Section 06 - Your Natural Gifts

Now we come to this second part which ties in with that series and it is called Ministry Gifts Made Easy.

When it comes to ministry, one of the most important and popular subjects is for people to somehow identify and discover exactly what kind of gifts and abilities they have.

It is one thing to say, "I would like to be in (a certain kind of) ministry," but are you equipped to be in such a ministry? Do you have the necessary gifts for that ministry?

When most people start out in ministry, they start at the lower levels as we explained in Fulfilling Your Ministry Calling.

They start out at the lower levels of ministry and then work upwards. They start out in a more natural realm and then move up into a more supernatural realm over time.

I want to take you back to the starting point and help you to identify and discover exactly what ministry gifts you have and what you need. When we have done that we will look at how to go about obtaining them.

This series on Ministry Gifts Made Easy will consist of three sections of teaching as follows.

A. Using Your Ministry Gifts - this current series

B. Developing Your Ministry Gifts

C. Demonstrating Your Ministry Gifts

This series, including the series on Fulfilling Your Ministry Calling, will give you a complete teaching to prepare you for ministry.

By the time you have gone through all three of these, you will be well on your way to doing exactly what God has called you to do, and also those ministries you have desired to do.

How then do you find your ministry gifts? You need to take two main branches into account to understand this subject.

If you were to ask someone to tell you what gifts they have, what is the first thing they look at? They look inside of themselves to see what capabilities they have. What has been given to them that other people do not have?

What do they have that is unique and that they are good at that could be considered gifts? What can be used to do the work of the ministry? You will see that the ministry gifts will fall under two main groups.

A. Natural Gifts

These are gifts that were developed naturally, or that you may have had from birth. They are gifts that are resident in you because of the kind of person that you are.

B. Supernatural Gifts

These are a totally different category. They are not resident in us, but we have to receive them supernaturally from another source.

We will consider both of these in detail in this series.

Natural Gifts

Where in yourself do you look to find the gifts that you have received naturally? When you look at the natural person, you must consider the fact that according to Scripture we are made up of three parts.

1. We have a body

2. We have a soul

3. We have a spirit

We can have gifts in all three of these parts of our being. We have resident abilities that we were either born with or that developed through life.

So the best place to start in considering your gifts or abilities that you can perhaps use to do the work of the ministry, is to look at your body, soul and spirit.

The Body

What kind of natural abilities do you have in your body that will equip you for ministry? There are several different things you need to take into account.

One of the first is what is known as 'body types'. What kind of body do you have? You may wonder if that is important for ministry, but it depends on what kind of ministry you plan to do.

Some people have bodies that are more physically fit and better equipped to do any kind of work that involves physical or manual work.

So for example if God has called you to be a missionary, to travel to foreign lands and to handle the physical stresses involved, you may need a specific physical makeup.

If you are a weak or sickly person it would not be advisable for you to even consider such a ministry. So your physical condition can be a very important part of deciding your ministry.

Body Types

People tend to have a greater emphasis on what we call brawn or brain.

In worldly terms these are often referred to as butch or nerd. And they have categorized different body types in the bodybuilding world, such as ectomorphs, mesomorphs and endomorphs.

These describe people who are skinny, muscular or flabby but they are not always based purely on the physical. Sometimes they include qualities from the soul that are mixed in.

What then is the best body type for ministry?

That is not nearly as important as finding out what is the best ministry for your body type. They are not the same thing. So you may need to take your physical characteristics into account for ministry.

Brain

Some people have a better brain capacity. We all need a brain to keep alive and to function, but usually a brainy person is someone who has greater intellectual capabilities. They have a brain that is very capable of absorbing and using knowledge in a more intelligent way.

When you were in school, there were students who were in more academic, higher study levels. There were also those who lacked the brain power to reach those levels.

Does God need that? Not necessarily. I will share more about this shortly.

Again it depends whether you want to use this ability for the Lord. Charles Spurgeon, a famous preacher known as The Prince of Preachers, is credited to have said the following.

"If I can be a ram's horn for the Lord, then that is wonderful. But if I can be a silver trumpet, that is even better."

God can use any kind of person. But if we can develop characteristics that are made available to the Lord to use, then we can accomplish far more for Him.

If you look at history at those who have accomplished great things for the Lord, you will see that it was not based on their physical characteristics. However those with different physical characteristics accomplished different things for the Kingdom of God.

You may have to honestly take a good look at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself,

"Am I physically equipped to do the wonderful ministry that I so desire to do?"

Or do you perhaps need to give up that idea because your body is not suited to it?

It could kill you. In some cases the ministry has literally killed people, when they went into a ministry that put them into physical stress that their bodies were not able to handle.

People like this minister for the Lord for a short burst of time. Then they die and they are gone. Does this mean that God did not lead them into that ministry?

I am not sure, but be honest with yourself and take a good look at your body.

Vocal Capabilities

What kind of voice do you have? Do you have a tiny, squeaky little voice, that has little volume and hardly anyone can hear you?

Would you like to listen to someone speaking like that for hours? I certainly would not, especially if it is a man speaking like that.

Obviously there are limits, but what if God has called you and you desire to move into a ministry that requires you to speak to people verbally? What if you need to stand up before large groups of people to speak the Word of God?

If this is the case then you should have the kind of vocal power that will allow you to speak loudly, clearly and distinctly. You will need to speak in a way that will communicate to the people what you are trying to minister to them.

If you are gifted with a bad voice it could stand in the way of your ministry ability.

Stamina and Strength

The general stamina and strength in your body are important.

What if you are called to be like Paul, who traveled on all the missionary journeys and went from place to place? It will require a certain amount of physical energy and stamina to do this.

You would need this to be able to go through beatings, shipwrecks, fasting, and all the things that Paul tells us he went through. He was a very unique kind of person who could do many things because of his physical capabilities.

There are others who do not have those physical capabilities, but that does not mean they cannot do the work of the ministry.

It simply means that they cannot do the kind of ministry work that people who do have those abilities are able to do.

What You Can Do

Is there something you can do about your physical condition? There certainly is. Can you develop any of the characteristics mentioned? Yes you can.

You can change the look of your body through diet and exercise and following the Way of Health, which is another teaching series. You can make your body healthy and strong and capable. In fact you should be walking in Divine Health.

You can also develop your mental capabilities through study and with the Lord's help. You could even do vocal training and learn to train your voice so that it communicates well.

All of these things can be changed and dealt with. But do not make the mistake of saying,

"I have this natural gift, which was given to me and which equips me for the ministry."

If you do not have some of these natural gifts then do not despair. They can be developed, and in the next series on Developing Your Gifts we will look at this in more detail. So far however, we have only looked at the body.

Unfortunately there are some body characteristics that you are born with and they cannot be changed, such as the kind of body you have. You will have to just accept that fact.

Realize though that the Lord has a specific function or ministry or calling for you, and He knew what kind of body you would have when He decided on that calling.

So you do not need to feel that you would like to do a ministry, but because of your body you cannot do it.

God knew about it and already took it into account. He will give you a ministry that is totally suited to what your body is able to handle.

But the body is the least important after all isn't it? Nevertheless I have mentioned it because some people have better physical characteristics. Some have good looks which cause others to admire them and say,

"Wow, I would listen to anything he tells me."

You can do something about that too and you can improve the way you look. But some folks really seem to have been 'gifted' with physical characteristics that others do not have.

This will decide how effective you are and how people respond to you in ministry.

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