Understanding Spiritual Gifts

Understanding Spiritual Gifts and those of others is extremely helpful in improving all of your relationships.

Understanding the 7 Redemptive Gifts does more than explain your own wiring and your natural strengths and weaknesses. When you begin understanding spiritual gifts, yours and those of others, you learn how to sense one another and be able to relate much better. It improves all relationships.

In this post I will review the drive of each of the 7 gifts and then what each gift “needs” from other people. The drive of a gift is what motivates them, what is their natural “wiring.” The need of a gift is what they need people of other gifts to understand about them.

With each of us having different spiritual gifts, sometimes it’s difficult to understand where another person is coming from. Knowing these drives and needs can help spouses relate to each other better as well as helping all your relationships become life-giving.

 

Redemptive Gift Drive and Need from Others

Prophet

• Drive – To see into. To see design and motive and to call it forth into excellence.
• Need from Others – Action, honesty. When prophets see denial, a victim spirit, and procrastination in others is difficult for them to understand; they don’t like it.

Servant

• Drive – To mend, cleanse. To facilitate an environment of empowerment where people work together and thrive.
• Need from Others – Approval of their contribution. Appreciation. Team work. Servants do not like disunity and arguments.

Teacher

• Drive – To raise a standard. To present knowledge and truth that makes things work, keeps things accurate and safe.
• Need from Others – Attention and space for processing and thinking. Listening to their thoughts and making the effort to “hear” them. Teachers are not prone to promote or exert  themselves.

Exhorter

• Drive – For connection. To make others feel connected and included so as to cast vision and influence.
• Need from Others – Affirmation, encouragement, connection, and playfulness. Exhorters allow fun and humor sometimes to keep things lighter and not so serious.

Giver

• Drive – To be a resource. To help others, especially family. To have security and resources to move ahead and make things happen.
• Need from Others – Appreciation. Graciousness and hospitality. Givers want to be good stewards but not have their relationships taken for granted because of what they offer.

Ruler

• Drive – To lead. To provide “right” leadership to accomplish goals.
• Need from Others – Agreement. Support for their leadership, goals, and vision. Rulers need others to follow through when delegated and uphold their part.

Mercy

• Drive – To be with. To have emotional connection with God, others, and their surroundings that are life-giving. To align life for connection and ambiance.
• Need from Others – Affection. Acceptance, empathy. Mercies need you to hear their heart, not judging too quickly their thoughts and ideas, but allowing time for them to fully explain and express themselves.

 

As you can clearly see, each gift has it’s own unique qualities. I hope this gives you some deeper insights into the Redemptive Gifts. May it help you in all your relationships.

 

For a review of each of the 7 Redemptive Gifts, a Spiritual Gifts Test you can take, and an overview chart, “Click Here.”