1 Timothy 4:14
Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed upon you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery.
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The apostle Paul wrote those words to his 'son in the faith' Timothy, but we must remember that his instruction was intended to be passed on to the church. So he would say in his next letter to Timothy that the things he heard from Paul he was then to entrust to other faithful believers. {2Tim.2:2} The Word of God was designed to be contagious, and please remember this; you may not have been called to be an apostle or a prophet or a teacher of the Scriptures, but you have surely been given and called to a ministry!

And so it is imperative that you know, as Paul also wrote, that each and every child of God—no longer a pagan (GR. ethnos) led astray to the mute idols, however you were led {1Cor.12:2}— has now been given the manifestation of the Holy Spirit, not for his or her good, but for the common good. {1Cor.12:7} And He, the Holy Spirit of God, distributes all those gifts to each one just as He wills! {1Cor.12:11} Those gifts, those ministries, were never intended to exalt the one who received them which is something that all too often seems to be the case from times past and today as well! The gifts and the manifestation of the work of the Spirit are to exalt the Lord and to bless those touched by the saints, you and I, as we use what we have been given to touch other lives.

Perhaps you may want to take a brief intermission at this point and read what those gifts are. You can find them In the first letter to the church in Corinth, chapter 11, and don't forget the letter to the Romans, 12:3-8. It seems that we are more conscious of the “five fold ministries”, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers {Eph.4:11} and seem to forget that they were given their ministry for the specific purpose of equipping all the saints for the work of service. {Eph.4:12} You have been given a ministry and have been equipped to use it to build up the Body of Christ. Now, recognize it, feed it, and use it! But above all, never lose sight of what has been given to us to truly empower that gift—Love! Paul continued on writing not only to the Corinthians but to us today about what he called the ‘more excellent way’ {1Cor.12:31}:

“If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)

LOVE GOD, LOVE ONE ANOTHER