All people are born with a spiritual side, but not all are aware of it. The truth is that we are all able to unlock this side of our being. Once you become aware of it, you will notice that the gifts it has to offer come to you by default.
How do I know if I have a spiritual gift?
The process of unlocking this side is very intuitive, subtle, and spontaneous. In fact, if you are reading this, you might as well be on your way to understanding your spiritual side better. And if you recognize any of these 6 signs then you indeed have a spiritual gift.
1. Being able to recollect dreams easily and regularly
While many tend to forget their dreams a few moments after they wake up, you have that habit of remembering every bit of them vividly. This gift allows you to read the messages your subconscious receives during sleep.
This is when the conscious mind is silent and allows for a flow of pure information from higher planes of awareness. While this information may seem very masked and even trivial, writing it down in a dream journal will help you find the connection.
If you possess this gift, make sure you use it to learn a lot from your dreams and understand the hidden messages that could help you turn your life around.
2. Visions that often come true
These visions don’t necessarily have to look like a movie that suddenly blocks out your normal vision. They can come in dreams (and you will know the difference), and they can come in a wakeful state in the form of mental images accompanied by intense sensations.
Such ‘intrusive thoughts’ can pop out at any time during wakefulness, and you will know that they are not the regular kind of thoughts. If you get to experience such visions, pay attention to what you saw and rewind it in your head.
Sometimes these visions can mean a difference between life and death for you or someone you know. Also, observe the emotions that come with these images – this will help you understand your gift better.
3. Waking up at 3-4 a.m.
If you respect your sleeping time and you still wake up at around 3 to 4 a.m., it’s because there is something that wants you to receive some major spiritual message. Also known as the holy hour, this is the time when the energy flux is the calmest, and we are most open to higher information.
If you wake up during these hours of the night, it’s not a bathroom call, but a spiritual one. Sit somewhere where you feel most peaceful and relaxed. You may not receive some fantastical visions or hear voices (if that’s what you expect), but your mind will be adjusted to obtain coded higher spiritual knowledge which will unlock itself in time.
4. Intense nightmares
When the spiritual channels cannot reach you in a normal way, your mind tends to transform these messages into nightmares. However, this is still a valid form of communication, no matter how terrifying it may seem to you.
It’s because your mind isn’t ready to interpret these messages differently – compare it to that of a child. Children are very receptive in terms of energy, but their minds aren’t yet aware of what these messages mean.
Practicing some dream awareness (by writing a dream journal) and mindfulness will allow you to become a lucid dreamer. Once you recognize that this is a nightmare, don’t forget to listen and not be afraid.
5. Extreme empathy
Cases of extreme empathy can even lead to experiencing the same physical ailment the other person is going through. For example, a person close to you is having health problems, and you suddenly start experiencing similar symptoms (although you aren’t actually ill).
This means that you have the ability to connect with people so strongly, that you can use the gift to help them heal. Understanding one’s pain, emotions, and problems mean experiencing them. Empaths are healers, and so are you. (1)
6. High intuition
We all possess intuition to some extent. Some follow it, others choose to ignore it – but we all have it. And then there are those with very high intuition. If you have this kind of intuition, you can’t help but live by its messages every moment.
High intuition means that your awareness is spread throughout several planes of consciousness and you can easily gather information from each of them. When possessing such a gift, you should be aware that it’s not only the gut feeling you get that defines as high intuition.
High intuition can spread and affect your dreams, your wakeful state, and even your unconscious reactions. Monitor your experiences carefully and connect them to the feelings you might have had before them. This will help you increase your intuition even further.
Possessing any of these signs means that you possess a spiritual gift, which you need to appreciate and practice. To increase your gift, learn to love yourself more and take care of your health and well-being. (2)
16 Biblical Spiritual Gifts Given To Believers
Spiritual gifts are supernatural gifts given to every believer, but each individual receives a special and a different gift. We, as humans, do not have the ability to use them unless God has not given them to us, and it is the Holy Spirit that works through us when we use them. We, as believers, are called to share these gifts with others, helping others and drawing them closer to God. (1 Peter 4:10)
We receive them freely from God, and they are gifts, not a reward, but we shouldn’t boost with them, and there is no place for pride. (3)
They all originate in God’s Spirit, and you can receive wise counsel, simple trust, and healing of the sick as Paul wrote to Romans:
“We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully. ” Romans 12:6-8
This passage means that we all serve different functions, and they should be considered as different talents and abilities. When it comes to the sign of prophecy, it should be used as a “sign gift,” and some believers think that this gift was given to the prophets that delivered messages from God before the era of the Bible was completed.
However, there is a list of 16 spiritual gifts that are listed in the Bible that can help you to grow as a Christian. These gifts are listed in 1 Corinthians, 1 Peter, Romans, and Ephesians. If you are in some sort of crisis and you do not know which is your gift and how you can use it, you can ask God to help you and God is always there for each one of us who needs help and answers.
16 Spiritual Gifts Listed In The Bible
In what follows is given the list of the spiritual gifts with definitions as given in the Bible.
1. Prophesy
This gift is an ability to deliver messages from God to others, and if you possess it, you may have some visions or signs that come directly from God and it increases with your faith in God. This gift should be used only for warning or discouragement. (4)
2. Exhortation
If you have this ability, it means that you have the power to comfort and encourage others and give them the needed motivation to make them enthusiastic about God and find their own powerful God-given abilities
3. Apostleship
With this gift, you are intended to be an apostle and spread the word of God in different countries and sometimes serve as a counselor to different ministries. Your mission is to plant new churches, raise up and develop leaders and be able to influence others by taking risks and doing hard tasks.
4. Giving
With this gift, you are one of the people who are always willing to give without any need to receive anything back as a reward. You share everything with joy and find less costly ways to do things, and you share your resources anonymously to avoid receiving some recognition for their giving, such as donations to the Church. It means that you are able to manage money and time to honor God. A perfect example of a giver in the Bible is the story of The Good Samaritan.
5. Hospitality
When you have this ability, you always welcome and appreciate people, even though they are strangers. They always feel pleasant in your company, no matter if it is in Church or your home where you disciple or serve them. You often host people, invite others to join them if you have nowhere to go or welcome your first day when you go to your new workplace with a coffee and a friendly smile. (5)
6. Discernment
This is the ability to make good evaluations and recognize what is true and what is not true, and see whether a situation or behavior comes right from God.
The Church needs people who are able to discern error since we’re called upon to “test the spirits to see if they are from God because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1).
The Church is always in need of people who are courageous and can detect false prophets.
This ability can often be used unproperly as people who are very critical and cynical think of themselves as being given this spiritual gift but being critical, negative, and cynical is related to a negative spirit, and it cannot be considered an act of love.
7. Faith
If you have strong faith, it means nothing can discourage you from your strong belief and you know that without faith, there is no hope and our only hope is in God alone. This spiritual gift is the truth and the grace given to us by God through his sacrifice. (6)
8. Mercy
If you are merciful, it means that you are compassionate and treat other people with great sensitivity, and you are always kind and gentle. You are drawn to other sensitive people to support them. Merciful people are believed to be the backbone of the Church and are the main praying power as it comes naturally for them to pray often.
9. Leadership
If you are a person with this ability, you can direct other followers with care and attention, you can easily lead and organize any church capacity, and also:
- Inspire others, and Jesus is the best example of an inspiring leader
- Nourish and provide others with nourishment and security just like Christ
10. Teaching
You have the ability to teach the Bible to help others to understand it better and grow spiritually. The Church considers it a gift with great responsibility, and those who have this gift enjoy studying the word of God and have great satisfaction when they see others learn and apply the truth of God. This gift is so important that without it, the Church will fall into sin for a short period of time.
11. Wisdom
If you have wisdom, it means that you have an intimate understanding of the word of God and all of His commandments. Wisdom is given nu God to people to transmit the ultimate truth and understanding and provoke holiness and worship. If you have wisdom, you can easily recognize where the action will lead and warn and alert others as it may be harmful or sinful.
These people can lead the Church in difficult times on the right path.
12. Serving
This service in the Bible is called Ministry, and the Greek word for it is Diakonia, which means helping and serving the community and committing to spreading the Gospel. If you have a big heart devoted completely to Jesus and a desire to follow him, joyfully work alongside others to help them complete the task God has given them, you have this spiritual gift. If you are serving, you are humble and sacrifice for others.
13. Administration
If you are good at administration, it means that you have the skills to organize, supervise and plan the steering of the Church toward the successful completion of God-given goals and lead an individual or group of people toward a destination.
14. Speaking in tongues
This spiritual gift is also called the gift of languages, and when we speak in one language, we make prayers glorifying God and communicate with Him and if you have this gift, you can pray and communicate with Him in different languages.
In the Bible, God confused man’s languages and dispersed people across the Earth. The main intention of this gift is glorifying God, and preparing ourselves as His Church is to glorify Him forever in heaven.
If you have this gift and interpret other languages, it should always be done with pure intentions and in the power of the Holy Spirit.
There is a controversy over this gift. Some people state that its nature is debated and believe that this gift has ceased with the death of the apostles. Others think that if you do not speak in tongues, you are not saved and you are not baptized with the Holy Spirit.
This gift is explained in Acts 2:4 as the ability to convey the meaning of the Gospel to other people in a different language or to speak to God in secret and in a strange prayer language that can only be understood by the person who makes the prayer and is believed to be a gift of Interpretation.
15. Evangelism
If you have this ability, it means that you can convey messages to others, especially the non–believers, successfully. It is found in the Bible chapter Ephesians 4:11–12 where Apostol Paul says that Jesus “gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.”
Evangelists have a unique ability to speak and communicate the Gospel of God and have no fear of rejection, and they freely start a conversation with non–believers about Jesus. They approach different people openly, and this is the gift they received from the Holy Spirit.
You can also see Matthew 28:18–20 18 “And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on Earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
16. Knowledge
If you have this spiritual gift, it means that you always want to know more and research what is needed for the Church to improve its status and try to understand the Bible’s ideas and meaning.
You are probably well-versed in the Bible, and you are able to communicate and relate its content with the outside world to every situation and circumstance. You are also able to inform every Christian about the truth and wisdom of the Gospel when they make a decision. This gift is present in those who have the gift of teaching. Knowledge is also the fuel of wisdom, another spiritual gift that differs from this one.
An individual with wisdom uses the knowledge to understand the situations with a deeper meaning, while the one with knowledge seeks meaning and answers with the help of studying and investigation.
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” Proverbs 9:10.
What Is The Best Spiritual Gift?
Love is the best gift of all and without love all actions we make with our gifts are empty.
“If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:1-10 )
“Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13 )
Therefore, seek love in everything you do, and you can easily find your gifts because God is Love!
A professional writer with over a decade of incessant writing skills. Her topics of interest and expertise range from health, nutrition and psychology.
