Now that we have a clear definition of what a spiritual gift is (a God-given ability to serve the body of Christ wherever and however He directs), how are they to be understood? Let’s begin by defining what a spiritual gift is not.

• A Spiritual Gift Is Not A Place Of Service: The gift of teaching can be done in a school, a church, a home, a park, or even at Dairy Queen.
• A Spiritual Gift Is Not An Office: In this regard, there is much confusion over the gift of pastor. The gift is to shepherd people and can be done by he who occupies our ecclesiastical office of pastor, or it could be done by a father or mother, or anyone who is shepherding people.
• A Spiritual Gift Is Not A Particular Age Group: There is no gift of youth work, or children’s work, etc. People of all ages need to be served by pastors, teachers, administrators, helpers, etc.
• A Spiritual Gift Is Not A Specialty Technique: There is no spiritual gift of writing or Christian education or music or dating. These are techniques through which spiritual gifts may be channeled.

Now I’d like you to take out a piece of paper, turn it landscape and divide it into three columns. Label the columns: Natural Abilities, Acquired Abilities, and Spiritual Gifts. I want you to fill in the three columns to the best of your ability. Do not write down only what you think, but try to remember what other people have told you about what you are good at or what they thought you should pursue. Take only three to five minutes to complete this exercise.

Done? Great! We’ll come back to that sheet in a moment, right now I want to briefly look at the apostle Phillip. When we first meet Philip in Acts chapter six we see him helping to distribute the relief of money to needy (and bickering) widows. It is doubtful that before he took on this ministry that he sat down trying to discern if he had the spiritual gift to enable him. He saw an opportunity to serve and he took it. After he proved faithful in this small task, the Lord gave him another—that of evangelizing the Samaritans (8.5) and, later, the Ethiopian eunuch. As he used the gift he becomes known as Philip the Evangelist (21.8), but first he was Philip the Helper of Widows.

There are several lessons we can learn about Spiritual Gifts from Phillip. The first is that Spiritual Gifts are discovered and developed by activity. Philip didn’t need a spiritual gift to serve the widows, but his faithfulness lead to the opportunity that did require a gift, which leads us to the second lesson: Faithfulness in one opportunity leads to other opportunities.

If you are seeking to discover your gift(s), then do not turn down opportunities to serve, even if you don't think the service falls within the range of your abilities. We have all heard before: God is more interested in your availability, than He is your ability. God may be trying to tell you that you have abilities you do not yet recognize, bringing us to lesson number three: be willing to do anything for God!

Now take a look at your list again. Unless you have taken some kind of spiritual gift inventory before, the third column is probably blank. That’s okay for now. Examine the first two columns carefully. I’m betting there are ministry opportunities at your church or in your neighborhood that are directly related to your other abilities. The question is, are you willing to minister using those abilities? By saying “yes” to those opportunities you are on your way to discovering the unique way God has gifted you.