So first day of a new week. My friend Lauren and I were talking about spiritual gifts today, and I realized it would be a really good topic for the blog.
One of the main points of fasting is in order for God to direct us. And one really good way to focus in on direction is to see what our spiritual gifts are...this way we know what we are good at and called to work at.
Basicially, God makes everyone different, and as such, we each have different biblical gifts.
Here's a link to a really good survey on spiritual gifts that can help you focus in a little bit. It is kind of long, but it still doesn't take all the long to finish:
http://www.kodachrome.org/spiritgift
According to this survey, anything above 14/15 is where your focus lies. Some people have a lot; some people only have one or two.
And sometimes, our gifts are still growing, so they don't pop up as high as they should on this survey. So, don't take this as this is what you'll be forever, but as a foundation to further build your gifts up.
A little on spiritual gifts:
1. we always tend to hate what we have
spiritual gifts are not always easy. a lot of times we wish we wern't good at the things we are good at.
one of my main gifts is knowing when people are in mental pain. it's a wonderful gift, but a lot of times I hate it. it means i have a lot of draining conversations and that i work hard to seek out people. and a lot of times i hide from my gift, because it's easier.
but the thing is, just because i don't approach people in pain doesn't mean their pain goes away. a lot of times it gets worse because of my selfishness.
and so a clever person once said that if we are not in control of our spiritual gifts they will destroy us. they are powerful. and if we don't understand them and control them, they really can tear us apart. But once we understand and work on them, they are really, really powerful in the name of God.
and then on the other hand, we think other people's gifts are awesome and so we want them instead. but here's the productive part of that:
2. spiritual gifts lead to community
when we are attracted to other gifts that are not our own, we are attracted to other people. and so we find a really good group of supportive friends that all tend to have very different gifts...which then makes for a pretty good super hero team, to be a nerd. When people gather together with different talents to make a difference for the Lord, great things happen. This is community. This is church. This is love and service. This is direction.
I won't go into detail about scripture related to each gift, because there's so much. Within the link you can click and learn more about each one specifically, and if you want to talk with me separately about your gifts, just let me know.
So, here's my chart as of today, if anyone would like to know it.
Score Graph of Score Spiritual Gift Statement / Response
23 ======================== Hospitality
21 ====================== Craftsmanship
19 ==================== Encouragement
19 ==================== Mercy
19 ==================== Helps
19 ==================== Poverty
17 ================== Music
17 ================== Faith
14 =============== Miracles
14 =============== Writing
13 ============== Leadership
13 ============== Exhortation
12 ============= Knowledge
11 ============ Wisdom
11 ============ Intercession
11 ============ Pastoring
11 ============ Missionary
11 ============ Healing
11 ============ Giving
10 =========== Prophecy
9 ========== Administration
7 ======== Teaching
7 ======== Discernment
5 ====== Apostle
4 ===== Evangelism
0 = TonguesSpeaking
0 = TonguesInterpreting
0 = Celibacy
day 8- broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and brussel sprouts
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