Christ’s Creed

Live For Him

TODAY’S VERSE
Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity.
I Timothy 4:12 (NLT)

TODAY’S THOUGHT
I remember as a young person how today’s passage shaped my life. It was exciting to be challenged to live like a believer should, even though I was young. God cared about my behavior. He did not discount me because I was young. He gave me everything I needed to live the life He wanted me to. Well, today, decades later, God still cares about my behavior. I am not off the hook because I am older. I still need to live the way God wants me to. And how exciting to know that God still convicts, forgives, and empowers me by and through His Holy Spirit. Today, no matter what your age, let God help you be an example of what a believer should be in how you talk, live, have faith, love and keep yourself pure.

TODAY’S PRAYER
Father, thank You for giving me everything I need to live for You. I pray that Your Holy Spirit will guide me and empower me to live, love, and have faith in a way that pleases You.
AMEN

Faith

Faith

TODAY’S VERSE
Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.
Hebrews 11:1 (NLT)

TODAY’S THOUGHT
Have you ever wrestled with faith? I have. I have been involved with different projects for the Kingdom and have felt the weight of it. That is where doubt comes in. Am I hearing God correctly? Does God want to do this? What if my prayer isn’t answered? Yet, the author of Hebrews assures us, “It is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.” So I must turn my “fear” into “faith” and come to God in obedience, if for no other reason but to please Him, and pray that God would lead and guide me. I need to pray that He would calm my fears, my doubts, and as I choose to be confident, that He would flood my soul with assurance that what hasn’t happened yet will. Today choose faith. Faith, that what you are hoping for will actually happen. Today, might your faith please Him.

TODAY’S PRAYER
Father, I come today believing that You exist and that You reward those who sincerely seek You. I choose to exercise my confidence that what I have asked in faith will actually happen. I pray this in Jesus’ name and for His sake.
AMEN

Have Faith

Have Faith

TODAY’S VERSE
Then he asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
Mark 4:40 (NLT)

TODAY’S THOUGHT
You can’t live on your last breath. It’s not good enough to eat once a month. The nature of life is a process, not an event. Faith that you had in God yesterday will not uphold you in today’s trial. You must choose to put your faith in God today. The disciples were with Jesus every day. They witnessed His miracles, heard His teachings, and experienced His love. Yet in a crisis on the Lake, they asked Jesus, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?” Is it no wonder then that you too wrestle with faith? Jesus could ask the same of you, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” The good news is that your faith can grow. While you must choose faith on a daily basis, if you fellowship with Christ and experience His power, the faith you have today will be greater than it was yesterday. So take heart. Even though you doubt, even though you struggle with many of your life issues, Jesus did not give up on His disciples, and He will not give up on you. Today, trust God and have faith in Him.

TODAY’S PRAYER
Father, forgive me when I have lacked faith. Help me trust You today. Help me put my faith in the love You have for me. In Jesus’ name.
AMEN

______________________________________

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Do You Know What Your Spiritual Gifts Are?
Now You Can. CLICK HERE to Get your FREE Spiritual Gifts Survey

Get Your Free PDF copy of my book Power-UP! to help you through these troubling times

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Do You Have The Spiritual Gift of Giving?

SPIRITUAL GIFT OF GIVING

Please read the following  Spiritual Gift of Giving 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.

SPIRITUAL GIFT OF  GIVING

In Romans 12:8, it says, “ if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously” (NIV). In “Giving” means to impart, to give over, share, bestow, bring forth, commit, deliver or grant. As a spiritual gift, giving is more than just casually giving something to someone. It implies the giving of yourself with the gift. Like the pianist accompanies the soloist, the person with this gift enhances the giving. Together they are God’s melody to the person receiving. When you spend yourself on behalf of others, it can include giving of your time, abilities, knowledge, love and resources to the cause of Christ. Paul wrote to “give generously”. This implies both in content and cheerful attitude. When a person with this gift sees certain needs, God’s Spirit nudges them in a way that they feel compelled to give what is needed in the situation as an agent of God’s grace and mercy. When they give, the receiver ends up knowing that it is God who orchestrated the whole thing.

Benefits

This gift helps teach grace and encourages faith in God. Obedience to this gift allows God to bring about the resources to accomplish His will for the church.

Pitfalls

One pitfall would be to fall into the pharisaical trap of letting others know how generous you are, giving in to the temptations of praise and pride. Another pitfall is to become critical and judge those that do not participate in giving. Also, it is possible that we feel we need to earn God’s love or we may have a deep need for praise and recognition. If so, this could result in an inordinate amount of time or resources being given away, to the extent that we ignore our own family’s needs.

Ministry Opportunities

Often a person with this gift has expertise in money matters and can help with church finances. A person with the gift of giving often motivates others to give because of their example. A person with this gift should be aware of the plans of the church so they can be the best steward of what God has given them. Finally, this person can also be a mentor to other people with resources in the church.

Further Training

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

A person with this gift does not automatically get wisdom with it. There needs to be “due diligence” on prospective recipients of their generosity. The study of philanthropy and the many financial giving vehicles will help a person leverage their generosity better.

RATE YOURSELF ON THE GIFT OF GIVING

Passion Score ______

Experience/Evidence
Using a  scale of  1 – 5, rate whether you have had significant testimony from others as evidence of the gift of giving and generosity.
(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 Prophecy?

SPIRITUAL GIFT OF PROPHECY

Please read the following  Spiritual Gift of Prophecy 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.

SPIRITUAL GIFT OF  PROPHECY

In Romans 12:6 Paul writes, “If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith” (NIV). Strong interprets prophecy as a “prediction (scriptural or other), an inspired speaker; or to speak under inspiration.” In the Old Testament prophecy was often predictive or praying and speaking on behalf of God, calling the people to repent of their sins or face God’s wrath. In the New Testament, because the scripture was not complete, prophecy was speaking on God’s behalf with authority on the Christian experience. Paul writes in
I Corinthians 14:3 that prophecy was to edify, encourage and comfort the believers.
Prophecy today is still through an inspired speaker. A person with this gift, like its Old Testament counterpart, has a keen awareness of current events and the cultural implications of not following God’s word. This is important because each church is made up of people, customs, and circumstances that are different from others. Prophecy helps us apply the scriptures to where we live. A person with this gift has a burden to warn of God’s judgment and the need for us to repent.

Benefits
This gift helps the church live holy in the culture and time that they are appointed. It rebukes, strengthens and encourages believers. The gift also helps the church in long-term planning and seeking God for His guidance.

Pitfalls
When God speaks to us about the sins of the church or a contemporary application of truth, we need to be careful about the battle for our own mind. It is easy to be pharisaical where we become negative or judgmental.
We need to make sure that we hear from God and not our own inner voice. Being tempted with pride could keep us from being open to discernment or “testing.” We could be blinded to the truth, unable to admit when wrong, not willing to recheck with God.

Ministry Opportunities
Prophecy helps the church be relevant to their contemporaries and speak to the lifestyle needs of the congregation. A person with this gift can serve as part of the leadership; they could also have speaking or writing ministry.

Further Training
Self-study, seminary, tapes or conferences that teach the Bible, current events, apologetics, cults and end times will be beneficial. Mentoring with someone who has the gift could be helpful.
 

RATE YOURSELF ON THE GIFT OF PROPHECY

Passion
Using a  scale of  1 – 5, rate whether you have a passion that is prophetic.
(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 the gift of prophecy.
(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

Are You Using Your Spiritual Gifts?

Are You Using Your Spiritual Gift?

TODAY’S VERSE
We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.
Romans 12:6-8

TODAY’S THOUGHT
Can a carpenter build a house without tools? Can a farmer plant a field without seed? Can a professional athlete compete without the necessary skills? Why is it we feel we can serve God to our fullest, do all that He has for us to do, see mighty deeds done in His name if we do not use the spiritual gifts He has given us? Look at the church today. What’s missing? Is there healing, miracles, a sense of God speaking to us? Is there great faith, Godly knowledge or wisdom? Are we seeing great and mighty things done in the name of Jesus? Is injustice stopped, the sick healed, the poor rescued? If these deeds sound more at home in a fairy tale than our church, perhaps we need to start using our spiritual gifts. God never expected us to do His work on our own. He sent the Holy Spirit to equip us, empower us and give us gifts to be used. God wrote through Paul that concerning spiritual gifts, He did not want us ignorant. Might we learn more about our own spiritual gifts today.

TODAY’S PRAYER
Father, I know that You gave me the Holy Spirit to equip me for Your service. I also know that You said that You give all Christians a spiritual gift. Help me know what my spiritual gifts are. Help me use them so I can do the work You called me to do in the fullness of Your power. In Jesus’ name.
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 Survey

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

Do You Have The Spiritual Gift Of Teaching?

SPIRITUAL GIFT OF TEACHING

Please read the following  Spiritual Gift of Teaching 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.

SPIRITUAL GIFT OF  TEACHING
Romans 12:7 says, “ If it is teaching, let him teach.” In the Biblical language, this meant to communicate the truths of the scriptures so that those that heard put it into practice. Teaching makes difficult truths understandable over time. It is instructing with the goal of the pupil retaining and applying what they learned.
In a person with this gift, there is a real excitement in sharing Biblical truth with other people. They enjoy seeing people come alive when they get understanding. There is a burden to share the word of God and help people apply it to their own situation.

Benefits
With good teaching, the church is able to help equip the congregation for service. A person with this gift can teach the scriptures, which according to II Timothy 3:16 is used to instruct, reprove, correct and train. The gift of teaching helps Christians grow in their faith and reach out to others in the community.

Pitfalls
It is a temptation when preparing a lesson to rely on teaching skills and not the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Scriptures warn of wanting praise where we end up teaching what we think people want to hear instead of the truth. Pride can tempt one to create their own following.
It is possible to overburden a student or to judge those that do not enjoy studying. It is also possible to become legalistic or overly dogmatic.

Ministry Opportunities
A person with the gift of teaching could teach the Bible in small group Bible studies or Sunday School. With specialized knowledge, a person with the gift of teaching can give seminars or special training classes. A person with this gift would be good at teaching in secular or Christian schools. They could also be used mentoring in their particular expertise. In the church, they could also work on the Christian Education committee.

Further Training
For Bible teaching, there would be Bible courses, Bible College or Seminary. For general teaching skills, there are education courses, seminars and conferences to increase skills. Special interests would necessitate specialized training. With new technology and computer-based courses learning new ways to teach are recommended.

RATE YOURSELF ON THE GIFT OF TEACHING

Passion
Using a  scale of  1 – 5, rate whether you have a passion for teaching.
(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 teaching.
(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

Do You Have The Spiritual Gift Of Faith?

SPIRITUAL GIFT OF FAITH

Please read the following  Spiritual Gift of Faith 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.

SPIRITUAL GIFT OF FAITH
 In I Corinthians 12:9 it says, “and to another faith by the same Spirit” (NIV). Faith means persuasion, credence or moral conviction. It is an assurance and belief. The author of Hebrews wrote, “faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” The gift of faith involves a prompting from God to trust Him for the supernatural, to continue even when there are difficult circumstances.
A person with the gift of faith is “fully persuaded” that God has the ability to answer prayer and work everything according to His will. It is similar to Acts 20:22 when Paul was “drawn irresistibly”  by the Holy Spirit to Macedonia. When a person with this gift learns about certain situations that seem impossible, God seems to nudge them to trust Him. This nudge or “unction” is more than a quiet trust; it is a stepping out and affirming God in the situation. God gives them a sense of assurance in His ability and desire to work in the situation. They feel free to ask God for His intervention without usurping His sovereignty.

Benefits
 The gift of faith encourages the congregation, gives hope to believers and is a witness to unbelievers. This gift instills confidence in God’s ability to help both themselves as individuals and the church as a whole reach the vision that God has for them.

Pitfalls
There is a danger in becoming despondent, depressed or angry when answers don’t go our way. Satan uses disappointment to challenge our faith.
It is easy to become critical of those who are doubting. Instead, we are to love and encourage others to grow in their faith.
It is easy to think that it is “our faith” that is doing mighty things. Instead, we must remember it is God who does the mighty works. It is God who answers prayer and He must get the Glory.
Finally, there is a temptation to think that “faith” is the end in and of itself. It is not. We need to pray for discernment and exercise our faith asking for God’s true will in the situation.

Ministry Opportunities
Faith is important to the church. You could join a prayer group, be on the missions committee, be part of the church’s leadership and long-range planning committee. If God has given you the gift of faith, then you should use it to support the plans that are being made on behalf of the church.

Further Training
Keep a prayer journal; this will teach and inspire. Read biographies of other men and women of God. Pray with others who have the gift, keep in the scriptures.

RATE YOURSELF ON THE GIFT OF FAITH

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

Do You Have The Spiritual Gif Of Encouragement?

SPIRITUAL GIFT OF ENCOURAGEMENT

Please read the following  Spiritual Gift of Encouragement 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.

SPIRITUAL GIFT OF ENCOURAGEMENT
Romans 12:8 says, “if it is encouraging, let him encourage” (NIV). The Biblical meaning is to call someone near to console, comfort, exhort, implore with them. Although the goal of this gift is to comfort, motivate and give reason for hope, there is the element of exhortation pointing to the future. The goal is to encourage the believers be what God wants them to be.
A person with this gift is moved when they see someone down and likes to comfort them and motivate them toward change. They share hope for the future. The nature of this gift is similar to dispensing medicine. It is a singular action used in the moment hopefully to bring about a long-term effect.

Benefits
This gift is good in helping with morale, motivating people toward action and making people feel that they are part of a group. This is an important part of love in action and is often the most memorable part of a ministry to hurting people.

Pitfalls
There is a temptation to give a person a “quick-fix” and not truly listen to their problems. We can end up giving pat answers in the form of spiritual jargon and formulas instead of empathy and caring. When it is more our need “to encourage” than to really minister to someone, we can tend to avoid real spiritual solutions.

Ministry Opportunities
This gift can be used in making people feel welcome and a part of church. This gift is good for ministering to single parents, those that are sick or have problems associated with being elderly. This gift can be used in small group interaction, counseling, home visitation or mentoring.

Further Training
Biblical counseling and psychology courses would help a person understand the dynamics of this gift. Lessons in effective listening, crisis counseling and pastoral counseling would be of great benefit.

RATE YOURSELF ON THE GIFT OF ENCOURAGEMENT

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