Your child is a one-of-a-kind masterpiece! He or she child was created for a specific, great purpose by God for His glory. To help your child fulfill that purpose, God has given him or her spiritual gifts.
These gifts are not earned, based on your child’s “goodness” or him/her somehow deserving them; they are simply a present to your child from God for His purposes! He wants him or her to use them for His glory.
Ephesians 4:8 (NLT) says, “That is why the Scriptures say, “When he ascended to the heights, he led a crowd of captives and gave gifts to his people.”
A list of these spiritual gifts are found in the Bible in:
Romans 12:6-8
- Prophecy
- Ministry
- Teaching
- Exhortation
- Giving
- Leading
- Mercy (Compassion)
1 Corinthians 1-28
- Administrations
- Miracles
- Wisdom
- Knowledge
- Discerning of spirits
- Speaking in tongues
- Interpretation of tongues
- Prophecy
- Faith
- Working of miracles
- Healing
- Apostle
- Teaching
Ephesians 4:11.
- Apostle
- Prophet
- Evangelist
- Pastor
- Teacher
Two excellent resources that I recommend on the spiritual gifts are The Gifts and Ministries of the Holy Spirit by Lester Sumrall and Step Out and Take Your Place by Krista Dunk
One of my passions is exhorting Christians to discover and use the gifts God has given them to become all that God has created them to be and to fulfill their destiny.
I encourage you to find a Bible-teaching church whose leadership believes in and utilizes people’s gifts. God wants to use everyone’s gifts: men, women, teens, and children’s. He doesn’t want your child to have to wait to grow up before using his or her gifts. Remember, that Samuel was just a child when God spoke to him in the temple. Your church may have a test or tests that you and your family can take to help you find out what your spiritual gifts are, so that all of you can begin learning about and operating in your areas of gifting in the local body.
Remember that the gifts aren’t just for inside the four walls of the church! If you study the gospels, you will see Jesus and the disciples using the spiritual gifts everywhere they went! 🙂 God wants His church to be without walls, to the ends of the earth! Find out if your church offers tests for and training in the spiritual gifts.
You and your child can also take tests online to help you discover your spiritual gifts. Here are some links that I recommend for you:
Spiritual Gifts Tests:
http://www.bibleistrue.com/sgtest/testa.htm
http://www.kodachrome.org/spiritgift/
http://www.buildingchurch.net/g2s-i.htm
If you’d like to find out more info about the spiritual gifts, be sure to sign up for my bi-monthly ezine here at www.BethJones.net, where you’ll be first to hear about my newest blog posts, ebooks, books, audios, webinars, telecalls, workshops, and live events on this topic.
Please let me know if you have found these resources to be helpful or if you would like more information on the spiritual gifts by emailing me at elizabethdjones@gmail.com.
Prayer for you and your children:
Ephesians 3:19 (Amplified):
[That you may really come] to know [practically, through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge [without experience]; that you may be filled [through all your being] unto all the fullness of God [may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself]!