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Today, we will take a snapshot look at "The Nurturers," who are gifted with Faith, Exhortation, Wisdom, Discernment, Shepherding, Helping & Compassion. These gifts, as a whole, focus on serving others as they grow spiritually. Those with the Nurturing gifts "handle people with care," building fellowship with the Christian Community and cultivating strong relationships between people within the community. As with healthy plants, Nurturing sometimes involves pruning and the identification of weeds. The Nurturers take care of people, visit people, and enjoy being together with the Christian Community. Because most spiritual gifts are going to focus on encouraging and supporting the body of believers, many people will like have one of the Nurturing gifts as one of their top five or six gifts.
Please keep in mind that spiritual gifts are not personality traits. They are not reflective of skills, hobbies or professional employment. These are supernatural gifts provided to believers by the Holy Spirit for work within the body of believers. As you and I serve, our giftedness will come from a place of joy and not from a place of chore.
There are lots of online resources that help us understand the different gifts. My explanations, below, are an amalgamation of several sources.
Faith.
In 1 Corinthian 12:9, “And, to another faith.” Faith means persuasion, credence or moral conviction. It is an assurance and belief. The author of Hebrews wrote, “faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” The gift of faith involves a prompting from God to trust Him for the supernatural, to continue even when there are different circumstances.
A person with the gift of faith is “fully persuaded” that God has the ability to answer prayer and work everything according to His will. It is similar to Acts 20:22 when Paul was “drawn irresistibly” by the Holy Spirit to Macedonia. When a person with this gift learns about certain situations that seem impossible, God seems to nudge them to trust Him. This nudge is more than a quiet trust; it is an open, stepping out and affirming God in the situation. God gives them a sense of assurance in His ability and desire to work in the future. They feel free to ask God for His intervention without usurping His sovereignty.
The gift of Faith encourages people and the community. It gives hope to believers. It instills God’s confidence in God’s ability to help them reach God’s vision for them. It is the rudder of the Christian Community, reminding everyone that God is in control and does abandon those He loves.
Exhortation
The gift of Exhortation is the special ability to counsel or challenge others toward a healthy relationship with Jesus Christ. People who possess the gift of Exhortation will not avoid conflict. It is not that they love conflict. In fact, everything inside them may hate conflict. People with the gift of Exhortation feel a deep responsibility before God to challenge and encourage those that may be taking a path that does not honor the Lord, to correct their misguided choices.
In Acts 14:22, the Apostle Paul consistently serves to “strengthen the disciples and to encourage them to remain true to the faith." In Act 11:23, Barnabas encouraged the people of Antioch to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. Again, in 1 Thessalonians 2:12, the Apostle Paul describes their ministry among the Thessalonians as “encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory." When this gift is utilized appropriately, it will either be received by humble and contrite hearts, or the recipients will respond with hostility and transference. They may assert that the person using the gift of Exhortation is judgmental, critical or harsh.
Wisdom
In 1 Corinthians 12:8, Paul writes, “To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom.” The Biblical use of the word wisdom puts the emphasis on the thought process that takes the Scriptures and makes an intelligent application to a life situation. The result is insight which allows one to exercise sound judgment. To have the gift of wisdom then is to be able to apply Biblical, spiritual knowledge to living a Godly life. It is also being able to make scriptural truths relevant and practical in everyday living and decision-making. The “message of wisdom” is being able to know the mind of Christ and His word as it pertains to specific situations.
A person with this gift loves to read, meditate and commune with God, drawing wisdom that applies the Scriptures to everyday living. It is similar to a mechanic being able to hear a car run and know what it wrong and how to fix it. This gift allows a person to “hear” life situations and apply truth to the situation.
Discernment
Discernment is distinguishing between the spirits. Discernment means to be able to distinguish between right and wrong, good and evil. It is having a logical, judicial ability to think through issues. It is the ability to “discern” whether a saying, teaching, doctrine, written word, or event is good or evil; true or false; and if the source, meaning or intentions are of God, the person or Satanic deception. There is an ability to “read between the lines” and get to the truth of an issue. It's not just a "gut feeling," but a real knowing that something doesn't seem to be right . . . or, that it does. There is an urgency to pray and ask for wisdom.
A person with this gift can help counsel community members who are struggling with a moral dilemma, an addiction, or low self-esteem. Discerners prayerfully clear through the fog to the motivation behind actions and thoughts.
Shepherding
The translation of Paul’s gift listing in Ephesians 4:11 translates this into the word “pastor.” Having this gift doesn’t mean you should run out and become a church pastor, but a person with this gift will likely find joy in the training and caring for the needs of the Christian “group” moreso than individuals. Those with this gift are often patient, people-centered and love to pray for others. The shepherd will have a burden to see people grow and learn, and will be more concerned with doing for others than for what others do for them.
Those with this gift make good group leaders, people who mentor and provide spiritual guidance toward faith development. Those who are Shepherds share their own faith journey to make the way easier for others.
Helping
It would be easy to say that those with the gift of Helps really do help others. They jump in to help community members with practical aid, providing meals, lawn service, and meeting others needs in times of crisis. And, that’s probably true, but it goes deeper, too. Proverbs 25:11 says, “Their words are like apples of gold in settings of silver” to the spiritually weak. People with this gift are cheerful, confident, and joyous. They provide practical help, but also help people in faith just by being near people during the pain of life. They lead with mercy, grace and love.
Compassion
This gift is often referred to as the gift of Mercy. They move to action of behalf of those in need. People with this gift don’t pause to say, “Should I help?” they drop everything to help. It is a radical caring, leaving no choice but to serve others immediately. Because of this “drop and serve” giftedness, people with the gift of Compassion can identify distress in people. What makes them special is that they can provide comfort, and have the special ability to show empathy – to feel WITH others not just FOR them. They go to uncomfortable places knowing they may have to relieve some of their own pain as part of their service. They make decisions based on feelings rather than logic, and they are often quiet and low-key.
Those with Compassion reach into lives during the height of great emotion – sorrow and joy.
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