What gifts or abilities do you have lying within your soul that can possibly be used for the work of the ministry? Probably the most important quality of all is something called attitude.

Teachable Attitude

Attitude is a specific mix of mind, emotions and will or a mindset. It is a way of thinking, feeling and choosing. The attitude that you have in your soul will decide what God can do with you and of what use you can be in His work.

What kind of attitudes can a person have then? A good starting attitude is to be teachable.

This does not necessarily mean you must be intelligent enough to learn. We all have the ability to learn. Our brains are like sponges, ready and waiting to soak up knowledge and any information they can get.

However the amount of knowledge and information that you receive is determined by your attitude of being open to receive teaching. If you are looking for a ministry gift, then answer this question,

"How teachable are you?"

If you are not teachable then God can do very little with you. God must be able to teach you His ways. And you must be able to receive training for ministry, either directly from the Lord, or from those He puts into your life.

If not, then how can He possibly use you to be someone who can teach and influence others with the Word of God?

So if you lack this quality or gift of being teachable, then you should get it quickly or you will disqualify yourself from a lot of ministry possibilities.

Willingness to Give

You should also have a willingness to give or an other-orientation. This means that instead of looking inwards, you should have a tendency to give out to other people what is within you.

Many people want to absorb knowledge and build up information, developing these gifts and abilities so that they can be seen by others. Everyone will then say how wonderful they are, and there will be much coming in to meet their needs.

If this is your attitude in ministry then the Lord can do very little with you. As we saw in Fulfilling Your Ministry Calling, ministry is servanthood. It is service.

If you do not have the attitude of a servant then you are lacking one of the most essential gifts that is needed to do the work of the Lord.

Willingness to Change

It has taken you many years to become the way you are right now. You have received much programming throughout your life; studying, knowledge, training and mentorship. All that you have been through in your life is included in this.

But God could be calling you to something that requires you to move in a different direction to the way you have been programmed in your life. This means that you will have to change.

Do you have the gift of being teachable? Do you have the gift of other-orientation or giving out? Do you have the gift of being ready to change?

If you do not have some of these basic tendencies in your attitude, then you have limited the number of ministry possibilities that are open and available to you and that God can use you in.

Temperament

Temperament is based on the soul and is part of the whole realm of psychology. What exactly is temperament? Some of it you received even before you were born. Some of it was programmed into you by your parents.

Temperament can be changed by the experiences that you have in life. And over time, that temperament will determine what you look like, and the permanent condition of what kind of person you are.

We have taught on temperament in many different places. One specific teaching that deals with it is a series I did on the nature of man and human temperaments.

I have included these in a module called Psychology in Business and Ministry because it includes principles of both business and ministry.

The principles are explained well in that series, so I will only give a quick summary of the temperaments here. Then I will show you how they result in different personality types. Those personality types in turn equip us for certain kinds of ministry.

Remember that we are still looking here only at natural gifts. This is not the supernatural yet.

Two Main Parameters

Temperaments are based on two main parameters. These allow you to very quickly assess a person. The first parameter is Emotional Expression, which is the tendency of a person to express their feelings and show them outwardly.

The second one is Assertion, which is the tendency of a person to be strong willed and impose their will in their relationships with other people. There can be different levels of both emotional expression and assertiveness.

The simplest way of showing this is to use either high or low levels in both. If you illustrate these two as a horizontal and a vertical line, crossing over each other like a cross, then there are four possibly combinations available. You can see this in the following illustration.

Example: Temperamental Chart

As I taught in the series on temperaments, these four temperaments are known as follows.

1. The Analytical - low on both emotion and assertion.

2. The Amiable - high on emotion but low on assertion.

3. The Expressive - high on both emotion and assertion.

4. The Driver - low on emotion and high on assertion.

Each of these temperaments has different characteristics.

The analytical person is more introverted; very much a perfectionist and an intellectual type of person.

The amiable is more people oriented. He is friendly, and loves being with people and helping them.

The expressive is more goal-oriented, and thrives on excitement and challenges.

The driver is the typical 'boss' type who is very strong and work-oriented.

That is just a quick summary of the temperaments. If you want to know more, then you should get the Psychology in Business and Ministry series for that.

Throughout our lives, each of these temperaments can be developed and we can swing out of them. Even when a baby is born you can already see signs of temperament in that child. But that temperament can vary, depending on the influence of the parents.

As the child grows up, this can vary even more as a result of influences from other people. Eventually over time, as you grow up, you come to a place of being more comfortable in one area.

This usually involves a mix of temperaments. You have one main temperament dominating, but the side temperaments also having an influence.

As you move into one of these four, you will begin to develop a personality type. Personality is something that is a bit stronger than temperament because it is something that has become a characteristic of who you are.

Once again we are getting into natural gifts and abilities. Your personality type will give you a natural ability or gifting in a certain direction.

When it comes to ministry, you will find that you function more easily in a particular type of ministry, based on your personality type.

The Analytical Personality

When the analytical temperament is a major factor in a person's life, it leads to a specific type of personality. This temperament is often called the planner, because it holds strengths that are very good for planning of the future.

The analytical has foresight based on past experience. This allows the person to look forward to the future. He or she assesses possibilities based on past experience and can almost predict what will happen.

If something is done one way, then based on what was attempted before, there are several possibilities that can exist. So the analytical can look into the future and plan what kind of actions to take.

Because the analytical or planner is very good at this, he or she is likely to become an Instructor. This personality type is good at instructing or teaching others by imparting principles and knowledge to them.

So what kind of ministry is the analytical very capable of being involved in? He can do any ministry that involves the impartation of principles and knowledge. I am sure that you are immediately thinking of a teacher.

The analytical is more naturally gifted to becoming a teacher.

The Amiable Personality

The amiable person is also known as a cultivator, because he or she is able to cultivate relationships. Because the amiable is very people-oriented, he or she is able to develop relationships and friendships with people.

Because of this, the amiable personality type is known as the connector. So the analytical develops an instructor personality, but the amiable is more naturally a connector personality.

What kind of ministry is the amiable more naturally equipped to do? He is able to carry out a ministry that involves working with people and putting them together, particularly in group situations and relationships.

And so the amiable is very good in a pastoral or counseling environment, working with people and bringing them together to develop relationships.

We have not yet looked at the supernatural or the anointing of God or His calling. We are still only looking at natural temperaments.

You may be thinking that you already know what your ministry and calling are. But wait; there is a lot more to come.

The Expressive Personality

The expressive is also known as the developer, because he or she develops new things. Because the expressive is so very good at bringing out new things, he or she can take people from where they are and cause them to move into something new.

So the personality type of the expressive is the motivator. If you have ever felt that you would like to be a motivational speaker, the chances are that you are expressive in temperament and have developed the personality of a motivator.

What is the best ministry then for this type of personality?

Surely the best motivator is the prophet. The prophet always gives direction and adds new things, telling people what to do and getting them motivated to move into their ministry.

By now you might be thinking that you already have all the gifts you need. You may have decided that God has called you to be a teacher, a pastor or a prophet.

But there is one more temperament.

The Driver Temperament

The driver is also known as the organizer, because this temperament has a natural ability to take charge of a group of people and get them functioning together as one. So the personality type of the driver is the director.

What does a director do? He sits right at the top, and he organizes everyone and takes charge of them.

What type of ministry is the driver, organizer or director most capable of? He can do any ministry that involves strong leadership, structuring people, putting them in their place and setting up an entire organization.

Do you hear the word apostle? Is this not amazing? You can now easily see where your ministry is.

If you are a planner/instructor, then you are surely called to be a teacher.

If you are a cultivator/connector, there is no doubt about it; you are called to be a pastor.

If you are a developer/motivator, then you definitely have the prophetic calling.

And if you are the director, then obviously God has called you to be an apostle.

No, not necessarily.

Certainly He could have, and He can use these natural abilities. But it will take more than the abilities of the soul. We have not even considered the abilities of the spirit yet. We have only looked at the body and the soul so far.

You do not even need to be a Christian to have what we have looked at so far. Unbelievers have these exact same things. So how can God use that for the work of the ministry?

If that be the case, then the Lord could use anyone out there who does not even know Jesus as Savior, and call them to the work of the ministry.

I am sorry to burst your bubble, but hang in there and do not let these go yet. God is not finished with them yet and He will still use them.

I will show you as we continue, how God can take these very abilities and gifts that He has given you and use them for the work of the ministry.

But first we must consider the gifts and abilities that lie within the human spirit. This is what we will look at next.

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