Spiritual Gifts

Artimaeus,

Yes! I do have lots of great stories! Most of my experience is with adults, so I haven't had much interaction with parents unless the adult still lives with the parent, and in those cases the parents are usually just loving, caring people who value their child for who they are, and not for how well they learned. But I certainly know what you mean. I also felt immediately at ease upon the first time I ever worked with the handicapped. It was at a week-long Christian camp for the mentally handicapped adults.

And honestly, I think part of my viewpoint about the spiritual gifts tests is because Ive been taught differently about them than what seems to have been taught others here. In the tests Ive taken, tongues, miracles....basically sign gifts.....were not included. Perhaps it is those specific gifts that are more along the lines of "sudden gifts?" They were administered from the point of view that each individual is born? with some sort of special aptitude that, after salvation, they can use to better serve God in specific areas. I know there are different teachings in this area, and Im still open to better understanding on it. Do you think there is the possibility that God would endow people with certain gifts at birth? There are two different lists of gifts in the Bible, and the test Ive taken only deals with one of those lists. I will have to do more study and search it out again. Its been quite awhile.

Helping the mentally handicapped is a common area for those who I would call "mercies". Feeling empathy for others, to the point where you actually almost literally "feel their pain," being able to understand something of other people's motivations, being able to put yourself in the other person's shoes.....these are all aspects of the Mercy person that I really think people are born with.

And I agree with the person who said that it can be used as an excuse to NOT do things that aren't covered under "your" spiritual gift. All of us should be paying attention to what we sort of aren't as good at, and developing ourselves to be better in those areas. It should never be an excuse to not serve in certain areas.

 

A test, I took in 2002,

These gifts were all no. 1:

administration, faith, and helps

I took the one that Ed linked today:

Faith, Administration, Discerning of Spirits.

Actually, I believe that these tests can give people confidence in themselves that they really do have special abilities "Gifts" to do the Lord's work.

I know when something isn't my gift and it is not an excuse to avoid doing it.

For example, I was Not called to be a Missionary.

I did a lot of missionary work when I was in College and learned that was not the direction that the Lord wanted me to take.

 

I'm new here, so I hope you don't mind me jumping in.

I took a couple on line, and on both I scored highest in discernment followed by serving.

Funny think is, while I didn't really know what my gifts were, and had not discussed them with my husband when I asked him what he thought my gifts were he said, without any hesitation, discernment and service. My response to him...Why didn't you tell me that a long time ago?????

PaMonk

 

One time (back in '77 ) i was trouble shooting a storage system's
software (computer program) & repairing the software (when i figured
out how it was 'broke'. I documented for the boss of the
physical storage group how much it would take to fix each problem.
I found there was 300% of my time taken for the next year (i.e. 36 months).
I wanted to find out from him which were the most serious problems
that i should work on first. He picked for the first 3 months
about 30 months worth of my time

Sorry folks, you do NOT have 10 or even 6 of the 25 gifts.
You have 2 of the gifts, maybe 3 that are stronger than the other.

If you cannot take the test over and see which are the 2 or 3 most
foremost gifts in your life now, then let a trusted other person
answer the questions for you.

Rom 12:3 For I say, through the grace giuen
vnto mee, to euery man that is among you,
not to thinke of himselfe more highly
then hee ought to thinke, but to thinke
soberly, according as God hath dealt
to euery man the measure of faith.

I note that this quiz i recommended does not include some
musical talents that i believe are Spirit given also.
(I know i sure don't have any of them )

I keep hearing from women "I don't have time to have a calling
or have a ministry - I spend all my time raising 3 kids. HELLO real
world - if God gave you a kid, He gave you a PHYSICAL CALLING to
minister to that child (sometimes for more than the usual 20 or so).
Raising kids is a spiritual ministry. Having a spouse is a spiritual
ministry. I know the preacher and the evangelist get all the
respected and honored ministry - but think what would happen if it
weren't for all the less respected and less honored ministries that
SOMEBODY needs to do?

Now, we need to start talking about what these gifts are and
how we can best use them in the local church body to bring honor
and glory unto our blessed Lord and Savior: Messiah Jesus.

BTW, I've been on bulletin boards (bbs) since July 1984. I've discussed
this matter on many occasions. But it is important to help God's
local church bodies run better. The gifts are from the Holy Spirit so
that people in the local church body can work in the local church body.
So obviously everybody can't be the administrator.

BTW, I've also noticed that some gifts show up more on bbs than
other gifts. This is because people with some of the gifts are
more likely to participate in bbs than folks with some of the other gifts.
So it makes no sense for the local church body to have all folks
there with a gift of Exhortation; we may see everybody in this discussion
with that gift. Well, this isn't a local church body, just a
lowly Baptist Board (BB) bulletin board (bb).

So i comment folks like Brother Tenor who are: "currently leading
a Bible study seminar for our adults on spiritual Gifts".
(those studying it with their local church body are to be commended
also)

Another cause of some confusion is gifts like the one on the site
I suggested earlier called GIVING. Everybody is supposed to be
giving their material resources to the local church body. But some
have more MATERIAL RESOURCES to give - they are the ones with
the spiritual gift of giving. Here is what C. Peter Wagner says
about 'giving':

//Giving. The gift of giving is the special ability that
God gives certain members of the Body of Christ to
contribute their material resources to the work of the Lord
with liberality and cheerfulness.//

 

DonnA: //This time I got teaching, knowledge, adminstration and shepharding.//

I saw that your gift of knowledge was showing
on the Baptist Board (BB) from place to place.

Teaching and Knowledge are a common pair (both DonnA and I have both
as well as others noted elsewhere).

Wagner: //Teaching. The gift of teaching is the special
ability that God gives to certain members of the Body of Christ
to communicate information relevant to the health and ministry
of the Body and its members in such a way that others will learn.

Wagner: //Knowledge. The gift of knowledge is the special
ability that God gives to certain members of the Body of Christ
to discover, accumulate, analyze and clarify information and ideas
which are pertinent to the well-being of the Body.

Open note to dissattisfied persons on the Versions Forum:
Nowhere in this 'Gift Definition' documents did i find a gift
for running down our Christian brothers & sisters that don't have
the same version stance that we have
(that was for free, Gift of Knowldege you know )

Back in '74, i took a class at the Normal (old name, now called a Teacher's
College) School in Ada, Oklahoma about Testing. This test
can be skewed. In 2002 the test i took I put only 3 of the 125 questions
with an answer of '3'. I suspect this test has no provision for people
that put to few or two many of this extreme answer.
I know that on the old stand-by vocational preference test i started
FLUNKING them. There is a series of questions that are asked to see
if it is likely you understand the rules of the test or aren't too
wierd to take the test. I flunked only those quesitons. The rest of
the test i did fine on. I was a Math Teacher and came up with that
i aught to be something like say: a Math Teacher

 

This site:

http://buildingchurch.net/g2s.htm

Contains this Gift:

"21. Shepherd: "The special ability that God gives to certain members
of the Body of Christ to assume a long-term personal
responsibility for the welfare of a group of believers."

The paper copy of: Wagner-Modified Houts Questionnare.
has instead the gift:

"Celibacy. The gift of celivacy is the special ability that God
gives to certain members of the Body of Christ to
remain single and enjoy it; to be unmarried and not
suffer undue sexual temptations.

The questions are similar but use different wording.
Apparently the questionare was adapted by the church
members at the site referenced.
Anyway, i have neither of these gifts so i roll on
smilin' & praisin' Jesus!

I think i'll go watch a football game, uh, er,
i'm going to sudying my Sunday School lesson

 

I took a test with my Church.
Before we took the test, we were to pray about it, then take the test. We were to have someone else answer the questions for us, too. Then compare them. If they were miles apart, then we needed to take a break, pray about it then redo it.

Teaching, Exhortation

(Mercy was last)

That was about 20 years ago....wonder what it would be like today..

Good discussion!

 

That sounds like it might be the best way to take it.
I took that test yesterday twice to make sure, and mine changed a little.

 

That does sound like the way to do it.

I took my test last in 2002.

The one i did today:

Quiz is at:
http://buildingchurch.net/g2s.htm

Date is 8 Nov 2004

Top 3:
17 14. Knowledge
16 22. Teaching
16 3. Discerning of Spirits

Of course, the score is unimportant, it
is how to improve one's serve knowing what
one likes the best. Yes, i do teach a
Sunday School class. In fact, they put the
men 45-60 in there (i'd been teaching them
anyway, there are 4 to 6 there every week)
and the men 30-44 (one or two each
week) and a special class (one each week)
So that makes a pretty full class of 6 to 9
each Sunday (I''m counting myself, i am in
the class, yes!)

22. Teaching: "The special ability that God gives to certain members of the
Body of Christ to communicate information relevant to the health and
ministry of the Body and its members in such a way that others will learn."

This gift is a communication gift. People with the gift of teaching
enjoy studying the Bible and related materials in order to communicate what
they have learned to other Christians. Those with this gift find it easy to
organize vast amounts of information in such a way as to make it easy to
communicate, understand, and remember. Scriptures: Matthew 7:28-29;
28:19-20; Acts 15:32; Romans 12:6; 1 Corinthians 12:10, 28; Ephesians
4:11-14.

Note: Exhortation, Prophecy, and Teaching are considered the
communication gifts. The distinctions for each gift are often confused.
Often, gifted communicators have a mix of these gifts. Exhortation focuses
on personal and practical application of the message or truth being
communicated. Prophecy focuses on the urgency and impact of the message or
truth being communicated. Teaching focuses on bringing thorough or adequate
understanding of the message or truth being communicated.

 

I took the test and came out high in the same areas that I did when I took another test as a new believer: discerning of spirits, evangelism, prophecy (which I understand to mean speaking out God's truth on an issue), and teaching, only one point apart from each other. Administration and helps were lowest.

I notice that C Peter Wagner's book is recommended with this test which I find troubling because he is part of the Kansas City Prophets/5-fold/Latter Rain/Manifest Sons of God movement. The people in these movements (that overlap each other) teach that the true churches MUST restore the five-fold offices of teacher, apostle, prophet, evangelist, and pastor. So they have apostles and prophets who bring "new" revelations. Many of these teachers have also diminished God's word in favor of "new" revelation. There are many other problematic teachings with these groups.

Of course, I disagree with the sign gifts being included. I also do not define prophecy the way he does.

 

How come if 5 people have the gift of teaching, at least each of them is convinced that they do, they have taken these tests, yet they teach five different things about the same concept?

1,2,3,4,5 point Calvinist.
1,2,3,4,5 point Armenian.
Conditional Salvation.
Eternal Security.
Theistic Evolution.
Young Earth Creationist.
Literal Method of Interpretation.
Alagorical Method of Interpretation.
Miracles are unexplained natural occurances.
Miracles are supernatural.

Totally opposite views prove that at least all but one are wrong. If 5 people have five contradictory views then at least four of them are wrong. Jesus did not give us several ways of looking at things. The Holy Spirit is not the author of confusion. Most people who claim to have a gift simple don't have it. Actually, to be perfectly honest, I don't think any of them do.

 

well, i guess one of my spiritual gifts is not patience...i started to take the test (at http://buildingchurch.net/g2s.htmv) and lost interest about 2/3rds of the way through...

 

Marsha, yep, I can see that discerning spirits in you.

 

I don't think the gift for teaching means that one teaches perfectly. It just means that God can use that person in teaching. Christians can still use their gifts in wrong ways or with wrong information.

 

Not perfectly, no, but it ought to at least be reasonably close and not the mass of confusion you see even on this board and we are suppossed to be close.

God can use anyone to teach. I do not see any difference between the lost and Christians in their ability to teach. Anyone can develope their inate abilities with some having an easier time than others but I do not see anyone given an "ability" just a proclivity. Improving our tendencies has been something mankind has always been able to do. There has to be something different about what happened to the folks at and after Pentecost that makes them stand out as having received a "gift". Michael Jordan is a gifted basketball player, Picasso was a gifted painter, and Mozart was a gifted musician. When we use "gifts" of the spirit is exactly the same manner it actually makes these so-called gifts a meaningless joke. Saying sister so-and-so is a gifted singer or brother so-and-so is a gifted preacher means no more than saying Bill Gates is a gifted businessman.

We all have talents and predispositions which we can develope and just because sometimes they happen to overlap something which can be related to something in the bible does not mean they are gifts from God.

 

Artimaeus, I feel like you misunderstood what I wrote. I didn't say anything about natural talents and gifts given by the HS being the same thing.

The point I was trying to make was that just because someone has the gift of teaching from the HS does not mean they will necessarily teach the right thing. I'ts the ability to teach they get from the HS; they are responsible for the information.

 

Artimaeus,

I have to sort of apologize to ya. When I first started responding to you in this thread, it was based on my own personal experience with a "gifts test." However, then I went and actually looked at the specific test that had been linked to at one point in this thread (not by the OPer, btw) and I have to say, based on THAT test I agree with you 100%. I thought quite a few of the things they called "gifts" are not gifts, but rather are duties of every Christian......especially Missionary. Being a missionary is not a spiritual gift. Nowhere in the Bible is it called such.

Whenever Ive taken the test it has strictly involved a specific list of gifts that are spelled out in one or two certain passages of the Bible. The sign gifts are not included in those lists, either.

I just wanted to clarify that........

 

I'm glad the sign gifts were included. I wouldn't think it a true test without them. I believe wholeheartedly that nothing is impossible with God.

 

Ed Edwards did
"Beware that it has the miracle sign gifts that some say were for the first
centrury only. (plus some i've never heard of like:
Voluntary Poverty and Celibacy)"
"
Clearly the makers are trying to appeal to a broad share of the market, including the RCC and Benny Hinn-style demographics