Serving God Out of the Box!

We left off last time at making a list of our natural talents. Mine consisted of singing, writing, cooking, hosting and organizing/leading. Those are what I came up with without putting a whole lot of effort into it. How does your list look?

Since God is a God or order, we can safely say most of the time He wants us to use our talents to honor Him. There will be times that He calls us to step out of our comfort zone and serve Him in ways that make no sense to us. Uh…what if He calls us to serve Him out of the box?

During those times, the Holy Spirit will lead us. He will give us direction. How do we know it is Him? Well, first off, John 10:27 tells us “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”

Those of us, who are His children, know his voice. It is recognizable. He speaks to us through His Word, the Bible. He speaks to us in our heart of hearts and he speaks to us through others and our world. Nothing He leads us to do will contradict His Word. In fact, His Word will support what He tells us to do.

For example, a few weeks ago, both my husband and I felt the Holy Spirit give us specific direction to share some instruction with a couple who had some authority over us. Both of us were dreading the conversation that was destined to happen. For the first time in my life I was on my way to Tarshish.

(Rembrandt)

One thing I have noticed is when God is the one telling me what to do, He doesn’t let it go. He keeps prompting me, prodding me and down right threatening me when I refuse to obey. In the above example, my husband and I knew the outcome would not be pleasant. We were fearful of the reaction of man until I heard God whisper to me “Who do you fear more? Mortal man…or me, the God that created the heavens and the earth?”

Needless to say that prompted action. And yes, the aftermath was less than desirable. But I knew the threats that were attached to us by not obeying; in fact I should call them promises because God does not make idle threats. We would not walk in the blessings God has set aside for us had we not obeyed.

To calm our stomachs afterward, the Lord did something amazing just for us. We visited a friend’s church and when her priest went to the give the message, he told us all that while he had a complete other message prepared, the Holy Spirit would not let him deliver that message. Instead the Holy Spirit had put the story of Naaman on his heart. He then proceeded to tell the story of a man who was in great authority with a high position that humbles himself and takes instruction from his servants. Wow! Exactly what our doubting hearts needed, confirmation that could only come from God!

That is how good our God is. He will comfort us, cradle us and confirm to us when we have been obedient to His calling. In fact, He sends us confirmation again and again and again, if that is what is needed.

Tune in next time when we tackle: What if my calling is so far out of the box I have to lay on my left side for 390 days and bake my bread with human feces? Ewww………!

My Plan or God's Plan?

This past week our daughter decided she needed to set some life goals to paper. She has been in a hard place for the past 9 months or so and needed to re-evaluate. She decided the best way to do this was take a pen and notebook, go someplace where it was quiet (most likely Barnes and Noble), and sit and write down her thoughts, her dreams and goals.

She was gone for hours. Literally. She left at 5:45pm. Around 9pm I texted her. We are in a new city and she knows no one, so I was a bit concerned. She promptly texted back that she was fine, just listening to a blues band downtown. Ok, I can deal with that. Two hours later I texted again. Where are you now? (I’m the mother of an adult teenager, what can I say?) She says she is watching an old movie.

Of course I have all the normal mother questions. Who are you with? Are you safe? You are watching a movie by yourself? What do you mean there is a bunch of old people watching the movie? Dirty old men kind of old people? What kind of movie is this? You met some people? Some college girls? I thought these were old people watching the movie.

After reassuring me a gazillion times we stop texting. At 12:30am I text her and ask her when she is going to be home as I will not be able to go to sleep until I know she is safe. Call me old fashioned, but if one of my children is under my roof, I will not sleep until I know he/she is safe. No matter how old she is.

The next day my husband, daughter and I were chatting when I casually asked her what she came up with for her life goals. She looked at me, surprised. Her response? “Oh, I forgot to do that!” My husband and I both bust out in laughter. No matter how well intentioned, it’s easy to get distracted, especially for our daughter!

(She's such a goof!)

So, how does one come up with one’s purpose? Obviously, the above method didn’t work out so well.

Recently we have made some major life changes. We didn’t make these changes on a whim or spur of the moment. It was something we had been thinking on, praying for, considering for some time. We prayed. We asked others to pray. We prayed. We talked with others and got counsel. Then we prayed some more. I could go on and on, but I think you get the idea. We really prayed about our motives for making these changes. Was all this God’s idea? Or our own?

God has given us several indicators of purpose within our lives. First, look at your talents. In the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30 we learn about a master giving his servants talents to be used for him. I’m not going to print the whole text to save on space, but I will give a quick run down. The master is going away. He gives one servant five talents, one servant two talents and one servant one talent. He asks them to take good care of them for him while he is gone.

Upon returning the master finds the first two wisely using the talents given to them. The third, not so much. Talents, in this parable, are translated as gold or silver. Since it is a parable, we have some freedom in ascertaining this can also mean talents to be used for the church, in furthering God’s kingdom.

The servants who had the five and two talents enthusiastically used those talents entrusted to them to create huge increases, or harvests, for their master. Later, because they used their talents wisely, they are given even more responsibility. They did not make excuses as to why they couldn’t or wouldn’t use their talents. They showed initiative regarding these talents. They did what they had to do with what they were given. And they were blessed because of it.

On the other hand, the servant with the one talent did not use his talent. He was chastised and rebuked. His talent was taken from him and given to another. He hung his head in shame. His fear of failure caused him to, well, fail.

Because this is turning into a sermon, I will continue this post later this week. We’ll look at other factors to consider when determining what is and what is not God’s purpose for our lives. In the meantime, if you have been wondering what your purpose is, write down your talents. What are those things God has gifted you with? Once you have a list, ask yourself how you are using them to further God’s kingdom.

Blessings!
Darlene