You Have Abilities!
Key Passage to Read and Treasure:
As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God, may be glorified through Jesus Christ. (I Peter 4:10-11, ESV)
For Insight:
Even before you were born and God put you in your mother’s womb, he assigned then knit certain skills, abilities, and talents into the fiber of your being (Psalm 139:13-14). Sadly some go an entire lifetime without tapping into their abilities. They just lay dormant, unused. I am always amazed whenever I read the Book of Genesis and after creating Adam, God gave him the ability to name all the animals. The Bible says, “Now out of the ground the LORD God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever them and called every living creature, that was its name. the man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field.” (Gen. 2:19-20)
Adam had not been to school or taken classes in animal-ology but he just knew and called each one by name. To this very day you see a lion or a duck, elephant, humpback whale, or an eagle and call them such because that is the name Adam gave them. Other stories help us to see how people had natural abilities in building, hunting, crafting, pottery, farming, dying cloths and so on.
In Proverbs, Solomon wisely said, “Train a child in the way they should go and when they are old they will not depart from it (22:6). Meaning when a parent recognizes the abilities and gifts of their child, they should help that child know their abilities which will help them in their life. But even if your parent did not recognize those things about you or help you to recognize them in yourself, God will make sure you will know. He will send all kinds of people or circumstances your way to help you see what you are naturally good at. Sometimes even through trials or challenges a person will be able to identify some special talent they have. Maybe you are able to produce a piece of artwork that looks amazing or professional without any training, maybe you have an amazing singing voice and you haven’t even taken formal voice lessons yet, maybe you are a math wiz and numbers do not stump you… Even before you identify the spiritual gifts the Holy Spirit has assigned you, you have many abilities and talents already within you.
Ultimately our abilities, talents, skills, along with our spiritual giftings are to be used to glorify God. We accomplish that by serving others with them, but God has also given these that we may live and experience fulfillment and satisfaction in life. No matter how old you are—young or old—you can discover and begin to use your abilities. Know what you are good at. Ask others if they recognize what you are good at. Even if you are in your 80’s or beyond you can pray to the Lord and ask him to show you what he put into you so you can use and become good at them. As the apostle James said, when we ask God to impart wisdom to us—in any area—God will not deny, judge, or withhold wisdom. On the contrary we will answer our prayer for understanding and insight.
Praying I Peter 4:10-11
Holy God, your Word and the stories we read in it, inspire us to become all you ordained and assigned us to become. If anyone is lacking in such intimate knowledge about themselves, grant they, may come to such knowledge, however is best for them to learn and then help them to grow and experience fulfillment and satisfaction based upon the talents and abilities you have put into them. Amen
Going Deeper:
Devotionally Yours 