Spiritual Gifts: Becoming to Others What God Has Been to You

There is a moment in the Gospels that never loses its power. A woman walks into a dinner she was not invited to, kneels behind Jesus, and begins to weep. Her tears fall on His feet, and she wipes them with her hair. Then she breaks open an alabaster jar of costly perfume and pours it out. She holds nothing back — not her reputation, not her dignity, not her most precious possession. Watching her, you are watching something more than gratitude. You are watching a gift of the Spirit in motion.

That scene, told in Luke 7, is where the gifts of the Spirit become real and personal. Not a topic for theologians, not a badge for the specially anointed, but the ordinary, beautiful way God moves through one person to bless another. This is the heart of it: God wants to be, through you, to others what He has already been to you.

What God Has Already Been to You

Before we talk about what flows out of you, remember what has already flowed into you. Jesus did two wonderful things. By one sacrifice He paid for every one of your sins — He died the death you deserved, once and for all time, so that your account is fully settled. And by His resurrection He gave you a brand-new life you never earned: the life promised to the person who kept every command perfectly. You did not deserve it. He got it for you anyway. You are a new creation.

Someone once put it this way: Jesus did not come for us because we were poor wretched sinners God decided to pity. He came because we were glorious lost children whom God loved so much He would do anything to bring us home. That is the difference between mercy handed down from a distance and love that runs out to meet you. And now, through the Holy Spirit living in you and working through you, the very things God has been to you can begin to reach the people around you.

The Woman with the Alabaster Jar

Why could that woman give so extravagantly? Because she had experienced God as the ultimate giver. To truly forgive, after all, is to give completely — to withhold nothing. When God forgives, He does not merely cancel a debt and keep His distance. He gives His love, His attention, His heart, His care, regardless of whether we have earned it or even harmed Him. Forgiveness is free, but it is never cheap. It cost Him everything.

She had met the One who paid the costliest price to forgive her, who gave up His own life for her sins. So nothing was too much for her to give back — not her tears, not her hair, not her reputation, not her treasured jar. Her worship was simply the shape of what she had received.

This is worth sitting with honestly. If you find it hard to forgive, it may be because you have not yet met God as the great Forgiver. If you find it hard to serve someone you consider beneath you, it may be because you have not met the God who kneels and serves. If it feels easier to destroy an enemy than to lay down your pride to save one, it may be because you have not tasted how God gave everything to rescue people who were once His enemies. And if you find yourself only comfortable around people like you, it may be because you have not yet grasped that the Holy Spirit — the ultimate insider — has reached across every line to make you one, too. What that woman did was the gift of giving, poured out on the body of Christ. And that same Spirit wants to move through you.

Everything Is a Gift

To understand the gifts of the Spirit, you have to understand one small word that unlocks the whole kingdom: gift. A gift is something given willingly, without any obligation. That has two edges. It originates entirely in the will of the giver — no one is forcing his hand, and love is the only reason he gives. And it places no debt on the receiver — you do not owe anything in return except thanks.

Follow that logic and you arrive somewhere surprising. If you want something that can only come as a gift, and you do not want to obligate the other person, then the only thing you can do is ask. Not demand. Not manipulate. Not impose. Simply ask. Which is why, in the kingdom, the most powerful thing you can learn is the ask.

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth.

Matthew 7:7–8

Notice the freedom in this. If you ask and the answer is no, or the answer is something else entirely, the relationship is not damaged — because it was never a transaction to begin with. In the life of God nothing is done out of obligation and everything is given and received as a gift. That is what keeps love, and love alone, as the motive for everything we do. Your salvation, your faith, the Holy Spirit Himself — all gifts from God to you. Your holiness, your worship, the way you honor those who serve you — your gifts back to God, given freely, never owed.

Two Asks

So how do you actually flow in the gifts of the Spirit? Paul says it plainly: make love your aim, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts. But if a gift can only be received by asking, then earnest desire has to become a prayer. There are really two asks here.

The first ask is for yourself. Let the Holy Spirit work on you, in you, and with you. You might pray it simply: Holy Spirit, please come on me, move in me, fill me to overflowing. Holy Spirit, comfort me and show me how to live. Holy Spirit, what should I watch, what should I read, which way should I go today? This is not advanced spirituality. It is a child asking a good Father for what only He can give.

The second ask is for others. Let the same Spirit who is working in you now work through you. In a hundred everyday situations, you can quietly ask:

• Holy Spirit, give me a word to say right now, in this moment — like the word someone needed but no one spoke when they were being torn down.
• Holy Spirit, what should I say to this person's sickness, that it might leave? (Healing, miracles)
• Holy Spirit, what will bring peace to this storm? (Prophecy, wisdom, intercession)
• Holy Spirit, what are You doing in this friend's life right now? (Knowledge, encouragement)
• Holy Spirit, what can I do to show this person that You love them? (Service, giving)
• Holy Spirit, how can I help this person, who feels like an outsider and not good enough, know that they belong? (Service, leadership, wisdom)

Do you see what is happening? Asking is how we commune with God. Asking is simply another word for praying. And asking is the pathway into the gifts and power of the Spirit. Solomon, offered anything he wanted, asked for a hearing heart — and God was pleased. We often say we do not hear God very often, but Scripture gives a humbler diagnosis: we have not because we ask not.

Listen, Then Act

Once you ask, pause and listen. Usually the first thing that gently comes to mind — go with it, especially while you are still learning. Over time you grow more confident. And sometimes when you ask, there is only silence, and that is all right. God does not move by force, and He will not override the freedom He built into love. Keep asking anyway, and you will begin to perceive what He is saying and where He is leading. You may notice He leans you again and again in certain directions — those become your more familiar gifts. Yet it is one and the same Spirit at work in all of us. Every believer can manifest these gifts. None of us is left out.

Then, when you believe you have heard, act in faith. Make the call. Speak the word. Lay your hand on the shoulder. Step out — and watch God become, through you, to another person what He has been to you.

Imagine

Now imagine a church where this is normal. Not just the pastors and the up-front ministers, but all of us. We come on Sunday already carrying a word for someone, a message, some small thing to bless a neighbor — all because we asked the Holy Spirit during the week and we listened. We practice it in the safe space of the church family, and then it spills out. It shows up at home, at work, at the restaurant, even at the gas station.

And all of a sudden we discover that God really is becoming, through us, to others what He has been to us. If you are new here, or still unsure whether any of this is for you, start where the woman started — with what God has already been to you. Then simply ask. The same Spirit who filled that room is ready to fill your ordinary week, and to make you a gift in someone else's life.