Do You Have The Spiritual Gift Of Leadership?

SPIRITUAL GIFT OF LEADERSHIP 

Please read the following  Spiritual Gift of Leadership description and then 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  “healing” but as of yet God has not manifested Himself in that way to you. If all you rated was your 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.

LEADERSHIP
 In Romans 12:8 it says, “ If it is leadership, let him govern diligently” (NIV). Leadership means to rule, preside or stand over. A leader has a vision and gives direction and oversight to an organization. Whereas the person with the gift of administration steers the boat, the person with the gift of leadership is more like the captain and tells the person at the helm where to steer it. A person with the gift of leadership has a deep passion to help people reach their goals. For the church it may be helping the congregation reach maturity in Christ, evangelize the community or reach out to those in need. A person with the gift of leadership gets a deep conviction of a need and can see the solution. They are able to communicate to the larger group the reason why things need to be done and why it needs to be done now.

Benefits
 A church is able to reach goals and accomplish much when it has gifted leaders. They are able to get things done. Like a conductor of an orchestra, a good leader will help make use of all the other gifts in the church and have them working in harmony.

Pitfalls
 Often with leadership comes power and prestige. This can allow a leader to be overcome with pride and to exaggerate their own importance. It can also create rivalry and jealousy.
A leader can be so goal and vision-oriented that they run over people that get in the way or do not have the passion they may have. It is easy to dismiss or worse, ridicule someone who disagrees with the leader’s point of view.
It is often easy for a leader to become over-involved in urgent matters that the really important issues like family, personal time and devotion to God suffer.

Ministry Opportunities
 A leader can be a pastor, elder, teacher, on a board, department head or in the political workings of the church. Para-church organizations are looking for good leaders.

Further Training
 Training could include leadership seminars and conferences, management courses and becoming grounded in Biblical teachings on wisdom and character. It would be great to have a successful leader mentor you as well.

RATE YOURSELF ON THE GIFT OF LEADERSHIP

Passion
Using a  scale of  1 – 5, rate whether you have a passion for using leadership
(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 or evidence of leadership.
(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

Advertisement

Do You Have The Spiritual Gift Of Discernment?

Please read the following  Spiritual Gift of Discernment description and then 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  “healing” but as of yet God has not manifested Himself in that way to you. If all you rated was an 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.

DISCERNMENT 

In I Corinthians 12:10 it says, “and to another distinguishing between spirits” (NIV) Discernment means to be able to distinguish between right and wrong, good and evil. It is having a logical, judicial ability to think through issues. It is the ability to “discern” whether a saying, teaching, doctrine, written word, or event is good or evil; true or false; and if the source, meaning or intentions are of God, the person or Satanic deception.  There is an ability to “read between the lines” and get to the truth of an issue. The“gut” tells them when something doesn’t seem to be right. There is an urgency to pray and ask for wisdom.

Benefits

Spiritual battle, whether in a small group or the church, is a serious concern and discernment is a valuable asset to have. This gift can help guide the church both in more ordinary decisions or deeper spiritual issues.

Pitfalls

There is a temptation to always be “right”; not admit when there has been a mistake. Pride could prevent a humble spirit in the use of the gift. It could be tempting to misuse the trust that someone places in your judgment and use the gift for personal gain or to hurt someone. Finally, it is easy to trust in personal judgment and not consult God, thus being deceived yourself.

Ministry Opportunities

This gift could be used in helping;  settle disputes; counseling; spiritual warfare;  or assisting church leadership with decisions. This gift can be used in counseling with addictions and low self-esteem where deception is sometimes used as a coping mechanism.

Further Training

This is a spiritual skill so good Biblical training is key. Prayer and spiritual warfare are two excellent subjects to study. Listening skills are very important. If possible, intern under someone with the gift.

RATE YOURSELF ON THE GIFT OF DISCERNMENT

Passion
Using a  scale of  1 – 5, rate whether you have a passion for using discernment
(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 or evidence of discernment.
(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 your 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

Do You Have The Spiritual Gift Of Miracles?

Please read the following Miracles Gift description and then 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  “healing” 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.

MIRACLES
In I Corinthians 12:10,28 Paul writes, “to another miraculous power; God has appointed workers of miracles” (NIV). According to Strong’s Dictionary, a miracle is “a force or power; specifically miraculous power.” This is similar to healing in that both are the result of the supernatural. However, this is not having the gift of doing miracles; for only God has that power. Rather a person with this gift has a deep sensitivity to God’s will in a situation and a deep belief in God’s ability to fulfill His will. They know where man’s ability ends, God’s supernatural ability takes over. They have a spiritual burden to trust God in situations and ask Him to display His power for His glory. With this burden, in most cases, God performs a miracle.

Benefits
 God uses people in the church that have this gift to ask for His favor and blessings on the church. When difficulties come to the church and there seems no natural solution is available, God calls people with this gift to pray and trust Him so that His glory may inspire the rest of the believers. The results is a healthy church trusting and praising God for great things.

Pitfalls
 Moses forgot that the power was God’s and struck the rock himself to make water come out. He stole God’s glory. David became complacent, stayed behind from the battles and fell to temptation. Many of the Prophets became bitter with disappointment when God did not answer the way they thought God should. Asking God for the supernatural can raise many temptations. We need to be careful of pride, exaggeration, false claims, impatience, taking the credit, jealousy, self-gain or deep disappointment.

Ministry Opportunities
 If the power of God were to be absent from the church, would we still function? We need to believe God for the supernatural. The gift of miracles gives support to pastors, by praying for God’s intervention and power to be manifested in the special needs of the church and congregation. The results will be God’s mighty work in and through the lives of those that fellowship there. It should help create an atmosphere of worship, praise, and Holiness.

Further Training
 Study the Bible, listen to tapes, attend conferences, read biographies, be mentored and spend time in prayer and meditation to learn more about this gift.

RATE YOURSELF ON THE GIFT OF MIRACLES

Passion
Using a  scale of  1 – 5, rate whether you have a passion for Miracles
(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 or evidence of Miracles
(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 review on Amazon

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

The Spiritual Gift of Administration

Please read the following Administration Gift description and then 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 miracles 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.

ADMINISTRATION

The gift of administration is mentioned in I Corinthians 12:28.  Administration means to govern, pilot, direct or steer. It was used to describe a person that would steer a ship. A person with the gift of administration is a good strategic thinker, organized, has supervisory skills and manages people and projects well. When directions are set by leadership, this person can help accomplish the job efficiently.

Benefits

The gift of administration can help leadership accomplish great things. Good administration can save time and money. In a volunteer situation, the gift of administration can bring professional type skills to many events, meetings and projects.

Pitfalls

It is easy to become so involved in a project that one becomes insensitive to the needs of others. It may be hard to understand why others may not have the same passion for details or organization. Some administrative types can use their position to “bully” people or exhibit a “my way or the skyway” type attitude. A person with administration gifts will often be tempted to take on too much work and personal responsibilities. There can also be over dependency on the gift so God is organized right out of the project.

Ministry Opportunities

A person with this gift can help start and administer events, organize meetings, help with finances and office administration. This gift can be used in Sunday School or Christian Education supervision. When the pastor needs a project done, a person with this gift can help accomplish it. Many para-church ministries need help with their administration.

Further Training

To help grow this gift you could take management courses, volunteer on small projects, intern with an experienced person that has the gift.

RATE YOURSELF ON THE GIFT OF ADMINISTRATION 

Passion
Using a  scale of  1 – 5, rate whether you have a passion for Administration
(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 or evidence of Administration
(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 your church that would be in charge of volunteers. 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

Will We See Signs and Wonders?

I wonder what it was like to be one of the seventy disciples that Jesus sent out? Not the twelve, you know those that spent all their time with Jesus,  one of the seventy. Yes, they knew Jesus, but not as well as His closest disciples. But that didn’t stop them from being sent out on a special mission. They knew what they saw and heard. They knew what they believed. They were “sold-out” to Jesus, so when it came time for Jesus to get the area excited about His mission, He commissioned all seventy to go forth and do miracles in His name. Can you imagine? One moment you are following Jesus, listening to His preaching, wanting to serve Him, and the next minute He empowers you to do miracles. Demons are cast out, people are healed, grown men cry out in repentance and dedicate their life to Christ. And you know it’s not of your own doing, it is a miraculous power from on high.

Well, if Jesus empowered those seventy and He said that after He ascended that His future followers (That included us) would do the same things He was doing, why don’t we see it today?

I think that there are a few reasons

1. We don’t believe in supernatural miracles and “signs”. Many seminaries teach a “cessation” theory that says the miracles that Christ and the early Church did, ceased once we received the written word of God. Could it be the verse that says, “You have not because you ask not.” is a self-fulfilling prophecy for the church and the use of the Spiritual Gifts?

2. We are not taught what to do even if we had a supernatural gift. Our spiritual life is a maturation process, why would we think that we would know all there is about Spiritual Gifts without a learning process? Who is teaching on the Spiritual Gifts?

3. We don’t try. Whether we are too embarrassed that someone will laugh at us or mock us if we prayed for a miracle and it didn’t happen, it is enough to keep us from trying. Miracles are way out of our comfort zone so we don’t ask God to give us any supernatural gifts.

Personally, I believe we need to repent. There is a dying world that is going to hell and we sit here with a silent witness. We need to go forth with the power of the Holy Spirit, armed with the Spiritual Gifts and witness to the world. Jesus was right when He said, “A wicked generation seeks after a sign.” That is why He, Moses and the Prophets used supernatural ‘s gifts. God desires us to do the same today.  Will, we repent and be obedient. Ask God to show you and your church your Spiritual Gifts today. Ask Him to unleash His Spiritual Gifts into the world.

CLICK HERE for a FREE online Spiritual Gifts survey

Passion to Practice

Many times our Spiritual Gifts are more of a passion, a desire, a spiritual yearning that needs to be developed into action. How is that done? How do we go from passion to practice of a Spiritual Gift?

In I Corinthians 12:1-7 Paul writes:

 Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant… There are different kinds of gifts but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of workings, but the same God works all of them in all men. Now each of the manifestations of the Spirit is given for the common good.

Paul says that He doesn’t want us to be ignorant about spiritual gifts so he uses three descriptive words that when put together, help us better understand what a spiritual gift is. First Paul wrote, “There are different kinds of gifts”. The word “gifts” imply that what God is giving us is given to us freely, just like a Birthday or Christmas gift. I believe this comes in the form of a passion or spiritual sense that God is initiating something in and through us. It is from God.

The second phrase that Paul used for clarification was “There are different kinds of service”. The word “service” implies that the gifts or those abilities or passions that were freely given to us by God, are to be used as a form of serving God. The word service is the same word that is used for ministry. Paul is implying that God has given you and I spiritual gifts that equip us for ministry. So here we see that the gift needs to go from a passion from God to a action.
The final phrase that Paul uses is “There are different kinds of workings.” The word “workings”  is an exciting word. It is only used twice in the Bible, both times in this chapter. This word means the “effect or result” of the energy or the power of God.  This is the final part of the puzzle. Not only is the passion from (a gift) God (spiritual), the working out of the Spiritual Gift is an effect of God!
When we put all three phrases together we see that a spiritual gift is:

An ability or prompting of the Holy Spirit, given to us freely, and is energized and empowered by God for His service.

Peter shares how each of us is to go from a passion to a practice of using our gifts and ministering to each other. In I Peter 4:11 he writes:

Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.

But if the gift is from God and not a “natural” gift, how do we obtain the use of it? The secret is in the word “received.” It is His gift, He must give it. It is always that way. You feel a burden to teach the word of God in a way that will move people to action. God will give you the ability to study, prepare and lead your mind through the maze of thoughts into a coherent message. You are in a situation and know that something is not clear. You sense the gift of discernment and through focus and concentration, you hear the “clear message” that God is trying to give you. The answer seems clear. The gift of Faith might take bold prayer and action. You will battle fear and doubt but the way seems sure and you become confident in what God has led you to believe. You see a person in physical need and God nudges you to pray for them. You know it is His will to heal and you pray in faith believing inviting God to manifest Himself in the supernatural.

In all the cases above you went from a Spiritual sensitivity to an awareness of what you should do to the actual stepping out in obedience to what you have been asked to do. So what are some steps that you can take in order to use the Spiritual Gift that God has given to you?

Check out your passions

Go to our definitions of the Spiritual Gifts in our book, Wired For Ministry and rate yourself on your passion toward each Spiritual Gift. When you do start to learn all you can about that Gift. Start to dialog with God about the gift and how He wants you to use it.

Start to Grow In Your Experience of the Gifts

Paul told Timothy to “stir up or exercise the gifts that he had.” Another way to say that is, “Get out there, try them out.” Get involved in ministry and see where your passions are. If you begin to think your gift is “helps”, go and be more deliberate. Go and help some people. If “mercy”, work somewhere you can be merciful. If it is “faith”, meet with the Pastor and start to trust God for great things at the church. If “healing”, start praying earnestly for sick people. As you get more involved in ministry where you think you may have a gift, you will soon find out if this gift is indeed a deep passion from God. If it is, experience will help fuel the fire. You will feel alive as if you found what God really wants you to do. And you have. As you continue to minister, God will help you learn about, modify and grow in your spiritual gifts.

This is the best way to find out what spiritual inclinations God has really given you. God has put us in a system where “time” and “growth” are natural everyday truths about our reality. We will begin to see that the passion He has given us, that quickening in our heart to act out in a certain way, is just the beginning of our walking in our Spiritual Gifts. We must grow in the gift. He must teach us and allow us to improve as we go along. We will move from passion to practice.

How about you? Has God shown you what your Spiritual Gifts are? How is it going in the actual outworking of your gifts? Feel free to comment to this post and let’s begin a dialog about going from passion to practice of our Spiritual Gifts.

_____________________________________________

Do you want to know more about your Spiritual Gifts? CLICK HERE for the FREE Spiritual Gifts Survey. To learn how you were wired for ministry CLICK HERE to preview the book, Wired For Ministry

How Conscious Are You of Your Spiritual Gifts?

It is easy to find myself at the end of the day and never once think about my Spiritual Gifts.  I mean, was I even trying to walk in the Spirit? It’s easy to let the spiritual side of you sit on the back burner. Time flies by. Personally, I spend a lot of time on the phone. And then there are meetings. Half my life seems like it is putting out fires -(Hmm . . . Maybe that has something to do with my Spiritual Gift?)

Hold it. Could there be some truth to the above parentheses? Perhaps Spiritual Gifts aren’t something I “make time” for, like extracurricular activities? Maybe I just live them.

Think about it, if you are passionate about what you are doing, if you feel like you are conscious of God working through you or that He is part of the picture, if you feel like you are in a natural flow or are in the zone, maybe you are using one of the Spiritual Gifts in you?

THe answer to this is to be more aware of being spiritual and conscious of God in all that I do. I need to be more focused about using (or better yet, “being”) the “gifts” He has given me, even at work. The Lord knows we need to release His gifts into the world that we work, live and play in. Spiritual Gifts are not just for church.

Anyways, how about you? Were you aware of any Spiritual Gifts in your life today? If not, there is tomorrow. I am going to talk to God about tomorrow. I am going to ask Him to make me conscious of the gifts He has given me.

 

What Spiritual Gift Do I Have?

No single test can fully verify “everything” there is to know about your spiritual gifts. Rather, the goal of this blog is to stimulate your thinking and make you more aware of God working in your life. Our Spiritual Gifts Survey (go to www.empowerministry.org/gifts) will bring preferences and inclinations into your consciousness, perhaps even help clarify some of your thinking, but in order to really discern your Spiritual gifts, you will need to spend more time thinking about, praying over and using the gifts. Experience will be one of the most valuable indicators as to what Spiritual gifts you have. We are complex beings and God has given us wonderful passions and abilities. Surely it is worth some time to better understand how God has intended us to best serve Him. Here are three ways you can expand your knowledge about your own personal spiritual gifts.

1. Spend time in prayer

You will learn more about your spiritual gifts as you spend time with God in prayer asking Him to show you your gifts. After you finish this chapter, go somewhere alone to be with God. Review your choices and ask God to give you insight. Talk to Him about the gifts. Express any doubt, fear or frustrations you may have as a result of this chapter. Ask God for clarity and confirmation.

2. Investigate

Investigation is key to knowing and using your spiritual gifts. Like many other things in life, the more you learn the more you find out how little you really know. Remember, these are “gifts” because they were given to us. They are not talents or abilities as we think when we say someone is a gifted athlete. This is a misnomer. Sure, there some of the gifts involve skills, talents, and abilities but many of the spiritual gifts are a spiritual urge, leaning, passion or unction.

Consider mercy. It is not a talent or ability, but rather a feeling or an urge that drives you to action. Even healing, which sounds like it is our own innate talent, is not our ability to “heal” someone. God does the healing! Instead, the gift of healing is the passion and faith a person brings to prayer when someone is sick. The urge is so strong they must pray for healing! The person with the gift of healing prays for healing because it is burning deep inside of them to do so. God must do the healing. They have been given the spiritual “passion” for healing. Healing is not automatic, it is under the leadership of God. For example, Paul had the gift of healing yet in I Timothy 5:23 he tells Timothy to take wine for the healing of his stomach. I imagine Paul prayed for Timothy but God did not heal him. Paul was deeply concerned for Epaphroditus and I believe he prayed for him earnestly, yet we see that God did not heal him as recorded in Philippians 2:25-27. In II Timothy 4:20 we see that Paul left Trophimus sick at Melitas. The gift of healing was not automatic but strictly under the providence of God. As we examine scriptures further, in Matthew 13:58 we see that even Jesus could not heal in His hometown because of the people’s unbelief.

The supernatural gifts are all about the passion God puts in our hearts and the will of God in the circumstance. A person with the gift of mercy will not be moved in every circumstance they come across. Rather they learn to discern the urging of the Holy Spirit and be merciful in situations that God leads them in. For this reason, when you examine the definitions of the Spiritual gifts you be asked to rate yourself two ways. First, you will rate your inward passion. Is it high, medium or low? Then you are asked to rate your experience of the gift. Is it high, medium or low?

This type of investigation will allow you to be your own guidance counselor. You will be able to look at the results of the survey and draw some conclusions. Then you can ask others, who you trust and know you well, to give you insight into your giftedness. Finally, you can study other books and take other tests. All of this will help you learn more about you and the gifts that God has given you.

3. Do ministry and see what happens

There is nothing that can substitute for good old experience. Paul told Timothy to “stir up or exercise the gifts that he had.” Another way to say that is, “Get out there, try them out.” This is the best way to find out what spiritual inclinations God has really given you. Get involved in ministry and see where your passions are. If you begin to think your gift is “helps”, go and be more deliberate. Go and help some people. If “mercy”, work somewhere you can be merciful. If it is “faith”, meet with the Pastor and start to trust God for great things at the church. If “healing”, start praying earnestly for sick people. As you get more involved in ministry where you think you may have a gift, you will soon find out if this gift is indeed a deep passion from God. If it is, the experience will help fuel the fire. You will feel alive as if you found what God really wants you to do. And you have. As you continue to minister, God will help you learn about, modify and grow in your spiritual gifts.

CLICK HERE to take our FREE online Spiritual Gifts Survey

To learn more read our book Wired For Ministry

 

Insured

TODAY’S VERSE
Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault.
Jude 1:24 (NLT)

TODAY’S THOUGHT
We insure ourselves in so many ways. We buy insurance for our cars and homes. We buy medical insurance, dental insurance and disability insurance. But perhaps the greatest insurance of all was paid for by Jesus Christ. He knew the risks. Sin happens. Yet He loved us so much that He did everything needed to make sure we are covered, so no matter what, He will bring us, with great joy, into God’s glorious presence without a single fault! No wonder Paul says, “All glory to God!” That should be the response of our heart too. So today, Praise Him for saving you and for insuring your place in Heaven for all eternity.

TODAY’S PRAYER
Dear Father, thank You for the sacrifice of Your dear Son, my Lord Jesus Christ. Thank You that You will keep me from falling away and will bring me with great joy into Your glorious presence without a single fault.
AMEN

______________________________________

CLICK HERE to send this to a friend

You can get this Daily Devotional sent to your e-mail as “Moment In the Word”. CLICK HERE to have this Daily E-votional sent to your e-mail

Do You Know What Your Spiritual Gifts Are?
Now You Can. CLICK HERE to Get your FREE Spiritual GIfts Test and Workbook

Do you want to know how to be a Child of God? CLICK HERE to find out how

Join us on TWITTER for our NEW DAILY PERSONALIZED BIBLE AFFIRMATION

We are doing a new devotional ministry you may be interested in. We already do MOMENT IN THE WORD a daily devotional.
Now we are going on Twitter featuring a daily Personalized Bible Affirmation taken from our own Personalized Bible Paraphrase. Each day you will find the verses inspirational and written in a way that helps you personally pray them. Go to twitter and follow us @ronovitt

Faith And Love

TODAY’S VERSE

What is important is faith expressing itself in love.
Galatians 5:6 (NLT)

TODAY’S THOUGHT
It was hard enough trying to win people to Christ who had no idea of a monotheistic God. But to have to fight his fellow Christians over keeping the law was a real burden to Paul. In his letter to the Galatians, Paul told the Christians that Christ had set them free, not the law, and he encouraged them to live by the Spirit. He then stated what was real important; that is to have a faith that expresses itself in love. What a beautiful synopsis of our Christian life. Faith in Christ that results in Him loving others through us is our top priority. Today, ask God to increase your faith in ways that express your love to others.

TODAY’S PRAYER
Father, thank You for the death and resurrection of Christ. Please help me increase my faith and live a life that is an expression of Your love.
AMEN

______________________________________

CLICK HERE to send this to a friend

You can get this Daily Devotional sent to your e-mail as “Moment In the Word”. CLICK HERE to have this Daily E-votional sent to your e-mail

Do You Know What Your Spiritual Gifts Are?
Now You Can. CLICK HERE to Get your FREE Spiritual GIfts Test and Workbook

Do you want to know how to be a Child of God? CLICK HERE to find out how

Join us on TWITTER for our NEW DAILY PERSONALIZED BIBLE AFFIRMATION

We are doing a new devotional ministry you may be interested in. We already do MOMENT IN THE WORD a daily devotional.
Now we are going on Twitter featuring a daily Personalized Bible Affirmation taken from our own Personalized Bible Paraphrase. Each day you will find the verses inspirational and written in a way that helps you personally pray them. Go to twitter and follow us @ronovitt