Last week I introduced my new book, called SPIRITUAL GIFTS, IDENTIFY & USE THEM THROUGH THE P.R.I.Z.M OF GOD’S GRACE, which is just a short time away from being published. I can’t wait! Did you look at my “Coming Soon” tab on this blog? That is where you can see a short summary, and request information about the book. But that is not what I have to tell you today. The point of this short blog can be summarized in two words: nurture and mature in grace.

To Nurture something is to feed it properly, to protect and care for it, to watch it grow, and to give it your attention. This points out a third reason why the believer should not neglect the gifts they have received. By nurturing, we refer to taking a personal interest in and investing oneself in the kingdom of God. Christians, our spiritual gifts will nurture the church, the work of building up the kingdom of heaven, when we properly use and identify them. Nurture comes through patient and informed service of others. We nurture the kingdom of God by investing in its growth, locally and globally. This is a third motive to not neglect spiritual gifts.

In his magisterial letter to the Christians in Rome in the first century, the emphasis Paul gave was to point out “to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.” (Rom. 12:3, ESV) Proper judgement properly exercised leads to one’s spiritual gifts being properly utilized. Gifts keep the Christian focused on others, not self.

Paul follows it up and makes the following: “Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them...” (Rom. 12:6a). Gifts can only build the kingdom when they are identified using a biblical perspective, and then trained or developed through diligent, unified and loving practice.

From there, the believer will see the work of the Holy Spirit through him or her, will come to value the dependence on the Spirit more and will love to bring Christ glory through the humble use of their gifts. In other words, the fourth reason to not neglect ones’ spiritual gifts is that through them the Grace of Christ Jesus will be expressed in tangible ways.

• First reason to not neglect your spiritual gifts: to maximize fruitfulness
• Second reason: to show the Holy Spirit working in you
• Third reason: the build the kingdom of Christ
• Fourth reason: to reflect God’s grace as a Christ-follower

I could name dozens of people, both in the United States and in Chile (where we have lived and trained others for about 38 years) who grew measurably because they finally had a grip on the concepts that determine using spiritual gifts! Here is one example. I will call this person Rafael. Rafael came to trust Christ as Savior as a teen. He became active in the particular kind of church which primarily saw gifts as means to do tremendous, outstanding, and miraculous works! They really only emphasized the sign gifts (miracles, healing, speaking in a foreign language…), leaving most of the church wishing they could be like the dynamic and dramatic preachers that taught them spiritual gifts were out of their control, and that they should pray for one primary gift: speaking in an unknown language. The other gifts were ignored much of the time.

Rafael wanted to serve the Lord and he had a calling to be a pastor, but had reached the erroneous conclusion that if he did not perform strange activities or speak in strange languages, that he could not rise to the place of pastoring . He resigned himself to just studying the Bible, to that “not so glamourous” activity of evangelizing, and left the leadership to others. His gifts were unknown to him or others.

For many years this is how Rafael lived out his faith. But what he was lacking was the evidence of spiritual FRUIT (see previous blog on this point). Fruit had been lacking, and as a result, so was the desire to serve in grace.

But then Rafael was challenged by me, when we visited our church after having left the previous one, that maybe his gifts were not clearly identified and that maybe he did not see himself as a fruitful believer because he was attempting to imitate others, rather than discover and perfected his own spiritual gifts package. That led to us spending over a year studying the Scriptures regarding this topic. After working through 3 different evaluations and questionnaires under my guidance, Rafael could see his pattern, and others could see it too. His gifts had been neglected all along, and it was clear that his spiritual gift was that of teaching and evangelizing.

Soon Rafael was holding Bible studies in homes, visiting unbelievers and answering their questions and soon people where placing their faith in Christ and following Him in obedience! His gifts exercised in dependence on the Spirit reflected the grace of Christ and brought spiritual fruit. Today Rafael is a part of a pastoral staff in Santiago, where he is well suited to pastor, to teach and to evangelize.

You can identify and use your spiritual, divine capabilities that God has granted for the sake of nurturing the kingdom, and for maturing in grace! Start today by ordering a copy of my book: SPIRITUAL GIFTS, IDENTIFY AND USE THEM THROUGH THE P.R.I.Z.M. OF GOD’S GRACE.

Click on this link to go to the order form.

David L. Rogers, M.A.Min.
Laurel Springs, NJ, USA