WHERE ARE THE GIFTS? I often ask myself "where are the gifts of God Paul talks about?" A point of fact - "where are the signs following?" I have come up with this answer. In the western church we have come to rely on the pastor and certain gifted men and women of God to move in the gifts of God. In my experience that is a huge mistake. Let me tell you why.

As I understand what the bible says it says "He (Jesus/The Holy Spirit) gave gifts to men..." And also Jesus Himself said: "These signs shall follow those who believe..." I'm going to take these two things backwards. First of all the signs. To see the signs you have to be a risk taker. The starting point is equal for all of us..."...those who BELIEVE..." (then He goes on to give us His Name to do it in.) And then there is the heart of the matter for this question. We believe Jesus saved us, but do we believe He saved us to use us? In my bible there are no passengers in the company of believers. You were in or out. What makes us think that WE are the exception to this rule. Why should belief for salvation be separate from believing in His signs coming after us? I think it is inverted pride. We do not want to try and fail and look like a goose, or have people we know think we are idiots. What if nothing happens when you pray? I need to be real honest here. Is that really our business? Does it say, when you've prayed and seen the signs then you'll know you belong to Jesus? No. The onus is on us to pray and let the signs follow. And if they don't they don't. A little embarrassment won't kill you. In many countries in the world, just believing in Jesus can make you very dead! Embarrassment is really a very small issue. Don't wait until your favorite auntie or mum or spouse or child needs healing to pray!! Walk it out now. It becomes harder to believe Him when it is so important to you, the devil will oppose you with all sorts of terrible feelings. The results are always up to Him, not us. It is not your prayer that causes the signs to follow, although you do have to pray, it is your obedience to what He has told you. He said signs would follow, so they will follow. Pray your best prayer, ask for the Holy Spirit's help, and then walk away. Continue to pray if you feel to do this, but remember YOU CAN'T MAKE A SINGLE PERSON WELL. The issue isn't healing or deliverance, it is whether you believe He listens to your prayers.

Where are the gifts we have been given? He gives gifts to all. There are several verses in the Gospels that make it perfectly clear that we all have at least ONE gift. Maybe more. He will hold us accountable for the gifts He gave us. You can read the end of the parable of the talents however you like but I see one thing that ought to make us all stop and think. (The Master was not happy WITH EXCUSES!) "...I knew you were a hard man..." Or how about...I don't know what my gift is? Well. You could ask someone. You could start by praying and telling the Lord "YOU said I have at least one gift for the benefit of others and I haven't got a clue what it is, please show me?" Do not compare your gift with anyone else's gift.
The Master in that parable treated the servants separately he did not compare them to each other. If you don't have the infilling of the Holy Spirit so you can notice Him working in your life then ask. And don't tell Him what He may or may not do when He gives it to you! Be prepared to face your fears. God works on many levels. He is transforming us at the same time He is filling us. The aim is to be dead to self and alive to Christ. This is why Jesus is our example. He died before He ever got to the cross!
In an ordinary worldly army you need to be in contact with many different sorts of expertise to run the campaign of war successfully. We are the body of Christ. We are His army. YOU have knowledge no-one else will get. If you don't stop and think about my last sentence or at least read it again, you are not listening. YOU, yes YOU, have knowledge of God through the Holy Spirit's insight and wisdom I will never have. You may only have one gift but it is just like the Lord to make THAT gift very important! We cannot literally have to run back home in the middle of the war to try to access information on how to run the campaign. We need to flow our gifts together, covet the best gifts for the right occasion and forget about how WE look, or what PEOPLE will think of us and TRY. None of us learnt to walk straight away, we had to have the will to continue to try. Those of us in the body who already know at least some of our own gifts should be patient with those who are learning to walk in their gift/s.

The wonderful thing about the verse that says "these signs shall follow those...etc.." is it does not say this: Except for YOU Mary Brown or Bob Jones...INSERT YOUR OWN NAME HERE. There are no exceptions. The same with the gifts. It does not say 'some will have no gifts and some will have every gift" it says He has given gifts to men for the benefit of the body and those who do not believe yet. Bless you as you continue to seek His face and follow His commands.