A gift opens the way and ushers the giver into the presence of the great. ~ Proverbs 18:16

The District Youth Director from my hometown invited me to be the first guest speaker in a motivational series. Initially, I was a little hesitant. It seemed a daunting task to inspire a group of young people—nearly a thousand miles away—via Zoom. But then God gave me a message! The adults who participated in the online session seemed as inspired, if not more so than the youth.

I shared with them that every believer has at least one spiritual gift. And that gifts are not only given to the preacher, deacon, choir director, or special groups—like the praise and worship team. Peter shared that God has given gifts to each of us from his great variety of spiritual gifts (1 Peter 4:10). Apostle Paul affirmed that each person has at least one spiritual gift (Ephesians 4:7; 1 Corinthians 12:7).

Even if we are not sure what our spiritual gifts are, we have them… regardless of whether we use them. This was the heart of my message to the young and not-so-young! While no single believer has all the different gifts available from God. Every believer has one or more gifts! And guess what?

Our gifts are for the benefit of others!

Apostle Paul wrote that the purpose of our gifts of the Spirit is to uplift and encourage others. Gifts are not for pride or personal glory. Gifts are an expression of the Spirit for the common good (1 Corinthians 12:7). We are to use our gifts in service to others.

You see… God gives us gifts as He wills—we have no say in how many or which gifts we receive. Thus, we obtain gifts according to God’s will, not ours (1 Corinthians 12:11). This brings me to something that I have observed—which is—when we use the gifts that God gave to us—we achieve excellence, success, and are a blessing to others.

Yet, many times our gifts go dormant, from us trying to manifest gifts that we see in others. . . to pursuing gifts that we believe we should have been given (but did not receive). Ignoring our God-given gifts often leads to ineffectiveness, failure, and frustration. However, I do believe that we can find a measure of success through hard work and dedication. Yet, this rarely brings us the gratification and validation that we seek—or allows us to benefit others.

But when we operate our gifts… we become a blessing to others, successful, and satisfied!

I take the liberty now of sharing one of my gifts that I am trying to revive from dormancy. I hope that it brings you joy… or at least a smile.

Romans 11:29 tells us that the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. Our gifts belong to us, and no one can take them away! So, continue to use your gifts and watch the blessings flow.

God bless… I am Wiley’s granddaughter.