1 Corinthians 12.4-6

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them.  There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.  There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.

Have you ever questioned God what the purpose is of your very existence?  Or questioned God why you have gone through so much trial and tribulation?  Can God use our suffering for the Glory of His kingdom I wonder? Does God give us gifts and talents so that we can help others after we have gone through trial and tribulation?

I’ve always felt that I was inept and not worthy of receiving gifts from the Holy Spirit. I also believed that I wasn’t a good Christian.  That I was one of those Christians that made mistake after mistake after mistake, while the other Christians around me never made any blunders so to speak. Maybe I saw that they never made blunders because they always wore a mask of perfectionism, and a mask of I am a good Christian and I do not make mistakes.  Or they wear an always-happy-mask because they think because they are Christians that they must not display vulnerability, trouble, tribulation, or trials.   So, this may be the reason why I believed people were quick to judge me because I wore my heart on my sleeve. I was always quick to criticize myself, and to judge myself, which made it difficult for people to like me because they were afraid of my vulnerability.  Maybe it was simply because I have built this HUGE wall around my heart so that people cannot come near me because I am afraid of getting hurt.  I needed to learn to let go and let God.  God revealed Himself to me, and said ‘Hannah, this is not the way forward, be yourself, let go of your struggles and use your writing to reach people.’

My body is a borrowed vessel, and while I am on Earth, I plan to use the gifts and talents that God has given me to glorify Him.  I plan to use this vessel as a means of communication and to show people the way back to the cross. I don’t plan to abuse this vessel, and therefore I must look after it.    However, this belief of being not a good Christian or this belief that I do not have any gifts and talents is a misconception. Yes, the devil wants us to believe that we do not have gifts worthy enough of honouring the Lord.  But that is the lie of the enemy which in turn chains us so that we are not free to be who God created us to be.

Over the years I was told that God gives each of us gifts and talents to use.  He cannot however give us all the same gifts because then what is the point? How are we going to be able to impact the world if we all have the same gift/talent?  How then will we make a difference?  It will just become one huge mess of people scrambling to be the best, people competing and trying to prove themselves.  This is what is happening in our world today, everyone competing. Resulting in a mass tsunami of jealousy and rage.

The truth is God gives us various gifts, various talents, and it is up to us to use them appropriately.  God made us individuals.  He made us unique.  He made us in His image.  Each of us reflects Him in a small way.  If we do not use our gifts and talents, then how can we make a difference in the lives of fellow Christians and non-believers?  Each of us has a unique set of gifts. You have a choice.

1. To use these gifts with zeal and faith for the glory of His kingdom

OR

2. To use these gifts in an inappropriate way or to not use them at all

Are you going to sit there and say that you do not have a gift? That you are not talented?  Then you are making yourself vulnerable to the enemies’ lies and believing that you are not capable of influencing people with God’s goodness. Then you are bestowing on yourself self-pity, and making room for the enemy to continue to feed you with lies.  As soon as you have a little crack of self-doubt in your abilities, the enemy can squeeze into the tiniest of tiniest cracks and weaken your resolve to serve the Lord.  Therefore, take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Ephesians 6.17) and be ready to fight spiritually as you use your gifts to impact the people around you.

I used to believe that God only used the Christians that never sinned on earth to communicate the gospel message with the world.  Or that God used those Christians that always seemed to do everything good.  But the bible says God choses the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong (1 Corinthians 1.27).  If we surrender our misconceptions, misbeliefs, our struggles to the cross, and admit that we cannot do anything without God’s strength then we are open to the Holy Spirit and this then enables us to use our gifts and talents in a way that we thought we would never be able to use. It is when we humble ourselves that in effect our gifts become powerful.  It is then that God uses our gifts to impact the world around us.

Learn to be vulnerable at the foot of God and relax in God’s presence and all things will work out for the Glory of God’s kingdom.  His revelation will come, and He will provide you with the necessary skill sets to do His work for the Glory of His kingdom. Seek His face.  Pray so that you may remain in God’s presence. But do not give up, even when the going gets tough.

Proverbs 3.5 – Trust in God with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.

It is so important to use the gifts and talents that God has given us.  And not to let them go to waste.  How else are we going to influence the world around us if we delude ourselves that we are not capable of making a difference in what is already a very broken world, a world that is drastically changing on a day-to-day matter. Jesus is needing labourers for the harvest.

For us to be in tune with God, we need to have our ears tuned to His frequency to catch the signal.  How do we do this?  I used to think that reading the bible every so often would be enough to stay in tune with the Lord.  But I am wrong.  To hear what Father has to say to us, we need to develop a personal relationship with Him.  We need to read His word daily, spend time in prayer daily and worship Him, this strengthens our relationship with the Lord but it also opens up the communication channels between us.  We need to become dependent, so in other words we need to grow down and not up.  As adults we would like to be independent and do everything in our own strength.  God made us to be dependent on Him so that He can lead us on.  So that His strength becomes our power in our weakness. Therefore, we need to develop a personal relationship with God.  Once you spend more and more time in the Lord’s presence the more spiritually refreshed you become, the more you yearn to be dependent on God, the more innocent, child-like your faith becomes.  The more you yearn to spend time with Father.

I want to be Daddy’s little girl. I have no desire to do everything in my own strength anymore, because I know that my way does not work.  I know that my plans do not work.  It is God’s plans that work and are best for me, so I surrender my struggles to Him.  I disarm myself, I de clutter everything so that I can live a simple life.  I don’t want my life to be complicated. God is simple.  Why? Simply, because God is love. God is love. God is mercy. God is compassionate.  God is grace. God forgives. God gives. God wants us all to have gifts and talents that we can use so that we can glorify His kingdom and bring non-believers to Him.  He wants us to serve Him. As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord (with the gifts and talents he has presented to us) Joshua 24.15.

Jesus needs more and more labourers as the harvest is ripe.  Are you ready to use your gifts and talents to serve our Father?