How to Operate in the Gift God Graced You With
When I say “gift” I mean what you’re naturally inclined to, passionate about, and graced by God to do.
It’s something God has gifted you with because of who you are.
Let’s talk about operating in the gift God has graced you with
Here are some keys
1. Your occupation isn’t always your gift
3 So, because he (Paul) was of the same trade, he stayed with them and worked; for by occupation they were tentmakers. 4 And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded both Jews and Greeks. (Acts 18:3-4)
Paul was a tentmaker by occupation, but an evangelist and preacher with a passion to win souls, effectively communicate, and lead others to the truth.
Sometimes your connected to people because of your occupation, but your gifts and passions will lead you into different environments.
You don’t need to link with their spirit just because your in the same trade.
2. False pressures and false beliefs will rob you from giving your gift
In the parable of the talents there is a man who received a talent from God, but he had a wrong view about who God was that stopped him from using his gift.
24 “Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’ (Matthew 25:24-25)
His problem wasn’t that he didn’t have a talent or that he didn’t know what to do with his talent.
His problem was who he falsely knew God to be.
Are your thoughts about God keeping you from creating?
Are your views of scripture or God stopping you from using your talents for God’s glory?
If you were ambitious before Christ, shouldn’t you be more ambitious knowing the grace and mercy of God and the eternal reality of judgement on the final day?
3. It’s on YOU to stir up the gift
Paul tells Timothy to ‘stir up’ the gift of God that’s already in him.
6 Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:6)
The NLT version says to “fam into flames” the spiritual gift God gave you.
The word ‘stir up’ actually means to kindle up or inflame one’s mind.
It’s the remains of a fire or the embers.
You are called to take the fan of the power of the Holy Spirit and let it blow on the embers within you until fiery flames are burning in your spirit.
What thoughts are you inflaming in your mind?
These thoughts will fuel your lifestyle.
4. Give yourself entirely to the ministry God has graced you with
Paul says this to Timothy, a young pastor:
14 Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership. 15 Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all. (1 Timothy 4:14-15)
Don’t neglect the gift, give yourself to it and let others see the fruit of your progress.
5. Steward your gift
10 As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 11 If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ (1 Peter 4:10-11)
Each one has received a gift. You’ve received a gift from God whether or not you know it yet.
The call is to steward it.
God is looking for faithful stewards.
David was a faithful steward of the sheep and a man after God’s heart.
“For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.” (Matthew 25:29)
6. Your natural, but God’s supernatural
It’s not your resources, your time, your power, or your work.
It’s God working in you and through you for His glory.
It’s His gift He gave you to steward.
“being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6)
God begun the work and He will finish it.
Our faith is in Him to accomplish what He calls us to do.
You’re just the vessel
“Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months.” (James 5:17)
The word makes it clear that Elijah was nobody special.
He had the same nature as us, but he prayed passionately and lived a righteous life.
Let prayer fuel you and grace drive you.
7. Don’t forget to rest
The Sabbath was made for you to rest.
“And He said to them, “’The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.”’ (Mark 2:27)
I’m not talking about the Sabbath in a legalistic way, but as a spiritual principle.
God created in 6 days and rested on the 7th.
God even commanded the land to rest from being tilled every 7 years.
This 7th year was called a Shemitah year.
Not only do you need rest, but the earth does too.
The soil your tending needs rest to restore its nutrients.
This is a faith principle.
God said that when His people were faithful to the Shemitah, he would give them enough produce to eat for 3 years on the year before the Shemitah (the 6th year). (Leviticus 25:20-22)
Rest and God will give the increase.
Additional Resources:
Here are some questions to help you discover what God has gifted and graced you with:
Who are you?
You have to first know your identity in Christ and what makes you unique.
What did you enjoy when you were younger?
What do you enjoy now?
What are you passionate about?
If you had all the time in the world what would you do?
What could you do for free if you never got paid?
What could you do for hours on end and never get bored?
What could you do till the day you die, even after retirement?
Something as simple as ‘seeing’ or vision can be a great gift when you use it in unison with the skill of photography or videography.
You may have a passion for cars which is powerful when used in combination with the skill of being a mechanic and the ministry gift of evangelism or pastoring a soul.
You may have a desire to creatively bake which is richly effective when you have the spiritual gift of giving and the fruit of the Holy Spirit clearly on display.
The possibilities are endless.
God will reveal what he has graced you with in His perfect timing according to your desire, season, and purpose in Christ.
Ephesians 4 outlines these 5 ministry gifts:
apostles
prophets
evangelists
pastors
teachers
And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers (Ephesians 4:11)
1 Corinthians 12 outlines these gifts of the Holy Spirit:
word of wisdom
word of knowledge
faith
healings
miracles
prophecy
discerning of spirits
tongues
interpretation of tongues
“8 for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. (1 Corinthians 12:8-10)
Romans 12 outlines these spiritual gifts:
prophecy
ministry (serving)
teaching
exhortation
giving
leadership
mercy
6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. (Romans 12:6-8)
These gifts aren’t an exhaustive end to how God has graced and gifted you or a box to limit you, but rather an outline to help you operate in an infinite amount of different creative ways to be used for the glory of God.
