Do You Have The Spiritual Gift Of Helps?

SPIRITUAL GIFT OF HELPS
In I Corinthians 12:28 it says “those able to help others” (NIV). The gift of “helps” is different than just passively helping, as in the word “service” or “servant”. Rather in “helps” there is an involvement that goes deeper than just serving someone.           

In the Biblical meaning of “helps” there are three parts to the definition. The first part is that of “helping, bringing relief, giving assistance”. The second part is the concept of “taking hold of something, to succor and to participate”. This part implies involvement on the part of the person helping; a sharing with them deeply. It is more than serving; it is supporting. It literally means to “grab them, strongly lay hold of, to hold them up”. The third part is “to exchange”. There is an exchange between you and the person being helped. You see the needy as a giver, not just a receiver. You get a blessing too. There is a real involvement and interchange.

Benefits

There is joy given to both those who help and those that are being helped. This is part of a needs-based evangelism program. This gift will help the overall witness of the church.

Pitfalls

A person can become bitter at those that are not helping. The scriptures admonish us not to be weary in doing good. It can be hard to say “no” and easily taken advantage of. We can fall victim of a subtle belief in work-based salvation, even though we know we are saved by grace. We can become proud and insist on things being done our way. Finally, we need to be careful that we do not use this gift to “enable” people and be part of a codependent relationship.

Ministry Opportunities

The gift of helps often becomes a way that new people get involved in the church. A person with this gift can be part of a mentoring program. Visitation of and ministry to the sick, elderly, single parents, underprivileged youth and families would fall under “helps”.

Training

Training in people skills, basic counseling, listening, or empathy would be helpful. If you are moved to help in certain areas, then any training in that specialty would be great. Devotional reading on mercy ministries would be inspirational. Spiritual warfare training would help with any spiritual bondage issues that are part of the problem with those that you are ministering to.

RATE YOURSELF ON THE GIFT OF HELPS

After reading the  Spiritual Gift of Helps description, rate yourself on a scale of 1 through 5 both in passion and experience. This is to help you from ignoring a gift God may have for you. For example, you may be high in passion in the gift of  “discernment” but as of yet God has not manifested Himself in that way to you. If all you rated was experience you may skip over this very important passion God has given you. Likewise, if you are deeply involved in “service” but are more pragmatic and less passionate about it you may be tempted to ignore developing the gift of service in the way God wants you to.

Rate Your Passion For This Gift

The first rating has to do with your passion for the gift. Are you really motivated to act this way? 1 means that you have no interest in or passion to use the gift. 5 means that the definition describes you very accurately, or that you do have a strong interest/passion in the ability.

Next Rate Your Experience With or Evidence For This Gift

The second rating has to do with your experience/evidence of the gift. Rate your experience with or evidence of the gift.

1 means that you have no experience with or evidence of the gift. 5 means that you have a lot of experience with or evidence of the gift.

Passion
Using a  scale of  1 – 5, rate whether you have a passion for helping others.
(1 = Not at all, 5 = Very much so)

Passion Score ______

Experience/Evidence
Using a  scale of  1 – 5, rate whether you have had significant experience in helping others or evidence of the gift of helps.
(1 = Not at all, 5 = Very much so)

Experience/Evidence Score __

How to Rate Your Score
 To be more accurate on the Spiritual Gift you need to look both at your passion with the gift and the experience with or evidence of the gift. If your passion is 3 – 5 then it is high. If your passion is 1 – 2 then it is low. It is the same with the experience where you rate evidence of the gift in your life. Is the experience/evidence high (3 – 5) or is it low (1 – 2)?

Plot your scores on the grid
 Notice that Experience/Evidence is on the vertical axis and Passion is on the horizontal axis. So an Experience/Evidence score of  3 and a Passion score of 2 and would be in the number 2 quadrant.

Quadrants

Quadrant 1 = High Passion and High Experience/Evidence
A Spiritual Gift that is in this quadrant seems to be one that God has given you. You are passionate about the gift and have experience and evidence in your life that seems to confirm this. Continue to grow in this gift and use it for His glory.

Quadrant 2 = Low Passion and High Experience/Evidence
A Spiritual Gift in this quadrant may indicate that circumstances have called upon you to exhibit this skill or ministry in your life. For example, you don’t have to have a high Passion to be merciful to those that are hungry around you. However, your church may have a large feeding program. Just because you are recruited and spend a lot of time doesn’t mean that you have the Gift of Mercy. Rather it simply could mean that you were obedient to God by helping with a need.

Quadrant 3 = High Passion and Low Experience/Evidence
Scoring in this quadrant is common among the Supernatural gifts. Healing, faith, miracles – you may feel really burdened in situations to pray for God’s intervention in mighty ways. You pray believing and trusting that God can and will act. If this is true then you must rate yourself high on Passion. However, though you are passionate in your praying for healing your experience may not be successful. You would rate your experience/evidence score low. However, this does not mean give up. It is just an indicator of your personal experience up to this moment in time. If God moves in your heart you deeply to pray for the supernatural let Him take care of the results. It is better to pray believing and not see the results you anticipated than to be disobedient and not pray. God has given you the gift, He will use it according to His will. Be faithful to the passion He has given you.

Quadrant 4 = Low Passion and Low Experience/Evidence
A score in this quadrant is usually a good indicator that God, up to this point in time, has not birthed in you this Spiritual Gift. This does not mean that in time God may call upon you to work in this area. God can give any gift at any time. He is sovereign.

Now that you have finished this self-assessment, how do you feel about your discovery? Were you surprised or did you find the answer that you expected?  Are you intimidated by the significance of the gift and what God may expect from you or are you confident that God has and will continue to use you in this way?
One way to confirm your findings is to ask those Godly people that know you well. Ask them to read the definitions of the gifts that you selected and confirm whether they see this same gift in your life or not. Ask them what they think you need to improve on. Ask them to pray for you that you may have understanding and wisdom in using these gifts.
Another way to grow in your gift is to report to the member of your pastoral staff at church that would be in charge of volunteers in the church. Share with them your discovery and ask them for materials to study and opportunities for service. Perhaps there is someone that they know that could mentor you in this gift.
Finally, seek out others in your church that have the same gift(s). Meet regularly as a group to learn, share stories and pray for each other. As a church, you function as a body of believers. You were given these gifts to help each other. There is no limit to what God could do as you and the others in your church are Spirit-led in the use of these gifts.

What are some ways that you can use your gifts? You can find out more about this in our workbook Wired For Ministry  CLICK HERE to preview Wired for Ministry.

Want to know more about Spiritual Gifts? CLICK HERE for a FREE Spiritual Gifts Survey