Buried Alive
"It is not great talents God bless so much as great likeness to Jesus. A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God." ~ Robert M. McCheyne
This weekend I witnessed God move in the most incredible way! Every one in the body of Christ has something, a gift from God, that they are called by God to operate in. Everyone loves to read books, stories, testimonies or "how to" guides about finding our spiritual gifts and finding our purpose or destiny. But somewhere in the chaos of "finding our destiny" made me realize something: we are complicating the simplicity of Christ.
God desires more than anything for us to walk in His perfect will in every area of our life. He makes it easy to find. We are the ones that make it difficult.
How can you and I cut through all the complexities and find our gifts? Simple. Look at what your passion is. Look at what is easy for you; what comes naturally. I was talking to a friend of mine the other day and she was telling me about a woman at her church who can make anyone who comes into the church feel welcome. She can easily go up to them, engage them in a wonderful conversation and make them feel comfortable and at home in a matter of moments. That's a gift!
Not everyone can do that. What a wreck it would be if we all looked at her and decided we wanted that gift for ourselves, appointed ourselves to the greeters ministry, and forced our boring selves upon everyone that walked through the doors. Ho hum. I would be an absolute failure at this!! I am horrible at small talk.
What comes easily to you? To help break it down, let’s place ourselves in an imaginary scenario. Imagine we are all in a room fellowshipping and someone walks in the room, trips on the corner of the rug and spills the pie he was carrying all over the floor. Would you be the mercy person who would walk over to comfort him and make sure he's all right? Would you be the administrative gift who turns to two people and tells them to go get a broom and dust pan so the mess can be cleared before someone else falls? Would you be the helps gift who would go get the cleaning supplies and clean it up?
Would you be the giving gift who would go to him and let him know that you are heading to the store to buy another pie. Perhaps you are the teacher who would point out to him later the need to look around at the lighting and placement of furniture when he is walking into a room.
You won't be all those gifts (that would be utter confusion) but one comes easily and naturally to you. That's your gift and you need to move in it. For spiritual gifts, you don't go to school to get them. They have always been with you. The Holy Spirit shows us everything we need to know in the Bible. We don't need someone to lay hands on us to have it in more abundance. We don't need to fill ourselves with all the learning available before we do what we are gifted at. We keep the plan of Christ simple by just doing it. Stop making it complicated! With it being so simple, what keeps so many of us from operating where God has placed us. Our own minds.
You have gifts within you to help the whole body function to save the lost around us all but as a body, we are crippled when the leg won't walk, the hand won't move or the joints won't bend. When people sit around reading about gifts instead of flowing in what comes to them naturally, we, part of the body of Christ, become partially paralyzed. What holds us back from stepping out?
The first effective weapon the enemy uses is fear. Fear of man, fear of failure, fear of the unknown and fear of missing God are only a few. Fear paralyzes us from moving. I know a person who was called by God to go to another country and be His hands of healing but because of a fear of flying and fear of what might happen in a third world country, this person never went. God never gives us this type of fear and this fear is something we all MUST fight at one point or another if we are ever going to finish our course without having buried our talents along the way.
How many people might have been ministered to or helped if fear had not kept your feet on the safe paths as well? Be willing to live like the disciples if God calls you to get a little dirty. Be willing to go the extra mile. Don't count on what you used to do, but what you are called to do now.
Another weapon is double mindedness. How many times have I seen this? Too many! I hear from people on a weekly basis who say, "I think God wants me to do this but I need a confirmation." I say in response: What do you have peace about? Follow that. God may not give you dreams, visions, or seven children dancing in a row as a sign that you are to do something. He expects us to obey.
Well, you might say, what if I am not sure about what I am hearing? Good question, but again, it all still comes down to following the peace of God in your heart. Fear or double mindedness will always cost lives.
Instead of taking a moment to pray or quick dial her intercessor friends, we learn to do what the Holy Spirit instinctively compels us to do: save lives. Our instinct as Christians tells us to save souls. It's only when we defeat our internal instincts by drowning them out with complicating "voices" and debates that we lose the effectiveness that we were all born to walk in. Finally, I must talk about unbelief. This is so prevalent in the body. We either believe that if we step out and say something to someone, God is not going to back us up. We believe that if we do what God wants us to do, everything will be perfect and the path uncluttered. Then when its not, we move to unbelief. If you really believe that walking in the perfect will of God and operating in His gift for you will mean everything will spring up daisies around your feet, you need to look at what happened to the men and
women of the Bible that 100% obeyed God. They were stoned and persecuted. They were rejected. They were cast out of villages. But they didn't let that stop them. They didn't sit down and question God. They kept moving in their gifts.
Doubt of what we should do here and doubt that God is really speaking to us. Doubt and fear together will cause to you to run to your backyard, cast your talents in a hole and bury them deep. Walking in His will is not always un-cumbered but it is always fulfilling in the end.
Walking in the will of God is the most life giving thing any of us can do. Don't complicate it. If fear paralyzes you, walk past it. If your mind demands some sort of confirmation, walk past it. If doubts bombard you because of the past, press past it. Help as you were born to help. Administrate like you were born to. Give as you are called to. Teach with the wisdom you were born with. Whatever gift is within you, don't suppress it - release it.
I want all of us to take the talents inside of us that have been buried and let the breath of God bring them back to life. Now we need to become the year that the body of Christ ceases being a paraplegic and begin to have every joint function as it was created to. Let's begin to move out together to see this world changed in Jesus name!
Michelle Molina
"It is not great talents God bless so much as great likeness to Jesus. A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God." ~ Robert M. McCheyne
This weekend I witnessed God move in the most incredible way! Every one in the body of Christ has something, a gift from God, that they are called by God to operate in. Everyone loves to read books, stories, testimonies or "how to" guides about finding our spiritual gifts and finding our purpose or destiny. But somewhere in the chaos of "finding our destiny" made me realize something: we are complicating the simplicity of Christ.
God desires more than anything for us to walk in His perfect will in every area of our life. He makes it easy to find. We are the ones that make it difficult.
How can you and I cut through all the complexities and find our gifts? Simple. Look at what your passion is. Look at what is easy for you; what comes naturally. I was talking to a friend of mine the other day and she was telling me about a woman at her church who can make anyone who comes into the church feel welcome. She can easily go up to them, engage them in a wonderful conversation and make them feel comfortable and at home in a matter of moments. That's a gift!
Not everyone can do that. What a wreck it would be if we all looked at her and decided we wanted that gift for ourselves, appointed ourselves to the greeters ministry, and forced our boring selves upon everyone that walked through the doors. Ho hum. I would be an absolute failure at this!! I am horrible at small talk.
What comes easily to you? To help break it down, let’s place ourselves in an imaginary scenario. Imagine we are all in a room fellowshipping and someone walks in the room, trips on the corner of the rug and spills the pie he was carrying all over the floor. Would you be the mercy person who would walk over to comfort him and make sure he's all right? Would you be the administrative gift who turns to two people and tells them to go get a broom and dust pan so the mess can be cleared before someone else falls? Would you be the helps gift who would go get the cleaning supplies and clean it up?
Would you be the giving gift who would go to him and let him know that you are heading to the store to buy another pie. Perhaps you are the teacher who would point out to him later the need to look around at the lighting and placement of furniture when he is walking into a room.
You won't be all those gifts (that would be utter confusion) but one comes easily and naturally to you. That's your gift and you need to move in it. For spiritual gifts, you don't go to school to get them. They have always been with you. The Holy Spirit shows us everything we need to know in the Bible. We don't need someone to lay hands on us to have it in more abundance. We don't need to fill ourselves with all the learning available before we do what we are gifted at. We keep the plan of Christ simple by just doing it. Stop making it complicated! With it being so simple, what keeps so many of us from operating where God has placed us. Our own minds.
You have gifts within you to help the whole body function to save the lost around us all but as a body, we are crippled when the leg won't walk, the hand won't move or the joints won't bend. When people sit around reading about gifts instead of flowing in what comes to them naturally, we, part of the body of Christ, become partially paralyzed. What holds us back from stepping out?
The first effective weapon the enemy uses is fear. Fear of man, fear of failure, fear of the unknown and fear of missing God are only a few. Fear paralyzes us from moving. I know a person who was called by God to go to another country and be His hands of healing but because of a fear of flying and fear of what might happen in a third world country, this person never went. God never gives us this type of fear and this fear is something we all MUST fight at one point or another if we are ever going to finish our course without having buried our talents along the way.
How many people might have been ministered to or helped if fear had not kept your feet on the safe paths as well? Be willing to live like the disciples if God calls you to get a little dirty. Be willing to go the extra mile. Don't count on what you used to do, but what you are called to do now.
Another weapon is double mindedness. How many times have I seen this? Too many! I hear from people on a weekly basis who say, "I think God wants me to do this but I need a confirmation." I say in response: What do you have peace about? Follow that. God may not give you dreams, visions, or seven children dancing in a row as a sign that you are to do something. He expects us to obey.
Well, you might say, what if I am not sure about what I am hearing? Good question, but again, it all still comes down to following the peace of God in your heart. Fear or double mindedness will always cost lives.
Instead of taking a moment to pray or quick dial her intercessor friends, we learn to do what the Holy Spirit instinctively compels us to do: save lives. Our instinct as Christians tells us to save souls. It's only when we defeat our internal instincts by drowning them out with complicating "voices" and debates that we lose the effectiveness that we were all born to walk in. Finally, I must talk about unbelief. This is so prevalent in the body. We either believe that if we step out and say something to someone, God is not going to back us up. We believe that if we do what God wants us to do, everything will be perfect and the path uncluttered. Then when its not, we move to unbelief. If you really believe that walking in the perfect will of God and operating in His gift for you will mean everything will spring up daisies around your feet, you need to look at what happened to the men and
women of the Bible that 100% obeyed God. They were stoned and persecuted. They were rejected. They were cast out of villages. But they didn't let that stop them. They didn't sit down and question God. They kept moving in their gifts.
Doubt of what we should do here and doubt that God is really speaking to us. Doubt and fear together will cause to you to run to your backyard, cast your talents in a hole and bury them deep. Walking in His will is not always un-cumbered but it is always fulfilling in the end.
Walking in the will of God is the most life giving thing any of us can do. Don't complicate it. If fear paralyzes you, walk past it. If your mind demands some sort of confirmation, walk past it. If doubts bombard you because of the past, press past it. Help as you were born to help. Administrate like you were born to. Give as you are called to. Teach with the wisdom you were born with. Whatever gift is within you, don't suppress it - release it.
I want all of us to take the talents inside of us that have been buried and let the breath of God bring them back to life. Now we need to become the year that the body of Christ ceases being a paraplegic and begin to have every joint function as it was created to. Let's begin to move out together to see this world changed in Jesus name!
Michelle Molina
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