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Survey Stolen from Diana. I'm posting here because aparently LJ is not working at the moment: - You've just read Rushita's heart - January 14, 2005 - 7:27 p.m. [ Comments ] Spiritual Gift
Spiritual gifts are tools God gives Christians to do the work of the ministry -- to fulfill the Great Commission to reach, baptize, and teach and to minister to one another. Every Christian receives at least one gift at the moment of salvation. Spiritual gifts are not rewards, are not natural talents, are not a place of service, are not an age-group ministry, and are not a specialty ministry. They express themselves through various ministries which, in turn, accomplish a variety of results. A spiritual gift is the primary channel by which the Holy Spirit ministers through the believer. It is a supernatural capacity for servive to God -- and He gives you a supernatural desire to perform the duties of that gift. Spiritual gifts are tools for building the church. They are a source of joy in your Christian life and influence your motives. A spiritual gift is a divine calling with a divine responsibility, because what God has gifted you to do, He has called you to do, and what He has called you to do, He has gifted you to do. There are three categories of gifts: The Miraculous Gifts, generally known today as Charismatic Gifts; the Enabling Gifts which all Christians have the ability to develop (faith, discernment, wisdom, and knowledge -- qualities possessed rather than activities performed); and Team Gifts which are activity, service, or task-oriented. The Team Gifts are functional and involve speaking or ministering. Chances are, you have several of these gifts that vary in different degrees and intensity. In many cases, spiritual gifts even complement your secular employment. The Spiritual Gifts Inventory you took identified your dominant TEAM GIFTS which will help you find your place on the team in your church. Prayer and serving God will also help you see where God wants you. This profile gives you a simple bar graph showing how all the gifts relate to you and to each other, but analyzes indepth only your dominant and secondary gifts which are the ones that will have greater influence in your life. The results of your Spiritual Gifts Inventory indicate that your number one dominant gift is GIVER! The Greek word "metadidomi" means to give over, to share, to give to, to impart. As a giver you have the Spirit-given capacity and desire to serve God by giving of your material resources, far beyond the tithe, to further the work of God. You have a strong desire to meet the financial needs of your fellow Christians and church members. As a giver you probably feel that the best way you can give of yourself is to give of your material gain for the work of God. You give without public recognition and usually do not want people to know who you are nor how much is given. You disapprove of anyone who gives for the wrong motive. Your motive is to further the work of God and meet real needs, not to show off or get something in return. You are usually well organized, keep to yourself, have an accurate self-image, are interested in helping people, and are conscientious and self-disciplined. You may also have the ability to make money. You are sensitive to the financial and material needs of others, alert to needs others overlook, ready to give, want your gift to be high quality, make quick decisions concerning finances, want to ensure your gift is used properly, and may have a burden for missions. Chances are your spouse has the gift of giving too. Be careful not to measure other Christians' spirituality by the amount of their giving or their success by the amount of their material assets. Realize that though God has called everyone to give, He has not called everyone to give as you do. You are sometimes misunderstood as being materialistic because of your emphasis on money. Some people think you try to control them with your money and may be jealous of you. Beware of Satan's attack on your gift. He can cause pride because of the amount you give, blindness to spiritual needs and qualities and to other areas of service, and discontent when decisions are made contrary to your interests. Do not develop a critical attitude of those who are not able to give. Make sure you have the right motives for giving and serving Christ. Don't mistake your burden for giving to missions as a call to the mission field. Don't neglect to give to the necessity of other Christians (as challenged in Romans 12:13) by giving only to church projects. Remember you can still give even if it is not tax deductible. HOW CAN YOU USE YOUR DOMINANT GIFT? Your gift is welcome anywhere large or small amounts of money are needed. You can serve as a member of a finance or budget committee or a missions or building committee. You may make a good trustee. You would serve well as a member of a school board or commission. You would do great service as a poverty, rescue mission, or migrant mission committee member. You could sponsor or underwrite special projects, radio, or TV ministries. Always be aware and willing to meet needs of an individual apart from programs. In this sense, you could serve on a benevolence committee or give to support such a ministry. You may want to support a men's or women's ministry, a shelter for the temporarily unemployed and homeless or the abused, or contribute to children who do not have parents. The results of your Spiritual Gifts Inventory indicate that your second dominant gift is SERVING! The Greek word "Diakonia" means to do service. In Acts 6:1 the word is interpreted "ministration." Our word deacon comes from the same Greek word. Actually the gift of serving combines helps and ministering. The word "helps" is used in 1 Corinthians 12:28 and "ministering" in Romans 12:7. As a server you have the Spirit-given capacity and desire to serve God by rendering practical help in both physical and spiritual matters. You enjoy meeting the practical needs of your fellow Christians and the church. The gift of serving is not the gift God gives you when you cannot do anything else. It is spiritual in nature and as important as any gift in the church. Never think it is anything less; it only becomes less if you do not use it as God intended. As a server you are the person who is willing to do a million and one necessary tasks in the church. You probably do not realize that your love for the Lord is showing every time the doors of the church are open, especially if you oiled the hinges last week so they don't squeak any more. You are happy working behind the scenes. You are ambitious, often involved in a variety of activities, and enjoy manual projects. You are loyal, sincere, tolerant, faithful, and devoted. Most people find you easy going, likable, congenial, and inoffensive. You can listen to others without being critical. You do not like to be in the spotlight and prefer not to express yourself publicly. You are quick to respond to needs and impressed with the need to respond when exhorted to serve. Because of this, you find it difficult to say no. You like to support a good leader. Some consider you a workaholic. You tend to emphasize practical needs over spiritual needs. Be careful that you complete what you start and do not neglect the needs of your own family by trying to meet so many needs in the church or in others' homes. Be willing to read and follow directions in the beginning--not just when all else fails. Because of your quick response, some people think you jump in too fast. Others think you neglect spiritual needs. Beware of Satan's attack on your gift. He can cause pride because of the work you do. He may cause you to feel insignificant or cause you to lack concern for people or for spiritual growth. Impatience and lack of knowledge cause poor-quality workmanship. HOW CAN YOU USE YOUR GIFT? Your gift may put you into action. You may serve as manager of maintenance and grounds. You can do may tasks such as paint the walls, pick up trash, sort hymnals, clean the baptistry, keep the nursery or launder nursery bedding, cook meals, paint signs, drive the bus, help with the choir, run errands, serve as an audio-video worker, help with recordkeeping, be the church librarian, act as a greeter or an usher, serve as a stage hand in drama productions or as a photographer. You may want to help in special ministries such as migrant or community help (with home repairs or meal-on-wheels for the needy and elderly), as a hospitality worker for newcomers, or as an instrumentalist. You may also enjoy beautifying the church ground with flower gardens and landscaping. The list goes on. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I have always known that "giving" is my domainant spiritual gift. What I didn't realize is "serving". Actually, depends on how you categorize spiritual gifts, sometimes people put "giving" and "serving" as one. In a way, they are both "giving", whether I'm giving material things or my efforts and talents. Yes, I'm a workaholic XD and doesn't it explain why I don't want to be a leader but I rather to support a good leader, like Diana? ^^;; Doesn't it also explain why I don't want to take up and lead the church library but I'm the most loyal and devoted worker? That also explains why I not only donated money, but also worked hard to help out in the actual "Let's Build a School" project. The most interesting thing is, the lists actually have certain jobs in church that I'm actually doing right now. This test is quite accurate and I'm in fact doing the right jobs. XD I need to somehow find out what "administration" and "exhortation" mean, since I also score high on them..... Here is the link to the test if you are interested. It is not just for fun like doing other quizzes. It is so that you know your role in church and how to serve God. If you do this spiritual gift test, you need to serve God! http://www.churchgrowth.org/cgi-cg/gifts.cgi - You've just read Rushita's heart - January 02, 2005 - 9:12 p.m. [ Comments ] Random Updates It seems to be ages since I blog here. However, I've actually updated the site with new layouts. The christmas layout is already up, the one I'm not very satified with O.o;;, and I've just put up the new 7th anniversary of the site layout. The anniversary layout is much better. XD If you haven't seen either one of them, go see them NOW! They are both running on the site so you need to click on the links to go between layouts. Anniversary layout is the default one when you come from the domain front door. - You've just read Rushita's heart - December 08, 2004 - 3:37 p.m. [ Comments ]
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