Faithbase

Your gifts, day one. The beans, or the background. Paul wrote the book of Romans as a letter to encourage the believers in the church in Rome. The end of this letter is what inspired this entire series. Paul's primary purpose in writing this section was to help the Roman believers to understand how to apply their faith to daily life. As part of this daily life application, we discover the idea of spiritual gifts, simply meaning that each of us are gifted with specific abilities and talents, and as you can imagine, when all of these gifts and talents come together, members of the body of Christ working together, that is when we function the best. This study is designed to introduce you to some of the spiritual gifts listed in the Bible, and hopefully, as you learn a little bit more about them, you'll be able to identify your own strengths. When we know our gifts and begin using them well, that is when our faith truly opens up and we begin to see a major difference in our hearts and lives, and in the lives of those around us. The verse, Romans chapter 15, verse 13. The fill, what's the point? Today's spiritual gift is faith. I really wish our brains were programmed with a magic switch, faith on. Unfortunately, we live in a fallen world, and because of things we've endured or witnessed, we struggle to just have faith. This type of faith goes beyond, do you believe God is real, yes or no? This is deeper, such as, do you believe God is in control when you're in the midst of a crisis? Believing in something that we can't see or touch was simple as a child, but as we grow older, that childlike faith disappears. Life happens, making it as though a blindfold comes down and suddenly we see the world completely differently. While there is no magic switch or button in our minds giving us the ability to just have faith, there is still hope. The Holy Spirit is given to us, which gives us the strength we need to have faith. As today's verse highlights, the power of the Holy Spirit gives you hope that you need. The good news, my friend, is that it is not all up to you. With that tiny bit of faith, no matter how small, the more we turn to God, the more we study Him, spend time talking with Him, learning about Him, the deeper our faith can grow. Take ownership of your part in your relationship with Jesus, devoting time to Him. Then, allow the Holy Spirit to fill you with hope, deepening your faith one day at a time. To help you learn a little bit about some of the spiritual gifts, each day of this series will be devoted to looking more closely at one at a time. However, there are many more out there that we won't have time to cover. To help you identify what your spiritual gifts are, there are several tools and tests you can take for free online. Or, to help you begin thinking about it, I encourage you to spend the course of this study reflecting on the following questions. What do you enjoy doing? When you hear about people helping others, do you feel drawn to specific stories, i.e. children, those living in poverty, racial equality, etc.? Ask someone who knows you well what gifts they see in you. What do you think you are the best at?