I am preparing some notes for a seminar that Marion and I will be offering to the small group leaders at our church. The seminar is titled Understanding and Releasing Spiritual Gifts. In preparation for this I have been asking myself some questions about spiritual gifts. I am going to list some of the questions here.
Some of these questions I have answers for, others I am still pondering, but I am going to resist the temptation to answer the questions here. I’m just going to list the questions as food for thought.
I’ve been using three passages of Scripture as my main resource for this seminar, so if you are prompted to study, you’ll find answers to the first set of questions in 1 Corinthians 12:1-11, Romans 12:3-8 and Ephesians 4:7-13 (although the answers to some of the questions may not be obvious at first glance).
The second set of questions are the ones that don’t have hard-and-fast Scriptural answers – they’re more subjective, intended to encourage you to examine your own life as I am examining mine.
I may offer my answers to some of these questions in future posts as time allows. I’d be interested in your answers if you want to share them in a comment. If you want more than that – come to the seminar!
Questions with clear Biblical answers
- Why does God give spiritual gifts? What is their purpose?
- Which person of the Trinity (Father, Son and Spirit) gives these gifts?
- Does each person only have one spiritual gift or can you have several gifts at work in your life?
- Why are they called spiritual gifts?
- What are motivational gifts and are they different from spiritual gifts?
- Do you have any part to play in determining whether these gifts are at work in your life, or is it all up to God?
Questions that are more personal
- Do you know what your gifts are and are you using them? Why or why not?
- What hinders you from using your gifts more than you do?
- What enables or encourages you to use your gifts?
- In your church or small group, is it easy or difficult for you to utilize your gifts? Why?
- Are you motivated to grow in understanding and releasing your gifts? Why or why not?
