Perhaps you have read about spiritual gifts. And perhaps now you are objecting, “That’s all very well, but I don’t seem to have any spiritual gifts. Why not?” There are a couple of possible answers to this question. So let’s begin at the beginning.
“Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, ‘Jesus be cursed,’ and no one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor 12:1-3 NIV).
The passage which makes most mention of spiritual gifts is found in 1 Cor 12 and 14. But before Paul explains the gifts and how they are to be used, he states the most important point. The most fundamental work of the Holy Spirit in people is not giving out spiritual gifts for the sake of ministry. The most fundamental work of the Spirit is to enable the transformation of the human heart. This is what Ezekiel prophesied about:
“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws” (Ezek 36:25-27 NIV). This is spoken of in Jer 31:31-34 where it is called the new covenant.
When God initiated the new covenant in the blood of Jesus (Luke 22:20), he promised to give people his Holy Spirit to indwell them. The old covenant was ineffective because it required people to obey the law, which is impossible in the flesh. All that is produced by our own efforts to obey the law is death. But the Spirit gives life through Jesus Christ (2 Cor 3:6).
In 1 Cor 12:1-3 Paul speaks of these things in a slightly different way, but the message is fundamentally the same. The people in the Corinthian church were once pagans and worshipped idols. They did not know the true God. They had not yet been cleansed of their idols (see Ezek 36:25 above). No matter how religious they were there was no chance of a relationship with God. It is only when the Holy Spirit transforms the heart that that relationship is possible. And Paul offers a clear test of whether a person is actually from the position of a pagan or the position of a believer in Christ. “Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, ‘Jesus be cursed,’ and no one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor 12:3).
Now let us not be fooled. Pagans are quite content to speak of g/God or gods. They enter into worship of a kind. They have a kind of spirituality. Many people who are not Christians have forms of spirituality and many say they believe in God. Notice how Paul does not use belief in God as the criteria here. James tells us that even the demons believe in God (James 2:19). No, belief in God is not what makes a person spiritual. The Spirit of God enables believers to say, “Jesus is Lord”. This alone is the indication that a person is a Christian. Making the statement Jesus is Lord is no trivial thing. For many early Christians it meant death to speak these words. For us today in Australia, it is unlikely to mean death. However, it makes a huge difference to what we think and who is running our lives. The lordship of Jesus is the measure of the presence of the Spirit in a Christian. “And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ” (Rom 8:9).
And yet you say, “What does all this have to do with my lack of spiritual gifts?” Potentially it has everything to do with it. If you see no manifestation of gifts in your life the first question you must ask yourself is, “Can I truthfully say Jesus is Lord”? If you find that you are unsure it could be because you have actually been living like a religious person instead of living like a believer in Jesus. Sometimes these things can look quite similar on the surface. Religious people do religious things like going to church and praying sometimes. For those brought up in Christian homes, this can be a habit rather than a transformative relationship. Many Christians find it difficult to speak the name of Jesus at all. The change can only come by surrendering the heart and will to the crucified and risen Lord, Jesus Christ.
The second possible reason that you observe no spiritual gifts in your life is a wrong perspective on the gifts. Obviously, if you deny that any spiritual gifts are an option in this present time because you think these have ceased to be given in the church, then you will find it very difficult to observe these in your life. But let’s assume that you don’t have that problem. You think well there must be something wrong because God has not given me anything. However, since the Bible is plain that “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” (1 Cor 12:7), we must accept that if you are truly a person who can say “Jesus is Lord” because who are indwelt by the Spirit, then you do have one or more spiritual gifts.
I can see two potential reasons why you think that you have none. The first is about the miraculous. The Corinthian church seems to have been quite obsessed with speaking in tongues. They were apparently flaunted their capacity to speak in tongues at every meeting together and doing it in a disorderly way that did not benefit anyone except themselves. They saw it as a mark of spirituality. Not everyone thinks that tongues is a mark of spirituality, but many Christians think of spiritual gifts in a similar way. If a gift seems miraculous or more obviously supernatural then it is desirable and if not it is not. The result is a kind of blindness to what God is actually doing among his people. Since the gifts of the Spirit are all from the Spirit they are all supernatural, but some appear less so than others. Some gifts appear somewhat ho-hum, like service. It does not display itself or get recognition much. But it is a gift of the Spirit. Other gifts fall into this category like intercession (not mentioned in the lists in Rom 12 or 1 Cor 12). Intercession is a very significant gift, but one which tends to be hidden from sight. Giving is a gift which is often exercised in secret. People who desire recognition and accolades will not see these as gifts worth having. They are not upfront enough. Perhaps one of these is your gift.
The second possibility which comes to mind is that you have not accepted the gifts which God has given to you. I know that for many years I did not want to prophesy. (My reasons for this were several and are not that important here). Looking back I believe that this gift was given long before I accepted it. There were arguments with God over this. For this reason I rarely exercised it. Lack of exercise of your gift means that it will not grow and thus appears to be not there. The solution to this is again confessing that Jesus is Lord. Submit your heart and stubborn attitude to the lordship of Jesus and ask him to reveal to him what he has for you. Then the blinkers can come off.
Lastly, perhaps God is waiting on you to ask him for a gift. It is always rather deflating to carefully choose a gift for someone, wrap it up for them and give the gift, only to have the person ignore it. Since we are commanded to eagerly desire gifts (1 Cor 12:31; 14:1), we must assume that God wants us to ask. So don’t sit around complaining that you have none and ask. Ask for your desires to match up with the Spirit and then seek a gift accordingly. Pray for a desire to serve the people of God with your gift and then ask for the gift.