- EXPLORE YOUR POSSIBILITIES. Secure a list and definitions of all the 22 gifts of the Holy Spirit. Read these definitions carefully with an open heart and note those ministries which touch your heart and appeal to your interests.
- EXPERIMENT WITH THE GIFT(s) YOU BELIEVE GOD HAS GIVEN YOU. For example, if you feel you would like to teach, ask some teacher for the privilege of teaching his or her class some Sunday. Consult with the pastor as to how you might use your gift.
- EXAMINE YOUR FEELINGS AFTER YOU HAVE USED THE GIFT YOU THINK YOU HAVE. Somewhere the idea crept into Christian circles that if you do God’s will you won’t be happy. It is just the opposite. When you begin to use your gift in serving as God intended you will have a sense of fulfillment and excitement. Example: When I began to use my gifts of preaching and teaching, I experienced an incredible joy and fulfillment. If you do not experience a measure of satisfaction, that would be a good indication you are on the wrong track and you need to come back to the spiritual drawing board and go in another direction.
- EVALUATE YOUR EFFECTIVENESS. Ethel Waters (made famous by Billy Graham’s Crusades) used to say, “God don’t sponsor no flops.” Amen. When you use your gifts God has entrusted to you, you will be effective. Your gift will develop as you exercise it for the glory of Christ, but even from the outset you will have a degree of success.
- EXAMINE YOURSELF BY SCIENTIFIC TEST. Tests are available which will show you the area(s) you are gifted in and weak in. I would highly recommend this for any person interested in being a leader and certainly for those persons who do not know their gifts.
- EXPECT CONFIRMATION FROM THE BODY. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are not for our individual ego trip, but for the up-building of the entire body of Christ, the church. Thus if you have a spiritual gift and exercise it in the body, individuals will confirm it. Example: Before I ever revealed that God had given me the gift of preaching and teaching, I would give my testimony in church or substitute in a Sunday School class. My class mate had already declared his call to preach, and I would accompany him to certain churches. People would come up to me, after I gave my testimony or taught the Word, and say, “You are called to preach.” One person said, “You are the one who should be preaching.” Dr. George Truett, the most famous Southern Baptist pastor who ever lived, first thought God was calling him to be an attorney. But the lay persons of his church came to him, saying, “George, we do not believe you are called to be an attorney, but a preacher.” A little later it became obvious to him that the people were right, and he announced his call to preach.
To those persons who are having difficulty in knowing your gift, may I suggest that you go to your best Christian friend and ask that person what he or she sees in your life. They may see your gift before you even recognize it. Even the Apostle Paul, who wrote about the gifts, wrote the Romans he needed their help to strengthen his ministry (Romans 1:12).
If you apply all these steps and still do not know your gift(s), I suggest that you start serving any place in the church where you are needed. If that place is not in the area of your greatest giftedness, the Lord will move you to it in due course. Stephen began serving as a deacon (gift of service), and a little later the Lord clearly led him to his real gift – evangelism (Acts 6 and 8). If you are willing to do God’s will even before you know it, He will reveal it.