Helping Your Child Understand and Discover Their Spiritual Gifts
A spiritual gift is a wonderful gift. It is given by God and its purpose is to help build His Kingdom through service to others. The gift is not tangible. You cannot wrap it up or hold it. You can, however, take it along with you wherever you go or you can store it away where it lies waiting for you to discover it. Don't waste this precious gift. It is yours to keep.
There are 7 spiritual gifts given to us in 1 Corinthians 12. They include:
- Prophecy - Someone who will tell the Word of God boldly
- Helps - Someone who meets others needs with work or labor
- Teaching - Someone with the ability to make others understand God's Word
- Exhortation - Someone who can keep people motivated
- Giving - Someone who will give what others need
- Leading - Someone able to lead and direct others; an organizer
- Mercy - Someone who acts on feelings and compassion for others
Kids have a spiritual gift, too, though many do not know it because of their age or lack of knowledge that spiritual gifts exist. They may need help in determining where their strength lies. Here are some tips on helping your child discover that they, too, can help build God's Kingdom, and they are a part of the body of Christ.
Parents Teach About Spiritual Gifts and God's Plan:
Help your child know that God has a plan for her and she can help by serving others now, and not just when she is an adult. Read 1 Corinthians 12 with your child to show her that spiritual gifts are real gifts from God. You might also read Romans 12, 1 Peter 4, and Ephesians 4.
Service Opportunities
In order for your child to realize she has a spiritual gift, you should provide many different opportunities for her to serve others, and thus find out what types of service make her feel she has talent. Working on projects as a family will help your child see your spiritual gifts in action and help her understand how a gift is used. God will use these opportunities to help your child grow and develop her own gift over time.
- Help your child become involved in planning a church worship service or activity. Perhaps your child will show signs of leadership and teaching.
- Take your child to nursing homes, children's hospitals, or food banks and see if she has the gift of mercy by how she reacts in these situations.
- Get involved as a family in work days around the church or your community. Perhaps your child will have the gift of service through work.
- Let your child help with the nursery at church or assist a teacher in Bible School class and see if your child has the gift of helping.
Prayer
Pray daily that your child will soon discover her spiritual gift. Pray that you will be a positive role model in helping your child discover her gift. Prayer is a powerful tool, and will make great paths for your child. It is good to pray for your child with your child there, so she feels affirmation and knows that you have petitioned on her behalf to God.
Discussion
After you and your child have completed a service, talk about it. Find out if she enjoyed the project or not. Remember that the goal is to help your child discover her spiritual gift, so do not be disappointed if one project was not as successful as another. This is a way of knowing that your child is learning about their gift. If something goes really well, try something else along the same lines and keep trying. We are not all good at everything, and just the fact that your child is interested in learning her spiritual gift is a good sign that one day soon she will.