People often get frustrated when they know what their passion is, but the doors of opportunity don't seem to be opening quickly enough in the things they are pursuing. If this describes you or someone you know, one reason those doors are not opening yet could be because you have not asked a very simple but very important question. And the answer to that question could completely change the way you see everything. Watch the video to see what that question is... When you look around at all the challenges that are happening in our communities and neighborhoods right now sometimes it's easy to throw your hands up in the air and feel helpless to make any positive changes. Some people just shake their heads, cross their arms, and look around waiting for the calvary to come to the rescue. But guess what? The calvary is ALREADY HERE and they look just like YOU! If God has allowed you to be in a community or around people where you see the issues and challenges up close, more than likely He has a plan for using you to bring answers and solutions. So how is that supposed to happen? It happens through the talents He placed inside of you before he sent you and into the world and positioned you to be in proximity of the problem (Ephesians 2:10). Your community needs your talents. In fact God set it up in such a way that your talents are assigned to specific people who need them. Your talents are meant to address specific needs and problems. For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control [sound mind]. ~ 2 Timothy 1:6-7 ESV So based on Paul's guidance to Timothy, let's look at these three key aspects of how you're supposed to engage your talents in your community...
If you're waiting for God to send someone to rescue your community you're going to be waiting for a long time because He already sent you. Christ in you is the hope and greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. And one great benefit of you using your gifts is that you help others unlock theirs in the process. So your community is waiting on your gifts. It's time for you to give them what they need and have have been waiting for. Many Christian entrepreneurs pray the prayer of Jabez, asking God to "enlarge their territory." However, I wonder how many understand the full implications of what they are asking God for and if their heart is in the right place?
God wants your business or ministry to grow exponentially, but it may not be in the way that you were thinking. To live outside of God’s will put us in danger; In today’s society the concept of vocation has lost much of its original meaning. Most people connect the word vocation to having a job. Interestingly, it originated in the 15th century from the Latin word, vocatio, which means summons or to call. So the essence of this word vocation is not a job, but a calling. Therefore, you should not look at the business God has called you to build as just the work you do. You should look at it as your God-given calling within His Kingdom. There is no such thing as sacred and secular within the Kingdom of God. Work is sacred, just like what would be considered traditional ministry is sacred. Being a secretary is as sacred as being a pastor. Being an entrepreneur is just as sacred as being a prophet. When you understand working in all you do as unto the Lord, you come to the realization that anything you do for God is sacred. And although there are many different gifts, offices, and roles within the Body of Christ, each one of them is needed and necessary to bring the manifestation of God’s Kingdom to the earth. Further, while a different anointing is needed to minister effectively from the pulpit versus ministering effectively in the marketplace, one is no more valuable than the other. They are just different. You are the church whenever and wherever you do business, which means you are in full-time ministry whether you knew it or not.
So stay in your lane. Don’t feel pressured to pursue a pulpit in order to find significance in the Kingdom. You don’t have to feel like a second-class Kingdom citizen if God didn’t call you to operate in a church ministry position. God has positioned you right where He wants to get His greatest glory out of you. |
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