I want to share with you something that becomes clearer and clearer to me with every year that passes –
ONLY WHAT YOU DO FOR CHRIST WILL LAST
The Bible tells us in Jeremiah 1:5:
“Before I formed you in the belly, I knew you. Before you came forth out of the womb, I sanctified you. I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
You may not feel as though this is true, but God created you with many gifts and talents, sometimes we are oblivious to this because we just shrug them off. What do you like doing? What are you good at? Is it art? Is it working with your hands? Is it helping others? Is it science? Maybe cooking/baking? Whatever it is – God created you with skills. His purpose in giving them to you is for you to thrive and enjoy and take pride in using them! They are BEST used when used for the purpose He gave them to you – to glorify His name.
I tell you what I know! I remember when I was seeking God’s will for my life. I heard His audible voice tell me something I would never have expected it to be because it was something that I did naturally and didn’t think much of. His audible words when I asked Him what it is He wanted me to do with my life was this:
“Kelly, it is as plain as the nose on your face… I have called you to write.”
Beloved reader, I was astonished because writing was something I have done ALL my life! Diaries, journals, short stories, plays – I never thought much about it, it was just something I did! Often the talents that God has given you are ones that you may not realize you are already doing! So I ask you:
HOW ARE YOU USING YOUR TALENTS?
I will go deeper with you on this –
Many of you know I have been mourning the loss of my husband and my mother, both who went to be with the LORD last year, 3 months apart. Thankfully both had accepted Jesus in their hearts as their Savior, made Him Lord over their lives, so I know that as the Apostle Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:8-9:
“We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.”
Last year, three months apart, my husband and my mother were birthed from their earthly lives into their everlasting spiritual ones. How do I know this? Because they had accepted God’s gift of salvation and eternal life through the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross. My mother accepted Christ into her heart towards the end of her life, but the peace and joy she experienced at her decision is something that stays with me. I know where my two loved ones are – they are with the Creator of love Himself. (Note to those who are interceding for loved ones – don’t give up! Remember that as much as you love someone, God, their creator loves them MORE…)
. So, as you can imagine, I have been experiencing a double amount of grief… Even in the knowing of where they are, my grief has been immense because I loved them both immensely. In dealing with my grief, I withdrew and stopped using the talent God had called me to use – to write. Not intentionally, but because I could not hear Holy Spirit through the waves of grief and pain. I tell you this because up until this point – I turned away from what would have helped me most –
Writing IS my worship and in worshiping God through my writing, it draws me CLOSER to Him.
So neglecting to adhere to my calling put me into a time of isolation. Now, sometimes we NEED to isolate ourselves so that we can heal or learn but ONLY for a season! It is during that time that Holy Spirit gave me this Word to write to you.
GOD CREATED YOU WITH TALENTS AND WALKING IN YOUR CALLING IS THE MOST FULFILLING PURPOSE YOU CAN EXPERIENCE IN THIS LIFE.
You may be reading this and saying to me:
“Kelly, I don’t know what that calling is!”
Okay, I get that – I didn’t know right away either! That’s okay! SEEK HIM. It is NO secret that God is keeping from you, He wants you to live and move and have your being in Him! I promise you, if you seek Him – He WILL tell you! And like me, it might be something SO obvious that you didn’t see it! Sometimes we think that something is going to be SO big that we miss it! Usually I have found that it is something that you are ALREADY doing! It is ALREADY a part of your life – you just don’t recognize it as such! And don’t go “comparing” yourself to someone else! God created you SPECIAL for who you are! Isn’t it time you walked in your purpose? In your calling? I attest to you that there is NO greater joy!
Do you have a heart for God? Do you want to live for Him? Do you want to be in the very center of His will? This is honestly our WHOLE purpose for being and until you truly “taste and see that the LORD is good” (Psalms 34:8) you won’t feel the wonderful sense of peace and satisfaction in fulfilling YOUR purpose in Christ. And to live a life without experiencing that fulfillment is a VERY sad thing indeed.
At the end of my life, when I stand before Him – even if my writings have ONLY changed the life of ONE person, caused them to turn to Christ – I will feel as though I had fulfilled my purpose. I cannot think of a more horrible feeling (other than standing before Him and having rejected His gift of salvation) than standing before Him and hearing Him say:
“Although you have entered Heaven NOT by works, but through the salvation you accepted through the blood sacrifice of my Son, Jesus; what did you do with the gifts I created you to use? They were meant not only to further My Kingdom, but to give you tremendous peace and sense of purpose. To draw you closer to me as you accomplished what I created you to fulfill.”
HOW ARE YOU LIVING? ARE YOU LIVING FOR THE APPROVAL OF THE FICKLE WORLD? OR ARE YOU LIVING TO FULFILL YOUR GOD-GIVEN PURPOSE?
The older I get, the more I understand how quickly life passes… This earthly life is temporary! Eternal life is FOREVER. There is a parable that Holy Spirit brought front and center to my mind this week, and I want to share it with you in Matthew 25:14-30:
“For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
Our life’s purpose IS to fulfill our God-given purpose! It is easy to allow fear to keep us from fulfilling our destiny – like the one who was afraid to use the talent that God had given him (or her). Fear can cause us to be like a deer frozen in headlights, I KNOW I have been there! But God did NOT call us to walk in fear! Fear can be debilitating! Listen, God only desires us to walk in faith! Whatever we do to do it for His glory! The REST of it is up to Holy Spirit! Once I walk in obedience to my calling to write for the LORD, I have fulfilled my responsibility! Holy Spirit then takes the words and blows them into whoever’s life He bring to the post! It is NOT my responsibility to do ANYTHING other than walk in obedience to my calling and then PRAY that God will USE my obedience to glorify His name into the lives who read my words. I am NOT God, I CANNOT change lives – only He can do that. And I pray He will, for that is the GREATEST gift of all, one that I will not know until I am on the other side of the grave. In the meantime, I intend to be that servant who used ALL the talents He has instilled within me, to the best of my ability to glorify His name. I want NOT one to go unused! It doesn’t matter if it is 5,4,3,2 OR 1 talent! What matters is what I DID with it! For ONLY what we do IN Christ will last eternally. I pray you will come to that realization NOW and not on your death bed when you are looking back at your life wondering if ANY of it has made a difference. The BEST purpose of ALL is the one that God has called you to fulfill! NOW is the time! I pray THAT will be you! I pray that will be me! It is something that we constantly need to check ourselves on to see how we can improve. It is a lifetime check to make sure that our priorities in using those gifts are to honor God. What I can tell you is that there TRULY is NO greater joy and satisfaction that knowing that your purpose IS to honor God’s purpose for your life. Seeking Him first brings about the most incredible sense of fulfillment you could EVER experience, and I think that THAT is a gift that one can NEVER receive from the world, only from the One Who created it… To God be ALL the glory, ALL the honor and ALL the praise, AMEN.
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