 I want to talk to you about how to discover and activate your spiritual gifts. The Bible makes it clear that every single believer has been given a spiritual gift. That includes you. Even if you don't feel like you have a spiritual gift, even if you're still wondering what your spiritual gift might be. And even if you doubt that God could use you, I guarantee you this. God's word is true and it applies equally to all of us. So when the Scripture describes the spiritual gift for each one of us, we might help each other. That's 1 Corinthians 12-7. It's talking about you. So we're going to go over real briefly what the spiritual gifts are. And then I want to show you how to discover yours. And then I want to show you how to activate your spiritual gifts. Now, spiritual gifts are special abilities that are given to us by the Holy Spirit. They're assignments from God, special areas of ministry focus that the Lord gives to different individuals that they might be a blessing to the body of Christ. It's not about entertainment. It's about edification. It's not about status. It's about service. God gives you spiritual gifts not so that you can be praised or honored, not so that you can be acknowledged or looked to as spiritual. God gives us spiritual gifts in order that we might serve one another. So having said that, I've broken down the spiritual gifts into three different categories. Now, the terms for these categories won't be found in Scripture, but the actual gifts themselves will be. I just put them in categories to help you memorize them more easily. So number one, the service gifts. Now, as I said, God gives us spiritual gifts not for status, but for service. So all spiritual gifts are for service. This just so happens to be the name of the first category that we have here, which is again, number one, the service gifts. Romans 12, 8, you will see the gift of exhortation. Now, let me tell you the mistake that many believers make when it comes to the service gifts or gifts that are not healing and prophecy and the like. When we think of spiritual gifts, often we think of something that would be immediately recognized as supernatural. But these aren't the only abilities that the Holy Spirit gives to us. For example, this first gift that I listed, the gift of exhortation. Well, what is the gift of exhortation? Exhortation is encouragement. So it's the gift of encouragement. Now, wait a minute. Can't I encourage someone without the hope of the Holy Spirit? Aren't there unbelievers who can encourage one another? Absolutely. That's true. But you have to remember that all of the gifts are spiritual in their source. All of the spiritual gifts come from the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit. He decides who gets what gifts and he is the one who empowers us in the use of these gifts. So in terms of the gift of exhortation, when we talk about encouragement, we're not just talking about the ability to encourage. Rather, we're talking about the spirit empowered ability to encourage. And that's a big difference. I'll tell you why. Let's say you approach someone, someone in the faith who you know as a friend and they're struggling. They're dealing with doubt. Perhaps they're dealing with depression and they just have this lowly demeanor. They have this cloud hanging over their head, this weight on their spiritual back, if you will. And you approach them and they're just in this place where it's very difficult for them to think according to the truth or positively. And you approach them and you try to, in your own power, encourage them with words that come from your own intellect. Now, there's nothing wrong with that. How many of you know that there are certain seasons and moments in life where words just fail us? And in fact, there's been times in my life where people try to encourage me and I just look at them like, if you were going through what I was going through, you would not tell me something that seems so superficial. Now, I'm not being cynical, but that's the reality. Sometimes you just find yourself in a place where you're so discouraged that it seems like the encouragement of others is just kind of a nuisance or a distraction. Not always the case, but some people come to those places in their life. We have to acknowledge that reality. Well, the gift of exhortation as it goes with the power of the Holy Spirit does more than just encourage someone with human ability. That empowering presence of the Holy Spirit doesn't just back your words. It backs your demeanor where your presence goes. The presence of the Holy Spirit goes so that when you enter the room and begin to talk to that person who is discouraged, who has that weight on them, as you begin to speak according to the power of the Holy Spirit, they begin to receive encouragement and it begins to break through. Now, why is it that I've concluded that this is how this gift operates? Because any encouragement that comes from the Holy Spirit will have the power to break through any of the emotions that we may be feeling. I saw this in action one time where I was in the hospital with a friend visiting a friend of mine who was suffering. There was this surgery that had gone wrong and I was pretty much with them every day just helping the family and so forth, praying with them, reading the scripture to them, helping them with whatever they needed and so forth. And so what happened was I began to watch different people come in and try to encourage this individual and I'm telling you, he was just not having it. He's watching them come in and he was just very cynical and discouraged and it didn't matter what they said. The teachers couldn't teach him out of the discouragement. The pastors couldn't pastor him out of that discouragement. The prophets couldn't prophesy him out of that discouragement. You're just discouraged and then a woman walks in and this woman is just a powerful woman of faith and she actually has a son who suffers severely with a very, very, very severe sickness. She walks into the room and just begins to speak left and I'm telling you, she didn't scream, she didn't yell, she wasn't trying to be spiritual. She just came into the room and began to encourage him and there was just something about what she carried that within the first few minutes of her even talking to this guy, things began to break off of him. Suddenly, he became encouraged and I watched his whole mood shift from that day forward and his recovery actually sped up because his disposition was changed by a single encounter with the gift of encouragement. So before you go writing off these gifts and dismissing them as the lesser gifts, you have to understand that God has given these gifts to the church and God gives us these abilities to fulfill specific purposes and they're very powerful for what they are. So even if the gift of exhortation isn't the gift of healing or the gift of miracles or the word of knowledge which kind of have what we would call that wow factor, right? We're human and sometimes humans don't necessarily know how to prioritize things or how to perceive things in their proper state but here we see that all of these gifts are necessary and as it comes with the service gifts, we must remember that these gifts serve a purpose. So that gift of exhortation, that's a powerful gift to have to be able to speak and that weight to come off of people. To be able to speak and help stir someone's faith that they might believe God and continue to press forward in their walk with God. That's a powerful gift to have. So let's not be dismissive of the service gifts. The gift of exhortation, the spirit empowered ability to encourage. So you're not just doing it in your own strength. You're doing it in the Holy Spirit's power. Next we see in that same verse, Romans 12, 8, the gift of giving. This isn't just the ability to give money. This isn't just the ability to be wealthy. This is a generous disposition. This is to have the generous nature of God within you to where you have this supernatural ability to release and of course God replenishes those resources as you continue to use that gift. Then there's the gift of leadership, Romans 12, 8, 1 Corinthians 12, 28. Again, this is not just leadership or the talent of leadership or the inclination toward leadership skills. This has to do with spirit empowered leadership ability. Then there is the gift of service for Romans chapter 12 verse 7. Now the gift of service in the same way may not sound all that exciting. But the reality is that this is probably one of the most important gifts that we see in operation in the church today. Why? Because those with the gift of service don't just serve with a cheerful heart. They don't just serve with a good attitude. They aren't just inclined to give their time and energy toward the things that the kingdom of God needs. But additionally, the gift of service comes with the ability to see the need. How do I know that? Well, anyone who has a heart to serve is going to look for opportunities to serve. So of course it's just a logical conclusion to say that the gift of service comes with the ability to observe what needs need to be met. Then we see the gift of administration, which is 1 Corinthians 12, 28. This is the gift of organization, the implementation of structure, but not just the talent, the human ability. This is the spirit-empowered ability to be organized. Imagine that, the organized nature of God working through you. That's his nature working through you with the gift of administration. So that's the first category, service gifts, exhortation giving leadership service administration. Next we see what we'll call the power gifts. Now, just like with the service gifts, so the power gifts have a title that could actually apply to all the gifts. So when I mentioned the service gifts, I said all gifts are for service, but for the sake of categorization and memorization, we gave you that first category, service gifts. All gifts of the spirit have the power of the Holy Spirit behind them. But again, just for the sake of categorization, we've come up with this list. Then we see the power gifts. Now again, all the spiritual gifts have the power of the spirit, but here that's what I've chosen as a term for the category. We see, number one, the gift of prophecy. Romans chapter 12 verse 6, 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 10. This is the gift to speak as an oracle for God, the ability also to have the future revealed to you. And I want to be careful about the way I word that because any of the spiritual gifts, all of the spiritual gifts, I should say, including the power gifts are still subject to the sovereignty of God. So someone with the gift of healing, it's not that they can just choose at any moment to heal whoever I want. And that's actually been the assumption of those who misunderstand how the spiritual gifts work and therefore become critics of the gifts themselves. But rather the gift of healing works today the way it has always worked. It's an assignment from God that he gave to you in his sovereignty. And if you walk in obedience to his will, that obedience comes into partnership with God's will and plan. And therefore you're able to operate in the assignment for that moment. So when it comes to the gift of prophecy, it's not that you can just at any moment decide, I'm going to prophesy now or I'm going to see the future now. No, the gift of prophecy is a gift that comes with heavenly assignments to speak forth the oracles of God for any given individual or region or church and so forth. Then we see the gift of discernment or the discerning of spirits. That's 1 Corinthians 12-10. Also, this is not the gift of criticism. This is not the gift of cynicism. This is not the gift of making fun of other ministries. This is just the gift that allows you to see the difference between a demonic spirit, a worldly spirit and a godly spirit. In other words, you can tell from where someone is coming in the spirit realm, the discerning, the distinguishing between the different spirits. So the ability to see the spirit behind a message, behind a person, behind a ministry, behind an agenda and so forth. Then we see the gift of healing. Now, some have said that this particular gift of healing is the receiving of your healing. Like I have a gift of healing, so I got healed. No, because 1 Corinthians 12-7 tells us that we're given these gifts so that we can help one another. So this healing gift would have to be others centered. And so that is the ability to lay hands on the sick and see them recover. Now, why would we need the gift of healing if, according to Mark chapter 16, we all can function to some degree in God's healing power? Well, again, this has to do with special area of grace and ministry focus. And I would say that the one with the gift of healing is more likely to, or I should say, the one with the gift of healing has been given more assignments as it pertains to healing miracles. The same would apply to the gift of miracles also in 1 Corinthians 12-10. So healing would be like paralysis being removed from a body and the person having that movement restored or a tumor disappearing or cancer being healed or heart disease being healed. That's the gift of healing. It's a miracle that specifically has to do with the physical body or the person because sometimes it could be a mental healing as well. But the gift of miracles has more to do with the bending of the laws of physics. This would include things like the multiplication of food or really anything that shouldn't happen outside of the intervention of God, God's power. Then we see the word of knowledge. 1 Corinthians 12-8, word of knowledge is simply the receiving of knowledge by spiritual means. So I can know that, you know, someone, someone parked a car here today. I can know Tim Lee's car is a Honda. I can know that by natural means. I saw his car. He drove the car. He told me that's the car he bought. Right. I can know that car by natural means. So the knowledge itself isn't necessarily spiritual. It's the source of the knowledge that's spiritual. So the word of knowledge can simply be said, it can simply be said to be the acquisition or the supernatural acquisition of knowledge. And that is how you receive the knowledge. So I can know by natural means many things. I can know people's birthdays. I can know their favorite meals. I can know people's names. I can know someone's car that they drive. That's all knowledge that can be acquired naturally. But if I come by that knowledge through supernatural means, then I'm operating in the word of knowledge. So it's information that's given. So prophecy deals primarily with the heart of God and with the future. The word of knowledge primarily deals with the present tense and also somebody's past, like when Jesus was with the woman at the well. When he spoke about her past, that was the gift of the word of knowledge in operation. And then we see the word or I should say something like unto it in operation. Then we see the word of wisdom. The word of wisdom is spiritual reasoning. It's wisdom that comes from the Heavenly Father. And again, you might ask, well, what's the difference between the word of wisdom and wisdom that we all are to have for everyday life, such as we read about in the book of Proverbs? Well, the difference would be again, that special area of grace and ministry focus. These are assignments of someone with the word of wisdom has likely been given an assignment to more often than maybe the other believers who don't have the gift. Guide others through situations and understand how God is working in those situations and be able to communicate that. The gift of faith first Corinthians chapter 12 verse 9. Now the gift of faith couldn't just be me having strong faith, right? And it couldn't be saving faith because all of us have saving faith. And here in first Corinthians 12, these specific public expressions of spiritual power are said to be something that's for the benefit of the whole church. So these are public gifts that are to be used for others. So the gift of faith here is the ability to stir faith in others. It would have to be if it's others centered. Then in first Corinthians chapter 12 verse 10, we see the gift of tongues and tongues interpretation. Now notice that the expression of the gift of tongues that's being referenced in first Corinthians chapter 12 verse 10 pairs with the gift of tongues interpretation. So this is different than say first Corinthians chapter 14 verses 2 and 4, which is your heavenly language that could be given to every believer. Paul the apostle writes here, do all have these gifts? No, not all have these gifts, but that doesn't necessarily mean that not all believers can pray in tongues. This is specifically talking about the expression of the gift of tongues that's to be used in a public church setting. It might look something like this, a church service is in operation, the pastor is preaching and then maybe opens it to see if anyone has a prophecy or something to share. An individual begin to pray in tongues and then another person will stand and give the interpretation. I've seen this actually happen several times. And so again, the gift of tongues or the expression of the gift of tongues being talked about in first Corinthians chapter 12 specifically has to do with the gifts of tongues and tongues interpretation, that pairing of the two. And this is of course the one about which Paul asks, do all have these gifts? So this particular expression he's saying that about. Finally, we see the category which is the leadership gifts and this is Ephesians chapter 4 verse 11 and then you can also reference Romans chapter 12 verse 7 for the gift of the teacher. But we see evangelists, pastor, teacher, apostle and prophet. Again, evangelist, pastor, teacher, apostle and prophet. So an evangelist is not just someone who goes around from church to church to entertain the body of Christ. An evangelist is a soul winner. They are the ones who have been gifted by God to win souls. Now this does not mean that they are exclusively gifted by God. For the scripture says, do the work of an evangelist. All of us have been given the responsibility of the Great Commission. All of us should be prepared to give an answer or reason for the hope that is within us. So all of us are to evangelize, but not all of us are called to the office of the evangelist. And by the way, what separates these particular gifts, the five fold gifts from the functions of those gifts in just, I don't want to say the average believer, but I think you understand what I mean when I say that God appoints some as church leaders and others not as church leaders. It's just the way it works in God's kingdom. He has an order to everything. And so if we're talking about the five fold gifts, they have to be living at a higher standard as we see in scripture. But at the same time, these particular gifts are offices that come with authority and influence that don't necessarily accompany the other spiritual gifts. These are church leaders. These are bishops, deacons and so forth. So the evangelist is a soul winner. Their gift, their grace, their focus, their assignment is to primarily win souls. And that's what they do. And they serve in that capacity also as a church leader. Next, we see the pastor. Now, a pastor is not someone who is called to control the lives of the flock and everyone, whoever comes and steps foot into that church. A pastor is not someone who is to Lord over you. Pastors are there to guide you, not to govern you. We have to understand the difference. That's an office that's very often abused. I should say, actually, all of these are abused, but we have to understand that spiritual leaders are there to guide, not to govern. And so the pastor is there as a spiritual covering, not necessarily as a spiritual lid, but a covering. They're there for your protection. They're there for your help. They're there to guide you and to teach you. And then we see the teacher. Again, this is not necessarily the gift of teaching. This is that leadership function, that role as a leader, that role as someone who runs things and operates things on the day to day basis with authority given to them by God to help lead the church. Then we see the apostle. An apostle is not just a pastor of pastors. I think sometimes we see that title apostle associated with what seems to be pyramid schemes run in the church and multi-level marketing. You know, I send out this pastor, that pastor sends out that pastor, and then they create this triangle under them where they're at the top. That's not at all what an apostle is. An apostle is simply a sent one, someone who establishes new works of ministry or who breaks the gospel through. To new people groups and nations, like Paul the apostle. He was an apostle to the Gentiles. And so an apostle is one who is called by God to take the gospel again into new people groups and nations and to establish new works. And so by the very nature of what an apostle does, by the very nature of the work that they do, an apostle just so happens to in many instances become a pastor of pastors. And finally, we see the prophet. And this, of course, I would use that same distinction between the gift and the office. There's the gift of prophecy and the office of the prophet. The office of the prophet is that which comes with church authority and influence. And the gift of prophecy is that ability to speak forth the oracles of God and to be given glimpses into the future according to God's sovereign will. Now tell me in the comment section, which of these gifts that I've listed are you most drawn to? Which of these gifts do you suspect that God may have placed in you? And this is actually for everyone who's watching, whether you're watching live or on the replay. Which of these gifts are you most drawn to? Which ones intrigue you the most? Like, for example, I as an evangelist can remember reading in school in the history books about evangelists of times past and revivals. And as I read about these evangelists in the history books, something in me was inspired. And I remember being so drawn to those stories. Now you might be wondering, how was I reading about revivalists? I went to a private Baptist school. And so we had Bible every morning and we also had history every day. So in the history books that we had at that school, we actually went over Christian history. Like Billy Graham was in my history book when I was studying and I was a student there. And so I was able to see all these different revivalist and moves of God and these different awakenings. And every time I would read about an evangelist, something in me would just be inspired. And I didn't want to stop reading about these great men and women of God who were used powerfully in their generation. So let me know in the comments, which ones are you most drawn to? Okay, now I want to show you how do I discover my spiritual gifts? Okay, I've listed these for you. Now, how do I discover which one God has given to me? Watch this now. 1 Corinthians 14-1. I'm going to give you three very simple verses, very, very, very practical here. Number one is desire. Let love be your highest goal. But you should also desire the special abilities the Spirit gives. Now here in 1 Corinthians chapter 14, verse 1, we see that it is not an ungodly or immature or unspiritual or foolish thing to ask for or to desire spiritual gifts. There is nothing wrong with desiring spiritual gifts. The scripture tells us that you should desire these special abilities that the Holy Spirit gives to you. So let me ask you something. How many times has a religious mindset kept you from pursuing what God has placed in you? To where we say, oh, I shouldn't want that. And we have this sense of false humility. Oh, I shouldn't ask for that. Oh, I shouldn't request that. Oh, I shouldn't even think about that. And we have this very passive, almost fear-based approach to the spiritual gifts as if thinking about them or asking about them or talking about them or God forbid desiring them. And we think that doing those things is wrong. You know, Jesus did say a wicked and adulterous generation asked for a sign. But he was talking to hard-hearted religious people who asked for a sign in the midst of many signs. And by the way, he said demand a sign. And it was asked from a place of hard-heartedness and stubbornness. And that's very different than someone who sincerely is saying, Lord, I want to see your power and operation. Father God, I want to see you do wonderful things in my life. God, I want to be used for your glory. That's a very different thing indeed. If you desire a spiritual gift, which isn't wrong to desire. If you desire a spiritual gift, you desire to be used of God in a certain way. You have to ask yourself, what is it in you that desires that? Granted, the flesh can desire spiritual gifts for what it imagines can result from the spiritual gifts. I'll give you an example of what I mean. Simon the sorcerer wanted the gift that he saw, the gift of the Holy Spirit. He offered money to pay for it. Why? Because he wanted that same power so that when he laid hands on people, they too would receive the power of the Holy Spirit. But his motives were all wrong as revealed when he got rebuked. He was told you are filled with bitterness and jealousy. In other words, he wanted them for his own esteem. Likely, he was used to people looking to him as some powerful individual. And then when the Apostles came on the scene, he grew jealous. He said, I want that. I need that. I'm offering money for that. He got rebuked. Now, it's possible to have impure motives when asking for certain spiritual gifts. It's possible that your flesh is craving that so that it might receive what it thinks is the praise that it deserves. In other words, someone may want the gift of healing so others can marvel and look at them and go, wow, they have the gift of healing or while they're so spiritual or while they're so close to God or while they're unique. Many people want the spiritual gifts just because they want to be looked at as unique or they want to be different. They want to stand out and these are not necessarily good reasons to want the spiritual gifts. In fact, I think they're very fleshly reasons to want the spiritual gifts to the Bible does though tell us to desire these special abilities. So we mustn't be dismissive with that idea either that we should desire the spiritual gifts. So how do we go about this? Well, your flesh may desire the praise it thinks it deserves from using spiritual gifts, but I'm talking about the desire for the gift itself. I'm talking about the desire to glorify God who being used in a supernatural way for the purpose of helping others. Primarily for the purpose of the glory of God, but I think you understand what I mean in that we are given these things to help one another unto the glory of God and there's nothing wrong with desiring it for those purposes. There's nothing wrong with desiring a gift that you might be a blessing. Here's how you know if that desire is coming from the Lord not necessarily 100% foolproof, but it's a good indication. You know a desire for a spiritual gift is coming from the Lord for the most part generally speaking there are exceptions of course generally speaking you know a desire for a particular spiritual gift comes from the Lord because it is others centered and God sent. In other words, I desire it that I might glorify God and I desire that I might help others. Now this is not to say that you can't glorify God without some supernatural function. We glorify God by the way we live. We glorify God by praising his name and so forth having good Christian character. Those are the primary ways in which we glorify God but additionally we can also glorify God through demonstrating his power as he's given us the ability the gifts flow through us. They don't come from us and so let love be your highest goal that's a great place to start it purifies the motive when you begin with love but you should also desire the special abilities the spirit gives. So after you've discerned by way of motive that a desire is not of the flesh then you're left with just a couple of questions. Who would put that desire in you not the desire for what can result not for the desire to be praised not for the desire to be seen and to have status or to be useful or to be different or unique. No but where does the desire for the gift itself come? Where does the desire to glorify God come? Where does the desire to help others come? That can only come from the spirit don't hear what I'm not saying I'm not saying that if you want to gift that you have to get I'm saying that a desire for the gift could very well be an indication that you may be gifted in that particular area because if the desire is there the pure desire is there then it was likely placed there by the Holy Spirit the devil would not give you the desire to help and serve others. The devil would not give you the desire to glorify God nor would your flesh so you're left with only one option. Number two is recognition. Now Proverbs chapter 18 verse 16 is not talking about the spiritual gifts but the biblical principle the general principle behind what's being said here can be applied to any area of our lives why because Proverbs is is universal applications of wisdom. A man's gift make it room for him and bring with him before great men. What's the principle there that a gift will make room whether that be spiritual or physical that if there's something that you bring to the table or something that you have if you are of value or you offer value then that value will create the space that you need in the general sense now again. Proverbs 18 16 is not talking about the spiritual gifts but the wisdom from Proverbs here can be applied to anything including the spiritual gifts namely that principle that what you have the value you bring will make room for you and so there is a recognition that comes when you actually carry a spiritual gift. Now this doesn't mean by the way that if you lack recognition that you're therefore not gifted for example the prophets of the Old Testament many of them were not recognized as prophets of God at least in their time that doesn't mean they were not gifted by God but recognition can be an indication that you're functioning in something in other words other people can see that special something on your life other people recognize that there is something that you carry and in carrying that you actually see it begin to affect other people of course they're going to see it so this may be manifested in things like people saying oh you're sick and body go see so-and-so oh you're you're you're in need of encouragement go talk to so-and-so like people can recognize the gift of encouragement on you perhaps people come to you all the time and say you know being around you talking to you it really helps to uplift my spirit there's something about the way you talk the way you carry yourself that helps to bring people out of dark places and people constantly come to you feeling comfortable next to you that is a recognition that they see of a gift in you and finally number three this one should be obvious but we have to state it number three is function first Corinthians 12 for says there are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same spirit is the source of them all quite simply if the Holy Spirit is the source of a gift it's going to work you don't have to announce you have a gift of healing if people are being healed you don't have to announce that God speaks to you if God is speaking to you now I'm not saying you don't share that gift I'm not saying you hide that gift that some would religiously suggest that you do I'm not saying you don't share that gift I'm not saying you would religiously suggest that you do but really when a gift begins to function in your life there's going to be evidence for it now this is why I bring this point up because even though it may seem obvious and it is obvious that if the spirit source is the gift that it will work I think many of us miss the gift in operation because we dismiss it as just another function of the Christian life or we dismiss it as just a part of our personality so you may pray for sick people who often get healed and you kind of just dismiss it look you know it's God yes you glorify God of course he deserves all the glory for it but don't be dismissive of a gift that he may have placed inside of you you may think that you're just good at reading people well I can just tell when somebody's bad or good or maybe you've called it ahead of time somebody enters a new circle of friends and you look at that as well you call it ahead of time you may think well I'm just good at reading people but that could very well be a gift of discernment using our example that I used in number two you may think that people just come to you because you're easy to talk to when in fact maybe you have the gift of encouragement you may say well you know I have a lot of dreams that are prophetic they're always coming true who knows what to do with that well it may not just be dreams that you have that are prophetic God may have in you a prophetic gift and so we have to stop being so dismissive of what God is doing in our lives because in doing so we may fail to recognize a gift that he's placed in our lives that we might steward it so once you've been once you've recognized that gift to looking at desire to others recognizing it in you and to sing even just some of that gift or that gift function in some way then you've got you begin to move now to activating now on this term activating there seems to be a lot of trouble that people have understanding this very simple term and I think it's because people get freaked out by just simple words and that has a lot to do with religious or legalistic mindset and sometimes we might even dip a little into the Christian conspiracy theory camp we got to be careful of that guys because whenever the word activate is used people kind of think it's a lot of the New Age sense and they're like oh I heard the word activate I'm out whenever I hear the word activate I don't listen and I think people fail to recognize that when we use the term activate we simply mean to make use of what God has given to you nobody is saying that you can decide what spiritual gifts you have no one is saying that there's a special ritual that you can follow in order to receive a specific gift rather what we're saying is that you have to do in response to what God is doing through you namely obedience and trust that would cause that gift to be put to full use like with the gift of tongues for example I believe God has already given every believer the gift of tongues and when I say the gift of tongues I'm talking about the personal prayer language which is not what's being mentioned in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 where Paul asked rhetorically to all pray in tongues so I'm not talking about that expression so when it comes to the gift of tongues as an example I believe every believer has that so when I teach on how to activate the gift of tongues I'm not saying here's how you get it from God even if he doesn't want to give it to you I'm saying I believe he's already given it to you and that's part of activating is recognizing that you have it and then walking in obedience to use it there's no spiritual gift there's no spiritual function that we see in the New Testament where someone is forced into using it everything that we do for God requires our participation it's not that God couldn't do otherwise of course God is sovereign all powerful he can do whatever he wants but generally speaking the primary way in which God chooses to move in this earth is through individuals and he chooses to move through the exercise of our free will as we respond in obedience to God God works through us that's how he chooses to move I didn't make that rule up I'm not the one who decided that that's the way it should be he uses individuals and moves through their obedience could he do it otherwise absolutely and as we saw for example you know Saul to Paul there's one example of God just saying no here's what I'm going to do with you whether you like it or not but generally speaking God requires our participation there's nothing spiritual that we do that doesn't require at least some participation on our part salvation you have to have faith Ephesians 2 8 9 and 10 we respond in faith it's by the faith that we are safe I'm thinking also of the spiritual gift of healing you gotta lay hands on the sick the gift of prophecy God gives you a word you have to open your mouth Jeremiah kept it in for some time but then he said it's like fire my bone so then he spoke and so we must to some degree participate with God if we want to see these gifts functioning so when I use that term activate please please please understand that we are not talking about something in the new age sense nor are we saying nor have I ever said that you can make God give you a gift that he hasn't chosen for you rather when we use the term activate we're simply describing the act of making use of what God has already given to you because if you're not using what God has given to you by definition that gift is dormant so the opposite of that would be activated 2 Timothy 1 5 through 8 says this and I know that same faith continues strong in you this is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you for God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity but of power love and self discipline so never be ashamed to tell others about our Lord and don't be ashamed of me either even though I'm in prison for him with the strength God gives you be ready to suffer with me for the sake of the good news so what was this spiritual gift that was imparted when hands were laid it was the gift of teaching and so basically what's being written here in context is look you're backing down timothy you're shying away from using your teaching gift and many believe it was because he was timid about his youth his age you're backing away from using your gift you need to stir that gift up how do you stir it up you stir it up by using it and this isn't the answer that people want to hear people want to hear something that's much easier or they want to hear teachings that will give them something that will curb the emotion and the hesitancy that they have in other words they're saying tell me something that will first make me bold and then I'll go act in obedience but here's the reality it's actually the opposite of that when you begin to act in obedience before you begin to develop boldness at least generally speaking so when it comes to spiritual gifts and activation it is just a matter of stepping out in faith and operating in these gifts there's no trick there's no gimmick it's a spiritual thing and anything that's of the Holy Spirit cannot be done by man's effort alone it must be done in participation with the Holy Spirit by surrendering in obedience to what he has commanded so this scripture this portion of scripture rather is revealing to us what stops the gifts so the flow of the spiritual gifts in our life and it's fear it's inactivity due to timidity and fear but God has not given us a spirit of fear but power, love and a sound mind that particular portion of scripture was written primarily to encourage someone to use their spiritual gift God has not given us a spirit of fear and love and a sound mind there's nothing to spiritualize there's nothing to ritualize there's no special program to follow no system to implement there is no technique to be learned it's just a matter of simple faith and obedience stepping out and saying God I believe your word I believe in what you've placed on my life and I'm going to act on it now is that simple? you want something else you're not going to get it I could give you other biblical principles that will help you to do that prayer makes you more sensitive to the spirit and therefore more inclined to use your spiritual gift or knowing the word knowing the word helps you to understand the mind of God to know his nature it gives you boldness, helps you in righteousness the word is the foundation so of course if it helps you to grow spiritually it strengthens you spiritually you could stir up those spiritual gifts by way of praying in tongues 1414 tells us that when you pray in tongues your spirit is praying and when your spirit is praying the spirit takes dominance in your life and the flesh is weakened and whatever strengthens my spirit weakens my flesh and therefore the spiritual gifts become something that's more easy to approach but this isn't anything unless we first obey you can do all those things but if you're not willing to obey you're not willing to just step out stop talking about it stop wondering about it stop second guessing it if you know by the spirit God has given you a gift my goodness it's time to step out and start using it it's time to step out one day you're not going to wake up and magically all the fear and timidity is gone that's not going to happen you have to actually step out and make use of that gift that's the way to do it so to recap what the spiritual gifts were service gifts, excitation giving, leadership service administration power gifts, prophecy, discernment healing miracles, word of knowledge, word of wisdom faith, tongues and tongues interpretation leadership gifts, evangelist, pastor, teacher apostle, prophet then I see also that we went over how to discover your spiritual gifts desire, recognition and function how do you stir up the spiritual gifts second Timothy 1.5.8 you have to just use it there's nothing with it there's no other answer you can strengthen yourself spiritually and sharpen your gifts through so many means but it's not going to matter if you're not obeying God now I'm going to pray that God would give you the boldness and the strength based on how you've been responding to him to step out and do this I'm going to pray that the Holy Spirit would give you grace let's ask him, we can ask him for boldness let's ask him for that boldness let's ask him for that strength and then you're not going to overcome that fear of using that gift until you step out so Father in the name of Jesus I pray Lord that you would encourage them obey you walk with you Father we trust you we trust in your power we trust not in our ability to know the way we trust in your ability to guide the way and so Lord we thank you that spiritual gifts are being stirred by way of obedience and I pray Holy Spirit that they would sense you near them walk with them help them let them be mindful of your presence every moment of every day in the mighty name of Jesus we pray and I want you to say it because you believe it say amen let me show you something in Ecclesiastes chapter 11 verse 4 Ecclesiastes chapter 11 verse 4 Ecclesiastes chapter 11 verse 4 and if this blessed you let me know in the comments right now live or replay let me know if this is blessed you farmers who wait for perfect weather never plant if they watch every cloud they never harvest the scripture here is describing the fact that farmers who are constantly observing the weather patterns can be so often filled with fear that they never plant and therefore they never harvest think about all the excuses that people have when it comes to giving to the kingdom of God many of us are like those farmers who consider the weather and instead of supporting God's work in faith we consider the weather in fear January you could say well it's the new year and our finances together so maybe next month February you have Valentine's day maybe someone's birthday March people could say well it's the end of the first quarter I want to try to position myself better you know we're getting ready for things moving on April well you know it's Easter family time we may have to take a trip May well you know summer is soon approaching and we got to get ready for that so we're prepping for vacations and so forth June well now it's summer time we're going out and about we got to do a fourth of July party August well we're going to be getting into the holidays soon October some people they celebrate all sorts of different things during Halloween and you know we shouldn't participate in anything that's occultic but some people do that unfortunately and then November you have Thanksgiving family time December now okay there's Christmas the holidays and the gifts and so forth all throughout that you have birthdays and you have anniversaries and obligations and so many things demanding finances from so many different directions there will always be a reason to not give there will always be a reason to not support you'll always have an excuse to withhold and that right there is something we have to consider because if we're always considering the weather we have to consider that we consider I should say if we're always considering the weather if we're always considering what's around us well we'll never step out in the ideal situation will never come think about this here's what the average will just say American I know there's other nations watching but this might be reflective of your nation too why don't you listen and let me know Hulu the average American spends $14.99 a month on that Netflix $10 a month Apple music $11 a month YouTube premium $12 a month Spotify $10 a month you can go on with all these various different purchases a gym $30 a month on average don't even get me started on coffee drinks beverages people spend $60 to $100 a month on that $2,900 a year on entertainment my friend I'm not saying you can't have any of those things I'm simply asking you if you can support those things why can't you support the kingdom of God if you're willing to monthly give away resources to worldly companies sometimes you just you can't avoid it all of us have to interact with worldly companies I mean you're watching these streams on the platforms built by worldly companies you can't avoid it as long as you're not of the world you have to be in the world I'm not saying go live as a hermit get rid of everything and go live in the mountains I'm saying since we already exist in this world and since we so often give our resources away to so many different things why not consider the kingdom of God to consider becoming a monthly supporter of this ministry by going to davidhernandezministries.com slash partner there's a $15 a month option $30 a month $60 a month and a $120 a month and of course you can customize an option to go higher or even lower if you want but those are the monthly amounts will you consider doing a $30 a month gift for this ministry even if it means cancelling some of these other things saying you know what it's going to go to the gospel instead I want to encourage you to help us continue to take the gospel of Jesus Christ all around the world in the power of the Holy Spirit through events and media give monthly to his work I'm asking you to do that right now and if you're not quite there yet maybe you're saying I want to or maybe you're saying I'm already a partner or I'll consider partnering later consider right now a single gift by going to David Hernandez Ministries.com slash donate you would be amazed at how effective everyone giving just a gift of $25 could be if everybody watching this gave 25 50 or 100 we would be able to grow this ministry every single week and so I'm asking you no matter what God leads you to do to obey whether you're giving one time monthly both large or small I'm asking you to do something right now David Hernandez Ministries.com slash partner for monthly giving David Hernandez Ministries.com slash donate for single gifts now I can actually see many of the different supporters signing up for monthly gifts and one time gifts here on the ministry website so I can see some of these names coming in right now thank you Hazel for becoming a monthly partner we so appreciate your support thank you for becoming a monthly supporter Marlene thank you for your single gift Rachel thank you for becoming a monthly supporter Terry thank you for becoming a partner Celeste and also Kevin thank you for becoming monthly supporters Maria thank you for your single gift Keith thank you for your single gift William and Nicole thank you for your monthly support and Chanelo thank you for your monthly support I also see Guadalupe thank you for your single gift I see Heather. Thank you for your single gift and Jose. Thank you for your one-time gift and there's many many many more coming in so again One-time gifts David Hernandez ministries comm slash donate Partnership David Hernandez ministries comm slash partner if this blessed you make sure you leave a like also Don't forget to subscribe to this channel and click that notification bell when you do subscribe So that you don't miss any of the content coming your way subscribe now to learn more about the Holy Spirit Prayer and spiritual warfare and until next time remember nothing is impossible with God