Spiritual Gifts: Do You Know What Yours Is?

We all have gifts and talents that we have been given by our creator, so why not use them like we are meant to.  Some however are lost with what their gift is and it’s not as easy to know where to start looking. 

During High School I took Christian Education with my favorite teacher, Mr. Barrett.  He was not only a great teacher, but a friend.  I learned a lot of great lessons from the nine months I was in his class.  However, that is besides the point of this article.  In his class we took a few questionnaires/quizzes; one being on Spiritual Gifts.  Basically this class is where I first learned about spiritual gifts. 

There are many different ones out there; I will cover seven different gifts, and what they are all about.  Also if you would like to follow up in the Bible about these seven ministry/ motivational gifts you can read Romans 12:6-8.

Prophet/Perceiver

People who are prophets or perceivers are truth oriented.  They are open to receiving messages from God, and are very often directed to dangerous situations.  More often than not, prophets and/or perceivers are also outspoken and uncompromising.

Server

Servers are oriented in the needs of others.  They are practical, hard working, and conscientious.  Typically resent/get upset when others do not serve/help, but feel satisfaction when whatever needs to be done gets finished.

Teacher

Teachers are concept oriented.  They are very into the details of scripture, when dealing with the Bible, as well as any other aspect of life.   Although this can be very great, at times these people can be too intellectual.

Exhorter/Encourager

Encouragers are very oriented in the growth of themselves and those around them (or whoever they are dealing with).  Encouragers are disciplined and absolutely dedicated to the task at hand.  They can be demanding and hard on people.  On the positive side, they are good at motivating others, setting goals and getting things going.

Giver/Steward

Stewards are always oriented in the cause.  These people love to give, as well as handle money.  Typically they are the ones who give to a charity, or more than one charity.  One opposition is that Givers can be impatient with those that misuse time or money.

Administrator/Leader

Administrators are task oriented.  They are very organized and decisive.  These people are those that thrive under pressure, but can be pushy.  Administrators are very good at allocating responsibilities, and getting things done.

Compassion Person

People with the compassion gift are feeling oriented.  They can be intuitive to other people’s feelings.  Compassionate people are very sensitive of the needs of others.   Their good traits are, but not limited to, good at listening, caring and being there when someone is in pain.  Because of this, they can get drained easily.

When I took this questionnaire, I received the most points in Compassion.   Which sounds most like you?

Some questions to ask yourself to know which category you belong to:

Would you consider it more loving to help a person change for the better or invite a need person into your home?
- Helping a person change for the better is p and inviting the needy into your home is serving

Do you find that you enjoy intellectual pursuits or that you daydream/fantasize a lot?
- If you said you enjoy intellectual pursuits you could be a teacher, if you daydream a lot you are a compassion person

Are you more attentive to people’s practical needs or how people feel
-Attending to people’s practical needs means you could be a server, if you are more attentive to how they feel you could be a compassion person

For more information on spiritual gifts:

Read the book:  Discovering Your Spiritual Gifts by Don Fortune.   There you can also take questionnaire and find for sure what your gifts are.