What do you do when there's a conflict between what God sees in you and what you see in yourself?

That question might be the most important one a Christian ever wrestles with. Because if you're honest, there's a gap — between what Scripture says about you, what others see in you, and what you actually believe about yourself. And that gap? It's exactly where God wants to meet you. 

Gideon: A Mighty Hero Who Didn't See It

In Judges 6, we're introduced to a man named Gideon. When we meet him, he's not leading an army. He's not standing on a mountaintop. He's hiding in a wine press, secretly threshing wheat so the Midianites — the cruel rulers oppressing God's people — won't steal his family's food.

He's doing what he can just to survive.

And then an angel shows up and says something that doesn't make any sense: "Mighty hero, the Lord is with you."

Gideon's response? Basically: Are you serious right now? He pushes back immediately — "If the Lord is with us, why has all this happened? Where are all the miracles? God has abandoned us." And when God tells him to go rescue Israel, Gideon doubles down: "My clan is the weakest. I'm the least in my entire family. You've got the wrong guy."

Sound familiar? Maybe you've never hidden in a wine press, but you've probably told God some version of the same thing. I'm not qualified. I don't have what it takes. You must be thinking of someone else.

But God's response to Gideon is the same thing He says to you: "I will be with you."

The conflict between what God sees in you and what you see in yourself isn't a sign that something is wrong. It's an invitation to trust Him more than you trust your own assessment.

Three Things God Has Placed in Every Believer

So how does God bridge that gap between His vision for you and your limited view of yourself? He's already equipped you with everything you need. Every believer has three spiritual realities working together in their life: spiritual gifts, personal talents, and the fruit of the Spirit.

Understanding how these three work — and how they're different — changes everything about how you see your purpose.

1. Spiritual Gifts: Activated by God

Spiritual gifts aren't earned, achieved, or chosen by us. They are activated by God when we become followers of Christ. The Holy Spirit places these gifts in every believer intentionally — on purpose, for a purpose.

Paul outlines three categories of spiritual gifts across several key passages:

Motivational Gifts (Romans 12:6-8): Prophecy, serving, teaching, encouragement, giving, leadership, and mercy. These shape the way you naturally respond to the world and the needs around you. If you have a gift of encouragement, you instinctively speak life into people. If you have a gift of leadership, you naturally see what needs to happen and how to get there.

Ministerial Gifts (Ephesians 4:11-12): Apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor/shepherd, and teacher. These are gifts Christ gave to the church specifically to equip believers and build up the body of Christ. They're listed as roles, but they function as giftings — not just job titles.

Manifestation Gifts (1 Corinthians 12:7-11): Wisdom, special knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment, tongues, and interpretation of tongues. These gifts display the power of God as a testimony to others. They were powerfully present in the early church and continue to be active today — sometimes more visibly in other parts of the world than in the Western church.

Here's what matters most about spiritual gifts: you don't get to choose them. God chooses. It doesn't matter how hard you pray for a specific gift or how intensely you pursue one. The Spirit alone decides which gift each person receives (1 Corinthians 12:11). Your job is to discover them, grow them, and use them.

As Hebrews 13:20-21 says, may God "equip you with all you need to do his will" and "produce in you through the power of Jesus Christ every good thing that is pleasing to him."

2. Personal Talents: Cultivated by Discipline

Talents are different from spiritual gifts, even though people often confuse the two. Here's the key distinction: spiritual gifts are given to believers. Talents are given to everyone.

Psalm 139:13-14 says, "You made all the delicate inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex." That verse applies to every human being, not just Christians. God wove natural abilities into every person He created — athletes, musicians, artists, communicators, coaches, listeners, organizers.

Now, here's where it gets real. You might not love the talents God gave you. Maybe you're a gifted listener, but you wish you were a gifted performer. Maybe you're a natural teacher, but you think that's boring compared to someone else's abilities. It doesn't change the fact that God gave you those talents on purpose.

The difference between a talent that makes an impact and one that gets wasted comes down to one word: discipline. Talents are cultivated. They grow through practice, effort, and commitment. And we've all seen what happens when someone has incredible talent but never develops the character to sustain it — it falls apart.

But here's where it gets beautiful for believers. When your cultivated talents combine with your activated spiritual gifts, something powerful happens:

• A natural communication talent combined with a gift of encouragement creates someone who speaks life into others with unusual power.
• An organizational talent combined with a gift of leadership creates a strategic kingdom-builder in the workplace, not just at church.
• An artistic talent combined with a gift of prophecy creates worship leaders and creatives who boldly communicate truth through beauty.

And this isn't just for Sundays. As Colossians 3:23-24 says, "Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you are working for the Lord rather than for people." Your gifts and talents are meant to be used 24/7 — at home, at work, in your neighborhood, everywhere you go.

3. The Fruit of the Spirit: Produced Through Surrender

The third piece is different from the first two. Spiritual gifts are about what you do. Talents are about what you can do. But the fruit of the Spirit is about who you are — the character evidence of the Holy Spirit at work in your life.

Galatians 5:22-23 lists it clearly: "The Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control."

Notice the word: produces. Not achieves. Not earns. Not grinds out through sheer effort. The fruit of the Spirit isn't something you manufacture by trying harder to be more patient or more loving. Imagine a tree grunting and groaning, trying to force an apple out. That's not how fruit works — and it's not how spiritual growth works either.

The fruit of the Spirit is produced through surrender. As you surrender your ego, your plans, your insistence on telling God what you can't do — the Holy Spirit does the work. He shapes your character. He grows love, patience, gentleness, and self-control in you from the inside out.

And this matters more than you might think. Because the fruit of the Spirit is the fuel that powers your gifts and talents. Consider:

• The most gifted teacher who lacks patience and kindness becomes a spiritual liability instead of an asset.
• The most talented leader without gentleness and self-control creates chaos instead of clarity.
• The most powerful communicator without love is just noise.

Jesus Himself said it plainly in Matthew 7:16-20: "You can identify them by their fruit... A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit." The evidence of God's work in your life isn't just what you accomplish — it's the character you carry while doing it.

Activated. Cultivated. Produced.

Here's the framework that ties it all together:

Spiritual gifts are activated by God. You don't earn them. You discover them and steward them.

Personal talents are cultivated by discipline. God gave them to you, but it's your responsibility to develop them.

The fruit of the Spirit is produced through surrender. You can't force it. You yield to the Holy Spirit and let Him do the work in your character.

When all three are working together — your God-activated gifts, your discipline-cultivated talents, and your surrender-produced character — you become exactly who God designed you to be. That's when purpose stops being an abstract concept and starts becoming your daily reality.

Stop Telling God What You Can't Do

Back to Gideon. He told God every reason it wouldn't work. Wrong family. Wrong tribe. Wrong guy. And God's answer wasn't to argue with him. It was simply: "I will be with you."

Maybe you're doing the same thing right now. You feel a prompting. You sense God calling you to something. And instead of stepping into it, you're listing all the reasons you're not enough.

Stop telling God what you can't do.

He already knows your weaknesses — and He chose you anyway. The gifts He placed in you are not accidental. The talents He wove into you in your mother's womb are not random. And the character He's producing in you through surrender isn't optional — it's the fuel that makes everything else work.

Take stock of what He's already given you. Discover your spiritual gifts. Ask the people closest to you to name the talents they see in you — especially the ones you take for granted. And then pray about what still needs to be surrendered so the Holy Spirit can produce the fruit you need to step fully into His purpose for your life.

As Peter writes in 1 Peter 4:10: "God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another."

You were gifted on purpose. Now live for that purpose.

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This post is part of the Gifted: On Purpose for Purpose series at Journey Church with Matt Dawson — helping believers discover their divine design and step into the life God created them to live.