Called to Use our Gifts

The Gifts and Our Calling

Talking with a friend recently about the difference between praying for healing and, as Jesus put it, “healing the sick”. On the one hand we ask God to do it, but on the other hand, He tells us to do it. It was like when He fed the 5000. The disciples asked whether or not to send people away so they could get food and Jesus told them, “You feed them.” When Jesus just ‘did it’, He was demonstrating the authority He had from His Father to do such things.

Matthew 28:17-19 (NIV1984) “When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.  Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

In saying this, Jesus was giving, or passing on, the authority that He had been given, to the disciples. He was in effect saying to them, “Now I have passed on My authority to you, so now you can do that which I do in the same authority: that is, with God’s authority.” The disciples then went all around their world passing on these gifts through laying on of hands and baptism of the Holy Spirit.

With this in mind, then, what gifts have we been given and what calling is upon those gifts? Have we received wisdom, or words of knowledge, or faith, or healing, or miracles, or prophecy, or discernment, or tongues, or  interpretation? What is our calling? Everyone is called to something, if only to be witnesses as spoken of in Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” I say ‘if only to be witnesses’, but in fact this is an extremely important point. We are all called to witness to the presence of Jesus on our lives – by word and by deed. Our lives should speak of Jesus and His love for us. This witness should be the greatest draw to the unsaved folk around us.

So what is our calling and how do we manifest the gifts we have been given?

Your calling is really between you and God. Ask Him and He will tell you or he show you, either directly or through another. The real question is this – are you going to use your gift or not? Will you step out in faith and use it or not? God understands if you are nervous about it – He is looking for faith rather than confidence – although faith produces confidence the more you exercise it.

Take someone with you to start with maybe, but either way, just do it !!