Understanding the Motivation Giftings - Part 1

Lesson 2

In our first lesson on Discovering Your Spiritual Gifts, we began by learning that God created us with a perfect personality—designed to live out and serve Him according to His plans and purposes in this world. He gave us motivational gifts that drive us to do what we desire to do, and we find deep satisfaction in doing what we were created to do. Throughout life, however, through the influence of our sin nature and the experiences we encounter, both good and bad—sin has infiltrated our personality and caused it to become flawed. As a result, many of us are genuinely unaware of our God-given personality, because we live with character flaws that distort our true design.

In this first lesson, we also learned that God wants us to discover who we are in Christ, so that we can begin to serve Him as He originally intended. You see, God has always had a plan and purpose for each of our lives, so that we can make a positive difference in this world for Christ. This journey begins by accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior. When we do, the power of the Holy Spirit comes to indwell our spirits, drawing us to learn more about God and how He interacts with us personally. To grow in that relationship, we must:

• Spend time in His Word, meditating on what God is saying to us individually.
• Get to know Him through prayer and worship, recognizing His Lordship over our lives.

• Fellowship with other believers, allowing community to help us grow deeper in our walk with the Lord.

We need to understand and distinguish between the three types of giftings. - motivational gifts, powerful spiritual gifts and the office gifts. While under the Old Testament, God only spoke through the Law of Moses and the voice of the prophets. The voice of the prophets spoke when the people refused to listen and God was trying to get their attention. Under the New Testament, however, believers have God living within through the Holy Spirit. God, however, God still gives His people leadership through the office gifts, followed by the powerful spiritual gifts as the Spirit directs.

As we begin Lesson 2, let’s examine how God works through our character flaws, transforming them to reflect more of the personality He originally created within us.

The Seven Motivational Gifts

According to Romans 12:6–8, there are seven motivational gifts that God has given to the Church. As believers, we each have at least one motivational gift. It is the underlying driving force behind how we respond to life, relationships, and ministry. Our motivational gift flows out of our God-created personality—one that inspires, fulfills, and brings deep satisfaction. These gifts are not merely tools; they are expressions of who we are in Christ.

1 Peter 4:10-11 As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 11 If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. Whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever, amen.

Not only did God give us these motivational gifts, but we, individually, are also a gift to God. This is all part of His divine design. Therefore, it is essential that we come to know and embrace the beautiful personality God created within us.

So let's begin our journey of discovery as we study each of these seven motivation gifts and how they affect our lives. Let's begin with the speaking motivational gifts:

Motivational Gift of Prophecy

The motivational gift of Prophecy differs from the spiritual power gift of prophecy and the five-fold ministry office of a prophet.   All giftings, whether it is the five-fold ministry offices or power gifts – they all come out of the motivational gifts that God created within you.

 The motivational gift of prophecy is the personality bent of one who expresses himself verbally to others – especially in matters of right and wrong. Generally, this motivational gift is outspoken, not fearing what others would say about him or her.

We all have natural bents in certain areas—our motivational giftings that God gave to us. Even before we were born again, those gifts were evident in our personality because it was natural for them to come forth. Yet the negative aspect of our sin nature also entered into our lives, shaping a fleshly personality that often caused trouble. Still, our natural bent—such as the motivational gift of a prophet, who speaks forth what he believes to be truth—continued to manifest.

A quiet, shy person with other motivational gifts, however, would be unlikely to speak up for fear of being put down. But after we accept the Lord and receive the Holy Spirit to teach and instruct us, our hearts become more aware of God’s truth. At that point, God can begin to use our motivational gifts to speak for Him in everyday life.

Issues of right and wrong become increasingly important, and the motivational gift of prophecy begins to express itself verbally to others—especially in matters of truth and righteousness. We need the strong motivational gift of a prophet to stand boldly for truth—God’s truth.

 As the Spirit leads, one who has the motivational gift of a prophet, generally being more outspoken  than most, can then be used to speak out to the Church as the Lord gives a "word" through him or her. This is the spiritual power gift of prophecy in operation. If the Lord ordains, that person carrying the motivational gift of a prophet who speaks forth through the spiritual power gift of prophecy to the Church, as the Spirit wills, over a long period of time could possibly be called by God to the office of a prophet. Again, God does the calling. We need to remember that everything comes out of the motivational gift that God gave to each individual.  

The positive side of the motivational gift of prophecy:

•     Its purpose is to exhort, encourage, and motivate others.
•    This gift gives out spiritual insight into people and situations from God's perspective.
•    This gift desires to encourage others to repent – which will then produce good fruit.
•    This gift can grieve deeply over the sins of others.   
•    This gift (especially as it is used as a power gift or office gift) can often operate in discernment as
     well.   
•    The office of prophet can detect when something is not what it appears to be – can quickly 
     discern a person’s character. (Usually operate with the gift of discernment)
•    This gift is very sensitive to perceive the Bible as the only dependable basis for truth.
•    As such, this gift loves to study the Word and find that God often speaks to them through
     specific  Scriptures and the illumination of the Holy Spirit on spiritual principles extracted from
     God’s Word for daily life.
•   This gift also enjoys being alone with God in his or her prayer closet.

Negative side of the motivational gift of prophesy: (This is where your character flaws show up)

·        This gift is very black and white – no gray areas – sees things as either right or wrong.

·        This gift seeks justice, having strong opinions and convictions about everything.

·        This gift can be opinionated – while not intending to hurt anyone, can be more blunt in speaking
     out toward sin.

·        This gift so desires to see God’s plan worked out in all situations.

Motivational Gift of Teaching

We are all teachers in one form or another. How we live will always influence those around us - especially those close to us. As parents, we teach our children how to think and behave all the time. Proverbs tells us to train up a child in the way he should go. The motivational gift of teaching, however, goes deeper than that. In its most simplest terms, teaching means you have a deeper desire to teach and communicate what you learn with others around you. Teaching can cover many different areas; however when a person comes to Christ, those teaching desires motivates a believer to teach others the truths of the Word of God in a simple language that others can understand. You can do that with your children, your spouse, a home Bible study, or in a Church setting, such as children's Sunday School or adult Sunday School.

The spiritual power gift of teaching, however, goes deeper than that motivational gift of teaching. This gift empowers a believer to effectively communicate and impart biblical truths to others in more formal classroom settings and beyond. The more that a believers is empowered by the Holy Spirit to minister to others, and should God ordain, this could lead to the office of a teacher as this believers goes deeper into Bible study and research, teaching and communicating God's truth with crowds of people.

Positive side of the motivational gift of teaching:

• This gift is concerned with the accuracy of information, and is often gifted with research abilities.
• You love to study. Chances are, you love to read. 
• That gift is willing to spend endless hours in research searching for truth.

Negative side of the motivational gift of teaching:

•     This gift may appear dry and boring, without zeal – particularly you want to really dig deep. Most people do not care about the deeper things. But that should never stop a person from digging deep because that’s where a lot of truth lies.
•      This gift can get lost in the details and makes it difficult for some to understand.
•     This gift may be tempted to become puffed up due to their superior knowledge.

The Motivational Gift of Exhortation 

(Encouragement)

Another word for exhortation is encouragement. A person motivated in the gift of exhortation is probably the most attractive person to be around. The person is generally cheerful, always looking to see the best in others, being eager to encourage people.

People are gravitated toward people with this gift. They are social beings.They are encouragers, always tryig to lift people up. They love being aorund people and they are good people to have around..They may or may not be good listeners because they generally look at the brighter side of life. Negative talk goes against their grain.

The Positive side of the motivational gift of exhortation

• This gift accepts people as they are without judging them. They love being around people.
• This gift edifies and encourages others. Because of that, they are generally greatly loved by others.
• This gift generally carries a positive attitude and outlook toward life.
• This gift desires to see people grow and become mature in their personal life and social relationships.
• This gift tends to remain calm in the midst of stress.

The Negative side of the motivational gift of exhortation:

• This gift often is not given to introspect, but remains self-accepting even in stress.
• The exhorter prefers to apply truth rather than research it, whereas a teacher will research to then apply.  
• Sometimes encouragers seek and need attention from his/her listener as they are continuously giving out.

Now that we have finished the speaking part of the motivational gifts, we will continue to study on the motivational gifts in our next lesson, however, we will go into the serving gifts.