Spiritual gifts

Spiritual gifts are given to each one of us. No gift is greater than another and all are given by God to us in order for us to serve Him and serve others as we live our life.

I have taken a number of spiritual gifts tests over the years of ministry and I know my gifts. The ones that are strongest for me are: faith, evangelism, teaching and leadership. My weaknesses are music and craftmanship. Why is it important for us to understand our giftings?

One of the main things that I see when it comes to knowing my gifts and other gifts, is that it helps me to better understand how to involve people in ministry. For instance if a person has the gift of hospitality but is not gifted in the area of leadership, I should plan accordingly. I am not going to ask that person to lead a group of people towards a task, I am going to use them for things that involve them opening up their home to invite others in. This is a simple example of how understanding others gifts can help.

A friend of mine has never done a gifts test, at least one that I am aware of. Since I have an understanding of the different gifts people have and know what they look like in action I am able to determine with some level of accuracy what my friends gifts are. Two of Dave's gifts are helps and giving. How do I know this? Dave has a truck that he uses to help others move things, fix things and he does this all with a heart that wants to simply serve. He wants nothing in return, in fact he does not even want to be asked if he would like some money for his services.

It would be silly for me to ask Dave to serve this ministry by putting together a leadership conference or to ask him to come into the office everyday to work on the finances for the ministry. It would be frustrating for him and make him unproductive. Why tie him up doing something that is not in his giftings to do?

If you have never done a spiritual gifts test, I encourage you to do one. Ask your pastor to help you with this. I have administered many of them to people who love the Lord and it is exciting for them to know that they have gifts, that God has blessed them uniquely, and that they can serve Him and different ministries with ease.

Special thanks to Dave for his willingness to pick up and deliver furniture for us in this ministry. He is a blessing to me, Boaz and most of all to God.