Discovering Your Spiritual Gifts
The Sign Gifts
Week of Sunday, May 8, 2005
This Week’s Scripture Reading
1 Corinthians 12:7-11
“7 A spiritual gift is given to each of us as a means of helping the entire church. 8 To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another he gives the gift of special knowledge. 9 The Spirit gives special faith to another, and to someone else he gives the power to heal the sick. 10 He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and to another the ability to prophecy. He gives someone else the ability to know whether it is really the Spirit of God or another spirit that is speaking. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, and another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. 11 It is the one and only Holy Spirit who distributes these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.”
Prayers for the Week:
Sunday |
Dear Lord, I thank you for all the spiritual gifts that you have given to believers. I thank you that every gift is significant and operates in the supernatural. Help me to walk in the realm of your Spirit and reflect your glory in my life. In Jesus’ name. . . Amen. |
Monday |
Heavenly Father, I praise you that every spiritual gift that was evidenced in the early church is available today. You have not changed your ways. I ask that every spiritual gift would be manifest in and among your people. We long to see your Spirit poured out in our lives. In Jesus’ name. . .Amen. |
Tuesday |
Jesus, I thank you that you said that I would do even “greater works” than you did. You have empowered me with your Spirit, and I ask that I would continue to abide in his power. May I see you lifted up in the gifts that you have given me. I ask this in your name. . . Amen. |
Wednesday |
God Almighty, I thank you that you are a God of miracles! You never change. You can take the most impossible case and turn it around by your healing touch. I ask that you would heal me and make me whole today. In Jesus’ name. . . Amen. |
Thursday |
Dear Lord, I know that you are able to do miracles. I ask that you would grant me the faith to believe that you will do them. Without faith, I cannot please you. Help me to walk by faith and not by sight. In Jesus’ name. . . Amen. |
Friday |
Heavenly Father, I thank you that your Spirit continues to work in the church today. May we all hear what your Holy Spirit is saying to us today. Keep us sensitive and attentive to his voice. We need to know what you are saying so that we may obey you. Grant all of us the grace to listen. . . In your name. . .Amen. |
Saturday |
God, You are bigger than my experience. Forgive me if I have put you in a “box.” I ask that you would continue to grow me by your grace and blow my mind with your signs and wonders. I yield myself to you, and declare that your Holy Spirit has perfect liberty to move in my life. In Jesus’ name. . . Amen. |
Background on the Text
Of all the spiritual gifts, the “sign gifts” (healing, miracles, tongues, and interpretation of tongues) are the most controversial. Several of the main reasons why they remain controversial are because in many churches they are so seldom experienced. God, however, is larger than our experience. The same Holy Spirit who empowered the early church in the book of Acts is the same Holy Spirit who empowers us today. What God did then, He will do today. Every gift, not simply the “sign gifts,” is a demonstration of God’s supernatural power at work. The “sign gifts” are not any greater than any other spiritual gift because all of them are useful in the building of God’s kingdom.
In I Corinthians 12:7-11, the apostle Paul reveals the “sign gifts” in the midst of his spiritual gifts list. Although Paul did not specify miracles, healing, tongues, and interpretation of tongues, as an individual category, Greg Ogden author of “Discipleship Essentials” has made a “sign gifts” category to identify and explain the nature of the gifts. Regardless of how one categorizes the spiritual gifts, the point is that every gift is available to believers today and are useful in the edification of the church.
Monday
Observation: What does the text say?
Tuesday
Interpretation: What do these verses mean?
Wednesday
Application: How can I respond to the text’s insights and teachings?
Thursday
After reading and studying this text, reflect on the following discipleship growth points:
Encouraged and strengthened me by:
|
Fallen short areas
|
What will I do with these insights?
|
Friday
After reading and studying this text, reflect on the following discipleship growth points:
What did God say to me this week?
|
Share insights and growth points
|
Changed/transformed how?
|
Saturday
Reflective Thoughts