Spiritual Gifts vs. Natural Talents

I took a class at Saddleback Church to understand more about myself. It's great to sit down and discover things about yourself that you never realized or maybe never thought about. Here are the points that I am reflecting on this week.

Gifts are not to be confused with natural talents.

Natural talents are given at birth.
*Received from biological parents
*Present from natural birth
*Benefit people in the earthly realm
*Advance "Man's plan"
*Results are (usually) temporal
*Glorify self

Spiritual Gifts
*Given by God through the Holy Spirit
*Present the moment someone gives their life to Christ
*Benefit people in the spiritual realm
*Advance God's plans
*Results are always eternal
*Glorify God

A Spiritual Gift is a special ability, given by the Holy Spirit to every believer at their conversion, to be used to minister to others and therefore build up the body of Christ.

Here is a list of the spiritual gifts. Which ones do you recognize in your own life?
*Administration
*Apostle
*Discernment
*Encouragement
*Evangelism
*Faith
*Giving
*Healing
*Hospitality
*Knowledge
*Leadership
*Mercy
*Miracles
*Pastoring
*Preaching
*Service
*Teaching
*Praying with my Spirit
*Wisdom

I am in the process of writing out and studying both my spiritual and natural gifts. You can look up these versus to learn more if you would like to do the same in your life!

1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4 and Romans 12