Spiritual Gifts...

I love getting and giving gifts.   Probably my favorite gift to get is money.  Because you get to pick out whatever you want and as for me I always have a line or long list of things I would love to have.  Right now I am eagerly awaiting Madden 09 and NCAA College Football 09 for my XBOX 360.  My wife is not going to let me buy them so I am trying to sell some stuff on ebay to get the money to buy them when the arrive in stores.

Do you ever get those gifts that you don't really think you will use?  Like one year my Grandma got me a deviled egg tray.  If you know my Mamaw it will all make since.  But I don't even think I remember where I put it to be honest.  I just recently was on the phone for a while with a new friend of mine named Scott.  He is a pastor at a church out in Seattle, WA.  And he asked me what my Spiritual Gifts were...  I was a little stumped and a little embarrassed... because I didnt really know.  Then I started to think about the fact that God has given me a gift... and I had throne it somewhere not to be used like that deviled egg tray.  So I spent some time talking with my Uncle Mike who is a Campus Pastor and Doctor at a Christian University in Lake Whales Florida.  He mentioned to me about taking a test to see what my gifts are...  so I found a few.  The first one I came across was (www.spiritualgiftstest.com). It was free so I answered around 100 questions and I found out that they give you your top three.  Here were mine. 1.) Faith 2.) Exhortation 3.) Administration.  Those all sounded good to me but I wanted to be certain that this wasn't just a one time fluke.  So my uncle had mentioned to me that on the Florida Church of God website they had a free test on their website as well.  So I went to (www.flcog.org) and took there test.  I found out that my gifts were the same there. 1.) Faith 2.) Encouragement 3.) Administration.  Those sounded awesome to me but I still didn't understand what that meant for me.  SO I found these gift definitions...

Faith: "The special ability that God gives certain members of the Body of Christ to discern with extraordinary confidence the will and purposes of God for His work."       This gift is a practical gift. Those with this gift often scare other people with their confidence. People with this gift are often very irritated by criticism, as they consider it to be criticism against God and His will. Probably the biggest danger for those with this gift is that they often try to project their gift onto other people. Scriptures: Acts 11:22-24; 27:21-25; Romans 4:18-21; 1 Corinthians 12:9; Hebrews 11. Exhortation: "The special ability that God gives to certain members of the Body of Christ to minister words of comfort, consolation, encouragement, and counsel to other members of the Body in such a way that they feel helped and healed."       This gift is a communication gift. This gift is often called "encouragement," but exhortation is used here because the gift is not limited to the connotations that the name "encouragement" implies. Those who use this gift within a teaching or ministry situation are often driven to give practical application to their insights. Often, those gifted in this gift desire step-by-step plans of action to help others mature in Christ. Exhorters often find it natural to discover insights from personal experience when validated and amplified in Scripture. Scripture: Luke 3:16-18; Acts 11:23; 14:22; Romans 12:8; 1 Timothy 4:12; 5:1; Hebrews 10:25.       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 purely on the message or truth to be communicated. Teaching focuses on bringing thorough or adequate understanding of the message or truth being communicated.

Administration: "The special ability that God gives to certain members of the body of Christ to understand clearly the immediate and long-range goals of a particular unit of the body of Christ and to devise and execute effective plans for the accomplishment of those goals."        This gift is a leadership gift and is often characterized by people who lead the body by steering others to remain on task. These people generally are concerned with the details of how to accomplish tasks, and tend to be masters at delegating specific tasks to other people according to their gifts and talents. Scriptures: Luke 14:28-30; Acts 6:1-7; 1 Corinthians 12:28; Titus 1:5. As I learn more I will post more for sure...