What are spiritual gifts? What if your spiritual gifts are divinely appointed and designed for you to establish a personal ministry Paul puts it this way:

To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.

1 Corinthians 12:7-10

Have you heard that some people have particular anointings for prophecy, healing, or speaking in tongues? Have you also heard that someone might have a stronger anointing than another person? That may be true, but is it a useful framework for thinking about the gifts? Ordering people in terms of how well they are anointed can quickly turn into ranking ourselves: do I have a stronger or weaker anointing that this other person? That’s a dangerous way of thinking.

Chapter 12 of 1 Corinthians covers two topics: a description of various spiritual gifts and then describes us all having different spiritual gifts such that they are all useful in the body of Christ. It’s an encouragement to avoid comparisons against one another, and rather to think of gifts as supporting one another and that they are all useful when they work together.

What if a spiritual gift is something you like doing?

The gift is that the Lord has given you a personal ministry that you are well suited for and that you enjoy doing. Paul says to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To rephrase Paul, the spiritual gifts you are given is to benefit other people. The gift you receive is not to benefit you directly, it is done to support others in the body of Christ. So as your gift is useful to others, their gifts are useful to you.

I like to pray for the sick. Line them up and lets go for it. I have a drive and a desire to see people healed in Jesus name. I like to do it, and I am willing to do it more often and for longer stretches of time than other ways to serve. And that is a gift from the Lord.

In 1 Peter 4:9, the gift of hospitality is mentioned. I love hospitable people who want to serve others, make food and throw parties. But I would not consider that to be a gift of mine, for the reason that I do enjoy doing it. Will I do it? Yes. But it drains me and therefore I am going to do it less frequently.

Describing the gift of healing is tricky: if you have it, do you say it? It can come off boastful and comparative to say that one has the gift of healing, in particular if you say that people have been healed when you’ve prayed for them. But to say that one has the gift of healing because they enjoy praying for the sick is quite different, and is an encouragement to others.

So my challenge to you is: be comfortable telling people what your spiritual gift is, and tell them that the gift is that you enjoy doing it and to help the body of Christ.