So, we have weekly topics for each class, and last week the morning class was on spiritual gifts, mostly based out of Romans 8:6-8. These are what some call the “motivational gifts”- referring to the belief that the Lord puts certain motivations in our hearts that determine how we function in the Body of Christ. These were the giftings and motivations that we studied:
Prophecy- this person desires to proclaim the truth of God
Teaching- desires to clarify the truth of God
Serving- desires to meet people’s practical needs
Mercy- desires to meet emotional needs
Exhorting- desires to get at the root of sin and encourage people to live in freedom from sin
Giving- desires to entrust assets and invest financially in others (These people are usually blessed by the Lord financially, but live modestly so to maximize their investments in the Body.)
Organizing- desires to coordinate the effort and resources of people to reach a comon goal.
All of these gifts are supernaturally empowered, and given at the point of salvation (choosing to turn from sin and love and follow Jesus with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength). It took me a couple days to figure out mine, which is mercy, but after that revelation, I felt a new sense of purpose in the church, and a better understanding of myself.
The past year or so the Lord opened my eyes to how important our hearts and emotions are to Him, how He created us just to be in fellowship with Him. We often think He’s some righteous disciplinarian who is just watching to make sure we don’t screw up and make Him look bad, when that couldn’t be further from the truth. He has the heart of a PERFECT Father, who is so quick to rejoice in just our thoughts of Him. He is after our hearts, and we obey Him to show that we love and trust Him, not to earn His love. (Sorry, rabbit trail!) So the Lord showed me His emotional heart of a lover and a father, I think, to grow me in my motivational gift of mercy- to make me more sensitive and comprehending of the emotional needs of others. It was just a really sweet couple days of figuring out who I was in Christ and why He’s taught me the things He has, and made me think and work the way I do.
So I just want to encourage my fellow brothers and sisters to do the same thing- ask the Lord how He desires you to work in His Body. Cuz its really tight to realize who well He puts us together and to better understand some of His purposes in doing the things He does with us.
So this week we do love languages and personalities. I’ll let you know how it goes!
August 15, 2006 at 2:10 pm
When you told me about this the other day, I was thinking that my motivational gift is service. But when I see that mercy is meeting the emotional needs of others, I think that’s totally me. Looking back through my life and at my attitudes toward other people, I see that the Lord has given me the gift of mercy. I’ve never thought of this as a spirtual gift, but it totally is. What a great revelation!
September 5, 2006 at 10:16 pm
Just wanted to let you know that someone is reading your blog and that I was encouraged by it. I’m new to the world of reading blogs, but I’ve started reading them lately as they have proved to be a source of encouragement and confirmation of what the Lord is doing in my life. Anyways, just wanted to let you know that your efforts were not in vain.