yes, you have to practice what you are learning.  One class, we did during ministry school was the gifts of the spirit.  After the class, we had an exercise, where we had to pick a partner, pray for them, and see if the Lord gave us a word for them.  You know, every student got a word, for their partner?  Hebrews 5:14 

How to Practice

What do I mean by practice?  I mean you have to do things to exercise your spiritual gifts.  When I was in Bible school, there came a time when we had to do trial sermons.   We were given 10 minutes to come up with a title, beginning, body, and conclusion to our sermon.  We weren’t experienced, preachers.  However, we were practicing, perfecting, stirring up our God given abilities.

Look for ways of exercising your gift.  Do you feel you have gifts of healing?   The gift of mercy?  Go to the hospital and pray for the sick.   When I went to the hospitals, I never had one person tell me, they did not want prayer.  Practice on your Christian friends, and family members. See if someone gets healed, or if you get a Word of Knowledge or a Word of Wisdom.   You will never know until you try.   Psalms 34:8

Father help me to be sensitive to your holy spirit. Show me ways to bless and pray for others, as I seek to grow in your grace. Amen

Fasting Opens the Heart and the Spirit

Fasting is the abstaining from food for a period of time for a spiritual purpose.  Many Christians have not been taught about fasting.  In my childhood Episcopal church, the closest we came to fasting was giving up something for the Lent season.  Times of fasting and prayer are beneficial to the body, spirit, and soul.

Fasting crucifies the flesh and breaks bad habits and bondage from our lives.  It can produce a new a heart and closeness to God.   Fasting helps to your dominion over your flesh and make you more sensitive the voice of God! 

The period of time you fast is up to you unless God has given you specific directions.  We can also consecrate ourselves to fast in preparation for intersession, ministry and setting other free from oppression and bondage. 

There are different ways and types of fast, which will be discussed in another post. You can fast all day, or for a certain period of time.  If you are new to fasting, it is a good idea to go slow and fast one meal.  Pray and reading the Bible, should always be a part of your time of drawing close to God.  Isaiah 58:3-7

What Spiritual Gifts are Not

When the Father endows us with a part of himself, it is a very sacred thing.  Gifts are not to display or draw attention to the person, but to magnify God.  Gifts are not to elevate the believer are to present them as more spiritual or powerful than others. We have a choice on how we represent Jesus Christ.  As bearers of His glory, remember the world is watching us.  We should carry ourselves as vessels of honor, without reproach.

Spiritual Gifts are:

• • Not for show
  • Not for financial gain
  • Not to control or manipulation
  • Not proof a spiritual maturity

Unfortunately, there are those who use the gifts for wrong reasons, like financial gain or control or manipulation.  This is the reason some are turned off by God’s gifts.  It is also important for the Body of Christ to operate in discerning of spirits so that you can know when you see a false prophet or someone who uses the gifts improperly.  It is important not to use charismatic gift for any other reason than to glorify God

And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. John 12:32