It’s said that a good sports game is won by having a strong offense and a strong defense. The same is true in a battle. If you want to win a war, you must have strengths in both offense and defense. It’s not one or the other, but both.

The same is true with our Christian lives. However, I feel that most Christians are focused on just the defensive. After entering into a relationship with Jesus, they spend the majority of their efforts on staying away from temptation and sin by reading the Bible and praying for their own needs. Although these efforts are needed for a healthy spiritual life, they are defensive in nature.

So what does a good offense look like for a Christian? I would say it involves being led by the Holy Spirit in activities that impact the kingdom of darkness for God’s Kingdom of Light!

The emphasis is two fold: first, the activities must be Spirit led, and second, they must chip away at the devil’s kingdom. If we only do the activities without being Holy Spirit led, then we’re wasting our time. Likewise, if we’re being Spirit led but not putting it into action, then we’re no earthly good.

Paul gives us an example of being Spirit led while trying to do activities that would affect the kingdom of darkness.

Acts 16:6-10
6 Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. 7 When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. 8 So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. 9 During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

Paul knew that he was called to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles. So what did he do? He traveled to where he knew Gentiles would be. And we know from this passage that he wasn’t given a divine travel itinerary to follow. He went around from town to town as he was led by the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus.

Verse 10 in the NIV translation uses the word “conclude” to explain how they determined what Paul’s vision meant. In the Greek, that word is symbibazo (süm-be-bä’-zo) and means to coalesce, to put together in one’s mind, to come to a single conclusion. It means that Paul wasn’t told outright where he should go. Instead, God gave him the clues and Paul had to put them together. The Amplified Bible explains it well when it says “And when he had seen the vision, we [including Luke] at once endeavored to go on into Macedonia, confidently inferring that God had called us to proclaim the glad tidings (Gospel) to them.

If Saint Paul of Tarsus, who wrote the majority of the New Testament, did not have the divine plans for his life spoken directly into his ear, then I think it’s safe to assume that we too may need to “confidently infer” some of God’s plans for our lives.

Having said all this, I think there are two questions that we need to ask ourselves.

1. What have we, as individual believers in Jesus, been called by God to do?
2. Are we following the Holy Spirit’s leading in that calling?

Think about it. What has God gifted you with to impact eternity?

Romans 12:6-8 lists seven core gifts that God has given to the Body of Christ. In this passage, Paul just finished explaining how we who form the Body of Christ are many members forming one body. However, he explains that each of us have different gifts given to us by the grace of God. These are the main areas of giftedness that motivate you when serving God. If you are a believer in Jesus, then you have at least one (possibly more) of these gifts operating in your life. We’ll talk more about this at another time, but for the time being, here is a quick list of those gifts along with their basic definitions.

1. Prophesying – Speaking the Truth of God’s Word into current events.
2. Serving – Doing whatever it takes to help somebody else be successful.
3. Teaching – Researching and explaining the Word of God to others.
4. Encouraging – Detecting the soulful needs of others and being able to raise them back up in strength.
5. Giving – Raising and distributing material possessions and wealth to most effectively benefit God’s Kingdom.
6. Leadership – Organizing and managing God’s people and resources so they will be more effective.
7. Mercy – Showing compassion toward others by doing everything in your power to ease whatever situation their in.

Where and how are you putting these gifts to use?

Not to be confused with the gifts listed in Romans 12, Ephesians 4:11 provides another list of four apparent gifts. However, if we take a closer look we’ll see that they are not gifts, but instead roles or jobs that God has commissioned for the Body of Christ. This is why it says at the beginning of verse 11, “It was He who gave some to be….” These are areas of service in which the gifts listed in Romans 12 are typically used. Here is a quick listing of the four roles along with their brief descriptions.

1. Apostles – Ministry starters
2. Prophets – Truth proclaimers
3. Evangelists – Soul winners
4. Pastor/Teachers – Shepherds, bringing God’s people to maturity

The last question I’ll ask is this; are we wasting our time by using our gifts in areas that God has not led us? 1 Corinthians 3:5-15 makes it clear that not all “Christian” activities will last into eternity. Only those inspired, led, directed, and empowered by the Lord will last through the fire on the day of judgment.

I encourage you to seek the Lord about what He has gifted you with, if you don’t already know. And seriously seek the Lord about how He wants those gifts used so that they’ll be the most effective for His Kingdom. Then confidently trust the Lord to bring opportunities your way where you will be able to use those gifts for His glory.