Rather, spiritual gifts are any ability the Spirit gives you to express your faith in order to strengthen another person. Notice the last four mentioned in verse 8: “exhorting” (or comforting, encouraging—it’s the same word used back in 1:12), “contributing” (or sharing), “giving aid” (may mean “presiding”), and “acts of mercy.” The remarkable thing about these (with the possible exception of “presiding”) is that all believers are called to do these: exhort, give, be merciful. So the “gift” must be that some are enabled by the Spirit to do it more heartily and effectively and frequently than others. So any virtue at all in the believer’s life which he is enabled to do with zest and with benefit to others can be called his gift.
(Romans 11)
John Piper
Website: http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByTopic/87/288_Spiritual_Gifts/