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Motivational Gifts II
Romans 12:6—8
As we study our motivational gifts it’s important to understand that every part of the Body is important. It’s typical for people to maximize the importance of their own gift and minimize other gifts. Paul makes it clear that we are not to think too highly of our gift (Romans 12:3). As individual members of each other (Romans 12:5; 1 Corinthians 12:12—18) we have been given these gifts to build up others, not for our own advantage. We need to recognize that by working together, using the gifts He has given us, we are serving the Lord in the manner that He intended. Someone else with a different gift and another viewpoint can compensate for any weaknesses we may have.
So far we have looked at the first three gifts listed in Romans 12:6—7:
Perceiver: As the eyes of the Body they view life as right or wrong, in God’s will or out of God’s will, black or white. They are sensitive to God’s will and have a strong desire to please Him in all they do. As the prophets of old were often despised and ridiculed (or worse) today’s Perceiver is often seen as a thorn instead of a messenger of God. Churches who don’t listen to their Perceivers are prone to fall for heretical ideas.
Server: They are the hands of the Body. They are always looking for ways to use their hands to make life easier for us. They just can’t help themselves when it comes to doing things with their hands. At church they work tirelessly behind the scenes to keep the building in top shape.
Teacher: They are likened to the brains of the Body who are always on the lookout for truth as they study and research various subject matter. Their passion is to discover the truth and use that to help believers grow, develop and mature in the Lord.
Exhorter
The Exhorter is always on the lookout for ways to build up other people. An Exhorter is very verbal and can be a very engaging teacher. They really enjoy helping people reach their highest capability. A Teacher aims for the mind while the Exhorter aims for the heart. Another name for exhorter is encourager.
Characteristics:
1. Very positive personality.
2. Accepts people as they are.
3. They are motivated to urge people to achieve full spiritual maturity in Christ.
4. They love working with people rather than things.
5. Hates to see people not getting along. Desires to fix broken relationships.
6. Loves to do personal counseling but only if there is obvious change in the person.
7. Often prescribes specific steps of action to aid in spiritual growth.
8. Expects a lot of themselves and of others. Good at challenging people to achieve spiritual growth.
9. A good communicator.
10. Needs someone to bounce ideas off of.
11. They need to know what they are saying is affecting those listening. They need a visual response.
12. Hates to do research, loves practical application.
13. They find truth in experience and then validate it with Scripture.
14. Accepts personal tribulation as a motivator of spiritual growth.
15. Makes decisions easily because they think if it’s the wrong decision God will correct them.
Problems:
1. As the mouth of the Body they tend to interrupt others in their eagerness to give opinions or advice.
2. Very opinionated and is glad to tell you what they think. Can be gossipy, bossy and overly talkative.
3. Uses Scripture out of context to make their point.
4. Encourages others to depend on them instead of God.
5. Takes too much family time to council others.
Giver
The Giver is the arms of the Body. They give, share, provide and supply and are to do so with simplicity, sincerity and liberally. They are often the hardest gift to identify because their gift overlaps or works in conjunction with other gifts. A Giver can appear as a Server in helping out in practical ways. They can appear as a Teacher in sharing truth. They can be like an Exhorter and desire to share the gospel. They can appear as a Compassion person and share materially with the disadvantaged. The person with the gift of Giving often does not realize they have that particular gift and often feel they don’t really have a gift.
Characteristics:
1. Gives freely of money, possessions, time, energy and love. A giver, by the Holy Spirit, gives with no strings attached and no ulterior motives. They firmly believe all things come from God.
2. Has the ability to see financial needs that others often overlook.
3. They give to help an individual or to advance a ministry.
4. They enjoy giving in secret.
5. Need to feel a part of the ministry to which they contribute. They need to believe in the cause.
6. Gives only if lead to do so by the Holy Spirit.
7. Often successful in business and/or with managing money.
8. Can be very frugal with money.
9. They are not easily fooled.
10. Are blessed with wisdom.
11. Quick to volunteer when they see a need. Similar to a Server but the Server usually identifies the need first.
12. Many focus on sharing the gospel.
13. Are faithful in praying for other’s needs both spiritual and physical.
Problems:
1. They may try to control people or ministries with their gifts.
2. They expect other people to give as much as they give.
3. May upset family or friends with unpredictable patterns of giving.
4. Tend to spoil their children or relatives.
5. May use financial giving to get out of other responsibilities.
Administrator
The Administrator carries the load of leadership on their shoulders. They are the ones who stand over, preside, manage or supervise and they are to do it with earnestness and diligence. There are two types of Administrators, the leader who has a vision of where they want to go and how they are going to get there and the manager who relies upon the leader for the vision and then is able to use people, materials and facilities to accomplish the task.
Characteristics:
1. Enjoys organizing anything they are responsible for.
2. They will assume responsibility if no specific leadership exists.
3. Prefers to be under authority in order to have authority. They understand the chain-of-command.
4. They will not take responsibility unless those in authority delegate it to them.
5. Is a natural and capable leader but would rather follow than share leadership duties.
6. Enjoys long-rang projects (1—2 years).
a. The server enjoys short-range projects (1—2 weeks).
b. The Compassion person lives and plans moment to moment.
7. Able to visualize the final result.
8. Skilled at putting resources and people together to accomplish the goal.
9. Willing to let others receive the credit in order to get a job done.
10. Willing to be criticized in order to finish the task.
11. Enjoys working with and being around people.
12. An excellent communicator.
13. They hate routine tasks.
Problems:
1. Becomes upset when others do not share the same vision or goals. Must remember to pray.
2. Develop an outer callousness from being a target of criticism.
3. Use people as pawns to accomplish their goals.
4. Neglect family responsibilities because of intense interest in the job.
Compassion Person
They are the heart of the Body and freely show kindness, care and mercy to others. They can’t help themselves when it comes to someone who is hurting and are automatically drawn to the suffering person. They do everything they can to fix the emotional hurt. They are to do this with cheerfulness. This is the most common gift and that means there are more opportunities and reasons to use this gift than the others.
Characteristics:
1. Ruled by their heart and not by their mind.
2. Always look for the good in people.
3. Very sensitive to the emotional status of others.
4. Are more concerned for people’s mental and emotional distress than physical suffering.
5. They are attracted to anyone who is hurting or in distress. (They are the ones who bring home the stray animal off the street or misfit person from school)
6. Takes steps to remove the hurts and distress in others. Sympathy says: “I’m sorry you hurt.” Empathy says: “I’m sorry you hurt and I hurt with you.” Compassion says: “I’m sorry you hurt and I hurt with you and I’m going to stay with you until the hurt is gone.”
7. Tries to avoid conflicts and confrontations.
8. Are very careful of what they say and do so as not to hurt someone.
9. Loves to do thoughtful things for others. Good at remembering birthdays, anniversaries, Valentines Day, etc.
10. Very trusting and trustworthy.
11. Great capacity to show genuine love.
12. Easily detects insincerity or wrong motives.
13. They hate to be rushed so they may be late for meetings, etc. They live for the moment.
14. They measure acceptance by physical closeness and quality time together.
Problems:
1. They can be indecisive. They over think the possibilities and how each scenario may affect others. They may try to get around this by getting others to make decisions for them.
2. Easily hurt by others.
3. Empathizes too much with the suffering of others.
4. Their affectionate nature can be misinterpreted by the opposite sex.
5. Are possessive in their friendships.
For additional information on the Motivational Spiritual Gifts please see
Discover Your God-Given Gifts by Don and Katie Fortune
