Utilizing our God-given Gifts

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men (1Corinthians 12:4-6)….. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith.  If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach;  if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully( Romans 12:6-8).

I grew up in a church going family; my mum was my Sunday school teacher while my dad always bought me bible based story books. Not that I really knew who God was but I really loved reading the bible. To me it was a book full of great stories. When I was in class seven, I joined a boarding school where every Saturday evening was spent practicing songs that we would present in church the following day. I really hated the singing but I had to attend the practices and sing in church because it was compulsory for every girl. I was a bad singer (my singing voice is horrible) and my singing was and is still bad (I love music though ). I always thought that singing was the only thing that anyone would do, so even when I joined High school, I still joined the Christian Union choir. I was still not born again though and I did not understand what that really meant. I also had not learnt how to interpret the word because I didn’t have the Holy Spirit in me.

I later got born again in form three and received the Holy Spirit. I however could not read the scripture for long because after three months of being born again I backslid. Due to this reason, I still remained ignorant about the different gifting. It wasn’t until four years later when I rededicated my life to Christ that I started understanding the things of God clearly. It was then that I received a vision about my purpose, but then I was in denial. Reason? I had rededicated my life to Christ but I had still remained in sin and continued with my old life and sins (talk of God’s grace). Slowly and through the help of the Holy spirit, I was able to read the word of God and understand. In due time I came across Romans12:4-8. I took time in prayer and meditation and God clearly revealed to me what my gift was. On top of it, my past life, which was to be a testimony and a ministry was and is still so much in line with this gift. My ministry is all about my gift. I remember in a different writing when I wrote how God had mercy on me that he gave me a gift/ ministry to serve him (2 Corinthians 4:1).  

We all have different gifts. I may not know what your gift is; I did not know mine either until the Lord showed me through his word. But I can tell you that you need to know that you have a gift and God expects you to utilize it. I remember in church last Sunday when we read about the master who had given his servants some talents. One of his servants however decided to hide his talent in the ground while the rest worked on theirs. When the master came back, he was so disappointed in him. He took it from him and the servant lost the right to remain in the master’s kingdom (Matthew 25:14-30). I believe the same thing will happen on judgment day. There will be rewards for all the work that we will have done using the different gifts that the Lord has given us.

Furthermore, the Lord expects us to use these gifts to serve Him and each other and to enhance His Kingdom. In the Acts 9:32-43, we see how both Peter and Dorcas (also called Tabitha) had used their gifts to serve others and enhance the kingdom of God. We see how people in Lydda turned to God when they saw Peter heal Aeneas who had been paralyzed. We also see how the widows in Joppa were so sad when Dorcas died. They even went ahead to look for Peter and ask him to bring her to life. I am sure there were other people who had died in the nearby or even others who were unwell and could be healed. But they specifically went to seek Peter for the sake of Dorcas. Why? The scripture clearly tells us that Dorcas had dedicated herself to serving the widows. They even had evidence to show for her great kindness and generosity to them which is also a gift from God.

Our service has great impact to the body of Christ and other people around us. In Romans 12, the bible says that we are one body with different parts. These parts have different functions. Just as different as we are, we need to utilize our different gift to serve the Lord. We should however never get into the temptation of exalting ourselves or boasting because of our gifts or thinking of ourselves better than others because of what we have. We need to remember that it is because of his mercy that he gave us these gifts. We should serve him in humility and seek him to guide us in all that we do with them. Remember also that it is God working in us through them.

God bless you.

Let your light shine

“You are the light to the world; a city built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand so as it can give light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your father in Heaven…”Matthew5:14-16 (NIV).

I would be so wrong to claim that I have been a perfect light to the world around me through my actions, yet the bible states clearly that, that is what God expects of us. Salvation is the best gift that we ever received from God. It was a gift of love that was shown to us through the death of a king who humbled himself to the level of a lamb to be crucified for our sake. I always like to put it this way, ‘I was dust (and still am) a flower that is bright and shining today yet withers very fast and loses its meaning and value, yet he chose to leave is throne to die for me that I may find meaning and have eternal life’.

He died for all of us, we are saved through grace and the only thing that he requires of us is to be an example to the world through good deeds. Our salvation is the light that we have to shine to the world through good deeds. He even goes further and gives us the grace, the strength and all the guidance that we need to be good light. But what do we do?

Here is a story that I read which challenged me a lot:

Several years ago a young priest moved to London. He often took a bus from his home to the down town area. Some weeks after he arrived, he had occasionally to ride a bus. When he sat down one day, he discovered that the driver had accidentally given him twenty pence too much change. As he considered what to do, he thought to himself. ’You better give back the twenty pence. It would be wrong to keep it.’ Then he thought, ’Oh, he forgot it, it’s only twenty pence.’ Who would worry about this little amount? Anyway, the bus company already gets too much fare, they will never miss it. Accept it as a gift from the Almighty God and keep quiet.’

When his stop came, the priest paused momentarily at the door, then he handed the twenty pence back to the driver and said, ‘here, you have given me too much change.” The driver with a smile said “aren’t you the new parish priest in this area? I have been thinking lately about going to worship at your church. I just wanted to see what you would do if I gave you too much change.” When the young priest stepped off the bus, his knees became weak and soft. He grabbed the nearest light pole and held for support, and looked up to the heavens and cried:”oh Jesus, I almost sold your Christianity for twenty pence!”

Mmmh..,yeah..that’s exactly what we do when we decide to hide our light under the bowl and exchange our Christianity for a dirty talk, a lie, flirting, dishonesty at work or even sit down and watch things go wrong yet we have the ability to say no or change them. Let’s choose to be different today and be the light we ought to be. We’ve got to keep our salvation tasty because when it loses taste it will be thrown away (matthew5:13). Choose to be light to someone in darkness today, because he/she may be watching you to be a sense of direction.

God bless you and have a fab week!

Why we need to pray for others

In my previous blog I shared about bearing each other’s burden through praying for them. Today however, I want us to see some of the reasons why we should intercede for others. I have been reading great books. There is one that I read recently which taught me a lot about spiritual warfare. This book (The VERITAS Conflict by Shaunti Feldhahn) talks about a lady who had so much accomplished in her life due to many prayers that her parents and others had made concerning her. It is a great book which I recommend for all of you.

Besides that, God has been speaking to me so much about prayer of late through his word and many other forms and people. These are some of the reasons he has taught me as to why we need to intercede for others:

• ·         To provide a spiritual covering for them against the enemy.

The bible says in 1Peter 5:8 that devil is roaming around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. He always uses temptations and trials that are always around us with the aim of causing us to fall. A person may be facing such a situation and the devil is always so eager to see the person give in to the temptation and fall. That person could be me, you and or your friend or family member somewhere. However, that person may not be able to sense it in the spirit because of one reason or another. They could also be in a situation that they are not able to pray. Unless we pray for them, they will be found without cover and they will fall.

• ·         They could be struggling or may be unable to pray.

Last time I shared about how I had been going through so much for almost a month. Because of that, I was not able to pray. My girlfriends however were standing in the gap for me even though I did not know it. This kept me from falling and also made me remain at peace despite what I had been going through. So many of us go through such situations where we are not able to pray. It can be so difficult if no one is there for us. I remember in Acts 12:5-7 how Peter was set free from prison by an angel because the apostles had been praying for him. Your prayers concerning somebody have the same of even greater effect on them.

• ·         We would also want others to pray for us

We all desire good to be done to us; don’t you think the same is good for others? I was hurting; I needed someone to pray for me to keep me safe. They did that for me and it worked. I think it is also good if I pray for them in all occasions because they could also be going through difficult moments.

• ·         To follow the example of Jesus.

In the book of Romans 8:34, the Bible tells us that Jesus is seated on the right hand of God interceding for us. Furthermore, in Luke22:31-32, we see Jesus telling Peter that he had interceded for him to protect him from the devil. We see clearly that Jesus himself who was Lord praying for Peter and us. This is shows us important it is to pray for others. Jesus’ prayer for Peter prevented his faith from failing and made him to be a source of strength and encouragement to other believers. Furthermore, the church was first founded from the message he gave in Acts 2. Let us follow the example of Jesus who is our master and keep praying for each other, you may never realize how much impact your prayers will have on others.

God bless you.