mdemchsak

Faith

“. . . if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you” (Mt 17:20).

I have said elsewhere that faith is the currency of heaven1.  God does business with people on the basis of their faith.  If you want God to work, you must trust Him.  If you don’t trust Him, don’t expect Him to do anything.  People with the spiritual gift of faith have a special measure of trust in God.  This measure is more than faith for salvation.  All Christians have that sort of faith, and salvific faith is not itself the spiritual gift of faith.  The spiritual gift of faith trusts God to act when others would not trust Him. 

God told Abraham to go to a land that God would show Him.  Abraham took his family and went.  Later God told Abraham that he would have a son even though he and his wife were too old to have children.  Abraham believed God and had Isaac. 

God told Elijah to confront the prophets of Baal.  Elijah did so, and God rained down fire from heaven.

These are examples of faith.  People with the gift of faith take the land because they trust God.  They pick up and move.  They believe that sickness will be healed.  They begin a ministry from scratch.  They share the gospel in difficult situations.  They trust God.  And because they trust God, they attempt great deeds for God.

Those with the gift of faith inspire others to take steps of faith.  They tend to be people who pray, who hear from God, and who stand on the promises of God.  They know they are forgiven in Christ because God said they are.  They know God will go with them as they make disciples because God said He would.  They know that all things will work out for their good because God said so.  These people see God in the events of life, and they tend to see a good end at the beginning, even though they may not see the details of that end. 

These people help the church look past human reasoning and encourage the church to make decisions on the basis of God’s will, which often goes beyond mere reason.

Jesus said that a little faith can move mountains, and people with the gift of faith move mountains. 

Faith and Other Gifts

People with the gifts of healing and miracles (I Cor 12:9-10) often have the gift of faith.  These gifts have some overlap.

Importance of Faith

People with the gift of faith are an example and inspiration for the church.  They push the church to have confidence in God.

Strengths

  • Prayer
  • Hearing from God
  • Confidence in God in the midst of difficulty
  • Obedience
  • Bold steps of action
  • Expectation that God will act
  • Standing on God’s promises

Weaknesses

  • Can oversimplify complex realities
  • Can be overconfident or have false confidence
  • Can judge people who lack their level of faith
  • Can move before confirming God’s will
  • Can take foolish steps if they mishear God

Examples of People with this Gift

Noah, Abraham, Caleb, Elijah, George Mueller, Corrie Ten Boom, Brother Yun

Good Roles for People with this Gift

This gift can apply in virtually any role, but it can be uniquely helpful in the following:  church planter, starting a ministry, prayer ministry, healing ministry

  1. https://www.austinif.org/the-currency-of-heaven/ ↩︎
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Discernment

. . . and to another the ability to distinguish between spirits (I Cor 12:2)

But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil (Heb 5:14)

Discernment involves wisdom and knowledge.  Yet discernment is not exactly wisdom and knowledge.  Discernment is the ability to distinguish God’s ways from the world’s ways, God’s people from the world’s people, God’s work from the world’s work, God’s teachings from the world’s teachings.  Discernment is the ability to see more than the ability to know.  A five-year-old child may discern good or evil in a man without fully knowing why. 

Thus, knowledge and wisdom are not discernment, but they can help discernment.  You discern falsehood by knowing truth.  Thus, people with discernment want to grow in the Scriptures. 

Discernment protects the church from false doctrines, false paths, false motives, and false people.  Discernment tests the spirits to see whether they be of God.  Discernment can smell out the work of Satan, the work of the flesh, and the work of the Spirit.  Discernment can read people.  Discernment can detect a genuine heart from a false heart.  Discernment can sense spiritual giftings in others and counsel people how to use them.  Discernment can better sense God’s will and provide direction to walk in that will.  Discernment can see the lay of the land, the realities of a situation.  It also sees the lay of the Bible and then brings the Bible to bear on the real circumstances because it sees what is going on. 

The Importance of Discernment

People with discernment are the eyes of the church.  They provide the church with clear insight into spiritual realities.

Strengths

  • Doctrinally sound
  • Doctrine is not dry or dead
  • Desire to draw near to God
  • Relationally attuned
  • Insightful.  They see what others don’t.
  • Love for Scripture
  • Practical
  • Sensitivity to the spiritual world

Weaknesses

  • Lack of empathy for those who don’t see what they see.
  • Can be judgmental and lack mercy
  • Pride
  • Others can view their insights with suspicion.  They don’t see it.

Examples of People with this Gift

Joseph, Daniel, Elijah, Elisha, Peter, Paul, John

Good Roles for People with this Gift

Pastor, counselor, advisor, mentor, discipler, someone involved in spiritual warfare

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Wisdom

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. (Prov 9:10)

Many smart people have no wisdom. 

Paul says that “in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom” (I Cor 1:21).  In the same sentence, the verse talks about the wisdom of God and the wisdom that does not know God.  In other words, wisdom seems to come in different varieties.  Scripture speaks of the “wisdom of men” or “the wisdom of this world.”  In modern circles, you may hear the term “conventional wisdom.”  When we speak of wisdom in any of these ways, we are talking about a way of thinking that most people in a culture would consider wise.  We may use the word “wisdom” to describe these ways of thinking, but such wisdom is not Biblical wisdom.  Biblical wisdom and conventional wisdom are often opposed.

The wise of this world consider Biblical wisdom to be foolishness, but Paul says that “the foolishness of God is wiser than men” (I Cor 1:25).   

True wisdom begins with the Lord.  It involves His ways and His glory.  Earth, however, divorces God from wisdom.  In addition, true wisdom is more than knowledge.  It is more even than spiritual knowledge.  Wisdom involves living, not just knowing.  Wisdom entails the heart, not just the head.  Wisdom is practical, not just intellectual. 

The New Testament scholar who denies God has no wisdom.  The woman who understands the Atonement but never forgives her neighbor lacks wisdom.  The man who argues for the Resurrection but has a drinking problem lacks wisdom.  The parents who raise their children without the Lord lack wisdom, even if their children are well-behaved and make much money.

Life without the Lord is unwise, and spiritual knowledge without a righteous life is unwise.

True wisdom then has spiritual and practical components to it.  Remove God and you remove wisdom.  Remove the practical, and you remove wisdom.  Wisdom is God living His life through men.

Therefore, those people with the spiritual gift of wisdom are the people who apply Scripture to their lives.  They live it.  They are the people you go to when you want to know how to live.  These people give godly advice.  But their advice does not consist only of words.  Their lifestyle is itself godly advice.  You see their advice in their lives.

People with the gift of wisdom provide direction for the church but not necessarily in a formal, public way as teachers do.  Their influence tends to be less formal, more private, and on a smaller scale. 

The Importance of Wisdom

People with the gift of wisdom are the counselors of the church.

Strengths

  • Love for Scripture
  • Practice what they preach
  • Focus on the Lord
  • Practical life demonstrates Biblical balance
  • See the spiritual side to human decisions
  • Apply spiritual truth to complex practical situations
  • Good listeners

Weaknesses

  • Can be overly cautious and move too slowly
  • Lack of empathy
  • Evangelism sometimes

Examples of People with this Gift

Job, Joseph, Solomon, Daniel, Mark Dever, Jonathan Leeman, Tim Keller

Good Roles for People with this Gift

Mentor, discipler, parent, counselor, advisor, judge

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Knowledge

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge . . . (Hos 4:6)

The church sometimes has difficulty rightly valuing knowledge.  Sometimes people equate head knowledge with spiritual maturity and thereby give to knowledge an importance and a role it does not have.  Knowledge by itself does not make anyone greater in the eyes of God.  God does not care how much you know if you don’t love.  Or if you don’t trust Him. 

However, sometimes people devalue knowledge because “knowledge puffs up.”  They see that faith and love are greater than knowledge.  They see that knowledge by itself does not produce maturity, and they conclude that knowledge is not that important.

Thus, some people overvalue knowledge while others undervalue it.  We need to see the importance of knowledge along with its limitations.  The reality is that faith and love are based on knowledge.  You can’t believe in something that you don’t know.  And the more you know about God, the more reasons you have to love Him.  Knowledge by itself does not produce spiritual maturity, but a certain amount of knowledge is a prerequisite for spiritual maturity.  Knowledge is not the same as faith, but without knowledge you can’t have faith. 

Let me put it this way.  Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things unseen (Heb 11:1).  Some people take that to mean that faith kicks in when you don’t see or know something, and, thus, knowledge is not that crucial to faith.  But those people are only half right.  It is true that faith trusts in what it does not see, but the reason it trusts in what it does not see is because of what it does know.  I have knowledge that God is faithful, and based on that knowledge, I can trust that He will provide for my family even though I don’t see how.  I have knowledge that God has made me a new man, and that knowledge gives me hope for eternity.  I have knowledge that God has forgiven my sins through the Cross, and that knowledge spurs me to love Him even more. 

Faith and love do not exist in a vacuum apart from knowledge.  Faith has substance.  Faith trusts in something.  Knowledge gives you that substance, that something.  Those then with the spiritual gift of knowledge help provide the substance for our faith and for our relationship with God. 

So let’s talk about the gift of knowledge.  The spiritual gift of knowledge does not pertain to knowledge broadly speaking but to the knowledge of Scripture and of God.  Thus, having a Phd in literature does not give anyone this gift.  In addition, someone with the gift of knowledge knows more than the mere facts that, say,  Ehud was a left-handed man and the gospels were based on eyewitness testimony.  Someone with the gift of knowledge knows not just the brute facts of Scripture but how to interpret Scripture in a godly way.  Thus, having a Phd in New Testament does not give anyone the gift of knowledge.  A boy in middle school with the gift of knowledge may know more than a New Testament scholar, even if the New Testament scholar knows more facts. 

We have to get out of our head the idea that those who know mere facts are somehow spiritually mature simply because they know facts. 

People with the gift of knowledge are the people you go to when you want to know what the Bible says about this or that topic.  When you want to know not just the facts but the heart.  These people help you understand Scripture and God.

Knowledge vs Teaching

The gifts of teaching and of knowledge have some overlap even if they are not identical.  Many with the gift of teaching also have the gift of knowledge, for you can’t teach what you don’t know.  Yet the gift of teaching also involves a communication gift. 

The gift of knowledge by itself does not necessarily involve teaching, and some people may know the Bible and God well without being strong teachers. 

Importance of Knowledge

People with the gift of knowledge provide the substance for the faith of the church. 

Strengths

  • love for Scripture
  • love to read and learn
  • ability to understand complex ideas
  • care about doctrine

Weaknesses

  • can be weak with relationships
  • can be proud of their knowledge
  • can trust in knowledge instead of God

Examples of People with this Gift

Ezra, Paul, John Calvin, D.A. Carson

Good Roles for People with this Gift

researcher, professor, apologist, teacher

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Mercy

“Rejoice with those who rejoice.  Weep with those who weep” (Rom 12:15).

God is a God of mercy, and we, as His disciples, are to love mercy.  God sees us in our weakness and need, has compassion on us, and meets our need.  This is what merciful people do. 

People with the gift of mercy are the people you want around when you hurt.  They listen to you.  They hug you.  They hold your hand.  They weep with you.  They sympathize with your plight.  These people feel your hurt.  They want to help you, and they will do what they can to help you because they care. 

These people have a special heart for the weak, the vulnerable, the hurting, and the oppressed.  They look out for the poor, the lowly, and the downtrodden. 

These people are genuinely happy at your good fortune and genuinely sad at your pain. 

Like those with the gift of service, people with the gift of mercy do not generally want the spotlight.  They prefer to come alongside you and help in the background.  They differ with the servants in that those with the gift of service focus their help more on practical needs while those with the gift of mercy focus more on emotional needs – holding your hand, giving an encouraging word, crying with you.  Those with the gift of mercy still desire to meet practical needs because they see such help as emotionally helpful whereas those with the gift of service see such help as practically helpful.  On the outside it looks the same, but underneath the actions lie somewhat different emphases.  Those with the gift of mercy tend to have more feeling in their help.

The Importance of the Gift of Mercy

People with the gift of mercy are God’s heart in the church.  Mercy is important because it treats people as if they are people.  It has a soft heart for people, and the church needs a soft heart toward people.

Strengths of the Gift of Mercy

  • compassionate
  • sensitive to how people feel
  • generous
  • considerate
  • providing care to others
  • often desire right relationships
  • helping others

Weaknesses of the Gift of Mercy

  • can be driven by emotions to unhealthy places like depression or false doctrine
  • can focus on emotional or physical needs and neglect to bring the gospel to people
  • can be indecisive
  • desire to please people
  • sometimes judge doctrines or people largely by their feelings
  • sometimes feel things that are not true
  • can have difficulty drawing healthy boundaries
  • can have difficulty focusing on tasks
  • can have their feelings easily hurt by others
  • can have difficulty with rebuke or reproof – hard conversations
  • can have difficulty in leadership roles

Examples of People with this Gift

Ruth, The Good Samaritan, Mother Teresa

Good Roles for this Gift

mom, ministry to the poor or oppressed, visiting the sick, care for the elderly, counselor, confidante, prayer ministry, nurse

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Pastoral Leadership

“I am the Good Shepherd” (Jn 10:11)

“Shepherd the flock of God . . .” (I Pet 5:2)

Pastors are shepherds. 

And shepherds lead sheep.

Some people debate whether the New Testament speaks of pastoral gifting at all.  They argue that the word “pastor” refers only to an office and not to a spiritual gift.  Others disagree and say that the New Testament speaks of pastoral gifting.  Sometimes people argue their points as if the two positions are mutually exclusive.  They are not.  In Ephesians 4, the pastor-teacher seems to be an office that is a gift (Eph 4:8, 11-12), and in I Peter 5:2, Peter tells the elders that their function is to shepherd the flock.  Shepherding is central to the function of the office of pastor/elder, and the moment you say that the office has a function, you make the office something that is better held by someone with gifting to do the function.   Some pastors are more naturally gifted at shepherding than others.  

This is common sense.  You’ve probably observed it yourself.  It is true of virtually every function that exists.  All believers are to evangelize, but some are more gifted at it than others.  All believers are to serve people, but some are more gifted at it than others.  All church treasurers are to handle the finances with integrity and skill, but some are more gifted at it than others.  All cooks are to make tasty meals, but some are more gifted at it than others.  Ten different people may hold the office of high school teacher, but they are not all equally gifted teachers.  We could go on.

Functions involve gifting, and the office of pastor has a Biblical function.

What this means is that even the people who argue that the word “pastor” refers only to an office must admit differing levels of gifting at carrying out that office.  And the moment you do so, you are referring to a pastoral gift. 

Thus, a man may have the spiritual gift of wisdom, prophecy, or evangelism and fill the office of pastor, while someone else may have a shepherding gift and not fill the office of pastor.  The office and the gift may have similarities, but they are not identical. 

Now because our purpose is to discuss spiritual gifts, I want to focus on the gifting and not the office, but I understand that the office requires the man to do what the gifting is good at. 

With that out of the way, let’s talk.

Pastoral leadership is leadership.  But it is a different type of leadership.  Pastors are shepherds.  Shepherding is a combination of servant leadership and spiritual care. 

Pastoral leadership does not focus so much on leading tasks or organizations but on leading souls.  Shepherds lead hearts.  Shepherds want to see you walk with God.  They take great joy in seeing God’s people grow in Christ. 

Shepherds provide spiritual care and spiritual direction for the sheep.  This may entail encouragement when you are discouraged, rebuke when you are stubborn in sin, clarity when you are confused, and a push when you need to stretch your faith.

Because shepherds focus on hearts, they want to get to know you.  They lead through relationship.  Shepherds build up and equip the church in Christ.  They come alongside you and spur you on and encourage you in your walk with Jesus.

Shepherding is an investment in the lives of others and, consequently, takes time.  Because of the nature of shepherding, shepherds can shepherd only so many people.  The more people in the flock, the greater the need for multiple shepherds.

Importance of Shepherding Gifts

Shepherds are the builders of the church.  They build men.  They build women.  They build the hearts of the people to maturity in Christ.

Strengths of Shepherding Gifts

  • care for the church
  • care for souls
  • focus on spiritual growth
  • relational
  • see the spiritual realities of life
  • care about God’s Word
  • patience
  • comfortable being alone with God

Weaknesses of Shepherding Gifts

  • can have difficulty with evangelism.  Shepherds are focused on the sheep.
  • can have difficulty with church planting and entrepreneurial tasks
  • can burn out trying to shepherd too many people
  • can feel lonely

Examples of People with Shepherding Gifts

John, Peter, Timothy, Richard Baxter, Francis Chan

Good Roles for Shepherds

pastor, husband, parent, mentor, discipler

Posted by mdemchsak in Leadership, Spiritual Gifts, 0 comments

Entrepreneurial Leadership

“I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else’s foundation” (Rom 15:20)

Some people call this gifting “apostolic gifting.”  I will avoid that term because sometimes people hear it and think you are describing a person with the same authority as the apostles.  Instead, I will say simply that this gift is a starter gift.  These people provide the leadership to start works in the spiritual world.  These people plant churches and start ministries.  They are generally task-focused, can operate well alone, and enjoy the challenge of starting something new.  These are the people who push the church to great heights.  They see a vision and inspire the church to accomplish that vision.  They are good networkers and connect with many people. 

Importance

These are the catalysts of the church.  These people expand the reach of the church and push the church to greater steps of faith.

Strengths

  • usually have faith
  • pray
  • can see a big vision
  • can mobilize people
  • are focused
  • can take criticism and move on
  • are zealous to see God’s kingdom advance
  • get things done
  • inspire others
  • are bold

Weaknesses

  • can struggle with deeper relationships
  • sometimes prioritize the job over the people
  • can be or seem uncaring
  • are sometimes impetuous
  • can be workaholics
  • can be proud
  • can compromise doctrine or ethics to get things done
  • sometimes rely on their energy and skills instead of on God
  • can ignore constructive criticism
  • can have difficulty being alone with God

Examples of People with the Spiritual Gift of Entrepreneurial Leadership

Caleb, Nehemiah, Peter, Paul, George Mueller, Hudson Taylor, Jonathan Goforth, George Verwer,

Good Roles for People with this Gift

church planter, pioneer missionary, leader of an organization focused especially on expansion of the kingdom, starting a new work of some kind: school, hospital, mission agency, ministry

Posted by mdemchsak in Leadership, Spiritual Gifts, 0 comments

Leadership

Leadership is the gifting I have had the greatest struggle to describe.  Two reasons account for this difficulty.

First, leadership comes in different varieties.  A church planter and a pastor are both leaders, but they are quite different beasts.  Paul is not John.  Both have leadership giftings, but they have very different strengths and weaknesses.

Second, Paul mentions the gift of leadership in Romans 12, but in Eph 4, he mentions as leaders the gifts of apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor-teachers.  So is Paul using different terms to refer to the same thing?  And if so, which term in Ephesians most corresponds to the gift of leadership in Romans?  Or is Romans a broad umbrella that includes different types of leaders?  Or is Ephesians merely a list of offices not related to spiritual gifts at all?  These are some of the questions I have asked in trying to figure out exactly what Paul means by leadership.

Given these questions, here is how I plan on approaching the gift of leadership.

I believe it more likely that Paul’s use of the term “leadership” in Rom 12:8 is a reference to pastoral leadership than to more entrepreneurial leadership.  Here is why:

Paul uses the same term in I Th 5:12 and I Tim 5:17 to refer to the elders of a church, and Biblically elders, overseers, and pastors are all different words for the same office.  In addition, the word for “lead” can equally be translated “care for” (see BAGD) and care is a central component of pastoral leadership, but it can often be a weakness of entrepreneurial leaders. 

These two facts are not conclusive, for entrepreneurial leaders can still be elders, and church planters still need to care for the flock, but, nonetheless, Paul’s use of the word and the alternate meaning of the word make me lean in the direction of saying that Paul has in mind a more pastoral function than a function that begins new works. 

However, because my leaning is not certain, I will describe both of these leadership types with the proviso that I believe the pastoral one is the more likely of the two.  Thus, in the next couple weeks, I will post blogs on entrepreneurial leadership and pastoral leadership.

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Giving

“. . . it is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35).

God so loved the world that He gave.  Giving is God’s nature.  He loves to give. 

People with the spiritual gift of giving have discovered how much God loves to give, and they show the rest of the church what that looks like. 

Givers have learned the secret of letting go of material goods.  Their money and possessions do not have a stronghold over their hearts, and they willingly and sacrificially give to meet the needs of others and to advance the kingdom of God.  They see giving as a blessing and joy instead of a duty.  They give from the heart.  They give sacrificially and joyfully.  They love to give.  They want to give.  They do not see their money as theirs.  They see it as God’s money, for Him to do with as He pleases.

We usually think of givers as being wealthy.  That is not necessarily true.  The widow who gave all she had may not have given a great amount, but she gave more than the wealthy who gave greater amounts.  A poor person can have this gift, and when he does he will give you what he can, and it may cost him more than you see.

The gift of giving is not restricted to money.  Givers will give you clothes, a dining table, their car, and more.  They see a need and look at what they have that can meet that need and are willing to give it up. 

The Importance of Givers

Givers are those who sacrifice for the church.  They are the inspiration for selflessness and the people who fund and resource God’s work. 

Strengths of Givers

  • full of joy
  • generous
  • free from the pull of material goods
  • care about the needs of others

Weaknesses of Givers

  • can enable others in unhealthy behaviors
  • sometimes desire to please men instead of God
  • sometimes lack healthy boundaries

Examples of People with this Gift

the widow who gave her mite, Barnabbas, R.G. Letourneau, C.S. Lewis, Millard Fuller

Good Roles for People with this Gift

benevolence ministry, support for missionaries, mission organizations, churches, and other Christian ministries

Posted by mdemchsak in Giving, Spiritual Gifts, 0 comments

Exhortation/Encouragement

“Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing” (I Thes 5:11)

The Greek word translated “exhortation” in the list of spiritual gifts can mean encouragement, comfort, or consolation.  It is the same word Jesus uses when He calls the Holy Spirit the comforter.  People with this gift lift you up when you feel down.  People with this gift spur you on to love and good deeds.  Everyone likes to be around them because they make you feel as if you matter and as if God will use you.  These people are encouragers and are often saying things like “I appreciate your heart for people” or “Your serving has been a great blessing to others” or “You can do that.  God is with you” or “I’ve heard your testimony, and it is powerful” or a thousand other statements like these.

These people will call you just to see how you are doing.  They will show up at your house uninvited because they were passing by and were thinking about you and just wanted to let you know they were thinking about you.  They use words to build you up.  Those words may take the form of face-to-face conversation, phone calls, emails, notes, or any other medium. 

But encouragers are not restricted to words.  When you are going through a hard time, they will send you a gift card to a restaurant or maybe even take you there themselves just because they want to encourage you.  They may throw you a surprise party just to let you know that you mean something to them. 

These people say with Caleb, “With God we can take the land.”  People with this gift have much faith, a positive attitude, and a love for others.  Encouragers are not necessarily leaders (though they can be).  They love to come alongside you and spur you on and encourage you.

But the spiritual gift of encouragement is more than a positive attitude.  It is more than making people feel good about themselves.  The purpose of this gift is to strengthen people’s faith and help them walk more closely with Jesus.  When you see words or deeds that make people feel good but never help them grow spiritually, you are not looking at the spiritual gift of encouragement. 

The Importance of Encouragement

Encouragers are the morale boosters and the faith spurrers of the church. 

This gift combats discouragement and depression and calls the church to take steps of faith and to trust that God will work.

Strengths of Encouragers

  • strong faith
  • joy
  • a positive attitude
  • a love for people
  • speaking spiritual words of encouragement
  • lifting people up
  • often good listeners
  • full of hope
  • can motivate others

Weaknesses of Encouragers

  • sometimes neglect confrontation or hard conversations
  • can be oblivious to real pain
  • can be too optimistic
  • can be people pleasers

Examples of People with this Gift

Deborah, Boaz, Jonathan, Barnabbas

Good Roles for People with this Gift

spouse, parent, friend, mentor, coach, counselor, visiting the sick

Posted by mdemchsak in Spiritual Gifts, 0 comments