Day 31 - Understanding Your Shape

Monique Fields

Spiritual Giftings & More

The 31st Chapter of The Purpose Driven Life is about Understanding Your Shape (scripture Psalm 139:13).  Rick Warren summarized the chapter by saying "You will be most effective when you use your spiritual gifts and abilities in the area of your heart's desire, and in a way that best expresses your personality and experiences."  Let's review this statement further. 

Here are the author's definitions of the key words:

--Spiritual Gifts - Those special God-empowered gifts for serving Him that are only given to the believers. 

--Abilities - The natural talents you are born with (e.g. farming, gardening, baking, carpentry)     

--Heart's Desire - The source of all your motivations-what you love to do and what you care about most; your passion

--Personality - Your unique DNA.  The traits that make you who you are (e.g. introverts, extroverts, thinkers, feelers)

--Experiences - Family (what you learned growing up), education (what you learned in school), vocational (jobs), spiritual (personal time with God), ministry (serving God) and painful experiences (problems, hurts, trials)

What are your spiritual gifts and abilities?

Examples of spiritual gifts can be found in Romans 12 and I Corinthians 12.  Spiritual gifts include but are not limited to being apostles, prophets, pastors and also includes gifts such as helps, healing, faith and leadership.  At first, it was a little difficult for me to recognize my gifts of helps, giving and administration, because they were not as tangible, in my eyes, as other gifts.  Over time I recognized my spiritual gifts as well as my abilities to solve problems, budget and work in ambiguous situations then realized I could not only use them at church but also in other areas of my life like school, work, day to day interactions with others etc...  Identify and embrace your spiritual gifts and abilities. 

What is your heart's desire?

In this season, my passion is real estate.  Some might say that this has been my passion for a few seasons.  However, I am at a point where it is evolving into something new.  Amongst other goals, my desire is to see more people overcome doubt and obstacles and become home owners and/or investors in real estate.  What is your passion? 

How do your personality traits work for you?

Your personality traits make you the unique individual who you are.  They make you stand out above the rest.  Accept your similarities as well as your differences.  Also, learn how to work with people that are different from you.  There are different members of the body as well as different members of the church, with different functions, that work together toward a common goal.  Some of the most creative teams are those that have diverse thoughts, beliefs, backgrounds and cultures.  How can you let your light shine by being who God designed you to be?   

Life experiences help shape and mold who you are. 

Experiences... whether they be the values instilled through your family, the things you learn while in school or on the job, the foundation that was built while in church, what you learned while serving others or those obstacles that you have faced, experiences teach you new lessons and make you a stronger person overall.  Malcom X said, "There is no better than adversity, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve your performance next time."  Allow those experiences, the good and bad, to be the stepping stones that take you to the next level.

Verse to Remember: "God has given each of you some special abilities; be sure to use them to help each other, passing on to others God's many kinds of blessings." 1 Peter 4:10 (LB)