Gifts of the Spirit

I've taken several "Spiritual Gifts Inventories" and the gifts of teaching and prophesy (in the forth-telling rather than fore-telling sense) rise to the top.

As most of you who know me might guess, Mercy is always at the very bottom.

Just Google on "spiritual gifts inventory" and you'll come up with a raft of them.

I think having a list of them available for others to contemplate might get a few more responses.

Interestingly since I was watching this thread, I followed what Rojer J Carlson suggested and went through an inventory. Which had surprisingly answers:
100% of writing gift.
~Followed closely by exhortation, which I had to look up and it said:
come to the side of those who are discouraged to strengthen and reassure them;
~confront, challenge, exhort and encourage those who have gotten off track in their faith or life;
~help others change their behavior by applying biblical truth;
~often have people around them because they cheer them up by their simple attitude and demeanor and down-to-earth advice;
~emphasize God’s promises and to have confidence in the Lord’s will.
from this site
That was tied with artistry, and they were followed by: leadership, faith, teaching and pastoral, all pretty tied.
Everything else was lacking, even wisdom came close behind...but still behind.

Spiritual Gifts:
Administration
Artistry
Discernment
Evangelism
Exhortation
Faith
Giving
Hospitality
Intercession
Knowledge
Leadership
Mercy
Music-Vocal
Music-Instrumental
Pastoral
Service
Skilled Craft
Teaching
Wisdom
Writing
So far as I know...

Maybe this will help, the site I had previously found had not listed them all.

Spiritual Gifts list and definitions

Service. Every single time I read through one of these assessments or hear a preacher give examples 100% of my answers have me in the kitchen or setting/cleaning up.

So, is there a Carol-Burnett-as-The-Cleaning-Lady smilie?

Gehanna said:

Which is more important, location or measure? .... don't make me get the dipstick, Jimmy!

Please know that I am not trying to mock you. I am trying, however convoluted it may be, to let you know that I can see you have a great measure of Mercy.

Click to expand...

I don't mean I'm incapable of mercy, just that it isn't one of my Spiritual Gifts. I capitalize it for a reason.

There is a lot of disagreement about what the Spiritual Gifts are. Some people think it is any talent. Others believe only those enumerated by the Apostle Paul are true Gifts.

I believe that the Gifts are not limited to those that Paul listed, but they are not just natural abilities either. The Gifts are abilities given to every Christian at conversion. Some people are given only one. Some are given several. No one has all of them. The Gifts are used for edifying the Body of Christ by either bringing people to Christ or uplifting fellow Christians.

Gifts may coincide with natural talents, or they may not. I believe I have the Gifts of Prophecy and Teaching. (In this case, Prophecy does not mean foretelling the future, but forth-telling the Word that God has put on your heart. Sort of like what a preacher does in preparing a sermon -- not the lecture itself.)

I have a natural talent for teaching. I have a very organized and analytical mind that can break complex ideas into a progression of simpler ideas. This talent is not reserved for spiritual things. I taught database design and implementation at the college level for 12 years. I also teach people over the internet about database development through forums like this and newsgroups.

The reason I think this is a Gift and not just a talent is because I can lead a Sunday School class or Bible study with little or no preparation and it always seems to go off without a hitch. I cannot do that in my classes. If I don't prepare thoroughly (even though I've taught the same subject for years) the lesson always flops. I believe this is the Holy Spirit's intervention.

I do not have a natural talent for prophecy. I have a truly horrendous memory, yet in spiritual discussions I can almost alway come up with an appropriate Bible verse. (Google is a big help because I can't always come up with exact wording or the reference, but I know the gist and enough key phrases to find it.)

Another ability I have is to come up with analogies to explain what I mean when I'm in a spiritual discussion. These analogies just pop into my mind from I don't know where -- well, yes I do. I believe they come from the Holy Spirit.

The reason I don't believe this is a natural talent is because I don't seem to have either the ability to create analogies or come up with relevant facts in non-spiritual discussions, say political, for instance. I'm truly awful at political debate. For some reason, I can never find exactly the right words to say what I mean.

That doesn't often happen in spiritual discussions. And when it does, I go back and evaluate my thoughts. I have changed my mind on several subjects because I could not explain them properly to someone else. I believe this is the prompting of the Holy Spirit.

And so back to my point about Mercy. I don't believe I have the Gift of Mercy. I can be merciful and tender-hearted, but it doesn't come easily to me. I have to work at it. I don't think you have to work at your Gift. I also believe that every Christian has at least one Gift of the Spirit.

BTW, my lack of Mercy is why I recruited Pat and Jay (III) to co-mod this forum. They both have Mercy in abundance.

So what am I doing with my Gifts? Well I lead a Sunday School class and have taught Bible studies at various times. I also think my mod-hood of this forum is a use of my Gifts.

And we appreciate it, Roger.

Here's a link to an excellent site with a lot of info concerning spiritual gifts.

And here's a link to one of many online spiritual gift assessment inventories:

http://www.practechal.com/spiritualgifts/test.asp