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Read it online here.
Last week, this challenge was in our message: Make a list of all the things you’re good at that you really love to do and that other people tell you they notice. Anything that makes all three of those criteria is a gift you are sharing. Then, continue the list with the things you’re good at and really love to do, but nobody ever notices you can do those things. Those are gifts you have been given but have not shared. Time to get busy heapin’ those gifts on everyone you can find! Then make a list of those things that you’re really good at, but don’t really enjoy all that much. Those are the gifts you stuck on the mantel or hid in the attic. It is time to open them up, take them out for a spin, and make better use of them.
Today I’m going to take a bit of a shortcut. I want you to try looking at something that will give you a little insight into how God has prepared you to glorify him in your world – your sphere of influence. There is a Spiritual Gifts Test that you can take online. Now, before you jump over there and get started, let me say a couple of things about online tests.
First, they are very generalized. They are designed to give you a hint about your life-content, not an exact reading of what you’re made of. As such, they can be pretty subjective – answers may change based on the way you feel, or the amount of sleep you got last night. Here are my scores for a recent visit to http://mintools.com/spiritual-gifts-test.htm
Exhortation – 14
Giving – 2
Leadership – 12
Mercy – 8
Prophecy – 15
Service – 10
Teaching – 13
You can see that activities like Teaching, Exhortation, and Prophecy are things I think I can do and in which I am interested or find enjoyable. Prophecy, though, isn’t one of those things people talk to me about, and I’m usually uncomfortable about starting off a statement with something like, “Thus says, the Lord God!” I’m equally uncomfortable with the cookie-cutter emails that state, “I talked to God today and he told me to tell you your trials are over! Everything will be resolved in your favor. By four o’clock tomorrow afternoon, you will hear from someone who has been on your mind 24/7 …” To me, that’s dangerously like being a false prophet.
If I go to look at how these various gifts are used, I can see a list that presents some concepts to me which I can consider. Some of them may be clustered with other things that make me think, “I never thought of that like this before.” There is a pretty thorough list (http://mintools.com/ministries.htm) that really does help me think about these things more clearly. And that is the point.
This may not be a career- or life-changing moment. You may be fully aware of your gifts and what God wants you to do with them. But you also just might learn something, and that could make a change in your life. It’s pretty obvious I’m not the guy to come to for donations. That role is reserved for The Minister of Finance at our house (guess who?). So let’s see what happens with this one I’m still a little uncomfortable with. If I click on Prophecy, I go to a page that has a big, long list of ministries. On that list, if I look for Prophecy, I find two links under it – outreach and speaking. Those, in turn, take me to additional pages where I can learn more about each subject. And all of the links do this, so that one you start, you can follow a fairly long chain of links that frankly make me think a little bit. Maybe I’ll come back and explore, you know?
That’s what I’d like you to do today. Explore. Sit around with God, open your heart and mind to his presence, and let things unfold in your heart and mind. Approach it with some caution – don’t be too literal (quit your job, put on a gunny-sack, and picket City Hall), and don’t be to skeptical (spend a couple of minutes at it and then decide it’s a waste of your time). Give it your best shot for a while. Then, close the site and think about it for a few days. My guess is that sometime in the near future, you’ll think about it some more and eventually it will lead you to a new and refreshing way to serve – a way that give you that kind of joy we saw in Snoopy last week!
This is only one resource, and only something to help you think about your role as a servant of God and a steward of God’s Gifts. Other readily-available resources are your Pastor, your Ministries Director, your church Council, or family and friends who are themselves happily engaged is a ministry. God is calling you, now. Take a few minutes to find out what he might want from you. God bless you as you give this a try!!
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever — at your service, Beloved.
Share-A-Prayer
Δ For an end to terror, violence, abuse and neglect, and war; and against the harm caused by others against us …
- Let us pray to the Lord
- Lord hear our prayer
Δ For orphans, widows, the wounded, the innocents, and all who suffer because of these evils …
- Let us pray to the Lord
- Lord hear our prayer
Δ For the will to do small things with great love …
- Let us pray to the Lord
- Lord hear our prayer
Δ For the grace and courage to step forward to serve the Lord with gladness amongst all his living creatures …
- Let us pray to the Lord
- Lord hear our prayer
Almighty God, our El-Shaddai, teach us to love you aright, and to do all that you have empowered and inspired us to do through your Holy Spirit. May we always seek to honor your will in every act of service we bestow upon others in your name. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Please visit our Prayer Requests page to read about or make your own Prayer Request.
