18/01/25
09:48
A DISREGARDED AND MISS USING GIFTS
Written by Elijah Winowez
The gifts we are born with and those that we work to develop throughout our lives vary in form and function. Some we
find use for every day while
others are only useful in specific circumstances. Yet
many times we overlook
opportunities to share our
unique gifts with others. It
may be fear of criticism that
holds us back or the paralyzing weight of uncertainty.
Ultimately, we doubt that our
innate talents and practiced
skills can truly add value to
other's lives. But it is the world as a whole that benefits when we willingly share our gifts.
Whether you have been
blessed with the ability to
awaken beautiful emotions in others through art or industry, or your aptitudes transmit more practical advantages, your gifts are a part of who you are. As you make use of those gifts as best you can, be assured that your contribution
to worldly well-being will not be overlooked. Your personal power is defined
in part by your gifts. To use
your talents is to demonstrate to the world that you understand yourself and are truly attuned to your capabilities. Your earthly
existence provides you with
ample opportunity to explore
your purpose, to utilize your
skills in a life-affirming way,
and to positively touch the lives of others while doing so. Yet you may feel that your gifts are not as valuable or worthy of attention as those of others and thus hide them away.
However, every gift lying dormant in your soul has the
potential to fill a void in
someone else’s life. Just as your existence is made richer by the love, support, friendship, aid, and compassion of others, so, you also can add richness to
their lives. Your natural ability to comfort hurt, inspire compassion, bake, dance, knit, organize, or think outside the
box can be a boon to someone in need. As you embrace your gifts and
allow their light to shine, you
will discover that more and
more opportunities to make
use of them arise. This is
because your gifts are a channel through which the
universe operates. By simply
doing what you are good at
and also love to do, you make a positive difference. The recognition you receive for your efforts will pale in
comparison to the satisfaction you feel when fulfilling your innate potential.
GOOD AND PERFECT GIFT
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the
heavenly lights,
who does not change like shifting shadows. (James 1:17)
When Jesus came to earth as a man and suffered and died on the cross so that you
could be reconciled to God,
He had you in mind, even
though He had not created you yet. (Acts 17:24-27 NIV)
“The God who made the
world and everything in it is
the Lord of heaven and earth
and does not live in temples
built by hands. {25} And he is not served by human hands,
as if he needed anything,
because he himself gives all
men life and breath and
everything else. {26} From
one man he made every nation of men, that they
should inhabit the whole
earth; and he determined the
times set for them and the
exact places where they
should live. {27} God did this so that men would seek him
and possibily reach out for
him and find him, though he
is not far from each one of
us. (Ephesians 4:7-8 NKJV) But to each one of us grace was given according to the
measure of Christ’s gift. {8}
Therefore He says: “When He
ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave
gifts to men.” The greatest gift God gave to you was
Himself, the greatest gift
you can give God is
yourself. The reason God gave you life is so that you
would have something
precious to give back to Him.
The reason God gave you
more than you need is so
that you would have to give to those who do not have.
Today, our downfall is that we don't testifies the good work of God when it comes, the way we contradicts and criticises in the hard time.
Our God is full of compassion
and He loves to give, God is
thinking about you
continuously all day and
night, He is constantly giving
to you, every breath you take is a gift from God. (Psalms 139:17-18) How
precious are your thoughts
about me, O God! They are
innumerable! {18} I can’t
even count them; they outnumber the grains of
sand! And when I wake up in
the morning, you are still
with me! (Lamentations 3:21-24) Yet this I call to
mind and therefore I have hope: {22} Because of the
Lord’s great love we are not
consumed, for his
compassions never fail. {23}
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness. {24} I say to myself, “The
LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.” When you give to other
people it causes the presence
of God to flow through you
in compassion, compassion is
love in action; compassion is
the presence of the Holy Spirit. There are many ways
to give; you can give physical
substance for a person’s
physical needs. You can give
words of comfort or
encouragement for a person’s emotional needs.
But best of all you can give to
a person is spiritual needs;
one way is to give prayer for
a person, which can meet all
needs. You can intercede for the person at the throne of
Grace, in front of the mercy
seat, before the God of
compassion. You can also feed someone’s
spiritual need by giving him
or her the Bread of Life, the
Word of God. The gospel, the
good news that God loves
them and has provided a way for them to enter into the kingdom of heaven, and
even better than that they
can be friends with the King.
Give to the poor and the poor in spirit, give them the gospel, the good news about
Jesus.
Jesus said in (Luke 4:18-19) “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because
He has anointed Me
To preach the Gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to
heal the brokenhearted, To
proclaim liberty to
the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at
liberty those who are oppressed;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.” “For as the rain comes down,
and the snow from heaven,
And do not return there, But
water the earth, And make it
bring forth and bud, That it
may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater, So
shall My word be that goes
forth from My mouth; It shall
not return to Me void, But it
shall accomplish what I
please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent
it. (Isaiah 55:10-11)
One year at Christmas time I
gave out Bibles to the poor in
The Western part of Nigeria, Old and the new Testaments in english language.
They were well received. I still remember one older woman saying this
was her best Christmas ever
because she had received the
Bible. She held it close to her
heart as she thanked me. For
many of those people receiving a Bible, it was their
only Christmas present. The most precious thing a
person can own is a Bible. It
gives the knowledge of God,
it makes the poor man rich,
it gives hope to the hopeless,
faith to the fearful, food to the hungry, water to the
thirsty, love to the despised,
comfort to the lonely,
freedom to the prisoner,
health to the sick, light in the
darkness, and life to the dying.
Because I delivered the poor who cried out, The fatherless and the one who had no helper. {13} The blessing of a perishing man came upon me, And I caused the widow’s heart to sing for
joy. (Job 29:12-13) In everything I did, I showed
you that by this kind of hard
work we must help the weak,
remembering the words the
Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than
to receive.‘” (Acts 20:35)
The giver always gets blessed
more than the receiver. The
first blessing is the joy of the
Lord.
“His lord said to him, ‘Well
done, good and faithful
servant; you have been
faithful over a few things, I
will make you ruler over
many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ (Matthew 25:23)
“The King will reply, ‘I tell
you the truth, whatever you
did for one of the least of
these brothers of mine, you
did for me.’ (Matthew 25:40) Nehemiah said, “Go and
enjoy choice food and sweet
drinks, and send some to
those who have nothing
prepared. This day is sacred
to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is
your strength.” (Nehemiah
8:10)
He who is kind to the poor
lends to the LORD, and he
will reward him for what he
has done. (Proverbs 19:17) Blessed is he who considers
the poor; The LORD will
deliver him in time of
trouble. The LORD will
preserve him and keep him
alive, And he will be blessed on the earth; You will not
deliver him to the will of his
enemies. The LORD will
strengthen him on his bed of
illness; You will sustain him
on his sickbed. (Psalms 41:1-3) (Proverbs 29:7)
The righteous considers the
cause of the poor, But the
wicked does not understand
such knowledge. (Psalms 112:1-9)
Praise the LORD. Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who finds great delight in his
commands. {2} His children
will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright
will be blessed. {3} Wealth
and riches are in his house,
and his righteousness
endures forever. {4} Even in darkness light dawns for
the upright, for the
gracious and
compassionate and
righteous man. {5} Good will come to him who is
generous and lends freely,
who conducts his affairs with
justice. {6} Surely he will
never be shaken; a righteous
man will be remembered forever. {7} He will have no
fear of bad news; his heart is
steadfast, trusting in the
LORD. {8} His heart is secured,
he will have no fear; in the
end he will look in triumph on his foes. {9} He has scattered abroad his gifts
to the poor, his righteousness endures
forever; his horn will be
lifted high in honor. Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also
reap sparingly, and
whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart
to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all
things at all times, having all that you need, you will
abound in every good work. As it is written: “He has
scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness
endures forever.” Now he who supplies seed to the
sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and
will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous
on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.
This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.
Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that
accompanies your confession of the Gospel of Christ, and for your generosity
in sharing with them and with everyone else. And
in their prayers for
you their hearts will go out to you, because of the
surpassing grace God has given you. Thanks be to God for his indescribable
gift! (2 Corinthians 9:6-15) One of the best gifts God
has given you is the
privilege to give, take
advantage of it and enjoy
the blessings, and the
presence of God upon you, and in you. “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and
bear a Son, and they shall call
His name Emmanuel,” which
is translated, “God with
us.” (Matthew 1:23)
OUR LIVES
Our lives are not about pursuing our dreams. Many of
our dreams are self-exalting
pride fantasies and
gratuitously selfish when we really examine them. And the truth is, we rarely know what’s best for us and what will really make us happy. But our Creator knows. He knows exactly what we’re made for and how we can live the life we’ve been given to the fullest and most fruitful.
Throughout our lives we all
gain skills that are unique to
us, possibily you have the gift
of clear communication that
makes connecting so easy, or a gentle touch that helps someone feel loved. Maybe you listen from your whole being so others feel truly heard. It might be a skill that you offer like organising details, planning events, or researching subjects. At times it’s easier to focus on
what we’re missing, on our
faults, or on what we don’t
have in comparison to others.
This perspective goes against our highest truth so depletes us and makes us feel small. But when we become aware of what we do have, it will make us
feel full and whole. If we follow God by faith, he will lead us in the most ultimately fulfilling paths, even when those paths lead through suffering and death.
HONOUR YOUR GIFTS
When you honour your gifts
you honour yourself and
everyone around you. You are a
unique human being, with
your own way of seeing and
touching the world. Explore the following three questions as a
way to uncover and honour
your gifts and talents. 1. What are the gifts you are
aware of in yourself? Make a
list of all your skills, talents and
personality traits that you have
to offer, even the quirky ones. 2. What gifts, skills and talents
do others appreciate in you?
Which ones are easy for you to
share with others? What gifts
do you hold back on? What
makes it easier for you to be visible with your gifts and what
makes it difficult? 3. What are the gifts and
talents you see in others that
you wish you had? You know, when we
admire something in others or
even envy them, it is often a
sign of an undeveloped or un- owned gift within us. Make a
list of the gifts you’d like to
unearth in yourself. Share Your Gifts with the
World We live from our authentic
selves when we consciously
express our talents and share
our gifts with others. Try the
following three suggestions as
a way to bring your gifts to the world. 1. Set your intention each day
to acknowledge and appreciate
the gifts, talents and skills you
have to offer yourself, others
and the world. Whenever you
judge yourself, turn it around by focusing on your gifts.
Acknowledge and appreciate
your friends and family
member’s gifts as well. 2. Consciously choose to share
your gifts with others. Notice
how you feel when you share
of yourself freely. 3. Find one gift, skill or talent
you would like to bring out
more and share, and begin
doing that today. Let go of any
judgment, shyness or
resistance that stands in your way. As you honour your gifts and
share them with others, the
world will be a brighter,
happier place to live.
SHARE YOUR GIFTS
Sharing your gifts with others,
no matter how small or large,
it is an expression of love and
abundance. You might not be
aware of what your gifts are,
but know deep inside that you are giving whenever you
interact with others from true
self. It might be your
welcoming smile that warms
someone’s heart, or your sense
of humour that brightens their day. Whatever it is,
acknowledge it and share it
with the world.. Don’t dishonor God by devaluing the gifts he’s given you. Don’t waste valuable time grumbling
about gifts you don’t have or
resenting others for the gifts
they do have, or even for the sinful pride they might exhibit. They’re stumbling, recovering selfaholics just like you and God knows how to graciously oppose them (1 Peter 5:5). Pray for them.
Remember the greatest
present from God is that He
provided a way for us to
dwell in His presence, now
and forever. You will show me the path of life; In Your
presence is fullness of joy; At
Your right hand are pleasures
forevermore. (Psalms 16:11)
