Whose Gift Is It?
There’s nothing more humbling than the revelation that the gifts you’ve been given aren’t your own; they don’t belong to you. They are in fact, for someone else. And they belong to the Lord.
For many, coming to this realization will be a breakthrough.
I couldn’t help but be reminded of all that I had been through; my struggles, the hurt, and pain I endured as I was wrapped up, tangled up in sin. And how desperately I wanted to get out of that situation; how desperately I wanted the pain to stop. But sadly enough, there was no one there to tell me how to get out of my situation. There was no one there that heard me crying from the excruciating pain. There was no one there to lay hands on me and cause the scales to fall from my eyes. There was no one there to prophesy to me. There was no one there to bind the spirits of hurt and pain. There was no one there to speak words of encouragement. There was no one there to give a word of knowledge or words of wisdom. There was no one there to work a miracle in my life. There was no one there to discern what I was going through. There was no one there to release the power of the Holy Spirit, so I could have a spiritual awakening.
And…it wasn’t until the Lord knew that He could trust me not to go back into that situation that He saw fit to deliver me…after twenty years.
And the hardest lesson of all was learning that the tears, heartache, and pain were for the benefit of not only me, but for others as well; the body of Christ. That the same compassion that the Lord showed me in my time of trouble, I had to extend that same compassion as well. In my book, The Ties That Bind, this is what the Lord revealed:
“Every mistake that you made, God was there. Every mistake that you made, God allowed it. You are being sent to people who have made these same mistakes and you have got to tell them your story so they’ll know God brought you out. You are being sent to people who want to get free.”
Prophetess, Dr. Sharon D. Dominguez
You see, at some point, just like God had a plan for Jesus’ life before the foundation of the world, He had a plan for us; for our life. The plan was that Christ would suffer, die on the cross, and be raised with power…for us, so that we may live through Him. And the same holds true for us. Before the foundation of the world, God had a plan for us, and consequently, we also suffer, die to the flesh, and are raised with power. Not for us, but for the perfecting of the saints; the body of Christ.
We are raised with power that’s demonstrated through the gifts that we’ve been given by the Holy Spirit who lives in us; enabling us to use the gifts.
Therefore, coming to the realization that the gifts don’t belong to us, they belong to Christ; we are to use these gifts as the Lord dictates. And therefore, we don’t get to pick and choose when we want to use the gifts; we use them when the Holy Spirit prompts us. We don’t get to pick and choose who we want to minister to with the gifts; we use the gifts for whomever the Lord tells us. But somehow we’ve forgotten that.
Somehow, we’ve forgotten that somebody is suffering, and we have the gift they need to set them free.
Let us be mindful that the gifts were given to minister to the needs of the body of Christ for such a time as this. Let us also be mindful that if we can’t be trusted to use the gifts when and with whom the Holy Spirit prompts us, the Lord will raise someone else up to carry out His plan.
Let us not forget we’re the stewards of the gifts…not the owner.
And the purpose of the gifts is to help each other.
And when we get this revelation, we’ll be able to build up the body of Christ.
This is the will of God concerning you.
