Speaking gifts

Speaking gifts—what are they? Well, in a real sense, of course, your common sense will tell you that they are the property of all believers. We can all speak. We have all been given the gift of speech. As we look at these gifts we cannot get off the hook and avoid the duty by saying, I have no speaking gift, for we all have some speaking gift. But the New Testament is saying that some of God’s people will have special speaking gifts. And I would suggest that you can identify your possible special speaking gift by three controls: burden, opportunity, and effectiveness.

Firstly, we will look at burden. Someone who has been entrusted with a speaking gift in this way will have a burden to use it. They will have an internal compulsion. They will have a drive. They will have a passion. This will be something they want to do. They will feel right doing it. They will feel that it fits their personality, suits them, and it is something that feels natural to them. If someone has a speaking gift in the New Testament sense, I would be looking for burden.

I would also be looking for opportunity. God will open up some door by which this gift will be exercised. It may take some time before that door opens or appears. But when God gives someone a speaking gift, there will not only be a burden to use it, but there will be an opportunity of some kind to use it.

Then I would say the third control is effectiveness. When someone has a New Testament speaking gift, their speaking will be useful, helpful, and a blessing to people. If we find that our speech is not helping people, not proving effective in the work of God’s kingdom, then it is doubtful that God has given us this gift.

Speaking gifts then are something that we have a burden to use, something that we have opportunity to use, and a gift that, when we use it in greater or lesser measure, God blesses.¹

Edward Donnelly