Every Spiritual Gift Explained in 15 Minutes

The spiritual gifts listed and explained. To one person, the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice. That is the word of wisdom. To another, the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge, word of knowledge. The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else, the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. He gives one person the power to perform miracles and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. That's discernment. Still another person, is given the ability to speak in unknown languages while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. This is one type of expression of the gift of tongues. Verse 11, it is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have. So the Holy Spirit decides which gifts we should get. You can pray for the spiritual gifts, you can desire the spiritual gifts, but that again, ultimately is the Holy Spirit's call. Okay, so in 1 Corinthians 12:8-11, we see, not in any particular order, the gift of discernment, faith, healing, word of knowledge, word of wisdom, miracles, tongues, tongues interpretation, and prophecy, the 9 gifts of the Holy Spirit. Now, there are other categories of spiritual gifts. I'll be going over those a little bit in just a few moments. So the gift of discernment, this is not the gift of criticism. This is not the gift of cynicism. Simply put, this is the ability to distinguish between what is of the Holy Spirit and what is not. The gift of faith. Now, I used to believe that the gift of faith was having great faith, but remember, 1 Corinthians 12:7 tells us that the spiritual gifts are others-centered. So here, the gift of faith would have to be the ability to inspire faith in others. The gift of healing, same principle. It's not the receiving of healing, it's the dispersing of healing. Now, this would have to be more potent or a different expression of healing than what we see in Mark chapter 16. We know that all believers are called to lay hands on the sick, but the gift of healing has to be something like a special grace or a special area of ministry focus, an emphasis, if you will. Next, we see the word of knowledge. The word of knowledge is to receive information by the Holy Spirit. So it's the supernatural acquisition of information. And then the word of wisdom. This is the supernatural acquisition of wisdom. Different than just human wisdom and knowledge. This is Spirit-inspired. This is supernatural, of a divine source. Then we see the gift of miracles. This, of course, is similar to the gift of healing, except it goes beyond just bodily restoration. The gift of tongues. This is to speak prophetically in a tongue. This is a different expression than the personal prayer language. This now is where you're gathered with the assembly of believers. You speak in a tongue that is a prophetic word from God. This is to work in tandem with the tongues interpretation. And the gift of tongues interpretation is somebody able to hear that message and say, this is what God is saying through them. And then finally, the gift of prophecy. This is the divine gift of foresight as given and empowered by the Holy Spirit. Now, some facts concerning the spiritual gifts. The gifts can work together. The gifts can be requested. The gifts can be imparted. The gifts can be stirred or activated. Yes, that's an actual biblical principle. The gifts can be strengthened. And all of these are true of all 9 of the spiritual gifts. And now I wanna go over 2 other categories of spiritual gifts. These are the service gifts and the office/leadership gifts. Now, if you want an in-depth look at the spiritual gifts, be sure to check out my book, Holy Spirit: God Within You, available now at encounterthespirit.com. The service gifts. The gift of exhortation. This is the gift of encouragement. The gift of giving. This is divine generosity. The gift of leadership. This is Spirit-empowered leadership. The gift of prophecy. Again, that divine foresight as given and empowered by the Holy Spirit. The gift of service. Now, this can be just the filling in of gaps wherever you are needed, or more so the mindset to serve, the heart to serve, and even the ability to see where service is needed. The gift of administration or the gift of helps. I theorize that this is more so a gift of organization, maybe even a gift of business administration. And then we see the office/leadership gifts. This is the evangelist. Now, the evangelist is not just someone who goes from town to town and preaches at different churches. That's part of what they do, but that's by the nature of what they do that that's done, not necessarily the purpose. An evangelist, simply put, is a soul winner. Then there is the pastor that is a shepherd over God's people, not to control, but to guide. The teacher, this is someone given a grace by the Holy Spirit to take complex spiritual realities and give them out as applicable truths or to help bring understanding to the Word of God. Then there is the apostle. This is one that God uses to bring forth and establish new ministry works or break new ground. Like Paul was an apostle to the Gentiles. We have apostles who break the gospel into new territory among new generations, among different people groups, among different regions. They are establishers. They are sent ones who go forth. and build up new works. Then there is the prophet. Now, this is different than just the gift of prophecy. A prophet is an office. A prophet is a leader, and they're given that leadership position in the church, different than just the function of the gift of prophecy. Now, I wanna show you how to discover and then use these gifts. Maybe you're saying to yourself, well, I want a spiritual gift, but I don't know if I have one. I would encourage you, remember 1 Corinthians 12:7 tells us plainly, That God has given to each of us a spiritual gift. That includes you. So despite how you feel, you have to go on faith in what the word of God says. And then I wanna show you how to begin to walk in the spiritual gifts so that you can actually see the power of the Holy Spirit demonstrated through your life. We're gonna go over that right now. But first, I wanna invite you to be a part of what this ministry is doing all around the world. Bottom line, brothers and sisters, I need your help. This ministry is growing rapidly and we need supporters to come along and help us on our mission to win souls, to disciple believers, and to spread the power of the Holy Spirit all around the world through events and media. Okay. How to discover and use your spiritual gifts. Remember these 3 areas, and I'm gonna go over these in a little bit more detail, but first note this. Number 1 is desire. Here's some questions for you. Do you desire that spiritual gift? Number 2, recognition. Do others see the gift in you without you having to promote it or announce it? Number 3, this may seem obvious, but I'm gonna show you how this can be actually a little more subtle than people realize. Number 3, function. Do you operate in that gift? Let's take a look first at desire. 1 Corinthians 14:1. Let love be your highest goal, but you should also desire the special abilities the Spirit gives. That is the spiritual gifts. Now let's follow this all the way through to its conclusion. If we are instructed in Scripture to desire the spiritual gifts, then it's good that we desire it. And if it's good that we desire it, that means that those desires are harmonious with God's will. Therefore, often, not always, often a desire for a particular spiritual gift can be a sign that God has given you that spiritual gift. For example, I attended a private Baptist school in high school, and we would have history class. And in history class, we actually would go over the great revivals in America and all around the world. And I would read of these great evangelists that God used to win souls and turn nations back to God. And every time I would read that word evangelist in the history books, I remember feeling like a fire inside of me. I was drawn to that. I knew that somehow, some way I was connected to that word evangelist. Well, that was a passion that God gave to me. And your purpose is often linked with your passion. So that desire, don't ignore it. Don't dismiss it. You may even say things like, well, I have this desire, but I want to make sure that it's not just me. that it's actually God? Well, think about this. Why would the devil want to give you a gift that could help others? Why would your flesh desire a gift to serve others? Now, granted, the devil and your flesh may of course want you to have a gift because they know you can get distracted with the status that you think it brings or the success that you think it brings. But those distractions aside, the desire for the gift itself, the desire itself to serve and to help others, That's of the Holy Spirit. So take note, if there's a desire for a particular spiritual gift, that could be a sign that the Lord has given you that gift. And it is not wrong to desire. Next, we see recognition. Now in Proverbs 18:16, we read, a man's gift maketh room for him and bringeth him before great men. The takeaway principle is simple. You don't have to force your way in. Sometimes just the gift that you bring will open the door for you. Now, when you have a spiritual gift, you don't have to go around announcing it. You don't have to go promoting yourself. You don't have to go around convincing people to see you in a certain light. No, the spiritual gift is there. And in fact, others will recognize that gift on your life. When I first started to pray for the sick, I did so simply because I was stepping out and believing God for miracles. I believed God at his word. And I had a real passion to pray for the sick. I wasn't necessarily thinking about the gift of healing. I wasn't necessarily thinking about a healing ministry. I was just excited about the idea that the sick could be healed when you lay hands on them. So I would lay hands on the sick at my school, at my church, wherever I went. And I would often see miracles. And what began to happen is people started to send people to me. They would say, oh, you're sick. You should go have Diga pray for you. Now, we must understand that this is a gift and that these are functions of the Holy Spirit and that man does not deserve credit for these. That's not what I'm saying. What I am saying is that people will recognize that God is working through you in a certain way. This doesn't mean this is a point upon which we can brag. This doesn't mean that we should use the gifts to point to ourselves. This just means that when God starts to use you in a certain area, Others are going to begin to recognize it without you having to promote it. Now, on the other hand, that doesn't mean that if others overlook you, that you don't have the gift. It just means that if others recognize it in you, that could also be another indicator that God has given you that spiritual gift. So desire, do you desire the gift? Recognition, do others see the gift in you without you having to promote it? And finally, number 3, do you operate in that gift? Now I said this one, at first would seem obvious. Like, well, of course, if you operate in the gift, then you have the gift. But the reality is that many of you are operating in spiritual gifts and you don't even realize it's a spiritual gift. I'll give you some examples. Maybe you say, you know, I often have these dreams that just seem to come true and I can't explain that. Well, maybe that's the gift of prophecy. Or you might say, well, people just come to me all the time and they open up and they leave encouraged. And I don't know why they're drawn to me. I don't know why they're always telling me their problems. I don't know why they're always venting to me. And maybe you feel like just this burden on you, that could be a gift of encouragement. So instead of trying to help them in your own strength, ask the Holy Spirit for that gift to kick in. I know several people who have the gift of encouragement and people just feel comfortable around. They just like to vent to them. They like to go to them for help. That's a gift in operation. And sometimes they overlook that. They don't even see that. Maybe you might say, well, it's nothing but a bunch of positive coincidences that work in my favor. But in fact, it could be. The gift of miracles. Maybe you're saying, you know, I'm able to call things before other people see it, like concerning people, maybe a new friend in the group, maybe a certain preacher everyone's watching. And you say, I don't know, hold on. The Holy Spirit's telling me that's not of God's Spirit. Everyone else misses it. You get it. That could be the gift of discernment in you. And you might just think you're good at reading people. You might just say, oh, it's my background. It's how I grew up. I'm just very good at reading people. But wait a minute, maybe it is the gift of discernment. Or maybe you're constantly saying things before someone says it. You're constantly saying things, even at random, the most random thoughts, you'll say it and the other person will go, that's weird. I was just thinking that. How did you know that? That could be a gift of the word of knowledge. So be aware, be attentive, pay close attention to how the Holy Spirit may already be using you. You may already be operating in the spiritual gift to some capacity without even realizing it. So how do you actually use these spiritual gifts? How do you activate them? Well, remember Paul wrote to Timothy to stir up the gift that was within him, that is activate it. And when I say activate, I don't mean force the Holy Spirit to give you a gift that you don't have. No, by activate, I simply mean make use of the gift that God has deposited in you. And here you may not like the answer, but I'm gonna tell you the truth here. There is no formula I can give you. There is no system you can apply. And there are some biblical principles, sure, that you can apply, but there is no one-size-fits-all explanation. This is gonna be something that you have to step out in faith on. At some point, you're just going to have to step out in faith. You're not gonna have all the answers. You're not gonna get the full explanation. You're not even gonna be completely confident in your own ability. By the way, why should you be? Isn't it in his ability that we trust? This is why many believers get stuck and will continue to get stuck because they're waiting for the Holy Spirit to split the sky, come down and force them to use the spiritual gift that he deposited in them. But it will require your participation. It will require you to act and to step out in faith. So stop waiting and take a step of faith. Father, I pray in the name of Jesus that you would help that one to stir up the gift. Even now, I pray that the gift would be stirred in them. And Lord, begin to reveal to them how you desire to use them. Let them sense your presence and power upon them even now. We give you the praise and the glory and the honor. In the mighty name of Jesus, we pray. I want you to type it if you believe it. Type amen. One more quick reminder: remember, if you're being blessed by this ministry, go right now davidhernandezministries.com/partner to become a monthly supporter. I would so appreciate that. Help us with all this growth. You can also give a single gift by going to davidhernandezministries.com/donate. Now, if you enjoyed this teaching, make sure to check out its. It's actually easy to flow with the Holy Spirit. Here's how. In that teaching, I show you how to step out in faith to be used by the precious Holy Spirit.