Spiritual Gifts

You have been given a gift.


A spiritual gift (or two) from your creator. All Christians have been given gifts from God for the purpose of fulfilling His call on their life. It is my hope that this article will help you to see the abilities that you have as true gifts, meant for carrying out God’s plan for your life and it will get you to thinking about where you are meant to use that gift.


The basis for spiritual gifts comes from Romans 12, verses 4 -8 “For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.”

The 7 gifts listed in this verse are:

Prophecy – which I refer to as Perceiving, following the model of Don and Katie Fortune in their book Discover Your God-Given Gifts. As they explain it: “We have purposely chosen this word over prophet to avoid negative connotations and possible confusion, since the same root word is used in the other two categories of gifts, found in 1 Corinthians 12:10 and in Ephesians 4:11”
Serving (ministering)
Teaching
Exhortation
Giving
Administrator (leader)
Compassion (or mercy)

As mentioned in the quote by the Fortunes, the giving of gifts to man, by the persons of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, are found in two other places in the bible:

1 Corinthians 12:10 “To another the working of miracles, to another prophetic insight ([a]the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose); to another the ability to discern and distinguish between [the utterances of true] spirits [and false ones], to another various kinds of [unknown] tongues, to another the ability to interpret [such] tongues.” Amplified Bible.

Ephesians 4:11 “And His gifts were [varied; He Himself appointed and gave men to us] some to be apostles (special messengers), some prophets (inspired preachers and expounders), some evangelists (preachers of the Gospel, traveling missionaries), some pastors (shepherds of His flock) and teachers.” Amplified Bible.

It could be argued the gifts given by Jesus before He ascended into heaven, as listed in Ephesians 4, are given to some, not all, but some people, for the purpose of building up the body of Chris for the work of the ministry. I do not feel confident enough in the interpretation of this verse to claim those gifts were given to everyone.

In 1 Corinthians 12:10, the case could be made that those gifts, as given by the Holy Spirit are given to all, each gift available to each believer, as needed, according to the will of the Holy Spirit, and for His purposes at any given moment. So those gifts rise up as needed and leave us when they are not needed.

The gifts listed in Romans 12 are foundational gifts, given to each one, by God as He created us for the purpose of taking our place as a member of the body of Christ. Just as our toes, fingers, heart, lungs, and eyes were created right from conception to fulfill their specific duties as members of our body; we were created with specific foundational gifts meant for our use as we fulfill our jobs as members of Christ.

While the gifts from Christ and the Holy Spirit can flow and change within us as needed; the foundational gifts are those we are given at birth, they are part of who we are, our character, and our motivations. They do not change. They influence our behaviors and who we become.

This section of Romans is also Paul’s explanation to the church that we are many members of one body, each with a different function to perform, in order to build up and edify one another in love. We are to be aware of what our gifts are and to use them, together with other believers, to carry out God’s will here on earth. As further encouragement to use our gifts, 1 Peter 4:10 and 11 reads: “As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If anyone speaks, [let him] [speak] as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, [let him do it] as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

Peter speaks of two types of gifts, Speaking and ministering. If you look at the list of spiritual gifts, the seven gifts break into two groups, speaking gifts and serving gifts.

There is a more complete description of the gifts below, but to put them into the two groups Peter mentioned, Perceivers, Teachers and Exhorters and Administrators are speaking gifts. Givers, Servers, and Compassionate people, are serving gifts.

As you look over the definition of the different gifts, discover which ones you recognize in your own life and think about ways you can start to use that gift today, right where you are. Don’t wait for the perfect situation or for more knowledge and training. Just as a muscle only gets stronger after using it, our gifts only grow after we put them to work. Take hold of those gifts, discover what God has for you and begin your own adventure!

Perceiver: This gift is meant for building up the body by understanding God’s word and His will, and then sharing that truth with other believers. That’s not to say everybody can’t understand God’s word, we most certainly can. Perceivers have the ability to grasp it completely, very easily and most importantly, they feel a very strong pull to live God’s word out in every area of their life, they don’t take his Truth lightly or for granted and they encourage others to do likewise. This is a big component of this gifting they feel a real compulsion to help other people see where they might be lax in following God’s word. They are wonderful standard bearers for the godly character traits we should all seek to embody. Things like honesty, truth and righteousness come naturally to them.

Perceivers need to remember: only Jesus was perfect and our imperfections are gifts from God… …reminders that we need Him. The world is fallen and sinful and for that reason, this side of heaven, nothing will be completely perfect. This understanding of mercy is a bit underdeveloped in the average perceiver and if not taught to them, they will grow to be judgmental and self-righteous, finding fault and criticizing others in their efforts to correct what they see as wrong behaviors. An area for spiritual growth in perceivers is an understanding of the source of mercy and forgiveness. Learning to seek God on the behalf of a sinful friend rather than confront and judge the person themselves.

Server: Servers are quiet, background people. They may be seen as shy when in reality they are observing and absorbing. Instead of making things happen, they are seeking to understand what is happening so they can find their place. The server will hang back in new situation, hesitant to join in, often overwhelmed by the energy and forcefulness of more aggressive people. Servers are not big talkers. They don’t express their emotions in words so much as in actions. They have a hard time putting words to their feelings and need time to think about it. They love to help and have a hard time saying no. Servers are shy and sensitive, easily hurt, easily recognizing when others are hurting.

Servers (and compassion people) are the most likely to say they don’t have a gift. Because they are quiet and careful, not aggressive or boisterous, they’ve been overlooked and dismissed most of their lives as dull, gray or boring. In the body of Christ though, the server is master of all! Luke 22:26 “But you are not to be like that (the Gentiles). Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves.” Jesus himself was the greatest servant of all and those with the server gift are graced with this ability, naturally the rest of us have to work on it a bit harder.

Teaching: The gift of teaching, like perceiving, is one of the communicator gifts, more outspoken and more of a go-getter than the server. Teachers like to research, find information and share it. Academics come easily to them thanks to a higher than average intelligence. They don’t have the strong perceiver need to be right or to make sure everyone else is right because they are less interested in what other people are doing. Those with a strong teaching gift can have a hard time socially since they are more inner focused.

Teachers have an important job in the body of Christ, and it is one to not take lightly – James 3:1 says “My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.” The calling to teach has the responsibility for leading of others. Leading people down the wrong path or into wrong doctrine carries with it dire consequences…

2 Peter 2:1 “But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. 2:17 These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.”

Exhorters: To exhort means to encourage, to speak truth, urging the listener to take action. Exhorters are talkers! They are also incurable optimists. Exhorters don’t see difficulties, they ignore them. This can make them seem naïve or pollyannah-ish. They want to encourage everyone to be their best and can see the potential in people. Both their talkative nature and penchant for seeing the good in folks are part of their God–given giftedness and is vital to the body of Christ for building other people up and encouraging them to fulfill their call. With a high need for acceptance, exhorters like to please and entertain. They dislike strife and discord. It is a unique calling on their life that they can bring harmony and joy into a room with them. They are charming people persons with the gift of gab. They can usually talk themselves out of trouble

Givers : Givers are just that, people who love to give whatever they have to spare. It may be money, it may be a listening ear, it may be time or ability. The blessings of giving are many and we would do well to follow the Givers example – he who gives, do so liberally; you will reap what you sow; give and it will be given unto you… are just a few biblical injunctions about giving. Givers are in many ways, the best of all of us – every spiritual gift entails giving something of ourselves to others. Words of encouragement, teaching others to live for God, giving our time as servants, sharing His truth, are forms of giving that flow from some of the other gifts. In a way, the Giver is a composite of all the other gifts.

For this reason, they can also be the hardest to identify. Perhaps one of the best ways to identify as giver is from what they don’t have… They can share God’s word like a perceiver or teacher, but they don’t have the independent or solitude streak of those gifts. Givers like to be around people and are more relaxed and low key then the speaking gifts of perceiver, teacher and exhorter.

Givers are also servers because they like to help people, but they are not as shy or unmotivated as a server. One key indicator of a strong giver gift is their attraction toward, and desire to make, money. It comes very naturally to them and they tend to be entrepreneurs even from a young age.

Administrators: Definitely one of the speaking gifts as opposed to a serving gift, administrators are talkers. They have been endowed by God with the ability to see what needs to be done, figure out what supplies or other resources are necessary and lay out a plan to get it done. This is the gift that pulls all the others together and gets them organized. Administrators don’t understand hurt feelings; they are emotionally pretty stable and can’t figure out why yelling at someone for not following orders might hurt the other person’s feelings. It wouldn’t bother them too much to be yelled at, why should it bother anyone else? Not terribly sympathetic, they need to learn compassion. They also need a bit of humility. Like perceivers, administrators can get caught up in their own intelligence, and decide that they can do pretty much anything they set their minds to. And they usually can. More than other gifts, the administrator has the most go-getter ambition of any of the gifts, plenty of perseverance, and the natural intelligence to figure out whatever they need.

Compassion: Compassionate people are another of the serving gifts. That should tell you already these are people persons, quieter and less outgoing than those with a speaking gift of perceiver, teacher and administrator. The gift of compassion includes an almost supernatural sensitivity to the emotions of others. This unique sensitivity makes them apt to feel wounded or offended easily and they cry over everything. Correction and criticism that would not faze a teacher or administrator will break the heart of a compassionate person. They live through their feelings. If they feel sad because they weather is rainy, they feel sad and so it’s a sad day.

In the body of Christ, compassion people are the glue that helps us stick together. They reach out to hurting people, they notice when someone hasn’t been to church in a while and will call them to see if they’re okay. They can sense, in a room full of people, the one person who is feeling lonely and sad. Now, if their gift of compassion has been recognized, appreciated, and encouraged, so they have sufficient sense of self worth, the compassion person will reach out to a hurting person with God’s love and comfort. If their gift has been ignored or ridiculed, or unappreciated as a child, they will not understand the importance of their gift and they won’t have the confidence to share it.

None of these gifts are to be taken lightly or used indiscriminately. If you think you were called to be a teacher, it does not mean you should go out looking for a pulpit. Gifts that are meant to be used throughout our lives as our primary vocation are not necessarily given to us fully developed. We need to be an active participant in the growing and developing of our gifts. Find a mentor, start volunteering in a small, low key, venue to work out and perfect your gift.

Gifts never flow from an empty spirit. The most powerful preachers, teachers, etc spend a great deal more time on their knees before the Lord and in study of the Word than they do actually ministering to others. I heard one preacher say every one minute of preaching should take a full hour of preparation. The best way to discover your gifts and uncover areas in which to use them, is to spend time with the One who gave you the gifts.

You do have gifts, probably a combination of gifts, since most people have at least one gift very strongly and one or two others to a lesser degree. I encourage you to dig deeper, grab on to what God has given you and seek to discover how He would have you use that gift. Our vision statement at LifeWorks Ministries says:

Life is an adventure of discovery: Discovering God, discovering self,

and discovering the needs you were created to fill.

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Homeschooling magazine free sample

A goodie I wanted to pass along for homeschoolers  a free sample issue of Home School Enrichment Magazine. This one magazine has it all! There is help for : encouragment,  beginners right up to homeschooling through high school, special needs, family relationships, teaching tips and more. Not only is this a quality homeschooling magazine, their site has lots of great resources as well.

Click here to request a free copy of the magazine

Temperaments in Brief

This description adapted from “Personality Plus” by Florence Littauer

Sanguine Tiggers

Strengths
Appealing Personality
Talkative
Storyteller
Life of the Party
Funny
Loves color
Hugger
Cheerful
Bubbly
Actor
Innocent
Changeable
Flashy
Loves People
Life is exciting

Weaknesses
Distractable
Unorganized
Interrupts
Irresponsible
Too Talkative
Brassy
Self-centered

Choleric Rabbit

Strengths
Leader
Bold
Decisive
Productive
Risk Taker
Independent
Self Motivated
Tenacious
Confidential
Resourceful
Competitive
Intelligent
Strong willed
Adventurous

Weaknesses
Bossy
Arrogant
Tactless
Intolerant
Stubborn
Impatient
Angers easily
Prideful
Workaholic

Melancholy Eeyore

Strengths
Logical
Organized
Planner
Strategist
Genius IQ
High standard
Persistent
Philosopher
Detailed
Faithful
Loyal
Idealist
Sensitive
Controlled
Analytical

Weaknesses
Pessimistic
Unemotional
Unforgiving
Resistant
Fussy
Hard to please
Loner

Phlegmatic Pooh

Strengths
Amiable
Peaceful
Calm
Adaptable
Self-sacrificing
Considerate
Compassionate
Respectful
Easy going
Patient
Diplomatic
Thoughtful
Listener
Mediator

Weaknesses
Bashful
Unenthusiastic
Fearful
Indecisive
Aimless
Worrier
Unmotivated

The Path

Are you walking the Path you are meant to walk? If you answered yes, congratulations, you are among the minority. You are in the right place to help you further on your journey. If you answered “no” or ” I don’t know”, you are in the right place, too, because within The Path section you will find plenty of guidance and resources to help you find your Path. Everyone, no matter where they are in the journey, will find tools to help along the way.

You may be feeling like you’re not quite on the right Path. You may have this sense within you that there is something more you were created for. Or, you might not be vague about it at all. You might be sure your life is not all it is meant to be. The trick is – how do we find what it is we were created to do?

Our Path is unique to each of us. It is the relationships we build, the works of our hands, the blessings we share and the legacy we leave. While we serve the same God, follow the same commandments, and seek to do His will, we do it in different ways.

We are all a different combination of our personality type,  spiritual gifts,  learning style,  life experiences,  passions, talents and interests. While there are only so many different temperaments, when you layer on our unique gifts, experiences, skills, etc, there are so many possible combinations that no two people are exactly alike.

Within The Path section are the articles, lessons, and other resources to help you discover more about yourself. Learn about your personality type  and it’s strengths and weaknesses. Discover your spiritual gifts and begin to see the how the hand of God has been moving in your life in ways you never realized. Click here to start down The Path

climbing the waterfall

What did you do for fun on New Year’s day?

We climbed up to, over and around a frozen waterfall:

Be A Hero

I found this ad just the other day and I love it! We have so many goof ups, mistakes, challenges and failings in our past that continually bump around in our head trying to distract us from moving ahead.

Stephen Covey first conveyed this thought – our power lies in our ability to chose our responses. It is that moment between situation and response where we choose to be a hero and move forward in a positive and pro-active way or we listen to those old voices and just give up.

Your past does not have to determine your future, today’s decisions do.

Update 1/01/10 – since I made the above post, Tiger Woods has fallen upon hard times – brought about by his own choices, obviously. It will be interesting to see how he chooses to respond. Will he face up to his mistakes and move forward with integrity and dignity?

More importantly – what challenges are you facing today? What mistakes are following you around? Will you choose to use them as opportunities for growth and move on?

As of this moment, Tiger is out of the spotlight – re-grouping and trying to figure out where to go from here. There’s a lesson for us in that. Sometimes we need to step back and re-group, too. It’s okay to take some time to reflect and even wallow a little bit in our errors. Just don’t stay there!

Finding Your Why

We all know about time management and using calendars to keep track of our days and to plan our steps, but we also need some gas to keep us going. The gas is your why. Your why is the reason you are running your own business in the first place. You have to dig a little deeper to find this, but once you do, it will give you the motivation to get back on your path even when the distractions are enormous.

By asking yourself “why” five times in a row, you will drill down into the real reasons behind your actions, beliefs or desires. You can use this method to problem solve any number of situations, but here is a brief peek at how it can work to give you unshakable motivation and energy to propel you to success:

Start by asking the obvious question. In this case it would be: Why do you want your own business?

Beyond the expected “to make more money, why else, silly?”  I’m asking you to think about what lifestyle you want. As you answer these questions for yourself, really think about what freedoms, material goods, or other benefits you want to gain from your business and by the end of this process you will have a much clearer vision, a compeling “why” to go after your dream! Here is an example of how someone might answer the five whys:

* “Why do I want to have my own business?” To make money from home.

* “Why do I want to make money from home?” I hate my job and I want to be home with my kids.

* “Why do I hate my job?” It doesn’t pay enough, the hours are long, the boss is a jerk, and I have to miss the kid’s soccer games.

* “Why do you have to miss the games?” Because I can’t get the time off.

* “Why can’t you get the time off?” I have to be in the office every hour it is open.

From this process, you could gather that while the obvious answer to “Why do I want my own business?” is: to make more money, the deeper answer is “I want the flexibility to be there for my children”.

Now you’ve reached a reason that resonates with your very soul. This is the reason that will motivate you to pick up the phone and make that call or start up the computer and write that article or do whatever step you’ve been putting off. Once you have spent some time digging deep into envisioning your why and fully identifying the results you want, now you can start to harvest the benefits of intense focus. This kind of focus, this kind of envisioning the life you want to live, will give you the energy and clarity you need to ignore distractions, to get back on track when you do get pulled away, and to help you really see what your next step is. When you get into this “zone” amazing things start to happen. Resources and mentors appear that have just the information or skill you need. Success starts to happen in ways you never dreamed of. You become like an airplane that has expended 80% of its energy just getting to its proper altitude, but once it’s there the rest of the trip takes much less effort.

Where can your “why” lead you?

You Can Have What You Want

Whatever you believe you can achieve. That phrase gets tossed out a lot, especially in conferences and rallys for business. We hear it so much, we tend to respond with “yeah, yeah, I’ve heard that before.” The good news is, it’s true. There is no “secret”, no “law of attraction” it is a simple truth available to anyone. You don’t have to pay $24.95 for a book to teach you the secret. It’s really very simple: you will move in the direction of your most dominant thoughts.

My son wants to reach a certain goal in his Boy Scout fundraiser. He’s been participating in this particular fundraiser for 6 years now. His first year, he started with a fairly small goal and every year has increased that. His motivation is not to be the top seller or hit a certain dollar level. He finds a prize he gets excited about and does what it takes to earn that prize.  Almost every year he has hit his goal. This year his goal is to sell $2400 worth of popcorn. He will probably make it, because he believes he can. He thinks not about failing, but about what it’s going to be like when he has his prize. His thoughts revolve not around the work, but about the reward. Here’s the kicker though. He’s not going to sit on the couch and meditate on his prize believing it will just magically show up. Some teachings would have you believe that if you want something badly enough and really, really think hard and focus on it, the universe is somehow obliged to give it to you with no other effort on your part.

Remember earlier I said you will MOVE in the direction of your most dominate thoughts? You can’t sit on the couch daydreaming, you actually have to do something, take some action. From the day the fundraiser started, my son has been asking “can we go out selling popcorn today?” He takes the form with him everywhere. He is constantly aware of his goal. Remember, he’s not thinking about the work. He’s not thinking about whether he can do it or not, he’s thinking about his reward.

Our minds are programmed naturally to act in ways that support what we believe. If he believes he will get that prize, doing the actions necessary to achieve it come much more easily. He doesn’t have to make a decision about what to do next, he knows he has to get sales so he goes out knocking on doors. Adults spend so much time thinking about what our next step should be and how we should do it, we get paralyzed by our over-thinking. We think about what needs to be done, we think about our past failures, we think about all the distractions in our lives. Kids don’t have that problem. They think about what they want.

Adults will often pursue goals with the idea of “I want to make more money”. Guess what? You don’t want more money. You want what the money can buy. You need to identify exactly what the money will do for you. Why do you want more money? To buy your freedom from a job? Why do you want freedom from your job? So you can go on vacation whenever you want? Why do you want to go on vacation? Because you love to travel or you enjoy visiting a particular location? Then that is your real goal: to travel, not to make more money. Do this exercise for yourself. Ask yourself why you want whatever it is you want. It may be you want to be your own boss. Well, then, why do you want to be your own boss. Once you have that answer, question that statement as well. Keep questioning your answers with another “why”. Do it at least five times, force yourself to dig deep and come up with an answer. Ultimately you will find what really motivates you and this will be your true goal, not some ambiguous “I want to quit my job”. My son’s goal is not to sell $2400 worth of popcorn. That’s a boring, meaningless goal. His goal is to sail along the neighborhood on a motorized scooter. He can see himself doing that. He knows how he will feel when he’s able to do that on a scooter he earned himself. That is what drives him to go out everyday wearing a uniform he says is uncomfortable, spending his free time knocking on doors.

Our thoughts are powerful. Just as we can achieve positive results by focusing on our goal, we can move toward negative consequences if that is where our thoughts are allowed to go. If you spend your free time reading the latest headlines, bemoaning the state of the economy, or worrying about a flu epidemic, you will get what you are focusing on. Does this mean your thoughts cause the flu? No, of course not. There is plenty of evidence though that people who have a negative outlook on life do tend to have more illness in their body. If you expend the power of your mental energy concentrating on what you don’t want, you definitely will not get what you do want. Our intention should always be to train our brain toward the postive. Consciously choose to think about where you want to go and what it’s going to be like when you get there. Obviously challenges do come up and we can’t ignore them thinking they will just go away because we’re not paying attention to them. But make your response appropriate to the situation. If a crisis in Afghanistan comes up, you can not do a thing about it unless you are the army general in charge of our forces there. Since you’re not, wasting your time freting and worrying only achieves one thing: it takes time and energy away from what you can control.

Where do you want to go? What lifestyle do you want to lead? You can have what you want if you are willing to do what it takes to get there.

We miss Colleen

This is a message to my daughter, who is working all summer at a summer camp hundreds of miles from home. Her place on the worship team is empty and it’s just not the same without her.
This took a bit longer than I anticipated to process, but here it is. I did learn one thing: you can’t add copywrite protected music to a video and Read more

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