gifts of the holy spirit 5th grade

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Gifts of the Holy Spirit Teaching Tools

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Pentecost is coming up soon, which is a great time to learn about the Holy Spirit! You might also want to teach your kids about the holy spirit around a baptism, confirmation, or when studying the Trinity! You can find all of my Holy Spirit resources for kids here . Now let’s look at some gifts of the Holy Spirit teaching tools for kids . 

Before jumping into the gifts of the Holy Spirit crafts and activities for kids, let’s see a list of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. (Listed in the Catechism, CCC 1831 and listed in the Bible Acts 2:2-3)

• Understanding
• Fear of the Lord

Memorizing Catholic lists can be a lot more fun when you have a craft, song, game, or fun snack! I always find that children learn best and retain the most when I reach them on their own level in fun and relevant ways. 

This printable gifts of the Holy Spirit craft is so fun for kids! The way that the flames spiral down when the craft is complete makes it awesome to display when assembled.

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Be sure to check out my other Pentecost resources for kids here!

You can find all of my Holy Spirit teaching resources for kids here including the gifts of the spirit, the fruits of the spirit, celebrating Pentecost Sunday, dove crafts, and more!

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Lacy, I LOVE the windsock.

I was just thinking: Wouldn't it be nice if all teachers from elementary Catholic Schools visited your site and used your art projects? I know I would have loved to have seen these projects come home with my boys when they were in Catholic school. We would have displayed them proudly.

I'm so glad we took the time and effort to do crafts together at the kitchen table–and videotaped us while doing them!! It was time well spent, and it's now a joy to watch the videos now that my guys are teenagers.

You really have something special here in your blog. Keep up the good work….when you have your hands free, that is. :-)God bless your work, Lacy.

I LOVE the wind sock too! LOVE IT!

I also agree that all CCD teachers and Catholic schools should visit your site for crafts and activities. We must get the word out! The students will enjoy the activities and it will keep them busy and no discipline problems will result. 🙂

Ooooh! I agree! Love these ideas and I am doing the letter H this (and last) week and couldn't figure out what kind of crafty things to do for the Holy Spirit! These are great! Thanks for posting 🙂

Dear Lacy, I love all the ideas to add to our plans from last year. There is always so much we can do for these feast days, it is very exciting. Thanks for sharing again. Blessings Gae

These are great ideas, Lacy! I think my three year old would even like to make the windsock. Thanks for sharing!

I love this! I have been trying to figure out ways to explain the Holy Spirit to my 4 year old as she often asks during the Sign of the Cross. I agree, I have been more of a lurker, but no longer-I just had to say your work here, sharing it with us all, (especially us craft inept!) is so wonderful and we are so lucky! Thank you!

Just love the blog…I love to do crafts with my children. We love being Catholic. THANK YOU FOR THE IDEAS!

LOVE the Holy Spirit game. My 6year old practiced reading skills,we all learned a lot, and it was cheap! P.S. My 6 year old said the end is heaven! And my husband said the last spot before heaven is like the evil tempting you (becaue you can't give up you have to keep roling a 1 to get into heaven). We played it using teeny tiny karate guys/toys for markers. Thanks for a wonderful idea and websit. LOVE This site

Thank you so much for bringing up this wonderful gifts its so amazing. Keep posting guys!

Brilliant love to see all this its an perfect entertainment blog

Send Gifts to Pakistan

I am a catholic primary school teacher in Scotland….i've spread the word here….our kids are going home with Lacy's fantastic crafts! We do them at our church 7Up group too!!

The kids loved the ascension cups…..and now i'm sooooo looking forward to the wind socks! Crafts powered by the holy spirit indeed!! Thanks lacy et al

Hi everyone. I’ve used the smarties for the gifts of the Holy Spirit for years with my confirmandi. One thing I do for them to remember the gifts is to say, “JACK, Where R U? for a while. and put that on the board so they remember ther saying: Judgement Awe Courage Knowledge Wisdom Reverence Understanding. Kids tell me they remember the gifts from that saying!

Darn…tried getting info u mention about THomas Aquinas and Holy Spirit book but it states that it has been deleted! Would love to B able to access it .

Thank you! 20 years ago I used to have so many ideas of ways to celebrate our faith with myown children, but years later as I prepare to teach my third grade PSR class those ideas seem lost in my head! I love your ideas for celebrating the Pentacost! Thank you!

Hi Lacy, thank you for grouping up all of the Pentecost resources! I used the Gifts of the Holy Spirit Activity with my first graders and they did well. It is geared towards older children but I believe they got the gist of it. I posted about it today and linked back to you. Thank you and God bless!

I am a CCD teacher and I will be teaching 2nd grade First Communion and I plan on using some of your craft projects and ideas to teach my students. Thank you very much for such wonderful Ideas. My 2nd graders I’m hoping will not be board and will learn lots this coming Church Season.

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The Religion Teacher | Catholic Religious Education

Holy Spirit Lesson Plan

11/04/2015 By Jared Dees

The Holy Spirit is often the most difficult person of the Trinity to explain to young people. They have seen plenty of art work depicting God the Son. They are at least able to wrap their minds around God the Father, even if their concept of him is as an old man with a white beard.

Teaching about the Holy Spirit, on the other hand, is a little bit more challenging.

My co-catechist, Tim Will from the Alliance for Catholic Education , came up with a great Holy Spirit lesson. The kids had fun and they came to understand a key concept about the Holy Spirit:

Even though we cannot see the Holy Spirit, he is present around us just like the wind. And, just like the wind pushes a leaf through the air, the Holy Spirit guides us through life.

If you have a lesson about the Holy Spirit coming up, try this. Here is an abbreviated form of the lesson we gave to our students.

Lesson Objectives

SWBAT identify the Holy Spirit as the third person of the Trinity. SWBAT explain that the Holy Spirit helps and guides us.

Lesson Activities and Text

1. Pull up the Paper Toss Game on the SMARTBoard. 

The purpose of the game is to toss a paper ball into a trash can. ( Find the game online here. ) The challenge, however, is to play the wind. A fan is blowing at various strengths for each shot and you must toss the paper at an angle to get it in the trash can.

2. Invite a few volunteers to play the game. 

Pick a few students to come to the board to play the game. Pick the students who sit quietly with attentiveness. Give each student a few tries each to get the ball in the can.

3. Class Presentation & Discussion 

Ask the students:

• Why was it so difficult to get the ball in the trash can? (Because the fan blew the ball out of the way.)
• Can you see the wind coming out of the fan? (No.)
• How do you know the wind is there? (It is blowing the paper.)
• When you go outside on a windy day, can you see the wind? (No.)
• How do you know the wind is blowing? (You either feel it or see it blowing things around.)

Make the connection between the Holy Spirit and the wind. Explain:

The Holy Spirit is a lot like the wind coming from a fan or the wind outside on a windy day. Even though we cannot see it, it is there. Just like the wind from the fan moved the paper, the Holy Spirit moves us. The Holy Spirit guides us and helps us when we need to make important choices. Sometimes we can feel the Spirit moving us in our hearts, just like we can feel the wind against our bodies.

4. Read Scripture 

There are a few different Scripture passages that describe the Holy Spirit as the wind: Acts 2:2, John 3:8, and John 20:22.

“The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” John 3:8

Read these Scripture passages with the students and have them make connections between the wind and the Holy Spirit.

5. Assessment: Exit Card 

Pass out index cards to each student as an “ exit card .”

On one side have them draw a picture of the Holy Spirit.

On the other side, have them write what the Holy Spirit does.

You are checking to make sure they drew a picture of the wind, but if they draw a picture of tongues of fire or a dove too that is ok. On the other side you want to make sure they explain how the Holy Spirit guides us.

Additional Holy Spirit Lesson Resources

Holy spirit worksheets .

There are a some worksheets to help teach about the Trinity and the Holy Spirit available for premium members . Or, if you are not a member, click on the image below to download three worksheets to help you teach about the Trinity, Holy Spirit, and Pentecost:

Enter your email and I will send you the worksheets.

Holy Spirit Video 

Also, if you would like to teach the students about the gifts of the Holy Spirit, feel free to show them this popular video about the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit:

And here is the 7 Gifts of the Spirit lesson plan to go with it.

A BIG shout out to Tim Will for this amazing lesson on the Holy Spirit! You can find him at the Alliance for Catholic Education website .

About Jared Dees

Jared Dees is the creator of The Religion Teacher and the author of 31 Days to Becoming a Better Religious Educator , To Heal, Proclaim, and Teach , Beatitales , and Christ in the Classroom .

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Free ebook on lesson planning.

Have you signed up to receive the free eBook, The Religion Teacher’s Guide to Lesson Planning . Whether you are a veteran teacher or in your first year, this guide provides a step by step process to effective lesson planning and provides 250 suggestions for activities and teaching strategies

11/05/2015 at 12:57 pm

We used magnets (found the idea on Pinterest) – 2 identical large horseshoe magnets – one was the Father, one was the Son – they were “one” (when joined together) but they were “two” when not together – we demonstrated the magnetic force that kept them apart to identify the Holy Spirit: you can’t see it, but it’s a force: the Holy Spirit of God the Father and God the Son. It was a good visual for my 3-4-5th grade students.

04/12/2016 at 3:27 am

Is it possible to download the videos for each class and how do I go about that?

04/15/2016 at 6:24 am

It would be difficult to download the video from YouTube, but it is also available for premium members in another way. There you can download the videos to show in class: https://members.thereligionteacher.com/gifts-holy-spirit/

05/15/2016 at 8:44 pm

I will try this with my 10’s tomorrow! Thanks, and God bless you all!

About the Founder, Jared Dees

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The Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit

The Manifestation of Sanctifying Grace

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The Catholic Church recognizes seven gifts of the Holy Spirit; a listing of these gifts is found in Isaiah 11:2-3 . (Saint Paul writes of "manifestations of the Spirit" in 1 Corinthians 12:7-11, and some Protestants use that list to come up with nine gifts of the Holy Spirit, but these are not the same as the ones recognized by the Catholic Church.)

The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are present in their fullness in Jesus Christ , but they are also found in all Christians who are in a state of grace. We receive them when we are infused with sanctifying grace , the life of God within us—as, for example, when we receive a sacrament worthily. We first receive the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit in the Sacrament of Baptism ; these gifts are strengthened in the Sacrament of Confirmation , which is one of the reasons why the Catholic Church teaches that confirmation is properly viewed as the completion of baptism.

As the current Catechism of the Catholic Church ( para. 1831 ) notes, the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit "complete and perfect the virtues of those who receive them." Infused with His gifts, we respond to the promptings of the Holy Spirit as if by instinct, the way Christ Himself would.

Click on the name of each gift of the Holy Spirit for a longer discussion of that gift.

Wisdom is the first and highest gift of the Holy Spirit because it is the perfection of the theological virtue of  faith . Through wisdom, we come to value properly those things which we believe through faith. The truths of Christian belief are more important than the things of this world, and wisdom helps us to order our relationship to the created world properly, loving Creation for the sake of God, rather than for its own sake.

Understanding

Understanding is the second gift of the Holy Spirit, and people sometimes have a hard time understanding (no pun intended) how it differs from wisdom. While wisdom is the desire to contemplate the things of God, understanding allows us to grasp, at least in a limited way, the very essence of the truths of the Catholic faith. Through understanding, we gain a certitude about our beliefs that moves beyond faith.

Counsel, the third gift of the Holy Spirit, is the perfection of the cardinal virtue of prudence . Prudence can be practiced by anyone, but counsel is supernatural. Through this gift of the Holy Spirit, we are able to judge how best to act almost by intuition. Because of the gift of counsel, Christians need not fear to stand up for the truths of the Faith, because the Holy Spirit will guide us in defending those truths.

While counsel is the perfection of a cardinal virtue, fortitude is both a gift of the Holy Spirit and a cardinal virtue . Fortitude is ranked as the fourth gift of the Holy Spirit because it gives us the strength to follow through on the actions suggested by the gift of counsel. While fortitude is sometimes called courage , it goes beyond what we normally think of as courage. Fortitude is the virtue of the martyrs that allows them to suffer death rather than to renounce the Christian Faith.

The fifth gift of the Holy Spirit, knowledge, is often confused with both wisdom and understanding. Like wisdom, knowledge is the perfection of faith, but whereas wisdom gives us the desire to judge all things according to the truths of the Catholic Faith, knowledge is the actual ability to do so. Like counsel, it is aimed at our actions in this life. In a limited way, knowledge allows us to see the circumstances of our life the way that God sees them. Through this gift of the Holy Spirit, we can determine God's purpose for our lives and live them accordingly.

Piety, the sixth gift of the Holy Spirit, is the perfection of the virtue of religion. While we tend to think of religion today as the external elements of our faith, it really means the willingness to worship and to serve God. Piety takes that willingness beyond a sense of duty so that we desire to worship God and to serve Him out of love, the way that we desire to honor our parents and do what they wish.

Fear of the Lord

The seventh and final gift of the Holy Spirit is the fear of the Lord, and perhaps no other gift of the Holy Spirit is so misunderstood. We think of fear and hope as opposites, but the fear of the Lord confirms the theological virtue of hope . This gift of the Holy Spirit gives us the desire not to offend God, as well as the certainty that God will supply us the grace that we need in order to keep from offending Him. Our desire not to offend God is more than simply a sense of duty; like piety, the fear of the Lord arises out of love.

• Fortitude: A Cardinal Virtue and a Gift of the Holy Spirit
• Piety: A Gift of the Holy Spirit
• Wisdom: The First and Highest Gift of the Holy Spirit
• What Are the 4 Cardinal Virtues?
• What Are the 12 Fruits of the Holy Spirit?
• Faith: A Theological Virtue
• Faith, Hope, and Charity: the Three Theological Virtues
• The Cardinal Virtue of Prudence (And What It Means)
• Counsel: A Gift of the Holy Spirit
• Knowledge: the Fifth Gift of the Holy Spirit
• Consecration to the Holy Family
• Fear of the Lord: A Gift of the Holy Spirit
• Prayers for April
• Christian Prayers to the Holy Spirit for a Favor
• Charity: the Greatest of the Theological Virtues
• The Virtue of Hope

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Lesson Plans: The Gift Of The Holy Spirit

Objective: 1. Students will understand the gifts of the Holy Spirit. 2. At the end of the activity, the students will be able to create a bulletin board for the classroom. Level: 6-8 Download Lesson Plan: The Gifts Of The Holy Spirit…

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The Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit

What are the seven gifts of the holy spirit, and why do they matter, what are the seven gifts of the holy spirit.

The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are, according to Catholic Tradition, wisdom , understanding , counsel , fortitude , knowledge , piety , and fear of God . The standard interpretation has been the one that St. Thomas Aquinas worked out in the thirteenth century in his Summa Theologiae :

• Wisdom  is both the knowledge of and judgment about “divine things” and the ability to judge and direct human affairs according to divine truth (I/I.1.6; I/II.69.3; II/II.8.6; II/II.45.1–5).
• Understanding  is penetrating insight into the very heart of things, especially those higher truths that are necessary for our eternal salvation—in effect, the ability to “see” God (I/I.12.5; I/II.69.2; II/II.8.1–3).
• Counsel  allows a man to be directed by God in matters necessary for his salvation (II/II.52.1).
• Fortitude  denotes a firmness of mind in doing good and in avoiding evil, particularly when it is difficult or dangerous to do so, and the confidence to overcome all obstacles, even deadly ones, by virtue of the assurance of everlasting life (I/II.61.3; II/II.123.2; II/II.139.1).
• Knowledge  is the ability to judge correctly about matters of faith and right action, so as to never wander from the straight path of justice (II/II.9.3).
• Piety  is, principally, revering God with filial affection, paying worship and duty to God, paying due duty to all men on account of their relationship to God, and honoring the saints and not contradicting Scripture. The Latin word  pietas  denotes the reverence that we give to our father and to our country; since God is the Father of all, the worship of God is also called piety (I/II.68.4; II/II.121.1).
• Fear of God  is, in this context, “filial” or chaste fear whereby we revere God and avoid separating ourselves from him—as opposed to “servile” fear, whereby we fear punishment (I/II.67.4; II/II.19.9).

These are heroic character traits that Jesus Christ alone possesses in their plenitude but that he freely shares with the members of his mystical body (i.e., his Church). These traits are infused into every Christian as a permanent endowment at his baptism, nurtured by the practice of the seven virtues, and sealed in the sacrament of confirmation. They are also known as the sanctifying gifts of the Spirit, because they serve the purpose of rendering their recipients docile to the promptings of the Holy Spirit in their lives, helping them to grow in holiness and making them fit for heaven.

Because “grace builds upon nature” (ST I/I.2.3), the seven gifts work synergistically with the seven virtues and also with the twelve fruits of the Spirit and the eight beatitudes. The emergence of the gifts is fostered by the practice of the virtues, which in turn are perfected by the exercise of the gifts. The proper exercise of the gifts, in turn, produce the fruits of the Spirit in the life of the Christian: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, modesty, self-control, and chastity (Gal. 5:22–23). The goal of this cooperation among virtues, gifts, and fruits is the attainment of the eight-fold state of beatitude described by Christ in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5:3–10).

Unfortunately, it is difficult to name another Catholic doctrine of as hallowed antiquity as the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit that is subject to as much benign neglect. Like most Catholics born around 1950, I learned their names by rote: “ wis -dom,  un -derstanding,  coun -sel,  fort -itude,  know -ledge,  pie -ety, and  fear  of the Lord!” Sadly, though, it was all my classmates and I ever learned, at least formally, about these mysterious powers that were to descend upon us at our confirmation. Once Confirmation Day had come and gone, we were chagrined to find that we had not become the all-wise, all-knowing, unconquerable  milites Christi  (soldiers of Christ) that our pre-Vatican II catechesis had promised.

The Problem

Ironically, post-Vatican II catechesis has proven even less capable of instilling in young Catholics a lively sense of what the seven gifts are all about. At least the previous approach had the advantage of conjuring up the lurid prospect of a martyr’s bloody death at the hands of godless atheists. But, alas, such militant pedagogy went out the window in the aftermath of the Council. But a stream of reports in recent decades on declining interest in the faith among new  confirmandi  suggests that the changes are not having their desired effect. Not that there were no bugs in the pre-Vatican II catechetical machine—there were plenty—but such superficial tinkering did not even begin to address them.

A recent article in  Theological Studies  by Rev. Charles E. Bouchard, O.P., president of the Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis, Missouri (“Recovering the Gifts of the Holy Spirit in Moral Theology,” Sept. 2002), identifies some specific weaknesses in traditional Catholic catechesis on the seven gifts:

• Neglect of the close connection between the seven gifts and the cardinal and theological virtues (faith, hope, charity/love, prudence, justice, fortitude/courage, and temperance), which St. Thomas Aquinas himself had emphasized in his treatment of the subject
• A tendency to relegate the seven gifts to the esoteric realm of ascetical/mystical spirituality rather than the practical, down-to-earth realm of moral theology, which Aquinas had indicated was their proper sphere
• A form of spiritual elitism whereby the fuller study of the theology of the gifts was reserved to priests and religious, who alone, it was presumed—unlike the unlettered masses—had the requisite learning and spirituality to appreciate and assimilate it
• Neglect of the scriptural basis of the theology of the gifts, particularly Isaiah 11, where the gifts were originally identified and applied prophetically to Christ

The 1992  Catechism of the Catholic Church  had already addressed some of these issues (such as the importance of the virtues and the relationship between the gifts and “the moral life”) but avoided defining the individual gifts or even treating them in any detail—a mere six paragraphs (1285–1287, 1830–1831, and 1845), as compared with forty on the virtues (1803–1829, 1832–1844). Perhaps that is why the catechetical textbooks that have appeared in the wake of the new  Catechism present such a confusing array of definitions of the gifts. These definitions tend to be imprecise rehashings of the traditional Thomistic definitions or totally ad hoc definitions drawn from the author’s personal experience or imagination.

The Seven Gifts and the Spiritual Arsenal

Rather than perpetuating either a strictly Thomistic approach or an approach based on contemporary, culturally conditioned definitions, I propose a third way of understanding the seven gifts, one that goes back the biblical source material.

The first—and only—place in the entire Bible where these seven special qualities are listed together is Isaiah 11:1–3, in a famous Messianic prophecy:

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.

Virtually every commentator on the seven gifts for the past two millennia has identified this passage as the source of the teaching, yet none have noted how integral these seven concepts were to the ancient Israelite “Wisdom” tradition, which is reflected in such Old Testament books as Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Psalms, Ecclesiasticus, and the Wisdom of Solomon, as well as certain strands of the prophetic books, including Isaiah. This material focuses on how to navigate the ethical demands of daily life (economics, love and marriage, rearing children, interpersonal relationships, the use and abuse of power) rather than the historical, prophetic, or mythical/metaphysical themes usually associated with the Old Testament. It does not contradict these other.aspects of revelation but complements them by providing a glimpse into how Israel’s covenant with Yahweh is lived out in all its nitty-gritty detail.

It is from this world of practical, down-to-earth, everyday concerns rather than the realm of ascetical or mystical experience that the seven gifts emerged, and the context of Isaiah 11 reinforces this frame of reference. The balance of Isaiah describes in loving detail the aggressiveness with which the “shoot of Jesse” will establish his “peaceable kingdom” upon the earth:

He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear; but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. . . . They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. (Is. 11:3–4, 9)

Establishing this kingdom entails thought, planning, work, struggle, courage, endurance, perseverance, humility—that is, getting one’s hands dirty. This earthbound perspective is a profitable one from which to view the role the seven gifts play in the life of mature (or maturing) Christians.

There is a strain within Catholicism, as within Christianity in general, that focuses on the afterlife to the exclusion—and detriment—of this world, as if detachment from temporal things were alone a guarantee of eternal life. One of the correctives to this kind of thinking issued by Vatican II was the recovery of the biblical emphasis on the kingdom of God as a concrete reality that not only transcends the created order but also transforms it ( Dei Verbum  17;  Lumen Gentium  5;  Gaudium et Spes  39).

The seven gifts are indispensable resources in the struggle to establish the kingdom and are, in a sense, a byproduct of actively engaging in spiritual warfare. If a person does not bother to equip himself properly for battle, he should not be surprised to find himself defenseless when the battle is brought to his doorstep. If my classmates and I never “acquired” the “mysterious powers” we anticipated, perhaps it is because we never took up arms in the struggle to advance the kingdom of God!

The seven gifts are an endowment to which every baptized Christian can lay claim from his earliest childhood. They are our patrimony. These gifts, given in the sacraments for us to develop through experience, are indispensable to the successful conduct of the Christian way of life. They do not appear spontaneously and out of nowhere but emerge gradually as the fruit of virtuous living. Nor are they withdrawn by the Spirit once they are no longer needed, for they are perpetually needed as long as we are fighting the good fight.

The seven gifts are designed to be used in the world for the purpose of transforming that world for Christ. Isaiah 11 vividly portrays what these gifts are to be used for: to do what one is called to do in one’s own time and place to advance the kingdom of God. The specific, personal details of that call do not come into focus until one has realized his very limited, ungodlike place in the scheme of things (fear of the Lord), accepted one’s role as a member of God’s family (piety), and acquired the habit of following the Father’s specific directions for living a godly life (knowledge). This familiarity with God breeds the strength and courage needed to confront the evil that one inevitably encounters in one’s life (fortitude) and the cunning to nimbly shift one’s strategies to match—even anticipate—the many machinations of the Enemy (counsel). The more one engages in such “spiritual warfare,” the more one perceives how such skirmishes fit into the big picture that is God’s master plan for establishing his reign in this fallen world (understanding) and the more confident, skillful, and successful one becomes in the conduct of his particular vocation (wisdom).

Soldiers of Christ

These remarks are aimed primarily at adult cradle Catholics who, like me, were inadequately catechized (at least with respect to the seven gifts). Because of the ongoing controversy in the Church at large over the proper age for reception of the sacrament of confirmation, the malaise of inadequate catechesis is likely to continue afflicting the faithful. The lack of attention to the synergistic relationship between the virtues and the gifts of the Holy Spirit seems to be the main culprit in the failure to develop the gifts among the confirmandi . Catechesis that is aimed only at the acquisition of knowledge or merely at promoting “random acts of kindness” without a solidly evangelical organizing principle simply will not cut it with this (or any other) generation of young people. Centering prayer, journaling, guided meditation, or any of the host of other pseudo-pedagogical tricks popular in many current catechetical programs cannot compete with the seductions of the culture of death.

The path to a mature appropriation of the spiritual arsenal represented by the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit needs to be trod as early as possible, and the seven virtues can serve today, as they have for most of the Church’s history, as excellent guides along that path. Perhaps it is time to resurrect the traditional image of the baptized as “soldiers of Christ,” a phrase that has been anathema for Catholic catechetical materials for decades. Despite the fact that the post-Vatican II zeitgeist  has militated against the notion of “militancy” in all things religious, this stance has been shown to be misguided—by an honest assessment of what Sacred Scripture has to say about it and by world events in our own lifetime. The toppling of the Soviet Union, for example, would not have happened without the nonviolent militancy of John Paul II in the pursuit of a legitimate goal. The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are our spiritual weaponry for the spiritual warfare of everyday life.

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1 Corinthians 12 New Life Version

The gifts of the holy spirit.

12  Christian brothers, I want you to know about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. You need to understand the truth about this. 2  You know that before you were Christians you were led to worship false gods. None of these gods could speak. 3  So I tell you that no one speaking by the help of the Holy Spirit can say that he hates Jesus. No one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the help of the Holy Spirit.

The Kinds of Gifts

4  There are different kinds of gifts. But it is the same Holy Spirit Who gives them. 5  There are different kinds of work to be done for Him. But the work is for the same Lord. 6  There are different ways of doing His work. But it is the same God who uses all these ways in all people. 7  The Holy Spirit works in each person in one way or another for the good of all. 8  One person is given the gift of teaching words of wisdom. Another person is given the gift of teaching what he has learned and knows. These gifts are by the same Holy Spirit. 9  One person receives the gift of faith. Another person receives the gifts of healing. These gifts are given by the same Holy Spirit. 10  One person is given the gift of doing powerful works. Another person is given the gift of speaking God’s Word. Another person is given the gift of telling the difference between the Holy Spirit and false spirits. Another person is given the gift of speaking in special sounds. Another person is given the gift of telling what these special sounds mean. 11  But it is the same Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, Who does all these things. He gives to each person as He wants to give.

Our Body Is Like the Body of Christ

12  Our own body has many parts. When all these many parts are put together, they are only one body. The body of Christ is like this. 13  It is the same way with us. Jews or those who are not Jews, men who are owned by someone or men who are free to do what they want to do, have all been baptized into the one body by the same Holy Spirit. We have all received the one Spirit.

14  The body is not one part, but many parts. 15  If the foot should say, “I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,” that would not stop it from being a part of the body. 16  If the ear should say, “I am not a part of the body because I am not an eye,” that would not stop it from being a part of the body. 17  If the whole body were an eye how would it hear? If the whole body were an ear, how would it smell? 18  But God has put all the parts into the body just as He wants to have them. 19  If all the parts were the same, it could not be a body. 20  But now there are many parts, but one body.

21  The eye cannot say to the hand, “I do not need you.” Or the head cannot say to the feet, “I do not need you.” 22  Some of the parts we think are weak and not important are very important. 23  We take good care of and cover with clothes the parts of the body that look less important. The parts which do not look beautiful have an important work to do. 24  The parts that can be seen do not need as much care. God has made the body so more care is given to the parts that need it most. 25  This is so the body will not be divided into parts. All the parts care for each other. 26  If one part of the body suffers, all the other parts suffer with it. If one part is given special care, the other parts are happy.

The Body of Christ

27  You are all a part of the body of Christ. 28  God has chosen different ones in the church to do His work. First, there are missionaries. Second, there are preachers or those who speak for God. And third, there are teachers. He has also chosen those who do powerful works and those who have the gifts of healing. And He has chosen those who help others who are in need and those who are able to lead others in work and those who speak in special sounds. 29  Are they all missionaries? No. Are they all preachers or those who speak for God? No. Do they all do powerful works? No. 30  Do they all have the gifts of healing? No. Do they all speak in special sounds? No. Are they all able to tell what the special sounds mean? No. 31  But from your heart you should want the best gifts. Now I will show you even a better way.

Copyright © 1969, 2003 by Barbour Publishing, Inc.

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Teaching on The Gifts of The Holy Spirit

• July 19, 2022

Part One: The Revelatory Gifts

I truly believe that our Father desires for us to be mindful of His spirit working through us in the Earth. I have been feeling his presence all the more, with an urge to share teaching on the 9 gifts of the Holy Spirit.

As we know, the Bible tells us about the Holy trinity: God the Father, the son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. We know God is the One who created everything and released His son Jesus into the world for the redemption of our sins. Right before Jesus ascended up, he was the one who shared with the world that there would be a comforter sent to help us as believers. Even now, the Holy Spirit is present with us, moving and operating in our midst. He feels for God’s people and has emotions just as we do. He experiences moments of sensitivity just as we do. In fact, I’ve learned that it grieves Him when we are disobedient and He begins to get very quiet. The Holy Spirit is surely with us as we go throughout life. I have personally learned about the Holy Spirit, how He moves, and how He deals with His children. When I first got saved, it was the Holy Spirit that helped to reveal the Word of God to me, my calling, and my purpose. He is still helping me to this day!

Gifts of the Spirit

Gift – Something voluntarily transferred by one person to another without compensation.

“There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.” – 1 Corinthians 12: 4-11

9 Gifts of the Spirit:

The Word of Knowledge

The Word of Wisdom

The Gift of Prophecy

The Gift of Faith

The Gift of Healing

The Working of Miracles

The Discerning of Spirits

Different Kinds of Tongues

Interpretation of Tongues

There are 3 categories of the gifts of the Spirit:

Revelatory Gifts: Word of wisdom, word of knowledge, and discerning of spirits.

Power Gifts: Gift of faith, gift of healing, and working of miracles.

Speaking Gifts: Speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues, and gift of prophecy.

The Father graciously gives these spiritual gifts to believers and He doesn’t change His mind about it. The Word tells us: “there are different kinds of gifts, but the same spirit distributes them individually just as He wills and determines”. A person may be operating in one specific gift that has been given by the Lord. At the same time, there may be another individual operating in another gift that has also been given by the Lord. Every believer makes up the body of Christ and is needed in the Lord’s Kingdom —no matter which gifts they may display. Every position and spiritual gift is so very needed.

“So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up” – Ephesians 4:11-12

The Revelatory Gifts

Word of Wisdom

Believers with this gift are given the ability to make wise decisions and also advise others to do the same. This form of wisdom does not simply come from their own personal struggles and mistakes in life, but it comes through the supernatural understanding of God and power of God. These individuals are able to see clearly through confusing or puzzling situations and steer others in the direction of God’s will. When they speak words of wisdom, it closely lines up with the word of God; it is revelation received from on high. Wisdom itself is defined as knowing what to do with the knowledge that you already have. When wisdom is released over an individual, there is an instant download on what to do and how to respond with what a person knows. It is much beneficial in situations such as

In a crisis

In a vulnerable state

When a person doesn’t know how to move

When someone who has been given this gift, they are able to speak words of wisdom and it is delivered with such simplicity. When in operation, words of wisdom typically flow well with the gift of word of knowledge. One of the ways to recognize this gift is when you are given wisdom to determine how to properly handle a situation and it is made clear and simple. Whether they are being counseled or given advice, the person who receives the word of wisdom may say, “why didn’t I think of that?”. Because it is only given by the Spirit of God!

Word of Knowledge

People with this gift have a deep understanding of the will and the ways of God personally through scripture. Supernaturally, they can discern truths about spiritual matters in order to teach or direct an individual. At times, God gives these individuals a word of knowledge about a particular situation in order to:

Here’s an example of how this gift often works together with other gifts:

Word of Knowledge & Gift of Healing

Scenario: Imagine that you’re standing before someone and you begin to know something about that person as the Spirit of God has given you revelation. God begins to speak to you as you reveal to that person: “On the right side of you, there is a blockage. Something is going on with your kidneys”.

Many people often get the gift of prophecy and word of knowledge mixed up. The specific information provided above is not defined as prophecy, it is a word of knowledge. As the gift of healing typically flows along with the word of knowledge, individuals with these gifts are able to declare the healing power of God.

This gift is not given so that the individual can simply know every detail about a person’s life. It is used so that a resolve can occur. God reveals such things so that there may be healing, deliverance, and restoration. It is such an amazing gift to receive!

Spiritual Discernment

People with this gift have the ability to carefully observe a situation, person, or an event. It is much like a spiritual scale or meter that helps to determine whether something is good or evil, right or wrong, heavenly or demonic. This gift helps to protect God’s people and lead them in the right direction. This particular gift is very much needed, especially in the world as we now know. As witchcraft is on the rise, there is a higher chance of someone who may be operating in demonic abilities, rather than God’s spiritual gifts. When discernment is present, we are able to observe others to determine:

The intent of the heart of the individual

What that individual is doing

The purpose in which the individual was sent into your life

Who sent them

When a person is blessed with this gift, they will also be able to discern when the moving of the Holy Spirit is taking place. They are able to understand and discern when the angels are moving, when the heavens are open, and when there is a need to be sensitive to the flow of God. Prophets are often gifted with the spirit of discernment as they are very in tune with the flow of the Spirit. They can sense the hidden agendas of others, when a demonic spirit is at work, or when a human spirit is in operation. This gift seems to be less talked about, but I believe that we should ask the Lord for more of this ability. Without this gift, it is easy for many to declare that they feel God moving when He is not. Or they may miss the move of God by dismissing it as something from the enemy. This gift has unfortunately become easily polluted and perverted, as many are operating in the kingdom of darkness.

But be encouraged that we have been equipped with spiritual gifts that have been given to us by the precious Holy Spirit to help us in ALL of this!

STIR UP The Gifts!

The gifts are available to help strengthen and build up the body of Christ. It is such a beautiful thing when the gifts are in operation and we are able to see God’s children working together.

Know that the Father is absolutely REAL, and so is the Holy Spirit!

You NEED the Spirit of God at work in your life! There is an outpouring of gifts that is about to take place and it is my prayer that you receive it. God is able to give you a fresh wind and give you your fire back. God will recharge you! May a cleansing take over you as you receive today’s message. The Lord will instruct and commission the Holy angels to find and locate you! May you receive His cleansing power and saturate you with His glory. May you feel the weight of His presence around you and supernatural strength released over you. The Lord desires to do a NEW thing in your life, all you have to do is tap in!

New revelations are available to you!

New understandings!

New discoveries!

A New flow of the Spirit of God!

May you come to know that there are different angles and sides to God, and He wants to reveal Himself to YOU! The Holy Spirit will pour out even more—allowing you to see, feel, and hear Him. May the angels of the Lord who have been standing alongside you with their hands tied begin to move in your midst. May there be an increase and a move of His Spirit in the areas that seem dry, dark, stale, and stagnant where nothing is flowing.

The winds of God is BLOWING!

The waters from Heaven are pouring out!

The angels are getting involved!

The mists of glory are COMING to settle in!

Are you in need of a touch from the Lord? I pray that the fire of the Holy Spirit be released unto you, giving you a second charge where you will be able to start up and run again! God is moving and bringing His gifts. He’s stirring up the gifts on the inside of you that have been lying dormant! Allow Him to remove the counterfeit gifts in your life and bring into existence what is real, right, holy, and pure. He will teach and show you how to move, operate, and flow in the gifts that He has given you.

Be refilled on this day so that you may be used for the glory of the Lord and His Kingdom!

Join me in our next teaching on the other 6 gifts of the Holy Spirit!

If this article has blessed you, please comment and kindly share.

If you want to work closely with Lenika Scott, you can do so by joining The Inner Circle Coaching http://@www.lenikascott.com/innercircle

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Activity: Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit

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What gift of the Holy Spirit is manifested in the situation below?

Trisha knows that cheating is bad, therefore, she did not allow Anna, her best friend, to copy from her even if she is sure she will get angry at her.

Fear of the Lord

Carlos treats his friends as his brothers and sisters because he believes that God is the Father of all.

Understanding

Raffy genuflects before the Blessed Sacrament every time he enters the church.

Issa wants to join her friends in the picnic but it is a Sunday and she will miss the Mass if she joins them. She decides to go to Mass.

Sharon keeps herself from bad company because she loves God and would not do anything to hurt Him.

Miguel never loses hope even if he is undergoing many trials in life. He believes that God has something good in store for him.

Kyle recites the Apostles' Creed with conviction because he knows the meaning of the truths contained in it.

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