“Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to use them accordingly: if [someone has the gift of] prophecy, [let him speak a new message from God to His people] in proportion to the faith possessed; if service, in the act of serving; or he who teaches, in the act of teaching; or he who encourages, in the act of encouragement; he who gives, with generosity; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy [in caring for others], with cheerfulness.” (Romans 12:6-8 Amp).
In case you are not yet convinced that you have a purpose, or how you spend your time matters, I’d like to continue delving a little more into Romans 12 and what the Bible says about how we use our time. But before I do, you might be thinking to yourself “what in the heck does all of this have to do with my health Jackie?” And I can appreciate that – you might be feeling like we have gone down a “spiritual” rabbit trail, never to return to the basics of health! So let me go back to the foundation of our health for a moment.
Our Health is Wholistic
What does this mean? Our health is more than just the physical. We are spiritual beings operating in a physical body on a physical earth. We were put here by God, for a certain length of time, for a purpose. Like Queen Esther – “for such a time as this.” Our health encompasses our mental, emotional, physical and spiritual well-being. Each area is connected and inter-related. None of these parts of our life function in a silo – independent of the others – it just doesn’t work that way. And if one area is out of balance, it most certainly will have an impact on the other areas as well.
By mental health I mean things like time-management (which is the area of our health we have been addressing over the past few weeks), budget, career, goal-setting, our purpose in life (we have addressed this as well). Do you even know why you get out of bed in the morning? If you are having physical health challenges, and feel you have done everything you can with mediocre or little results, perhaps you have been over-looking one of these other areas of your health?
Okay – now that we have done the refresher on the very basics of wholistic health, let’s take a look at what God says about some of the gifts He has blessed us with and called us to spend our time utilizing.
Gift of Prophecy
“Let him speak a new message from God to His people in proportion to the faith possessed;”
Don’t confuse the gift of prophesy with the “office of the prophet.” Some may be called and anointed by God to the office of the prophet. But that is not what the scripture is referring to here. Any one of us who have Christ in us can be tapped on the shoulder by God, at any given time, to deliver a message from Him to someone else. From His voice to our ears, out of our mouth to whomever He wants to hear it. In this context, a prophetic word is a word of encouragement or edification, or perhaps a warning. It’s never a word of condemnation or threat. It’s not to be used as an authoritative or dictatorial tool. This would not be from God.
But if you ever feel the tapping of the Holy Spirit on your shoulder to speak a word of encouragement to someone, anyone – just do it! It might sound foolish to you, but it’s not for you or about you, it’s for the person God is calling you to deliver His love to. I can’t tell you how many stories I have heard of someone being obedient to God to say or do something, even though the word or task seemed totally silly to the person He spoke to. But… it made perfect sense to the person it was delivered to! At times that word literally meant a matter of life or death. If it ends up being a word that wasn’t from God but just your flesh – don’t worry, when delivered with good intentions, God will either allow it to fall on deaf ears or use it for His good.
You cannot go wrong when your intentions are right, but your delivery seems off – God can and will “work all things together for the good of those who love Him!”
The bottom line here is this: this is a gift from God, given to us by His grace at any given moment in time. Our responsibility is to just be obedient and allow ourselves to be used by God.
Gift of Serving
“…if service, in the act of serving;”
Oh my goodness – this gift comes in so many different forms at various seasons in our life! The examples of this gift are endless. The only thing the gift of serving never is, is too small! It just might be showing kindness by holding a door open for someone; serving once a month as a greeter at your church; picking up a piece of liter in the forest. God had me doing this for a season just a few years ago. When I would start thinking what a menial task this was, not to mention humbling (if you don’t think picking up a soiled diaper out of a stream bed isn’t humbling, think again!), He would remind me (on more than one occasion) that this was His creation, and He cared greatly for the trees, birds, streams and every little creature in there and He was blessed by my service to Him and His creation.
I encourage you now to just stop and give a few moments of reflection on how YOU might have utilized your time recently, or even currently, by implementing your gift of serving, no matter how small, meager or humbling it might have seemed… Now think about how it blessed Papa God’s heart when you utilized the gift He blessed you with, including your time to do so. No gift of serving is too small when it comes from the heart of God – I promise you!
Gift of Teaching
“…or he who teaches, in the act of teaching;”
We all don’t have to receive a formal degree in teaching to utilize the gift of teaching. I have a feeling most, if not all of you have used your time and given this gift at some point in your life or another. Maybe it was only one time, maybe it’s ongoing, regardless, you were used by God to give this gift to someone else.
Parents do it all the time – whether you know it or not. But I caution you, be careful that you are not teaching the wrong thing to your children! How many times have you watched or heard them say or do something a tad on the unacceptable side and you make the comment “I have no idea where he/she learned that!” Uh huh, think again! But I’m also sure you have taught your children valuable life lessons as well. And of course, all of us have most likely been on the receiving end numerous times, from multiple teachers over the years.
But the gift of teaching definitely carries with it a tremendous responsibility. Make sure what you are doing, especially when you think no one else is watching or listening, is the gift you are called to deliver from God. This too is a form of passive teaching – others pick up on our behaviors and will imitate us, especially if they look up to us. Make sure those actions and words are honoring to God.
Gift of Encouragement
“…or he who encourages, in the act of encouragement;”
Have you ever been given a compliment, out of the blue, by a total stranger? How did it make you feel? It might have even shifted your entire day! Well just as you have been the beneficiary of that gift of encouragement, when you deliver the gift of encouragement to others, you may never know the positive impact it just might have. Don’t hold back. Everyone needs to receive this gift from others. This gift can also be delivered through that gift of prophecy as well. A direct word from God.
Gift of Giving
“…he who gives, with generosity;”
The meaning of this gift truly came to light for me when I was working as a fundraiser awhile back. The wealth and generosity of some people truly blew me away. It was in this season that I came to appreciate how God had tapped certain people to carry the responsibility of the gift of giving financially in particular. And I say a responsibility, because after all, He is the One Who blessed these folks with ALL that they had. Just as He has blessed each and every one of us with all that we have. The Bible says “to whom much is given, much is required.” (Luke 12:48). Meaning God did not give any of us, including the very wealthy, abundance in finances just for our own enjoyment. He expects us to give at least a portion of those gifts away by implementing the gift of giving. The folks I encountered in my fundraising days certainly were a tremendous blessing to God’s people by exercising their gift of giving.
But finances are only one gift of giving we can exercise. Our time, as I’ve addressed in my blog “Does How We Spend Our Time Matter”, is another valuable gift we can utilize as a tool to be a giver. In fact, that must be my love language – when someone blesses me with their time, I truly feel blessed; and I am blessed when someone receives my time I offer them. Don’t underestimate the value of your time when you give it away as a giver of your time.
And giving of our knowledge, skills and expertise is another way to demonstrate the gift of being a giver. So many ways to implement this gift.
Gift of Leadership
“…he who leads, with diligence;” (or without ulterior motives the footnotes of my Bible says)
Like the gift of teaching, leadership carries a responsibility of becoming a role model whether we realize it or not. John Maxwell always says, “Leadership is influence, nothing more nothing less.” In his book “The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership” he tells the story of a poor, illiterate, rough-around-the-edges, toothless black woman in the late 1800’s. She would work as a domestic or cook or any other menial job she could find. She would work a few months and then all of a sudden disappear, never showing back up for her next day at work. On the surface she appeared to not be contributing much to society. But in reality, she was leading runaway slaves make it to freedom via the underground railroad. Her name was Harriet Tubman. Harriet Tubman was a leader. She was utilizing the gift God had blessed her with by blessing others through her gift of leadership. I love this story. It not only demonstrates leadership, but it also shows that every single one of us can be used by God and have a purpose. Even if we don’t look or act like it as society dictates.
We are all leaders. It’s just a matter of whether we are utilizing our gift of leadership to honor God or honor ourselves.
Gift of Mercy
“…he who shows mercy [in caring for others], with cheerfulness.”
I personally am in the season of life where some of my friends still have parents that are living. But the roles have been reversed, and the parent is now the one who needs caring for. This is one of the greatest examples of exercising the gift of mercy.
I also know people who are in their “sweet spot” by working at retirement homes, and assisted care facilities working with the disabled and elderly. I truly believe this takes a very special gifted person to be able to work in this role – especially with cheerfulness.
Don’t underestimate for a minute the blessing you are to God when you give the gift of mercy. His heart explodes with tremendous compassion for you!
In Summary
I have a feeling that each of you, some time in your life, if not ongoing, have, or are utilizing your time by giving of every single one of these gifts – at some time or another. Probably not all at once, but I know some of you personally, and I know that you currently are utilizing several of these gifts at the same time, right now.
Let me give the gift of encouragement to you – YOU are a blessing to God and His Kingdom when you are giving of these gifts. Don’t ever doubt that. And these are just a few of the many, many ways God can, and does call us to serve Him by giving of our time and walking out our purpose. We are not all called to be preaching from behind a pulpit, but we are all called to a purpose for Him, no matter how menial it may seem to you. It’s not menial to Him.
But… we need strength, stamina, energy and clarity of mind in order to fulfill our purpose, in any given season of life, to the optimum. And we gain these when we are proactive with taking care of our life wholistically – mental, emotional, physical and spiritual.
Did You Miss These Most Recent Blog Posts?
“Should Christians Take Care of Their Health?”
“Does How We Spend Our Time Matter?”
“Our Time and Our Purpose”
“It’s a New Season, It’s a New Day!”
I give a whole presentation to show you how you can restore your body back to good health using natural approaches, wholistically.
go to : https://jackiemckool.com/schedule-jackie/
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