Use It!

Bible Study 7a

1 Peter 4:10 ESV

1 Peter 4:7-11 MSG

When I was really young and we studied Spiritual Gifts in Sunday School I didn’t know what Spiritual Gift God gave me.

So, I prayed about it.

I still didn’t get what my Spiritual Gift could be…so I prayed about it.

In 1 Peter 4:10 he wrote, “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.”

I really really wanted to use my Spiritual Gift so I prayed about it…but nothing came to me.

From The Message we are told in 1 Peter 4:7-11, “Everything in the world is about to be wrapped up, so take nothing for granted. Stay wide-awake in prayer. Most of all, love each other as if your life depended on it. Love makes up for practically anything. Be quick to give a meal to the hungry, a bed to the homeless—cheerfully. Be generous with the different things God gave you, passing them around so all get in on it: if words, let it be God’s words; if help, let it be God’s hearty help. That way, God’s bright presence will be evident in everything through Jesus, and he’ll get all the credit as the One mighty in everything—encores to the end of time. Oh, yes!”

I love that verse…and I really wanted to use my gift, so I prayed about it.

As I grew older I continued to pray. I wanted God to talk with me (and God did) but God did not tell me anything about my Spiritual Gift except I had a strong urge to pray about it.

Then someone who knew I prayed a lot told me about a class in listening prayer. I went to the classes and they were VERY helpful.

While I was in class I started praying for others in the class. I wasn’t sure what to pray about so I asked God to speak to each person in the class.

I asked God to help each person BE who God created them to BE.

I was approached by someone and asked if I would head up the Healing Prayer Service. I said yes.

The Service met one night a week and people from church came for prayer.

Someone told me about visiting the sick in the hospital to pray for them and I joined the visitation team. I went regularly to prayed for those in the hospital.

All the while I kept praying about my Spiritual Gift.

I prayed that God would show me the next steps. Then gradually I started thinking about my next steps. I worked full time for a Mortgage Company and I had a great vacation benefit but I felt like God wanted me to pursue something new.

Then God called me to go to Seminary.

It was a Master’s Degree that took a minimum of five years to complete (144 hours). I couldn’t see how it could be done so I prayed about it.

Looking back, it was a huge blessing and gift! I loved every minute of it, especially studying Biblical Hebrew. It was very hard so I prayed all the time that God would help me to learn Hebrew.

I didn’t know what God wanted me to do when I graduated so I prayed about it.

Others I graduated with went to serve in churches and they talked about being called to serve  but no doors opened for me.

I prayed.

I’d been a writer since second grade. I loved writing stories and drawing silly pictures about the story. My dad and I used to draw silly pictures together, I prayed and asked God to show me how to use the gifts God gave me.

I thought about wanting a website and one of my sons and his wife helped me to set up a website. (Well…they did the work).

Now, I pray and write and draw silly pictures.

Have you guessed yet what my #1 gift is?

It took time but after years of praying about it, I finally figured it out.

Deborah

acrazyjourney.com