Spiritual Gifts FAQ’s #6

Q: What’s the difference between spiritual gifts and spiritual disciplines?

A:  Spiritual disciplines (prayer, Lectio Divina, fasting, tithing, solitude, silence, etc.) are practices that are designed to open up space in our hearts and minds for God to be increasingly present in ways that we are often unaware. Without intentionally disciplining ourselves to engage with Him, slowing down and creating pauses in our lives, we can often miss His “still, small voice” or ignore what our discernment is telling us in the moment. We can all practice all of the disciplines, and they are good and useful tools in our walk of faith.

However, none of us has all of the spiritual gifts. And, a gift is God-given and God-empowered. If we have a gift, we experience it as above and beyond our discipline and our diligence.  For example:  You and I can be disciplined about intercession—but, for people with the gift of Intercession, it doesn’t feel nor appear like a discipline, but as an extra measure of the ability, urge, and commitment to the life-giving experience of praying—of interceding for others, inviting the power and Presence of the Holy One into their and our midst. Intercession is their first impulse, whereas those of us who also understand the importance of prayer and do it as a spiritual discipline know it is more often not our normal inclination.

This is the same with other gifts. We may give to the work of the Lord, faithfully tithing our 10 or 15 or 20%, but those with the spiritual gift of Giving live quite differently. They spend no time wondering how much giving is enough—instead arranging their lives in such a way that they live on as little as possible in order to free up most of their resources for God. We might want credit for our generosity. Those with the gift of Giving wish to remain anonymous. They are aware that these impulses to be super-generous flow from the activity of the Spirit within them as part of their gifting. They are in our midst in order to show us (by their lives) what the generous heart of God looks like.

(For more on gifts, check out the Resources page at GodGiftsYou.com. Take the free assessment and see what gifts God has bestowed on you to contribute to the whole.)

Shirley Giles Davis, author of the God. Gifts. You. Your Unique Calling and Design workbook, Your Unique Design Class Guide, Your Unique Design Facilitator Guide, and Gifts-Calling-Purpose blog, is a consultant, coach, facilitator who has worked with faith-based organizations, nonprofit agencies, and leaders in a diversity of fields for over 30 years. She has also been Equipping Ministries Director at her 1,200 member church since 1999.

Photo (c) Shirley Giles Davis, all rights reserved.