How to Hear the Voice of God – Part 6

Secrets to Spiritual Small Talk

 

Join Ashley and Carlie Terradez for part 6 of How to Hear the Voice of God! Learn how to unpack the spiritual gifts God has given you!

Do you want to hear God’s voice more clearly? Everyone needs to hear what God is saying, and you don’t want to wait until you’re in a crisis to try and hear Him. As a believer and His child, you can hear God. You were created to hear Him. It’s part of your spiritual DNA!

Key Bible Verse: John 10:27-28, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”

Transcription

Carlie: Did you know that God has given us spiritual gifts and it’s his desire for us to operate in them? That’s right spiritual gifts are for you, so stay tuned and learn how to unpack them.

Announcer: Welcome to the Abundant Life program with Ashley and Carlie Terradez.

Ashley: Hello and welcome to Abundant Life. My name is Ashley Terradez. This is my wife, Carlie, and we’re so glad you’ve joined us today. We’ve got a great program for you today. We’re talking about the different gifts that God has given you as believers. We’re talking about the different offices, and the different spiritual gifts, and even the different motivational gifts. So this is a teaching that you might not have heard before, especially when it comes to the motivational gifts. But I’m excited because when we find out how God has made us, and what things is equipped us with, it’s amazing how we can step into those things and start having a boldness about operating in those gifts. Amen?

Carlie: Amen.

Ashley: So I’m excited. Our scripture here today is 1 Corinthians 12. So you want to look up 1 Corinthians 12, you’ve got your Bibles, 1 Corinthians 12. This is the Apostle Paul and I’m going to read a few verses here to explain and we’re going to do an overview, and this is really going to help you. So 1 Corinthians Chapter 12, verse four, starts off like this, “There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.” We believe those are the nine spiritual gifts. We’re going to cover those in a little bit. And they’re given by the Holy Spirit. As the Holy Spirit wills, He gives us these spiritual gifts to minister to others.

And then verse five it says, “There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord.” I believe these differences of ministries that Paul is talking about are the fivefold ministry offices. They’re the fivefold ministry offices, they’re found in Ephesians four. We’re going to look at those in a minute, and they’re the ministry offices, and they’re given by Jesus. Jesus sets us in the ministry office. And then verse six says, “And there are diversities of activities, diversity of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all.” That’s talking about God, the Father, when He made us, He made you a success and every person He makes, He puts something in their character. He put some gifts in their DNA, put some things in their soul, if you like, in their character. And these are the motivational gifts-

Carlie: Right.

Ashley: … that people call them.

Carlie: Actually says that in-

Ashley: Activities.

Carlie: … the next scripture-

Ashley: Okay.

Carlie: … in verse seven it says, “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to everyone for the common good.” So there is no believer that does not have spiritual gifts.

Ashley: Amen.

Carlie: Okay. It comes as part of the package. I know some people are thinking, “Well, what are my spiritual gifts? I don’t feel like I’ve ever operated in spiritual gifts.” Well, we can rest assured that everybody has spiritual gifts on the inside of them. The chances are that you’ve operated in spiritual gifts and you haven’t even realized it.

Ashley: Right.

Carlie: And I’m a big believer in just asking the Lord. Ask the Lord to show you, to reveal to you what gifts He’s seen operating in you, as the Holy spirit wills. It says this in verse 11, “But that one and very same Spirit works all these gifts, dividing to each one individually as He wills.” So it’s the Lord that gives us spiritual gifts and that is common for every believer. There is set in the body for the good of the body, for the good of others. And it’s the Holy Spirit that operates those as we need them. So they’re for everyone, in everyone and operated by the Holy Spirit.

Ashley: Amen. And we’re going to look at those spiritual gifts in a minute, as well as the manifestation of the motivational gifts. We’re going to look at those as well. The first thing I want to clear up real quickly, it seems Paul covers it here in 1 Corinthians Chapter 12, are the five offices. The five, some people call it the fivefold ministry. Some people call it, people need some fivefold ministry.

Carlie: That’s not real friendly.

Ashley: No, it’s not very friendly. But here, the fivefold ministry. We’re going to show you these real quickly. These were in Ephesians four, so if you’ve got your Bibles, Ephesians Chapter four, starting in verse 11. So Ephesians Chapter four, verse 11, it says, “He himself,” talking about Jesus, “He himself, Jesus, gave some.” Now this is the first thing. Now people get bent out of shape about this, but I’m just going to say it. These offices aren’t for everyone. Some people are set in these ministry offices. Now unfortunately, these ministry offices have been type of glorified in the body of Christ.

Carlie: Right.

Ashley: They’re the pulpit ministry positions. They’re like the stage ministry position. They’re the glamorous ministry positions. If I’m not a fivefold minister, I haven’t really arrived.

Carlie: And people put their value in that, don’t they?

Ashley: Yeah, they think it’s, and if they find out that some people think that they’ve pushed themselves into a fivefold ministry office, when Jesus didn’t put them in that office-

Carlie: Right.

Ashley: … and that’s a dangerous position to be. Let me tell you this. The fivefold ministry positions are actually the least glamorous. They’re actually the biggest servants.

Carlie: That’s right.

Ashley: The whole idea of the fivefold ministry is to equip the saints. In fact, it says that, it’s talked about the equipping of the saint, for the work of the ministry. So really the fivefold offices really are serving. They’re the back line, serving the body of Christ, equipping them to do the works of the ministry to do the frontline work. So we’ve got it back to front. In fact, I believe the devil sold this lie on Pentecost and when the church started to expand. He’s like, “How can I shut this down? I’ve got like 2,000, 3,000, 10,000 Jesus walking around, basically, when the Holy Spirit come upon the people.” And he sold this lie that, “Oh, unless you’ve got a position up the front, unless you’re the preacher, unless you’re the person on the stage at the front, you can’t do the work.” The congregation just sits and watches the preacher do the work.

Carlie: Like a show.

Ashley: Like a show and that is not how it’s meant to be. God designed it, Jesus designed it so that the fivefold ministry gifts would actually equip the saints to do the work. So it’s the people in the congregation that are meant to actually be doing the ministry work. They’re the ones who need to be laying hands on the sick and seeing them recover. They’re the ones that may be telling people-

Carlie: That’s right.

Ashley: … about Jesus and seeing people born again. So if you’re in the fivefold ministry or not, that’s not the issue. The issue is, are you following God and are you doing what God’s called you to do?

Carlie: Amen.

Ashley: Amen.

Carlie: So gifts are for everyone, but the offices here that we’re talking about for the ministry offices, offer just to select-

Ashley: Yeah, Jesus-

Carlie: … group of people.

Ashley: … puts these in. You don’t choose. You don’t get to choose, I think I’m going to be an apostle.

Carlie: Well you do sign up for it.

Ashley: I think I’m going to be a pastor.

Carlie: It’s not an application form or something.

Ashley: No. And usually, a lot of the time, it’s Jesus puts you in that gift. You don’t even realize it until afterwards. You go, “I think God’s called me to be a pastor.”

Carlie: You just find yourself doing it.

Ashley: You find yourself doing it. So these are the five offices and I’ve heard one part, I think it was Dr. Lester Summer did it with a hand illustration, and it type of helps a little bit. But anyway, this is the first, and I’ll show you that in a minute. Stay tuned, you get my hand-

Carlie: It’s not just a puppet show.

Ashley: … in a little puppet show illustration. But the first one is this is Ephesians four, verse 11, “He himself gave some to be apostles.” So the first position is an apostle. There’s the spiritual office of an apostle. Then there’s the ministry of the apostle. Then there’s the ministry office of a prophet. There’s only a prophet. Then there’s a ministry office of an evangelist. People are evangelists. And then there’s ministry office of a pastor and a teacher. Some people argue, “Well, is it pastor and teacher? Like pastors have to teach and teach and pastor, is that one? Is it really four offices or is there five offices?” You know what? I don’t think it’s worth arguing about. I believe there are some pastors, there’s some teachers. There’s definitely some teachers who aren’t pastors. But really if you’re a pastor, you should be able to teach.

So, that’s okay. They go hand-in-hand. And so they’re the five office gifts or the five offices of the ministry. And you see in verse 12 is, “For the equipping of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.” So the whole purpose of these fivefold ministry offices is to equip the body of Christ for the work of the ministry.

Carlie: Amen. That’s one of the things that we’re actually passionate about in Terradez Ministries. It’s our tagline.

Ashley: Our tagline, if you like it, at Terradez Ministries is empowering believers in the promises of God. That’s what we love to do. Whether that be here in Colorado Springs, making these television programs, whether that’s on social media, whether that’s around the world holding healing crusades, holding meetings, preaching in churches, whatever it is. We love to empower believers in the promises of God. We love to do this. This verse, we love this verse, “Equipping the saints for the work of the ministry.”

We believe the people are meant to be doing the work. And when we get to churches we’ll often say this and 99% of the time the pastors will say amen. But if the pastors don’t say amen, we’re in trouble. But we’ll stand up in a church and say, “Your pastor isn’t meant to be the one doing all the work or the ministry.”

Carlie: Right.

Ashley: He’s meant to be the one equipping you and motivating you-

Carlie: Empowering the congregation.

Ashley: … to empowering you to do the work of the ministry. And like I said 99% of the time we get an amen because that’s their hearts as well.

Carlie: Right.

Ashley: So they’re the five ministry offices. I did promise you a hand illustration. Okay. Now I’m going to warn you, this is disclaimer right here. I did not come up with this. Like I said, I believe it was Dr. Lester Summer who did it first.

Carlie: Oh no, if you preach it you have to come up with it.

Ashley: No, I didn’t come up with this and it’s pretty cheesy. Okay.

Carlie: Yeah, it works though.

Ashley: But here we go. Here we go. So you got the apostle, okay. They’re the sent one. There the one that sticks out. They’re the sent one. They’re the ones, the apostle we’ll work with the other four ministry gifts. So the apostles work closely as pastors, closely as teachers, closely as evangelists, closely as prophets. In fact, apostles will often start off as pastors or teachers or prophets, and then they’ll grow into that apostle gift or that apostolic calling. They won’t often start out just as apostles, they’ll start out as pastors and then move into apostles or start out as prophets and move into apostles.

Carlie: And in some translations it says they’re special messengers.

Ashley: Special messengers.

Carlie: Of a particular message.

Ashley: Sent ones. Special messengers. Sent ones. One of our spiritual mentors, likes Andrew Womack, we grew up in his Bible college and he started off definitely as a teacher. But there was a point in his life where he changed from being a teacher and then he operated a lot in the prophetic. And now, much more of an apostle. He’s a sent one. They believe he’s the one with the special message of grace. God set him up as an apostle and I believe Andrew Womack-

Carlie: He’s a clearly defined message.

Ashley: … Yeah, I believe Andrew Womack is an apostle. He’s not a pastor. He’s not an evangelist. He’s not a teacher. He’s not a prophet. He’s an apostle, but he can definitely teach. He can pastor. He pastored three churches. He can prophetise and he can evangelize. He sees lots of people born again as [crosstalk].

Carlie: It’s because the apostle touched the others.

Ashley: The apostle works closely with the other four ministry gifts. So that’s the apostle, the thumb. It sticks out. It’s the sent one. The second one, I’ll get this right. The second one is the prophet. The prophet and he points the way. I told you it was cheesy. I told you. But you can remember it. The apostle points the way. Okay and he’s the one who points the way. He sees things. He calls things in the future and he’ll often reveal things to people. He’s the prophet. He’s the visionary. He leads the way.

The evangelist is the middle finger. I got to be careful how I say this one. The evangelist… My demonstration. The evangelist is the middle finger and the evangelist sticks out further than the others. See the evangelist, he’s going out. He’s reaching out further than the others.

Carlie: He reaches the uppermost parts.

Ashley: He reaches out to the uttermost parts. The pastor is married to the church. See this, the pastor’s married to the church.

Carlie: Ring finger.

Ashley: The ring finger, the pastor. We’ve got the apostle, the prophet, the evangelist and the pastor. And the last one I told you, this was cheesy. Be warned. You might want to turn off now.

Carlie: This is the cheesiest.

Ashley: The teacher, you guys knew you’d see that, it teaches you.

Carlie: Why does the teacher stick a finger in your ear?

Ashley: I don’t know. Whoever made that up obviously-

Carlie: Because you listen to it?

Ashley: … You listen to the teacher.

Carlie: I don’t know.

Ashley: I don’t know. Anyway, so there you go.

Carlie: Don’t jam it right in there, it might come out.

Ashley: I know. So there, that’s the fivefold ministry gifts. Let’s move on quickly because that is very cheesy and if my kids see this, they’ll tell me off, “Dad, that was so cheesy.” But hey, you’re not going to forget it now, are you?

Carlie: Right.

Ashley: The apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher. They’re the five ministry gifts for the equipping of the saints. You know what, Jesus will set you in those gifts. It’s up to Him and you don’t have to beg and plead. You just have to… If God’s put you in that position, then He’s put you in that position. You don’t have to wear it as a badge. Please don’t get a card made up, Apostle so-and-so, Evangelists so-and-so or Prophet so-and-so. People will know you’re that by your fruit. People will know you by your fruit. And as you go around and you start exercising those things, people realize, “Yeah, this person’s a prophet or this person’s evangelist.”

Carlie: Exactly. When you start operating in these areas, people do, they see you by your fruit. They’ll see you by your actions. They’ll see you by how you carry yourself and they will start calling you out on which office they see you in. So just because you have it on your badge or you put the title in front of your name, doesn’t make you a pastor. Doesn’t make you an apostle.

Ashley: That’s right.

Carlie: It’s Jesus that determines that. Just because we add that word in front of our name, doesn’t self appointed. We don’t self appointed to these offices. It’s Jesus that does that.

Ashley: Amen.

Carlie: So while it’s not wrong to have your business card or a name badge with Apostle so-and-so on it, we need to make sure it’s Jesus that’s appointing us to that office and not ourselves.

Ashley: I heard one time someone had a business card and it had on it Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist.

Carlie: Evangelist. It’s like they couldn’t decide.

Ashley: Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, A-P-E.

Carlie: Oh my goodness.

Ashley: Anyways.

Carlie: No, no. That’s pretty cheesy, too.

Ashley: So anyway, well let’s move on real quickly-

Carlie: Please do.

Ashley: … before I get into trouble here. So that’s the five ministry gifts and like I said, there was nothing glamorous about it. They’re the greatest servants and Jesus will set you apart into those offices as He chooses. And if you’re in those offices, remember to the much is given, much is required. There’s more responsibility and you’re going to be held to it, more accountable because you are serving the saints. You’re equipping the saints, the work of the ministry.

The next one is the seven motivational gifts. This is what I want to cover here. This is where Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12:6, he says, “Diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all.” If you study this out, it’s talking about diversity of activity. It’s talking about motivational gifts and it is the same God, it’s talking about God the Father here, who works all in all. You know when God, the Father made you, when He knitted you together in your mother’s womb, He gave you certain motivational gifts, part of your character, if you like, and that’s like in your DNA. They’re not spiritual gifts. They’re not offices. They’re part of your DNA. And God, the Father work these in when He made you.

So there’s seven of these, and these are found in Romans 12. So if you want to go to Romans 12, verse six, Romans 12 verse six puts it this way, “Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us.” Okay, these are free gifts. These are worked in by God, the Father. These aren’t something that we earn or anything. “Let us use them.” So it’s saying use your gifts, use your motivational gifts, part of your character, use them. And there’s seven of these.

The first one is prophecy. This is different from the office of a prophet. This is prophecy. This is someone who’s a visionary. This is someone who’s a leader. Now the fascinating thing with these gifts is, you can see people who aren’t even born again, operating in these gifts because they’re part of your DNA. They’re part of your character. They’re not spiritual gifts. They’re not offices. They’re part of your character. And whether you get born again or not, people have certain gifts or bents to certain subject-

Carlie: Right.

Ashley: … or like natural ability.

Carlie: Because we were all made in God’s image, so we all have part of His DNA, whether we acknowledge Him or not.

Ashley: It’s like natural ability.

Carlie: Yeah.

Ashley: It’s like a natural ability-

Carlie: We have the characteristics of our Father.

Ashley: … Yep. So you’ll see people who aren’t born again actually… You’ll say, “Oh yeah, this person’s got this gift or this person’s got this gift.” So prophecy here is not talking about the office of a prophet. It’s not talking about prophesying. It’s talking about visionary, leadership. It’s talking about… So you can look at people, in our day now we have like someone like Elon Musk, okay? I don’t know what his faith is, but he sees the future. He sees things in the future and he’s able to-

Carlie: He’s very innovative.

Ashley: … very innovative. Innovative?

Carlie: It’s quite a tongue twister, isn’t it?

Ashley: You say that.

Carlie: Innovative.

Ashley: I’m not going it. He’s an inventor. He likes to see things in the future. There’s people like that. You could argue that like Steve Jobs had this. People who see things, see problems and they actually solve problems. They can see into the future. It’s like they can expect things to come. They’re visionaries. They’re very out there, visionaries. And sometimes they can be hard to work with because they’re so out there, they don’t, we have a concept of time and that’s part of their gift. So, it’s prophecy.

The second one we’ve got here is ministry. Okay. Now this word ministry, if you study this out is actually talking about serving. It’s been a servant. So the ministry of a servant, someone who’s a servant, who loves to serve, loves to help people, love to serve and you can see these people. They’re naturally people that like to serve and like to help and like to organize things and like to work things out. That’s the second one.

The third one we’ve got here is teacher. It says here, “He who teaches,” verse seven. He who teaches in teaching. There’s some people that just love to teach. They don’t necessarily have to have the job as a school teacher-

Carlie: Right.

Ashley: … or a lecturer or something like that. But they could just be someone who can actually take something difficult and explain it in a way that you can understand it.

Carlie: Make it simple.

Ashley: Make it simple. They’re a teacher. Anyone could take a difficult subject and explain it to you, they have the gift of a teacher. And sometimes they’re operating in jobs that you wouldn’t think they a teacher from the outside, but when you get to know them like, “Yeah, this person, they explained, I understand it now.” They might be setting investments, but they say to you, “This is how it works. Oh, I get it now. I’ve always been confused about that.” Or whatever it is, whatever their job is, they can teach and they can show you how to do things, if they’re operating in their motivational gift. So that’s the third one, teacher.

Then we’ve got the fourth one here, this is exhorter, someone who exhorts. It says, “He who exhorts, in exhortation.” They’re an encourager. They’re someone who just loves to encourage people. Again, there’re these people that encourage people, they’re not even born again.

Carlie: Right.

Ashley: You just get around them, you feel better about yourself.

Carlie: Amen. These are the positive people, that cheerleader type people, the coaches, right? And often you’ll find them in those types of roles because they gravitate to really coming alongside people and helping them work through things and overcome some. And they’re just a breath of fresh air to be around.

Ashley: Amen. They really are. Yep, coaches, people like that. People that just love to exalt. People that just love to encourage people. People who love to see other people succeed.

Carlie: Right.

Ashley: They’ll make you feel better about yourself. I’m sure some of you have had bosses like that, have had coworkers like that. They’re encouragers, they’re exalters. Let them exalt. Let them encourage and exhort, praise God.

Carlie: Yep.

Ashley: That’s part of their DNA. Then you’ve got here, the next one, “He who gives with liberality.” There’s some people who just love to give. They love to give financially and if you study this out, talking now financial giving with liberality, with freedom. Some people have just got the gift of making money, they’re entrepreneurial, and they just have a gift of making money. Why do you think they had that motivational gift to make money? It’s because they have a motivational gift to give-

Carlie: Right.

Ashley: … and God gives seed to the sower. So they’ve a motivational gift to give away money-

Carlie: Philanthropy.

Ashley: … Philanthropy.

Carlie: Yeah, that one.

Ashley: Thank you. I let Carlie do the hard word. I can’t say them well, so anyway. That, people have that gift. They have a gift of entrepreneurism. They can actually start businesses. They can actually make money. They just have a knack of doing it. That’s part of their DNA. That’s part of who they are. Some people they just, they would run of that idea. All they want to do is, they want to clock in and clock out. They’re employees. Some people, no they want to actually go out and make things happen, they’re entrepreneurial. And often those people, that motivational gift is because they have the gift of giving-

Carlie: Right.

Ashley: … and they need seed. God’s going to give seed to the sower.

Carlie: Amen.

Ashley: So it says, “Let them give freely. And then he who leads with diligence.” If you look, if you study this word, leads out is talking about someone who puts things into practice. Someone who rules. Someone who can actually delegate, someone who can manage. We’re talking about managers. We’re talking about your CEOs. We’re talking about your, or your COOs probably, your chief operating officers. People who can organize things.

Carlie: They can see the systems. They can see the nuts and bolts. They can take an idea from a visionary and know how to give it legs and make it happen.

Ashley: Definitely. They get their motivational gift of prophecy and the motivational gift of leading, it really helps. So the other leaders are those that can make things happen, they’re systems people. They want to make things happen like that. Let them lead with diligence. They’re going to be diligent in their leading. That’s how they do it. And then the last one here is, “He who shows mercy.” And in most translations, a lot of translations it’ll say love. Someone who has the gift of love. Someone who has the gift of mercy with all cheerfulness. There is some people that just love and that’s all they do. They just love people. Maybe they work in charity, maybe they’re carers. They’ve got a caring position. But they just love people and they love to show mercy to people. They don’t judge them.

Carlie: That’s right.

Ashley: They don’t look down on them. They just love them.

Carlie: These are the people that love the unlovely.

Ashley: That’s good, yep.

Carlie: I mean, this is not just the love that you have like a brotherly love. But you often find these people in a social action type environments. They’ll be the ones that are working with the homeless. They’ll be ones with the working with the addicts. They’ll be the ones that are hugging on the lepers.

Ashley: Right.

Carlie: Right. They’re loving the unlovely.

Ashley: The mother Teresas.

Carlie: Yep.

Ashley: They’re people… Yeah and we see that today. People do that, they love working for charities.

Carlie: Huge capacity for caring.

Ashley: They have capacity. We know people like this and it’s really funny to… When you start to understand these things, it’s really funny to watch and say, “Oh, that person’s got this gift.”

Carlie: You start to see these things in people.

Ashley: And maybe that’s you, maybe you’ve got that gift of love. You just love people. People say, “Stop loving people. They’re unlovable.” Or, “They need to be led or they need to be motivated, the exalted, whoever.” No, you just stick in your lane what you meant to do and let the other people do what they’re meant to do.

Carlie: We need everyone in the body, right?

Ashley: Amen.

Carlie: I mean it actually says that before these things are listed, it says it, in verse five, “So we being many are one body in Christ-

Ashley: Amen.

Carlie: … and all are parts of one another.”

Ashley: Amen.

Carlie: We need, every one of these is important.

Ashley: Amen.

Carlie: It’s not that there’s one that I can’t say to the hand, I don’t need you or the foot to the head. I mean, everybody is included in this. Amen. Everybody has a value. But staying in your lane, don’t try, if you are a hand, don’t try to be a foot.

Ashley: Amen.

Carlie: Right?

Ashley: That’s good.

Carlie: That’s important.

Ashley: That’s really good.

Carlie: Know what God’s called you to do.

Ashley: And back to 1 Corinthians 12:6, when Paul starts explaining these three categories in 1 Corinthians 12:6 he says, “God works, God the Father works all in all.” Every person has these motivational gifts. They may have more than one, but every person has these motivational gifts. In fact, I’ve got it written this way, God created every person to be a success. We talk about predestination. People get freaked out about predestination. Are some people predestined to be saved? Are people predestined to damnation and everything else? This is what I believe. I’m very simple. It’s what I believe and I believe I can prove this in the scriptures, and I believe this is the truth. Every person is predestined for success.

Carlie: Amen.

Ashley: God made everyone a success. God never ever made hell for people. God made hell for the demons and the devil. And that’s why it says the hell has to expand its mouth to take on people. God made everyone a success. God made everyone to live for eternity. God made everyone to live with Him. Now unfortunately, people choose not to live with God. And since Adam and Eve, sin has entered the world and people choose not to live with God. They choose not to live in fellowship with God. But that doesn’t change the fact that God made everyone a success. God predestined you to be successful.

Carlie: Amen.

Ashley: And one of the ways He gave you success was putting these gifts, these motivational gifts, characteristics in your soul when He made you, in your DNA so that you have these natural gifts. It could be one, it could be more than one. But everybody has some of these gifts. So ask the Lord, say, “Lord, what gifts do I have? What motivational gifts do I have?” And you don’t have to lean on these too heavily. Maybe you’re not a hundred percent sure, that’s fine. But if you could find out what one of these seven motivational gifts God, the Father has worked into your DNA, it may help you on career choices. It may help you realize, “Ah, that’s why I’m always thinking about starting business, always thinking about making money, because I’ve got the gift of giving.” That’s what happened to me. I was like, people said< “Ashley, you’re not very spiritual. All you want to do is start businesses and make money.” I was like, “Well I love to give.” “Well you just like giving for selfish reasons because it makes you feel good.” Oh I’m sorry but-

Carlie: Isn’t that just the devil though?

Ashley: … Oh yeah, yeah.

Carlie: He’ll point out and get you into condemnation about using the very gift that God has put in you because you need that in the body.

Ashley: Yeah and that’s exactly what happened. I’ve got a friend and she just loves people. Man, she will hug on people and love people, and I’ve seen people just break down with her, getting healed just by her hugging them. And she says, “People keep telling me I need to be stronger with people and I need to tell people”-

Carlie: Stop crying as much.

Ashley: … Yeah. Don’t cry so much and tell people what they’ve got to do and make sure that people and this, that, and the other. And basically people telling her you’ve got to lead and you’ve got to do these things. No, she just has to stay in their lane. And God has created her to have that gift of mercy. God’s created her that gift of love and that’s her motivational gift. And when she operates in it, it’s amazing how people get set free because that’s so anointing. That’s part of her makeup, if you like. That’s part of her DNA. And then some people they get in a situation all they want to do is organize things and line things out and organize things say, “Stop it. We just want to be loved on.” No, their job is to organize things.

Carlie: Yeah.

Ashley: And we need all seven of these motivational gifts operating, because otherwise things will be a mess. If everyone’s a visionary, everyone will be out there trying to make new things happen.

Carlie: But nothing would get done.

Ashley: Nothing would get done. If everyone’s a leader and an organizer and no one’s doing the loving, everyone would get bent out of shape. If no one’s exalting, no one’s encouraging people.

Carlie: Everyone would be depressed and discouraged.

Ashley: Everyone would get discouraged and depressed. So that’s why we need of these gifts. These motivational gifts. They’re a beautiful thing. And what happened for me was when I found out my motivational gifts, it really helped me to realize, “Oh, this is the areas God’s going to use me in.” And this was unpacked to me. And up until that point, I lived up in condemnation a bit. I lived in guilt. Man, I just love making money because I must be carnal. I must have a love of money. No, it wasn’t a love of money I had. It was the love of giving. I had a motivational gift of giving, I still do. And that’s one of the reasons why I like making extra money, so I can give extra. And maybe that’s you, maybe you had this thing where you just love starting businesses, or you just love making extra money. That’s because you may have the gift of giving.

Carlie: Right.

Ashley: And you need to use that freely with all liberality. Maybe you’re the type person that loves organizing things. We’ve got someone who works for us and she just loves to organize. We gave her a bunch of stuff the other day-

Carlie: And I was praying in that gift because it’s not mine.

Ashley: … And it’s not mine either. We gave her a bunch of stuff the other day, next thing you know we came in there and everything’s organized-

Carlie: Everything’s perfect.

Ashley: … in its place. Everything’s got a tag. Everything got a label. It’s like amazing. That would be like my worst nightmare.

Carlie: Mine too.

Ashley: And then there’s some people that visionaries. They see things in the future. They say, “This is a problem we’re going to have in the future. This is something that we’re going to have to do in the future.” And we need all these motivational gifts. So ask the Lord, say, “Lord, what are my motivational gifts? What did you make me with?” And He’ll show you and then it will, like I said, it can help you with some of the decisions you make.

Carlie: Yep.

Ashley: So we’ve covered-

Carlie: It’s very practical. What are those… Very practical, isn’t it?

Ashley: … It’s very practical. So, so far we’ve covered the five ministry offices. They’re the offices that Jesus places people into. You don’t get to decide. We don’t get to decide. Jesus will place you in one of those fivefold ministry gifts. It’s some, it’s not everyone, it’s some and it’s for the equipping of the saints. And then we’ve also looked at the seven motivational gifts. And these are what God, the Father’s built in you when he made you, when He knitted you together in your mother’s womb, He built these motivational gifts in you as part of your DNA, as part of your character because He set you up for success.

Carlie: Amen.

Ashley: He put you in the ministry offices so that you can equip the saints. The seven motivational gifts so you can be a success. And next time, we’re going to look at the nine spiritual gifts, and these nine spiritual gifts are so you can minister to others and you can set other people free. They’re powerful. So I’m looking forward to coming back and teaching these nine spiritual gifts-

Carlie: Amen.

Ashley: … praise, God. They’re for everyone.

Carlie: Amen. And you might be thinking, “Well, what has this got to do with me hearing the voice of God more clearly?” We’ve been carrying on a whole series here. But in order to discover what God has put on the inside of us, it comes through relationship.

Ashley: Amen.

Carlie: We can start to see these characteristics unfold in our life, but remember God has made you unique. He’s given you unique combination of gifts and a talent and a calling and purpose for your life. And that comes, that discovery of that, comes through learning to listen to Him and being in an intimate relationship with Him. Amen. Learning to hear the voice of God and operate in everything that He has for us.

Ashley: Amen, and definitely the spiritual gifts. Basically the spiritual gifts are hearing the voice of God and put it into action. So you’re going to want to come back and join us next time for the nine spiritual gifts. They’re going to really bless you, praise God. But we’re out of time this time, so come back, join us next time for the spiritual gift.

Carlie: Amen.

Ashley: And remember, don’t just settle for living a normal life, when God wants you to live the abundant life. We’ll see you next time.

Announcer: To order your copy of this teaching visit our website, TerradezMinistries.com, or call us at (719) 600-3344.

Ashley: Hey, thanks for joining us today. We’ve been looking at the different gifts. We’ve been looking at how we can hear the voice of God more clearly, and we want you to get the whole series about this. We’ve only been able to teach a little bit on these TV programs. We’re limited for time, but we have these resources available. They’re on your screen. They’re going to unpack some of what we’ve talked today in greater detail, in greater depth. So it would really be good for you to get the whole series so you don’t miss any of this. These are things that are going to help you be successful in the Lord, praise God. God has made you a success and He wants you to unpack that. So get these resources today.

Announcer: To order your copy of this teaching, visit our website, TerradezMinistries.com, or call us at (719) 600-3344. We want to thank the friends and partners of Terradez Ministries. Your faithful financial support enables us to produce the Abundant Life program and spread the good news of God’s love around the world. If you have been blessed by this program, we invite you to donate and partner with Terradez Ministries. Visit our website, TerradezMinistries.com and become a partner today. Coming up next on the Abundant Life program…

Ashley: You can pray and say God help me to operate in these spiritual gifts and the Holy Spirit will give you these gifts as He wills. Don’t try and pick and choose what gifts to operate in. Just let the Lord give you these gifts as you need them. And the best way to start practicing is hearing the voice of God and start practicing by everyday life.