You never lose your God given spiritual gifts, talents and skills, herein referred to as your power. You may lock it away, deny it, or place it into hibernation, but you never lose your power. It is embedded in your destiny, your power is composed of the skills talents, and abilities needed for you to mature to be the person God designed you to be to advance His work.
Ephesians 2:10 reads, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
1 Peter 44:10-11 reinforces that, “God has given each of you a gift from His great variety of spiritual gifts”, other scriptures identify the many gifts that we use during the course of our lives. [See How does God distribute spiritual gifts on gotquestionss.org]
Romans 12:2, encourages us to see and live life differently. ”Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
There are times in our lives when difficulties arise and we question whether we are capable of correcting the path. It seems pretty clear, but this wrought with free will. The answer is yes and no. Yes because the Holy Spirit directs us in how to best utilize the characteristics of Christ we acquired when we received salvation through our belief that Jesus (part of the Trinity) is our Lord and Savior. Meaning we relinquish selfish motives in favor of being led by the Holy Spirit, who can direct our path. No, because we attempt to put ourselves first, do it on our own, ignoring the voice or nudging of the Spirit.
In an earlier post, I stated that we are not supposed to be paralyzed by life’s challenges. I now want to share that we possess the power/skills/talents to move forward. If we take time to inventory our skills and talents and pray to the Lord for guidance. He will lead us forward. His path may not lead down the expected path, but the arrival to the destination will certainty be more satisfying and more purposefully. When struggling we must always remember that we were created to perform God’s work. We were created with the innate skill sets needed. Skill sets that mature as we mature in the Word and dedicate our lives to God’s purpose for us.
1 Corinthians 2:12 reinforces that the (Holy) Spirit indwells within us: “Now, we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.”
Wow, are you saying that we have power?‘s that it’s not simply a carnal quest to make it to the top? Yes, like with all things, we possess free will. We can develop God’s gifts, skills, and talents to move in our own direction and climb up the ladder of success, climbing over others and working to separate ourselves from co-workers, or we can use those skills to become stronger in our careers placing the focus on God embodying by the characteristics of Christ in all that we do.
Hebrews 13:20-22, Weymouth New Testament: “Now may God who gives peace, and brought Jesus, our Lord, up again from among the dead—even Him who, by virtue of the blood of the eternal Covenant, is the great Shepherd of the sheep— fully equip you with every grace that you may need for the doing of His will, producing in us that which will truly please Him through Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory to the Ages of the Ages! Amen.”
When we become Christians, we have been set apart from others. We no longer strive for absolute power as our pre-Christian selves did. Carnal power no longer motivates us to push through, destroy others, and fail families. We have been called according to His power.
Paul wrote in Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for the good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His power.”
When we existed in our carnal state, we struggled for absolute power and in the process we often found that it destroys absolutely, it alters who you are is a fax year every thought it focuses on greed intolerance, hate, impatience, jealousy, and envy. In our carnal state we lived in alien territory by ourselves.
Once we put on our Christlike self all of the above our self righteousness begins to fade away. While our goals may be to become a CEO or an administrator or doctor or lawyer or an astronaut, the way in which we attain them changes. How we use our careers impacts us and consequently others differently.
Colossians 3:9-10 instructs – ”Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.”
In closing, we were born with different levels of skills, and talents, we possess a trove of them. It is up to us how we use that power. We can choose to use them as they were designed – for the benefit of others, or for the benefits of self. We never lose the power, we may have to dig deep within and bring it back to the surface but it is there for the taking it is our gift from God. It is part of the DNA our Lord has placed in us long long before we were considered by our parents. He knew us long before we chose Him as our Lord and Savior. He knew us before we knew ourselves, and according to His wisdom and plans gave us all the talents and skills needed in this life. He gave us the power to choose how we use them.
Will. I say temporarily because as we become more aware of Satan’s (schemes) deceptions, we are better able to stay in God’s Will and trust His Promises.
Satan controls the airways and the things of this world. Eph 6:10, stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 2 Corinthians 4:4, ‘Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News.) I believe we can extend this to those who don’t believe and those that do not stand by the Word of God, those of us who acquiesce to the draw of this world.
we focus on the person and not what is guiding them. The adage, ‘hate the behavior and not the person,’ speaks to our failings as we find ourselves in the midst of the deception. Now, I’m not saying that we have to agree with the person or persons, I am simply saying that we have to discern who the real actor is manipulating the person, and most often it is Satan. Acting our of free-will is often Satan inspired. Yes, sometimes we humans act independent of the principality war, choosing to exercise our free-will rather than God’s Will, but regardless, we must stay awake and alert, our enemy walks the earth looking to devour us. He sets the stage to create chaos, battles, and war. He does not want us to examine ourselves. He wants us to exercise our free-will which leads to eventual destruction. We must be aware of the rise of destruction in our lives.
If we look into the heavenlies, we would see the principalities warring and would know that the above is counter to His Word which includes the Ten Commandments, the Fruit of the Spirit, God’s Will for our lives, and His Promises to us.
feed the deception through our anger, our words, and our actions. Greed, access, control, and power cloud our thinking. We walk around with blinders on. We listen to the ‘nay-sayers’ and join the choir. Our mind is home to spiritual warfare. When we relax, we open ourselves to the onslaught of the evil one.
designed for us. Believers often feel that as God’s children, we are immune to the wiles of the evil one. We are subtly persuaded to let down our guard, accept a little white lie, accept something we have not rightfully earned, spew harmful gossip, become intoxicated by flattery, manipulate people to do our bidding, go along with what is expedient and lucrative, and slip and slide trying to avoid getting caught. We wear our disguise as believers pretending to hold fast to the Word, but in reality, we are so intoxicated by deceptive values we begin to believe our own rhetoric, the rhetoric of the evil one.
I felt so guilty that I could not enjoy it. But I knew that it was morally wrong to steal. I knew God’s Commandment, ‘do not steal,’ and I was convicted. I couldn’t rest, so I told my parents. They reprimanded me. My father took me to the store to tell the merchant what I did. (My Dad had spoken with the merchant earlier and they decided to ‘scare me straight.’) I thought I was going to jail. But the merchant accepted my apology and my $.25. My Dad and I went home. I thought it was over, but to my surprise, I was punished for a week. (Just like our parents, God often chastises us for wrongdoing to help us learn the lesson.) Now, suppose I continued at this pace, the guilt would have subsided and this would have become my new norm. I would have unwittingly fallen prey to the deception – no harm, no foul. Fortunately, Sunday School and my parents prepared me for battle, and while I slipped (ah, free-will), the Holy Spirit helped me self-correct. You see, the soft, quiet voice was alive and active, and most importantly, I was in tune and could hear His voice. What experiences have you had that when you look back, you’ve been suckered into immoral, unethical situations? Think about them and identify where you faltered.
overwhelms us, we completely cave in, or we come to attention, get back up and realign ourselves with the Word. Some are able to take immediate action, others awaken much later, and still, others remain in the catatonic state of deception, all the while believing the lie that they are faith-filled Christians. Do you know how to get your footing back?
We cannot allow ourselves to be deceived by what we see or hear, remember the things of this earth below to Satan, and he intends to give this world an HD TV effect, brilliant lighting and effects. If we are going to discern the Truth, we must read and study the Scriptures in the Bible, pray and meditate on the Word on a daily basis. We must wear our spiritual (x-ray) goggles and view the deception for what it is, Satan’s failing attempt to kill, steal, and destroy.
thoughts and words in much the same way that you listen to your thoughts and how to verbalize them at work, school; to bosses, parents, leaders, associates and friends. Have you ever run free, doing as you pleased, and then looked around and realized you were running in circles – obstructing your ability to move forward into your destiny? How many times have you experienced doing what you pleased only to learn that the end result hurt or adversely affected your wellbeing? How often have you heard His quiet voice, or ignored His nudge only to wish you had followed His direction? As humans we often find ourselves in these situations.
our mistakes and attempting to apply God’s values in our daily lives. Thus, I go back to free-will is not free, it comes with responsibility. God gave us free-will as a gift, and it is our responsibility to use our free-will wisely. It is a lifelong learning process.
choose to follow our Lord. Free-will requires denying or dying to self, (Read my Post – Dying to Self) and putting God first. It means following his instruction, not picking and choosing, not being selective, but following all of His principles. It means that while we are experiencing our attempts to follow the principles, we mature as Christians, and in the process when we make mistakes or err, we can ask God’s forgiveness.
This leads us back to obedience, dependence and love, our March focus. No matter what we do, we can never get to far away from being obedient or dependent upon the Lord. It is through obedience that we can exercise our free-will and live a Christ-like life, embodying the character of Christ. It is through dependence that we become aware of our actions, behaviors and outbursts and, it is through love that we have the strength to persevere.
healing your wounds, and forming you into His image (2 Corinthians 3:18, Romans 8:29, Colossians 3:10).” [Know God’s Power and See His Glory. Bible.com]
Be sober [well balanced and self-disciplined], be alert and cautious at all times. That enemy of yours, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion [fiercely hungry], seeking someone to devour.
Daily Inspiration - Lisa's Thoughts 