DAY SIX

God has given gifts to each of you from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Manage them well so that God?s generosity can flow through you. (1 Peter 4: 10 NLT)

This verse is just one of many that teach us about the spiritual gifts God has given to each of us. Now all of us have to make a choice. We have to choose what we are going to believe. Are we going to believe what others say about us, what the media says we should become, or are we going to believe what we have been learning this past week concerning God’s plan for our lives? I am challenging you today to take this question seriously. If you choose to believe that God’s word (the Bible) is true then you must believe this verse is true also. We can not just pick some verses to believe and not others.

Maybe it has been a long time since you have been excited about anything in your life but I am guessing that at one time you had dreams and ideas that excited you. Ask God to help you remember what those things were. Did you once like to draw or paint? Maybe you loved to read or pretend you were the teacher at school. Do you love to care for people? Maybe the outdoors is your haven or perhaps you are an animal lover. Are you the one that keeps everyone organized or does a great job planning the vacations every year? You may be who people look to for decisions. These are the skills and gifts God has put within you. Take some time in the next few days to write down what your passions and gifts are and how you might be able to use them to serve others. You may have to think back to a time when you were a young child. Many times the world has knocked us down so far that we are not able to feel any passion or excitement about anything.

Ask those closest to you what they see as your strengths. Go try some things that you think you would enjoy. Volunteer at your child’s school or scout group or church group. Join a service project in your community or church. Experiment with new things and rule out what does not seem like a fit. Also there are several assessments that can help guide you in finding your spiritual gifts. Check with your pastor to find out if your church offers this type of assessment. If not you can find them through other resources such as Christian book stores or online sites. There are hundreds of possibilities, but God wants us to narrow it down to a few. I hope you will trust me when I tell you that you will know it when you seek it out. You will feel something tug at your spirit and energize you when you are doing what you are created to do. It may take some time to figure it out, but the rewards of living out your life purpose is worth all the time and energy it takes.

Make a goal today to take one of the above steps to seek out the direction God wants you to take in finding your unique giftedness.