Spiritual Gifts

By James D. Quiggle

Every Christian is told they have a spiritual gift; and it is true, every Christian does have a spiritual gift, or gifts. My questions as a young believer were, “What is a spiritual gift; Where do I get one; How do I know I have one?” Adequate answers were not always available.
My most important questions were, “How do I use a spiritual gift; What does a spiritual gift do once I have it?”
This book answers those questions. The chapters are:
1. What is a Spiritual Gift?
2. Finding and Improving One’s Spiritual Gifts.
3. Definitions of Various Spiritual Gifts.
4. Spiritual Gifts Inventory/Assessment.
5. Analyzing the Inventory/Assessment.
6. Sample Analyses.
If you want to discover your spiritual gift or gifts and know how to put it/them to use, this is the book for you. Your questions will be answered simply and to the point, and your search for your spiritual gift will find satisfaction. Teachers and pastors will find the book a good resource for their teaching ministries.

• Language: English
• Publisher: James D. Quiggle
• Release date: Jun 12, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311577092

James D. Quiggle

James D. Quiggle was born in 1952 at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. He grew up in Kansas and the Texas Panhandle. In the early 1970s he joined the United States Air Force. At his first permanent assignment in Indian Springs, Nevada in a small Baptist church, the pastor introduced him to Jesus and soon after he was saved. Over the next ten years those he met in churches from the East Coast to the West Coast, mature Christian men, poured themselves into mentoring him. In the 1970s he was gifted with the Scofield Bible Course from Moody Bible Institute. As he completed his studies his spiritual gift of teaching became even more apparent. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Bethany Bible College during the 1980s while still in the Air Force. Between 2006–2008, after his career in the Air Force and with his children grown up, he decided to continue his education. He enrolled in Bethany Divinity College and Seminary and earned a Master of Arts in Religion and a Master of Theological Studies.As an extension of his spiritual gift of teaching, he was prompted by the Holy Spirit to begin writing books. James Quiggle is now a Christian author with over fifty commentaries on Bible books and doctrines. He is an editor for the Evangelical Dispensational Quarterly Journal published by Scofield Biblical Institute and Theological Seminary.He continues to write and has a vibrant teaching ministry through social media.

Book preview

Spiritual Gifts

James D. Quiggle

Spiritual Gifts

Copyright © 2015 James D. Quiggle. All rights reserved.

Published by James D. Quiggle, 2015.

The cover background was downloaded from hqwallbase.com. The rainbow starburst was chosen to represent symbolically the many spiritual gifts coming from one origin and source, God the Holy Spirit.

Dedication

I dedicate this book to every person

—authors, teachers, pastors, friends—

from whom, over my forty-one years in Christ,

I have gleaned a little here and a little there

concerning spiritual gifts.

Contents

Copy and Distribution Permissions

Introduction

1. What is a Spiritual Gift?

2. Finding and Improving One’s Spiritual Gifts

3. Definitions of Various Spiritual Gifts

4. Spiritual Gifts Inventory/Assessment

5. Analyzing the Inventory Assessment

6. Sample Analyses

Copy and Distribution Permissions

This material is copyrighted to prevent misuse or abuse. Those persons using this material in their teaching/preaching ministry may copy and distribute as described below to an individual, or to a specific group of individuals, such as those participating in a Sunday School or Bible Study group, only the Spiritual Gifts Inventory Assessment Sheet and the Inventory Assessment questions, if such copying and distribution is for the sole purpose of use with the Spiritual Gifts Inventory Assessment Sheet.

From chapter three, a particular spiritual gifts definition, with its accompanying skills and scripture list, may be copied and distributed to an individual, if such copying and distribution is for the sole purpose of explaining to that individual the result and analysis of the Spiritual Gifts Inventory Assessment Sheet which he/she has completed. The whole of chapter three, or significant portions of chapter three, or definitions not used to explain the result and analysis of the Spiritual Gifts Inventory Assessment Sheet, may not be copied.

No other sections of the book are authorized to be copied. The entire book may not be copied and/or distributed. Large portions of the book, such as a list, table, paragraph, section, or chapter, may not be copied, except as authorized above.

I remind the teacher and pastor who may kindly think of using this book in their ministry, that the cost of this work has been kept as low as possible so every interested teacher, preacher, student, and church member may afford a personal copy.

Introduction

No one who has used and improved the gift of teaching (my gift) for a long time may lay claim to complete originality in a work on spiritual gifts. During the necessary work of improving the use of one’s gift, much has been heard and seen and read and pondered. I can lay claim to originality only here and there.

I did create the first chapter just for this book, but imbedded within it are things from my great friend and former pastor, David R. Hollingsworth (d. 2012), who started me on this path many years ago with some definitions of various spiritual gifts. Chapter two is my own creation. At least as much as any experienced Bible teacher can lay claim to original thinking. Chapter six is wholly my creation, being samples of analyses I have done for Christians who have completed the Inventory and Assessment.

Chapters three, four, and five contain material borrowed, amended, deleted, added to, or otherwise changed by me over the preceding forty years. I found this material in discarded notes from long-gone Bible teachers and pastors in various churches I attended, out of old books (some really old) I owned, or on the internet as the world moved into the twenty-first century. My hunch is that those persons I borrowed from had themselves borrowed from others. Recapturing those borrowed sources is no longer possible, and I apologize to whoever (yet living) may be offended by being unrecognized for their original work.

A brief review of the definitions will quickly reveal the so-called sign gifts are not included: tongues, healing, miracles, a word of prophecy, and any other such recognized by Pentecostals or Charismatics as belonging within this category. I make no apology for being a cessationist. The purpose of this work is informative, not polemical; therefore the subject of cessation or not is not addressed. I suspect those organizations professing or promoting these gifts have adequate means of assessment and definition for their particular view of spiritual gifts. What is in the book will help any Christian of any denominational persuasion.

I do not recommend the Spiritual Gifts Inventory Assessment be taken by a believer who is young in the Lord—whether newly saved or poorly instructed—nor a believer young in physical years.

My recommendation to the young in years is wait to take the Inventory Assessment until you have graduated from high school and have a year’s experience in college or trade/artisan school, and regular adult attendance in a local church.

My recommendation for the newly saved is get more experience within your local church before taking the Inventory Assessment. Learn about the Bible and your Christian life by regularly attending services and Bible studies. Try your hand