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Spiritual Gift or Natural Talent?

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I wrote in my previous post about the Gifts of the Spirit, and the question came up: How can we tell the difference between a Spiritual gift and a natural talent? I thought that others may wonder about this as well, so I will share what I have learned from my studies.

The Bible does not really discuss or make a list of natural talents (I’m sure such a list would be huge). But, as we previously learned, the spiritual gifts are only found in three of Paul’s letters: Romans 12:6–8, 1 Corinthians 12:7–10, and Ephesians 4:11. The gifts listed in these three passages are the only ones called spiritual gifts in the Bible. This does not mean there could not be more, but only that those mentioned are the only ones verified by the Bible. Those passages alone can help us narrow down the differences between what are gifts and what are talents.

Given versus learned

However, there are other ways to tell them apart. For instance, as with any gift, a spiritual gift cannot be purchased or learned. We cannot take classes to learn a spiritual gift. We cannot become certified in any of the gifts. God gives them to us after we receive the Holy Spirit, and only when they are needed. Talents are abilities given to us at birth or learned throughout life. They exist in our lives because of our genetic makeup or because we chose to study them. We can hone a talent which tend to focus more on technique. Natural abilities make it easier for a person to perfect a talent.

Of course, since you can be born with a talent, or learn and perfect a talent, they depend our our own power and ability. Spiritual gifts, however, have to do with spiritual abilities and depend on God’s power. The Spirit provides them when our natural abilities are not enough.

Difference in their purpose

The biggest difference, though, is their purpose. Natural talents may benefit us personally and can be used (and often are) outside of a relationship with God. In fact, a natural talent is not guaranteed to be used for God. We can use them for any purpose. We can use our talents for God’s glory or personal glory; to lead or to deceive; for good or for evil. But Peter reveals the purpose of spiritual gifts in 1 Peter 4:10: “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.” Spiritual gifts are given solely for the purpose of serving others. God gives us these gifts so we can distribute His grace to the world.

Paul further explains, in Ephesians 4:12, 13, that the gifts are “to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature.” Spiritual gifts are also meant to build each other up spiritually. Their purpose is to increase faith and knowledge of Jesus. This is why the Spirit grants the gift of wisdom, the gift of faith, the gift of tongues, and all of the other gifts. The Gifts of the Spirit are not meant for (and will not be used for) self-promotion or personal gratification.

Both can be used for God

I’m not saying that natural talents are bad and only the spiritual gifts are good. God is the source of our natural abilities as well. And remember, we can use our natural talents for God. Someone born with the natural talent of music may find that God perfects and sanctifies it with the presence of the Holy Spirit. God can bless our abilities when they are used for His glory. Even greater, God may choose to give a spiritual gift to complement a natural talent a person already has. 

Yes, there is a clear difference between a spiritual gift and a natural talent. Basically, if you are a natural at it, it is not a spiritual gift. If you can learn it at a weekend seminar, it is not a spiritual gift. If it only promotes you and is meant to bring you glory, it is not a gift from God’s spirit. Still, even though there is a difference between them, both can be used for God’s glory. That’s the only thing that matters. So, like the Gifts of the Spirit, if you have a natural, God-given talent, use it for God!

Photo by Kira auf der Heide

Spiritual Gifts

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It doesn’t matter the occasion—birthday, anniversary, Christmas, a reward, or “just because”—receiving a gift is usually a joyful experience. Gifts may be given tightly wrapped in fancy paper, in a nice gift bag, with a simple bow, or even simply by “closing your eyes and holding out your hands.” When there are multiple gifts, people often look like they are going through the produce section in the grocery store—poking, prodding, and shaking—hoping to learn a bit about what is hidden inside. Typically, there is excitement surrounding gifts; a delight for both the one receiving and the one giving.

Photo by Jess Watters

It is no surprise to learn that God desires to give us gifts (Luke 11:13)—eternal life itself is a gift! Yet, when God gives to His children, He loves to “open the floodgates.” For example, not only does God give us the gift of the Holy Spirit, but He also provides additional gifts through the Spirit. We call them “spiritual gifts.” Unfortunately, there’s a lot of misinformation about these gifts. So I went back to the Bible, set aside what I thought I knew, and studied about them.

Gifts of the Spirit

Paul writes about them in three of his letters (Romans 12:6–8, 1 Corinthians 12:7–10, and Ephesians 4:11). These are the gifts he mentions: apostleship, prophesying, evangelizing, pastoring, teaching, serving, encouraging, contributing to the needs of others, leadership, showing mercy, wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, and tongues and their interpretation. This is quite a list! As gifts, though, none of these can be earned, or purchased, or learned.

The phrase “gifts of the Spirit” helps us to understand that these gifts come to us after we have made a commitment to Christ and have received God’s Spirit. We receive the promise of the outpouring of the Spirit when we are baptized (Acts 2:38). It is after this point that we would expect to receive any further gifts from the Spirit.

Are the gifts reserved only for the leadership of the church or other specially chosen people? Or can we all receive them? Paul tells us in 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.” In Hebrews 2:4 we read that the gifts of the Spirit are “distributed according to His will.” Romans 12:6 says, “We have different gifts according to the grace given us.” Basically, they are available to everyone but God is the one who decides who gets what.

Finding Your Gift?

How do we go about finding out which one(s) we’ve been given? Some claim that everyone will get the same gift, so we only need to look for one. However, the passages we just read show that God gives out different gifts as He determines. There’s no passage in scripture that says we will all receive the same gift. Besides, a gift is not the evidence of the Spirit in a person’s life, the fruit is.

Others will suggest that we just fill out a questionnaire and hope it will reveal our gifts. While they can be helpful, there is a weakness in those tests: us. We have the ability to test ourselves into a gift. In other words, we can answer the questions based on who we wished we were rather than who we really are. Besides, was that how the early church learned their gifts?

Revealed When Following

We won’t find a formula for a spiritual gifts inventory in the book of Acts. They learned what their gift was by seeing it revealed in their lives. This is because spiritual gifts are revealed in those who are diligently following and obeying Christ. They are given whenever God’s people need to be built up (Ephesians 4:12, 13); whenever people need to grow in faith or in the knowledge of the Son of God. The gifts are given to us to compensate for our inadequacies when we are doing God’s will.

In other words, you must be actively following Jesus to find your gift. You will never learn what your gift is by sitting in a pew—you have to be out working for the Kingdom of Heaven. Then, when you are in a situation where a gift is needed it will show up.

Furthermore, whatever your gift is, you will discover God’s blessing as you use it. A broken heart is encouraged; a sad heart finds hope; a prodigal son returns to Jesus; a seeker begins to understand Biblical truths. Other people will benefit—they’ll grow spiritually—when a gift is used.

According to His wisdom, God will give us a gift as they are needed. We don’t have to have all of the gifts. We don’t all need to have the same gift. But, if God calls us to do something that is beyond our abilities, He will grant us a gift from His Spirit to complete it. Then, as Peter wrote, “Each one should use whatever gift he has received…” (1 Peter 4:10).

Proof in the Fruit: Evidence of the Spirit

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I had the opportunity back in college, to visit several different denominations during their worship. I had a wonderful time worshipping with each of them, but one in particular really stuck out to me. It was different than I was used to, but even more, it raised a question I had never considered before. Did I have the Holy Spirit in my life? Is it even possible to know if I had the Spirit? And if I could know, what would be the proof?

God reveals the difference between the life led by the Spirit and the life void of the Spirit. Notice what was told to Saul as he was anointed king, “Then the Spirit of the LORD will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man” (1 Samuel 10:6). Here is the foundation of a Spirit-filled life: you will be changed. When the Holy Spirit comes into your life, it will never be the same.

Of course, some might argue that the prophesying was the proof. What about Jesus’ warning that there would be false prophets in the last days? Prophesying, by itself, could not be proof if there will be both true and false prophets. Instead, like we just read in 1 Samuel, Jesus said in Matthew 7:15–18 that there would be a difference in the fruit. The proof of a tree is in its fruit; the proof of the Spirit is also in its fruit.

Image by Maja Petric

So what does this different fruit look like? Galatians 5:19–21 shows us a glimpse of our natural fruit (it’s not pretty). Unfortunately, what this passage describes is the natural growth from a life of sin. It is the result of an unchanged life.

The Fruit of the Spirit

We will not follow both our own desires and instincts if the Spirit’s leading. The two desire opposite things—they are in conflict with each other (Galatians 5:17). So when God sends His Spirit into your life, a change begins, which means different fruit. Instead of the fruit of our sinful nature, we now see new fruit in our lives:

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5: 22, 23).

Notice, these are all about character. They cannot be faked. In addition, they all have something in common: they are not conditional. Let me explain.

The first fruit mentioned is love. The love from the world says, I will love you if you love me back, or if you are lovable, or if you give me a reason to love you. But this is agape love—love without conditions. We don’t have to be loved back or have a reason. As the Spirit dwells in us we will love. Period.

Then there is joy. Joy is not happiness—happiness varies with the circumstances. Isaiah 58:14 says that we find our joy in the Lord. Therefore, this joy is not based on what is going on around us, it is based on the presence of the Spirit.

Peace. The Greek word defines this as “freedom from anxiety and inner turmoil.” We may find a type of peace by going to a special solitary place away from all the turmoil. But this peace is freedom from inner turmoil and anxiety—regardless of what is going on around you!

Patience. Sometimes we credit ourselves as patient because we refrain from jumping lines at the supermarket. While this is a good start, notice it’s definition: “emotional calm in the face of provocation or misfortune without complaint or irritation.” Once again, this is not simply being patient when the conditions are right.

These are just a few examples, I could continue with kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Like each of the others before, the idea behind them is that they are present in the person’s life regardless of the outside conditions.

These are the Fruit of the Spirit: character traits that do not depend on circumstances. These are the real proof of the Spirit in your life.

A Changed Life

The proof of God’s Spirit in your life has never been one of the gifts, or some extravagant show. The proof of God’s Spirit is a changed life. When the Spirit is at work in your life you will not remain who you used to be. You’ll find yourself more loving, more joyful, more patient, more kind. You’ll tend to be more generous and faithful. You’ll becoming more gentle and have more self control.

Frankly, if you are the same now as you were before you met Christ, then the Spirit hasn’t been allowed to work in your life. While it is true that God accepts us where we are and how we are, He will never leave us as He finds us! This is the work of sanctification—the process of being made back into His image.

We can be sure that if the Spirit of God is in us, we will be changed. We will be changed to be more like Jesus. Do you want to know if the Spirit is in your life? Look for His fruit. That is the proof. It can also be a picture of your future.

The Work of the Spirit

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We may talk about the promise of the Holy Spirit and how important it is to have in our lives. We speak about how great it would be to have the Spirit poured out upon us. But what exactly does the Holy Spirit do? Does He have a part in our Salvation? Or does He just go around handing out gifts—causing people speak in tongues?

Jesus gave a concise description of the Holy Spirit’s work in John 16:7–14. While trying to comfort His disciples after telling them that He would be leaving, He explains to them what the coming Helper will do. He says a lot here, but according to Jesus, the Holy Spirit has two main missions: conviction and guidance.

In verse 9, Jesus says that part of the work of the Spirit is to help us see the truth of sin: that we are outside of a saving relationship with God. Because of the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we can see the reality of our sin and recognize our need of a Savior. Therefore, the Holy Spirit begins working in our lives before we even start following Jesus! If you love Jesus today, it is because of the work of the Spirit in your life.

He also convicts about righteousness, “because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer.” When Jesus ascended into Heaven, His living example was gone. Yet, today we still ask, “What would Jesus do?” We may not know how He would act in every modern situation, but that’s where the Holy Spirit comes in. We can know what is right because the Holy Spirit will convict us about it.

Finally, the Spirit will convict about judgment, “because the prince of this world now stands condemned.” Satan revealed the true nature of his government at the cross and the lines have been drawn. As a result, judgment has come upon the former “ruler” of this world and his followers. The Spirit convicts us of this and gives us the hope that we do not have to take part in their judgment.

The other major mission of the Holy Spirit is guiding us to all truth (John 16:13). This verse shows the true nature even of the conviction process: to lead us. The Spirit intends to lead us to all that is true. The truth about sin, righteousness, and judgment. The truth about God. The truth about us.

It will not be just any truth, though. Jesus said that “he will speak only what he hears.” In other words, the Spirit will never contradict what has already been spoken. He will not change anything, but will remind us of what Jesus had taught (John 14:26). Some of the truth the Spirit will reveal to us includes what is yet to come. In fact, we have the hope that we have because the Spirit has revealed the glory God has waiting for us (1 Corinthians 2:9–12).

Ultimately, though, the Spirit’s work will result in bringing glory to Christ (John 16:14). The Spirit’s work is not to glorify us. It is not to make us greater in the eyes of others; it is to make Jesus great in our eyes.

This is what the Spirit’s conviction will do. Convicted about sin, we see the greatness of our Savior as the Way. Convicted about righteousness, we see the greatness of our Shepherd as the Truth. Convicted about Judgment, we see the greatness of our Advocate as the Life. The Holy Spirit will help correct all of our inaccurate views of God. The Spirit reveals that God is more loving, more forgiving, more merciful, more awesome than most Christians make Him out to be.

As the Spirit leads and convicts in our lives, Jesus becomes greater, and our love for Him can only grow stronger. Here’s the conclusion of the matter: the Spirit works to draw us to Christ, help us fall in love with Him, and then encourages and enables us to faithfully follow Him.

Thank you, Father, for sending us your Spirit!

Armor of God: The Almost Forgotten Weapon

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It is easy to assume that Paul ended the list of God’s armor with the sword of the Spirit. But if we stop there, we will overlook the most powerful weapon available to us. It is God’s almost forgotten weapon. What is it? Prayer (see Ephesians 6:18).

Most Christians wouldn’t suggest that prayer is unimportant. Yet it’s often overlooked as part of the armor of God; it’s frequently neglected as a weapon. It may be forgotten because we wonder how it fits in with armor. The Roman soldiers didn’t pray, right? True, but the Christian doesn’t use literal swords, breastplates and girdles. Paul is referring to something that no successful army is without. It is not always seen as a weapon, but battles are won or lost depending on how, or if, it is used: It is communication.

While good communication doesn’t mean you’ll win every battle, bad communications typically spells defeat. Many spiritual battles are also lost because of poor communication. To ensure spiritual victories in our lives, we need to understand this weapon of communication, and how it is used properly.

First, Paul advises, “And pray in the Spirit.” The word “and” shows us that Paul wasn’t finished with the sword. In addition to the other pieces of armor, we must also pray. Romans 8:26 says, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” Just like when studying God’s word, we rely on the Holy Spirit when we pray. The most wonderful thing is that the Holy Spirit reads our hearts. So even when we don’t know exactly what to say or how to say it he knows what we mean—we just need to pray. The Spirit takes our hearts’ desires and presents them before the Throne of God. He is our connection to the Commander-in-Chief.

Furthermore, Paul says, “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions.” This isn’t saying that we need to be on our knees all day long as if we have nothing better to do—we do have a battle going on! However, we are instructed, as Paul puts it in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, to “pray without ceasing.” This means leaving the walkie-talkie on—keeping an open line of communication on between us and Heaven—always ready to send and ready to receive.

This allows us to be able to follow the next instruction: “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.” There are different kinds of prayers: public and private, planned and sudden, solemn and joyful. There are different types of requests as well. But before you start pulling out a wish list for God to fulfill, understand what Paul is saying: this is not meant for us to treat God like Santa Claus, it is us realizing who our enemy is, what we lack, and that God is our only source for victories.

Prayer is our way of calling for reinforcements. Did you know that all of Heaven’s resources are waiting to be delivered so that God’s glory can be revealed in our lives? Sadly though, sometimes legions of angels are waiting to be deployed but aren’t; sometimes showers of blessings are ready to fall but are are never felt; sometimes we could have victory but instead see defeat. Why? Because we do not ask (faulty communication). It is vital that we keep an open connection with God. It is then that we are able to pray in all occasions, all kinds of prayers and requests.

Of course, we are pretty good at the sending part of communication but what about the receiving part? Have you ever noticed: when soldiers are gathered around a commanding officer, who does the most talking? Definitely not the soldier! As a matter of fact, when they are receiving instructions during a battle, they are silent. Why is it, then, that we think we are to do all the talking during prayer? In battle, the most valuable part of communication is listening. In fact, if you haven’t listened, you haven’t communicated.

Unfortunately, I don’t think we allow ourselves much opportunity to listen. Our days are filled with so much work, so much activity, and so much “noise.” We wonder why we’re not able to hear God speaking to us, yet we never really give Him our attention. If everything around you is LOUD, how can you hear God’s still, small voice? If you can’t hear His voice, how can He communicate? He can speak through His Word, through another person, through nature, and He may speak directly—but you still have to be listening.

Then, once you hear God, what will you do with what you hear? How much more power could Christ have in our cities, in our churches, in our lives, if we not only called on Him, but listened to, and obeyed, His instructions for us? Our enemy would have no chance!

Friends, prayer is a powerful weapon. There are no alternatives. Man may encourage you to trivialize it. Satan will try to get you to forget about it. Why? Because he has no defenses against the prayers of God’s people. Because, when you pray, the Creator draws near to you. Because, when you pray, thousands of angel-reinforcements fly to your aid. Because, when you pray, heaven’s floodgates are opened. Because, when you pray, God reveals His plan for victory. And when you listen and obey, nothing can keep you from victory!

How Three Can Be One

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Anytime a person commits to studying the Scriptures, there will be a few concepts that will pop-up that can make a mind spin. These seemingly impossible concepts are often used as a reason to not believe in the scriptures. Since our minds have a difficult time wrapping around the idea, we may feel that it can’t be true.

Some of these mind-frying notions are simply due to the limit of our human comprehension: the idea that God has always been (never had a beginning) is a good example. I think one could actually see smoke coming from my ears when I spend too much time trying to understand that one! Other ideas are difficult because of a limited amount of evidence: a great example of this is how the Sadducees didn’t believe in Angels or miracles because they felt these could easily be explained away and the Bible (only the first five books of Moses for them) did not specifically prove their existence.

It has been suggested by some that the doctrine of the Trinity belongs in such a group of impossibilities. It seems confusing because our minds have a difficult time allowing for one God to actually be three separate Gods.

One major argument against the concept of a three-in-one God is that the word “trinity” is not in the Bible. This is true. It is a man-made word introduced about 100-200 years after the Apostles. Yet, although the specific word does not appear in scriptures, the concept does. The word was simply created in an attempt to better describe the concept they found.

I have heard others attempt at getting around this difficulty by teaching that God is one but has appeared in three forms. Thus, the God of the Old Testament is the Father, who becomes Jesus in the New Testament, who then becomes the Holy Spirit after the resurrection. I’m not sure their explanation is any easier to understand though. It begins to sound like a Superman/ Clark Kent problem: neither is in the same place at the same time—they must be the same person.

However, there are several passages in scripture that disproves such teachings. A careful, honest, study of scriptures reveals that the idea of the Trinity has plenty of evidence.

One of the greatest evidences is found at Jesus’ baptism (Luke 3:21, 22): the description reveals all three at the same place at the same time—the Son being baptized, the Father speaking from Heaven, and the Spirit landing of Jesus in the form of a dove. This scene wasn’t a private one either, many people saw it, and John the Baptist testified about it (John 1:32–34).

Another passage that supports the idea of the trinity is when Jesus promises to send the Holy Spirit (John 14:16, 17). He mentions three distinct persons of the Godhead: He, Jesus, will ask the Father who will send the Holy Spirit. God cannot be the one person in three different forms for this statement to be true. Either there are three different beings in the Godhead or Jesus is lying.

There’s also Jesus’ Great Commission found in Matthew 28:19. Jesus instructs the disciples to baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Once again, He specifies three distinct beings.

Of course, that’s the New Testament though, what about the Old Testament?

At the very beginning, during the creation story, we are already introduced to the trinity. When making mankind, God said a very powerful, and revealing, statement: “Let us make man in our image.” God spoke in the plural. He could not have been talking to the angels, for we were not made in an angel’s image, but in God’s image. To whom else could He have been speaking? Genesis 1:1 say that God was at creation (He created everything) and it also mentions that His Spirit moved over the waters. This places the Father and the Spirit at creation. Then in John 1:1–5, we are told that in the beginning the Word, or Jesus (vs 14), was with God and was God. It also says that everything that was made at creation was made through Him. It makes sense, then, why God would speak in the plural, because the Bible places all three—the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit—at creation.

Interestingly, throughout the Old Testament, God is always referred to in the plural. In English, we do not easily catch this though. The Hebrew word that is always translated as “God,” is Elohim. This word, however, is not singular, it is the plural form of the word. The singular form, El, is always translated with a lower-case “g” as in “god.” Thus, throughout the Old Testament, God was always known as, and referred to as, an entity containing more than one being.

But how can three be one?

Deuteronomy 6:4 says, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” It may be easy to argue that this proves that He is one person. However, the word for “one” used here is the same as what is used in Genesis 2:24 when talking about Adam and Eve—“the two shall become one flesh.” No one would argue that Adam and Eve melted into one being. No, they remained two separate individuals, yet became unified. This word has the meaning of multiple equal things becoming one.

Jesus also said, “I and the Father are one.” He did not say that they were the same person. He said they were one. It was said in the context of unity. Further evidence that Jesus’ statement was about unity is found a few chapters later in John 17:11 when Jesus is praying that his disciples “may be one, even as we are one.” They weren’t meant to become one great big glob of merged humanity. Jesus desired His followers to have unity—the same unity He had with the Father. They were unified in purpose: Jesus was about His Father’s business of salvation and the Holy Spirit would come and help the disciple’s finish the work Jesus started.

This is just a few passages that provide evidence of a Three-in-One Godhead. All three mentioned in the Godhead are united, much like a husband and wife are united in marriage (at least in a healthy marriage there will be unity and equality). Although they remain separate individuals—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—they are united in purpose: the salvation of mankind!