Chapter V-The Gifts

Since God had now provided me with the proper lesson to become immersed fully in Him, I began a Bible study on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. For the first time in months, it felt that my life was beginning to move in a proper direction with the Lord’s help. Before bed one evening, I was watching a video press conference held by the General Manager of the New York Giants Dave Gettlemen. Out of nowhere, he happened to reference faith, family, and football as his list of priorities to one of the reporters. Without hesitation, I hit pause on the streaming video, slide the bar back a few seconds, and hit play again just to rehear the statement. The word “faith” struck a chord within me because I was reading a book entitled, The Wisdom of Faith by Bobby Bowden who was also a famous football coach at Florida State University. The book itself is written in a devotional style covering the gifts of the Holy Spirit individually through the perspective lens of faith. Smiling and shaking my head in disbelief, I chuckled. Wow, God is speaking to me through football.

Once the initial shock and awe of the realization that God was actually ministering to me in this way wore off, I made a commitment to begin exploring my personal spiritual gifts. Grabbing a red covered loose-leaf notepad, I began to list what my God-given talents were in an attempt to line them up with the gifts of the Holy Spirit which are mentioned in Romans 12, I Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4, and I Peter 4. After deep thought and prayer my three talents of listening, writing, and critical thinking appeared to line up with the spiritual gifts of teaching, exhortation, and mercy-showing.

Even though a certain talent can be used in one specific area, and not another, the list became baffling. Confusion and the yearning for further guidance from Christ Jesus ate away at me. Retreating into my own state of privacy and isolation began to feel right. God’s direction in my life seemed to stop. A state of worried fear took over. During a devotional study one morning God reminded me to place my full trust in Him. Proverbs 3:5-6 states, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths” (Holy Bible- King James Version 1990).

Stay tuned for Chapter VI…

Works Cited

Holy Bible- King James Version . Thomas Nelson Publishers , 1990.