A Body in Balance

Discovering Your Motivational Gift - Prophecy

Imagine you’re walking down a New York City sidewalk on a cold winter morning, coffee in hand, mind on a hundred different things. You step into the crosswalk, hear a fire truck, glance up—and hit a patch of ice. In an instant your feet fly out, your coffee launches, and your elbow slams back to break the fall. Painful? Yes. Expensive coffee wasted? Even worse.

But notice what "doesn’t" happen: - Your ears don’t say, “That was the feet’s fault. I’m out.” - Your eyes don’t complain, “If everyone had just listened to me, we wouldn’t be in this mess.” - Your elbow doesn’t moan, “I always take the hit!” Every part of your body instinctively works together for the good of the whole.

That’s the picture Scripture gives us of the church. “The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ.” — 1 Corinthians 12:12 (NLT) Christ is the Head. We, the church, are His body—His visible presence here on earth. And just as your physical body has specific parts - for specific functions, Christ’s body is made up of uniquely gifted believers.

Motivational Gifts: What Drives You To Serve?
Romans 12:6–8 lists what many call the *motivational gifts*—those inner drives that God places within each of us that direct how we naturally serve. While we may operate in several gifts, most of us have a primary motivation that compels how we respond.

In an illustration - I love dearly - Dr. Charles Stanley describes a birthday party where the cake is dropped on the way to the table. Seven people react seven different ways

• The "Prophet" says: “You were a little careless there, weren’t you?” (concerned with truth and correction)
• The "Mercy-giver": “Oh, I’m so sorry, are you okay?” (wants to remove embarrassment and pain)
• The "Administrator": “You get the broom, you move the chairs, let’s clean this up.” (takes charge)
• The "Server": “I’ll take care of this, don’t worry.” (meets the practical need)
• The "Giver": “I’ll buy you a new cake plate.” (meets the financial need)
• The "Teacher": “Here’s why you dropped it…” (explains what happened)
• The "Exhorter": “Next time, hold it like this…” (coaches for the future)
  
  

Same event, different responses, all needed. That’s a body in balance.

The Motivational Gift of Prophecy 
Romans 12:6 (NLT) says: “In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you.” 

In the New Testament church, the primary purpose of the spiritual gift of prophecy as a "motivational gift",  is not to predict the future or act like spiritual fortune-teller. Instead, it is meant to speak God's truth directly into present situations to draw people closer to Him. It’s about "forth-telling"—boldly proclaiming God’s truth (grounded in the Bible) to:

1. Edify (build up)
2. Exhort (stir up and encourage)
3. Comfort (lift up and console)

A person with this gift is often:
- Burdened to speak truth and “wake people up” spiritually.
- Wired to see clearly what is right or wrong according to God’s Word.
- Quick to sense when something is off or out of alignment with Scripture.

They are like the nerve endings in our body—feeling pain and danger first, and sounding the alarm for the good of everyone.

Guidelines for the Prophetic:
This gift, if not surrendered to the Holy Spirit, can do damage. In the flesh, prophetic people can become:

• Harsh and cutting: “Hey ... too bad - I just tell it like it is.”
• Quick to see the negative and slow to see the positive.
• Judgmental, trying to convict people themselves instead of letting the Holy Spirit do the work.

Scripture gives clear guidelines:

• “Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt…” (Colossians 4:6)- 
• “…speaking the truth in love…” (Ephesians 4:15)

Truth without love injures. Love without truth misleads. Truth spoken "in" love transforms. 

Any prophetic word must:

1. Never contradict Scripture
2. Ultimately point to Jesus, not the speaker
3. Be humble and testable

Do You Recognize This Gift in Yourself?

If you suspect you may have a prophetic motivational gift from the Holy Spirit:

• Ask your Pastor or other mature believers, “Do you see this in me?”
• Stay rooted in Scripture so your discernment and alignment with God's truth grows sharper.
• Practice speaking with both conviction and compassion - but remember Paul’s instruction: “Let love be your highest goal"!

The church today desperately needs a loving, biblical, prophetic voice—one that knows where we’ve been, sees where we’re going, and warns and encourages the body to look at our circumstances - through a Godly lens - for our good and His glory.

What you do matters. What you say counts. And when each part of Christ’s body functions together in their God-given gifts, we become a body in balance. We may slip and fall at times - but a Body working together - picks themselves up - dusts off - and continues its journey to the other side.

Which body part has the Holy Spirit called you to?

Blessings -

Bob

Sometimes random - sometimes not - some things I think - measured against scripture.

  "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."  
~ 2 Timothy 2:15