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Using Your Spiritual Gifts: Equipped to Serve, Engaged in Serving
S criptures teaches that as Christians, we all have spiritually-endowed abilities over which God calls us to be stewards . The Bible refers to these special abilities as "spiritual gifts." In Peter 4:10 we are "As each one has received a special gift, employ it serving one another; as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." The fact that every Christian has at least one gift emphasizes each individual's importance in God's kingdom work. Sadly though, most Christians don't even know what gifts they possess, much less how to use them. In recent years, several excellent studies have been produced to help Christians identify their spiritual gifts. Noted Following God author Eddie Rasnake now offers a unique look at this subject in the form of a twelve-week, interactive study that is ideal for small-group discussions. Using Your Spiritual Gifts is a probing study that will challenge readers to examine their spiritual health. The foundation of the study is built on the promise that all Christians are to be fruitful and productive in their walk with God. Part of being fruitful comes by knowing how to bear fruit-the fruits of the Spirit. As readers understand what it means to be fruitful in ministry, they will be better prepared to study what spiritual gifts are and how God wants those gifts to be used.
224 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2003
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April 15, 2019
I had to miss my church’s spiritual gifts inventory class, and so I thought of doing this one that an out of state friend sent me, so I would be more in sync with the rest of my church.
I have to say that I was impressed. The only thing keeping this rating from a 5 is that I will probably not re-read it - but I have set aside pieces of it that I probably will reread, so it's almost a 5. It met both my 4-star requirements: I enjoyed it and I'd recommend it.
I’ve done several different classes on spiritual gifts over the years. It seems like every four or five years, I’ve done one with my church. But this study did far more than just sort us into neat categories with a label and say, “Go do it.” This series talked about the various contexts of the passages on spiritual gifts, as well as bringing in more passages about using them in the “body of believers.” For example, Mr. Rasnake wrote, “Few Christians have taken the time to try to weave each of the four major passages [on spiritual gifts] together. But that is what we must do if we are to ever have God’s mind on the subject, ‘for God is not a God of confusion but of peace’ (1 Corinthians 14:33).”
I was impressed that Mr. Rasnake talked in depth about the necessary training with all its facets and implications, as well as the patience to learn to use our roles well in the church. Most studies, once having identified gifts, just throw people at various positions without much training or oversight. At least some training and oversight are good while they “learn the ropes.” Mr. Rasnake took it a step further, talking about the testing necessary before someone can become an elder or deacon.
I was impressed that this book gave appropriate credence to our desires in serving, but, unlike many other books on spiritual gifts, balanced that with scripture about when our desires might lead us off-course. “This verse [Galatians 5:17] presents a word of warning about reading too much into our desires. It must be a desire to do it God’s way. It’s possible that our desire is nothing more than a carnal wish for attention or the reward a gift brings. Some may want to rule, but they don’t want to do it God’s way. Such a desire isn’t gift-oriented but greed-oriented.”
I was impressed that the book mentioned the role of the Holy Spirit in our serving, along with ways we might quench, grieve, or resist Him.
I am also impressed that Eddie Rasnake even mentioned persecution and the cross as a part of discipleship. Most studies on spiritual gifts just sweep that part and possibility under the rug, because they don’t want to scare people off or turn them away.
I loved that Mr. Rasnake related using our gifts to sharing Jesus, rather than just doing kindnesses for kindnesses’ sake. Yes, those can be sweet-hearted and good, but the heart of our Father is better. “Giftedness does not determine if we will share Christ; all are called to that. What giftedness determines is how we will gain the opportunity to share Christ. Think of your spiritual gift as the key that opens the door for you to share. If you are gifted with mercy, then most often it will be your showing of mercy that makes the unbeliever open to hear what you have to say about Christ. If you are gifted with service, then it will often be your serving that makes others want to listen to what you have to say. If you are gifted with giving, then giving will be a key that opens doors to the gospel. Whatever your giftedness is, most often that is the very thing that will provide you with opportunities to share Christ.”
And, of course, the study also talked about using our gifts, serving, in love. That was also well done.
I liked the study notes in the margins about various texts, and found them interesting and helpful.
I also liked the prayer prompts at the ends of each chapter. I liked the sort of prayers that they caused me to think about and to write. I will probably transfer those over to my journal at some point, if I should ever go back and want to re-pray them or see how God has answered them.
I loved the prayer prompt about asking the Lord of the Harvest to send out more workers into the harvest. After I prayed for that, more came!
Mr. Rasnake said, “We may not have these certain gifts initially, but as we mature they will become apparent.” I have wondered that, too, about our gifts changing over the course of our lifetime, or about being wiling in so many areas making our gifting ambiguous. Also, I’ve been told that the gift of shepherding can mimic other gifts because shepherds do whatever they must to take care of their flocks.
I loved the Francis Schaeffer quote calling love “the final apologetic.”
There were a couple times that Mr. Rasnake was not in tune with the ways that introverts tend to serve in the church. Introverts are not necessarily shy, socially awkward, or socially anxious, but they find more energy alone than they do with others. I would recommend Adam McHugh’s “Introverts in the Church” to people who felt out of step with some of the statements and suggestions in this book. For example, “When you are serving in your giftedness it will energize you – not drain you.” While Jesus did say that His food was to do the will of His Father (energizing Him), He also fell asleep in the boat, sleeping during a disturbing storm, exhausted from long hours of ministry. There was a balance there, between the two concepts, and Jesus Himself showed both extroverted and introverted tendencies. Not surprisingly, since He can relate to all of us. Some introverts find that all avenues of loving other people – just because they involve other people – draining.
To be fair to Mr. Rasnake, he didn’t mention the idea that doing the will of His Father energized Jesus, but that seemed to fit into his thought process. Instead, he called it sustaining Jesus, satisfying Jesus, and being pleasurable to Jesus. I hadn’t really thought of it any further than energizing, and so, it was good to look at it from the viewpoint of introverts, and find that yes, while service can be physically draining, it can also be emotionally or spiritually sustaining, satisfying, and pleasurable, even to introverts.
But just because something is draining does not mean that one is not gifted in it, and it does not mean that it is not God’s will. Sometimes our hardest fought battles with temptation, etc., are God’s will, and that can certainly be draining. I would say, instead, that if a ministry is draining, then a person should be more wary to guard their energy levels. Perhaps they would find other avenues of service less draining, perhaps not. And, as options to consider, there are some avenues of service which do not involve much face to face contact.
Another example is that Mr. Rasnake being unaware of the needs of introverts is that he sometimes asked what I’d call “trick questions,” where he’d give a leading question, maybe even an intentionally misleading one, expecting people to give a wrong answer, and then he’d clarify the right answer using scripture. I didn’t think that was a good policy for introverts, or even others that might be easily embarrassed or take even such mild rebuke to heart. I probably wouldn’t have minded, would’ve just laughed it off, but I can just picture some of my friends withdrawing into their shells, and maybe some of them not returning at all. Mr. Rasnake didn’t do this very often, but enough to make me wary of his questions. I prefer studies where the questions are either glean-from-the-Bible or how-will-you-use-this-knowledge sorts of questions.
On the other hand, another reviewer said that they appreciated Mr. Rasnake having his answers to the questions afterwards.
I didn’t think putting the listings of spiritual gifts into all the right categories was as important as Mr. Rasnake felt they were. I thought that several of the gifts could be in multiple categories depending on how they were used.
A minor point. I’m not convinced that the listing of all the spiritual gifts is intended to be every possible spiritual gift. Mr. Rasnake found it disturbing that some people think their spiritual gifts are not on the list – for example, they think they have the gift of listening. I have a feeling that the gift of listening to someone may be a subcategory of the gift of mercy, or perhaps of discernment, maybe even of giving, to know what needs to meet, but it doesn’t bother me if someone feels they are gifted in listening. We need more good listeners in the world. And … perhaps, sheepishly, there was a time, many years ago, when I felt more that I had the gift of listening than anything else on the list, although since then I feel myself leaning towards different gifts actually on the list.
Mr. Rasnake wrote, “Much like an athletic coach, church leaders can’t measure their success by what they do, but by what others do as a result of their efforts.” I think there are other measures of success as well, although this is important. With the prophets – Jeremiah comes to mind – faithfulness to God’s message was more important than the reactions of the people, although, of course, we shouldn’t intentionally goad them into hating us.
“One of the fundamental attributes of mercy is that it does not try to assess guilt or responsibility for the misfortunes in which people find themselves.” I disagree. Sometimes in mercy God shows us where we went wrong and how not to get ensnared again. He assesses guilt to remove it, not to ignore it. And to be fair to Mr. Rasnake, I’m not entirely sure his statement is what he truly meant, either, because, much later on, in the last chapter on love, he wrote, “Essentially, the point Paul makes is that love is so committed to a person’s best, that it is unable – even if one cares deeply for the other – to find any joy in another’s wrongdoing. To truly love someone means we are willing to point out wrongs to that person, not ignore that person or join in wrongdoing… We are being loving when we speak truth for someone’s good, even if it will wound him or her. As believers, we can rejoice only in truth.’
One question told us to “reflect on the spiritual gifts test at the back of the book,” but I never found such a test in the back of the book, or elsewhere. Perhaps it was a separate handout in the class which I did not attend.
Mr. Rasnake wrote, “We don’t have to be afraid of what He will do, but we should fear disobeying Him and displeasing Him.” Yes and no. If we are not saved, then we should be afraid of what He will do, when we face His judgement without the mercy and grace He offered us in Christ. Or, if we are saved, but we are living in disobedience, like Jonah, we have cause to be afraid, too, on a lesser scale. But Jonah still faced some pretty awful things.
I have wondered for a long time whether the verse, “Love never fails,” (1 Corinthians 13:8) has meant love never fails in its goal, or whether it meant that love never ceases to love. Or maybe they are one and the same and that is love’s goal. Mr. Rasnake took the approach that it meant that “love will always accomplish the purpose God intends,” but did not say what that purpose was. It made me wonder if that is for everyone to be saved, since He is “not willing that any should perish,” (2 Peter 3:9) but we do know that not everyone will be saved. (Revelation 20:11-15)
I found Mr. Rasnake’s interpretation of Revelation 2:4 to be an interesting one I’d not heard before. I’ve heard that the candlestick being removed was 1) a sign that local church as a whole would cease to exist or 2) a sign that individuals would lose salvation, and I’ve heard arguments for and against both possibilities. But Mr. Rasnake said, “He would take away their light; in other words, God would no longer shine through them if they didn’t return to their first love.” Interesting possibility I’d not considered. I don’t know who’s right.
In balance to my review, a friend was not as impressed as I was with this study and found it dull. I admit that it's not as entertaining as some Bible studies, but there are more important things than entertainment. I didn't really expect or look for an emotional impact from this book. Whenever I've led a small group, I appreciated studies that the women enjoyed, to some extent, to help draw them in, although hopefully, the main purpose was to help them grow when they got there.
But now that I'm reading studies by myself ... eh ... shrug ... I don't really care whether they're entertaining or whether they've got any of that glamour or glitz. If they've got a funny story in them, that's just an added bonus, not a necessity.
My friend summarized my review of this book as 'useful.' That's a good word for how I found the book. I think it would be helpful for both individuals and congregations who use it rather than just rushing people off into volunteer positions.
Once upon a time, I saw a statistic that the average church volunteer tended to volunteer for 7 years or less. That's an old statistic, but I don't imagine it's any better in this era of resistance to commitments. But this book, if lived out, could help volunteers deal with impatience and burnout, help the churches train them on what to expect and coach them through, and help smooth over ruffled feathers in helping both volunteers and staff understand each other's needs. And that is powerful. Big IF it is lived out.
I could see this study being done well where there are already a group of regular attendees and a personable leader. Maybe those are more of a requirement for this study than the studies with more glamour and glitz.
Favorite quotes:
“In divine irony, God has so structured life that living for ourselves guarantees that our deepest needs go unmet, while living for others instead of self puts us in a place where the deep needs of our heart can be met. It is a lifestyle of faith.”
“There is no ministry apart from relationships, and the stronger the relationships are, the more effective ministry becomes.”
“Ultimately, our gifts are defined and perfected in the context of actual ministry, and not in answering questionnaires.”
“The disciples failed [in Mark 9:14-29] because they trusted themselves and their training instead of trusting God to do the work. One crucial component of training for ministry is learning to trust – not in ourselves and in our own abilities, but in God. It is He Who does the work through us.”
“Tragically, when people fail for lack of training at something they are gifted for, they often give up on doing the very thing God has designed them for. When training is omitted, failure and discouragement are inevitable.”
“If our motive is to please the Lord, then we cannot let encumbrances keep us from serving.”
“If we are too worried about what people think to be concerned with pleasing the Lord, we have already become ensnared.”
“There will always be more work than we can accomplish. That is why it is essential that we run only the course that God sets before us and not try to run everybody else’s course. We must run our course wisely. It is interesting to note this solution to this problem of the harvest being too great for the workers; He instructs the disciples to pray about it.”
“God’s love is not like human love. He loves us not because of who and what we are, but in spite of who we are. In turn, He enables us to love, not just the lovely, but the unlovely as well.”
I have to say that I was impressed. The only thing keeping this rating from a 5 is that I will probably not re-read it - but I have set aside pieces of it that I probably will reread, so it's almost a 5. It met both my 4-star requirements: I enjoyed it and I'd recommend it.
I’ve done several different classes on spiritual gifts over the years. It seems like every four or five years, I’ve done one with my church. But this study did far more than just sort us into neat categories with a label and say, “Go do it.” This series talked about the various contexts of the passages on spiritual gifts, as well as bringing in more passages about using them in the “body of believers.” For example, Mr. Rasnake wrote, “Few Christians have taken the time to try to weave each of the four major passages [on spiritual gifts] together. But that is what we must do if we are to ever have God’s mind on the subject, ‘for God is not a God of confusion but of peace’ (1 Corinthians 14:33).”
I was impressed that Mr. Rasnake talked in depth about the necessary training with all its facets and implications, as well as the patience to learn to use our roles well in the church. Most studies, once having identified gifts, just throw people at various positions without much training or oversight. At least some training and oversight are good while they “learn the ropes.” Mr. Rasnake took it a step further, talking about the testing necessary before someone can become an elder or deacon.
I was impressed that this book gave appropriate credence to our desires in serving, but, unlike many other books on spiritual gifts, balanced that with scripture about when our desires might lead us off-course. “This verse [Galatians 5:17] presents a word of warning about reading too much into our desires. It must be a desire to do it God’s way. It’s possible that our desire is nothing more than a carnal wish for attention or the reward a gift brings. Some may want to rule, but they don’t want to do it God’s way. Such a desire isn’t gift-oriented but greed-oriented.”
I was impressed that the book mentioned the role of the Holy Spirit in our serving, along with ways we might quench, grieve, or resist Him.
I am also impressed that Eddie Rasnake even mentioned persecution and the cross as a part of discipleship. Most studies on spiritual gifts just sweep that part and possibility under the rug, because they don’t want to scare people off or turn them away.
I loved that Mr. Rasnake related using our gifts to sharing Jesus, rather than just doing kindnesses for kindnesses’ sake. Yes, those can be sweet-hearted and good, but the heart of our Father is better. “Giftedness does not determine if we will share Christ; all are called to that. What giftedness determines is how we will gain the opportunity to share Christ. Think of your spiritual gift as the key that opens the door for you to share. If you are gifted with mercy, then most often it will be your showing of mercy that makes the unbeliever open to hear what you have to say about Christ. If you are gifted with service, then it will often be your serving that makes others want to listen to what you have to say. If you are gifted with giving, then giving will be a key that opens doors to the gospel. Whatever your giftedness is, most often that is the very thing that will provide you with opportunities to share Christ.”
And, of course, the study also talked about using our gifts, serving, in love. That was also well done.
I liked the study notes in the margins about various texts, and found them interesting and helpful.
I also liked the prayer prompts at the ends of each chapter. I liked the sort of prayers that they caused me to think about and to write. I will probably transfer those over to my journal at some point, if I should ever go back and want to re-pray them or see how God has answered them.
I loved the prayer prompt about asking the Lord of the Harvest to send out more workers into the harvest. After I prayed for that, more came!
Mr. Rasnake said, “We may not have these certain gifts initially, but as we mature they will become apparent.” I have wondered that, too, about our gifts changing over the course of our lifetime, or about being wiling in so many areas making our gifting ambiguous. Also, I’ve been told that the gift of shepherding can mimic other gifts because shepherds do whatever they must to take care of their flocks.
I loved the Francis Schaeffer quote calling love “the final apologetic.”
There were a couple times that Mr. Rasnake was not in tune with the ways that introverts tend to serve in the church. Introverts are not necessarily shy, socially awkward, or socially anxious, but they find more energy alone than they do with others. I would recommend Adam McHugh’s “Introverts in the Church” to people who felt out of step with some of the statements and suggestions in this book. For example, “When you are serving in your giftedness it will energize you – not drain you.” While Jesus did say that His food was to do the will of His Father (energizing Him), He also fell asleep in the boat, sleeping during a disturbing storm, exhausted from long hours of ministry. There was a balance there, between the two concepts, and Jesus Himself showed both extroverted and introverted tendencies. Not surprisingly, since He can relate to all of us. Some introverts find that all avenues of loving other people – just because they involve other people – draining.
To be fair to Mr. Rasnake, he didn’t mention the idea that doing the will of His Father energized Jesus, but that seemed to fit into his thought process. Instead, he called it sustaining Jesus, satisfying Jesus, and being pleasurable to Jesus. I hadn’t really thought of it any further than energizing, and so, it was good to look at it from the viewpoint of introverts, and find that yes, while service can be physically draining, it can also be emotionally or spiritually sustaining, satisfying, and pleasurable, even to introverts.
But just because something is draining does not mean that one is not gifted in it, and it does not mean that it is not God’s will. Sometimes our hardest fought battles with temptation, etc., are God’s will, and that can certainly be draining. I would say, instead, that if a ministry is draining, then a person should be more wary to guard their energy levels. Perhaps they would find other avenues of service less draining, perhaps not. And, as options to consider, there are some avenues of service which do not involve much face to face contact.
Another example is that Mr. Rasnake being unaware of the needs of introverts is that he sometimes asked what I’d call “trick questions,” where he’d give a leading question, maybe even an intentionally misleading one, expecting people to give a wrong answer, and then he’d clarify the right answer using scripture. I didn’t think that was a good policy for introverts, or even others that might be easily embarrassed or take even such mild rebuke to heart. I probably wouldn’t have minded, would’ve just laughed it off, but I can just picture some of my friends withdrawing into their shells, and maybe some of them not returning at all. Mr. Rasnake didn’t do this very often, but enough to make me wary of his questions. I prefer studies where the questions are either glean-from-the-Bible or how-will-you-use-this-knowledge sorts of questions.
On the other hand, another reviewer said that they appreciated Mr. Rasnake having his answers to the questions afterwards.
I didn’t think putting the listings of spiritual gifts into all the right categories was as important as Mr. Rasnake felt they were. I thought that several of the gifts could be in multiple categories depending on how they were used.
A minor point. I’m not convinced that the listing of all the spiritual gifts is intended to be every possible spiritual gift. Mr. Rasnake found it disturbing that some people think their spiritual gifts are not on the list – for example, they think they have the gift of listening. I have a feeling that the gift of listening to someone may be a subcategory of the gift of mercy, or perhaps of discernment, maybe even of giving, to know what needs to meet, but it doesn’t bother me if someone feels they are gifted in listening. We need more good listeners in the world. And … perhaps, sheepishly, there was a time, many years ago, when I felt more that I had the gift of listening than anything else on the list, although since then I feel myself leaning towards different gifts actually on the list.
Mr. Rasnake wrote, “Much like an athletic coach, church leaders can’t measure their success by what they do, but by what others do as a result of their efforts.” I think there are other measures of success as well, although this is important. With the prophets – Jeremiah comes to mind – faithfulness to God’s message was more important than the reactions of the people, although, of course, we shouldn’t intentionally goad them into hating us.
“One of the fundamental attributes of mercy is that it does not try to assess guilt or responsibility for the misfortunes in which people find themselves.” I disagree. Sometimes in mercy God shows us where we went wrong and how not to get ensnared again. He assesses guilt to remove it, not to ignore it. And to be fair to Mr. Rasnake, I’m not entirely sure his statement is what he truly meant, either, because, much later on, in the last chapter on love, he wrote, “Essentially, the point Paul makes is that love is so committed to a person’s best, that it is unable – even if one cares deeply for the other – to find any joy in another’s wrongdoing. To truly love someone means we are willing to point out wrongs to that person, not ignore that person or join in wrongdoing… We are being loving when we speak truth for someone’s good, even if it will wound him or her. As believers, we can rejoice only in truth.’
One question told us to “reflect on the spiritual gifts test at the back of the book,” but I never found such a test in the back of the book, or elsewhere. Perhaps it was a separate handout in the class which I did not attend.
Mr. Rasnake wrote, “We don’t have to be afraid of what He will do, but we should fear disobeying Him and displeasing Him.” Yes and no. If we are not saved, then we should be afraid of what He will do, when we face His judgement without the mercy and grace He offered us in Christ. Or, if we are saved, but we are living in disobedience, like Jonah, we have cause to be afraid, too, on a lesser scale. But Jonah still faced some pretty awful things.
I have wondered for a long time whether the verse, “Love never fails,” (1 Corinthians 13:8) has meant love never fails in its goal, or whether it meant that love never ceases to love. Or maybe they are one and the same and that is love’s goal. Mr. Rasnake took the approach that it meant that “love will always accomplish the purpose God intends,” but did not say what that purpose was. It made me wonder if that is for everyone to be saved, since He is “not willing that any should perish,” (2 Peter 3:9) but we do know that not everyone will be saved. (Revelation 20:11-15)
I found Mr. Rasnake’s interpretation of Revelation 2:4 to be an interesting one I’d not heard before. I’ve heard that the candlestick being removed was 1) a sign that local church as a whole would cease to exist or 2) a sign that individuals would lose salvation, and I’ve heard arguments for and against both possibilities. But Mr. Rasnake said, “He would take away their light; in other words, God would no longer shine through them if they didn’t return to their first love.” Interesting possibility I’d not considered. I don’t know who’s right.
In balance to my review, a friend was not as impressed as I was with this study and found it dull. I admit that it's not as entertaining as some Bible studies, but there are more important things than entertainment. I didn't really expect or look for an emotional impact from this book. Whenever I've led a small group, I appreciated studies that the women enjoyed, to some extent, to help draw them in, although hopefully, the main purpose was to help them grow when they got there.
But now that I'm reading studies by myself ... eh ... shrug ... I don't really care whether they're entertaining or whether they've got any of that glamour or glitz. If they've got a funny story in them, that's just an added bonus, not a necessity.
My friend summarized my review of this book as 'useful.' That's a good word for how I found the book. I think it would be helpful for both individuals and congregations who use it rather than just rushing people off into volunteer positions.
Once upon a time, I saw a statistic that the average church volunteer tended to volunteer for 7 years or less. That's an old statistic, but I don't imagine it's any better in this era of resistance to commitments. But this book, if lived out, could help volunteers deal with impatience and burnout, help the churches train them on what to expect and coach them through, and help smooth over ruffled feathers in helping both volunteers and staff understand each other's needs. And that is powerful. Big IF it is lived out.
I could see this study being done well where there are already a group of regular attendees and a personable leader. Maybe those are more of a requirement for this study than the studies with more glamour and glitz.
Favorite quotes:
“In divine irony, God has so structured life that living for ourselves guarantees that our deepest needs go unmet, while living for others instead of self puts us in a place where the deep needs of our heart can be met. It is a lifestyle of faith.”
“There is no ministry apart from relationships, and the stronger the relationships are, the more effective ministry becomes.”
“Ultimately, our gifts are defined and perfected in the context of actual ministry, and not in answering questionnaires.”
“The disciples failed [in Mark 9:14-29] because they trusted themselves and their training instead of trusting God to do the work. One crucial component of training for ministry is learning to trust – not in ourselves and in our own abilities, but in God. It is He Who does the work through us.”
“Tragically, when people fail for lack of training at something they are gifted for, they often give up on doing the very thing God has designed them for. When training is omitted, failure and discouragement are inevitable.”
“If our motive is to please the Lord, then we cannot let encumbrances keep us from serving.”
“If we are too worried about what people think to be concerned with pleasing the Lord, we have already become ensnared.”
“There will always be more work than we can accomplish. That is why it is essential that we run only the course that God sets before us and not try to run everybody else’s course. We must run our course wisely. It is interesting to note this solution to this problem of the harvest being too great for the workers; He instructs the disciples to pray about it.”
“God’s love is not like human love. He loves us not because of who and what we are, but in spite of who we are. In turn, He enables us to love, not just the lovely, but the unlovely as well.”
March 4, 2018
The women's group at my former church used this book for one of their women's Bible studies. I can't remember if our sessions ended for the summer before we completed the book or if winter came and I went into hibernation mode and stopped going to the studies partway through. In any case, I decided to begin the study again and complete all the lessons this time.
The book discusses various spiritual gifts, how we should use them, barriers to using them, and other topics. There is not much about identifying what gift you have, though the authors do encourage readers to use one of the many resources available for identifying what gift(s) you have.
The book discusses various spiritual gifts, how we should use them, barriers to using them, and other topics. There is not much about identifying what gift you have, though the authors do encourage readers to use one of the many resources available for identifying what gift(s) you have.
June 6, 2013
This is the first of the Following God series of bible studies that I have done. I thought it was good. It is set up as a 5 day study with scripture reading and questions each day. The author follows up each set of questions with his own answers, which I appreciate. Sometimes you might read a question and scripture and not really know where the author is going. With the answers following the questions, you are still challenged to dive into scripture yourself, but with the benefit of having the "teacher's" answer so you can see another viewpoint.
Each lesson takes the average person 15-20 minutes to complete on a daily basis. I would strongly suggest that you do the lessons each day. I am not very disciplined in this manner and so towards the end of the book I tended to do all the lessons in one day which made the book feel like it repeated itself or over explained the concept--which may not be the case if I had done one study per day.
Content: The main ideas the author focuses on are:
~proving (via scripture) that each individual believer is given at least one spiritual gift from God
~why God gives each individual a spiritual gift
~what the author feels the spiritual gifts are
~how spiritual gifts should be used in the church
~each individual believer should be maturing towards the ministry that God has designed for them
Surprisingly, the book does not focus on how to determine your spiritual gift. There is a week's lesson where he gives some ideas as to how you might determine your spiritual gifts, but he does not focus on that as the goal. There is no "test" to take or surefire way given to determine your gifts. I found this to be refreshing. He gave some solid guidelines, but mostly encouraged prayer, bible study, speaking with mature Christians, and getting involved in ministry opportunities to allow God to reveal to you what your gifts are.
This book would be most beneficial in a group setting, but could easily be done by an individual.
Each lesson takes the average person 15-20 minutes to complete on a daily basis. I would strongly suggest that you do the lessons each day. I am not very disciplined in this manner and so towards the end of the book I tended to do all the lessons in one day which made the book feel like it repeated itself or over explained the concept--which may not be the case if I had done one study per day.
Content: The main ideas the author focuses on are:
~proving (via scripture) that each individual believer is given at least one spiritual gift from God
~why God gives each individual a spiritual gift
~what the author feels the spiritual gifts are
~how spiritual gifts should be used in the church
~each individual believer should be maturing towards the ministry that God has designed for them
Surprisingly, the book does not focus on how to determine your spiritual gift. There is a week's lesson where he gives some ideas as to how you might determine your spiritual gifts, but he does not focus on that as the goal. There is no "test" to take or surefire way given to determine your gifts. I found this to be refreshing. He gave some solid guidelines, but mostly encouraged prayer, bible study, speaking with mature Christians, and getting involved in ministry opportunities to allow God to reveal to you what your gifts are.
This book would be most beneficial in a group setting, but could easily be done by an individual.
February 7, 2017
I have been doing Bible study with a group of women for the past 3 years, we just completed this one. Loved it! I never thought I would learn so much about spiritual gifts and their purpose and what they are! Great study for a group. I learned a lot when I did the work on my own, real learning comes when you talk about it with others doing the study!
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