Spiritual Gifts FAQs #11

Q: In my assessment results, I had 5 spiritual gifts with the same highest score of 15 points each.  If I look at my top 3 gifts with different point levels in the 2nd and 3rd levels, I have a total of 11 gifts due to having the same scores.  How do I figure out my top 3 - 5 gifts?

A: The highest you can score on any of the gifts is 15. So, your top five spiritual gifts would be the five that scored 15 each. One or more of the remainder of your list—your second and third levels—might be gifts; the rest are likely spiritual disciplines, natural talents, or a result of faithful practice over the years.

A good way to sort out many high scores is to ask those who know you well what gifts they see you exhibiting on a regular basis. You can provide them with the gifts definitions and ask them to give you a rating of 0-3 (0 = they don’t see you doing this at all; 3 = they see this consistently and often in you) for each of the 23 gifts. Ask at least three people for this sort of feedback—and then compare their most commonly-identified ones with your own list. That should provide clarity for you. And, as always, keep asking the Lord to make things clear for you—specifically, asking Him to show you how to use those top gifts (and how He is already working through you using those gifts) in this season of life/work/ministry.

(For more on gifts, check out the Resources page at GodGiftsYou.com. Take the free assessment and see what gifts God has bestowed on you to contribute to the whole.)

Shirley Giles Davis, author of the God. Gifts. You. Your Unique Calling and Design workbook, Your Unique Design Class Guide, Your Unique Design Facilitator Guide, and Gifts-Calling-Purpose blog, is a consultant, coach, facilitator who has worked with faith-based organizations, nonprofit agencies, and leaders in a diversity of fields for over 30 years. She has also been Director of Equipping at her church since 1999.