Some of you know that I teach a women’s leadership program called The Master’s Program for Women. The purpose of this three-year journey is to discover our talents and gifts, and pursue the calling of God in our lives. Our last session was dedicated to finding our natural talents and discovering if our jobs align with the work God wants us to do in His Kingdom, which is our calling. The goal is for our careers to either align with our calling or, if they are different, then to allow the career to fund our Kingdom calling.
One way to find out your natural talents is by taking assessments such as the Strengths Finder (based on the book “Now, Discover Your Strengths” by Marcus Buckingham and Donald Clifton). The purpose of this assessment is to help you find your raw talent that, when cultivated and developed, can become a strength. These strengths can help you then identify the types of jobs or roles where you have a better chance of being successful in the workplace. The authors analyzed the research performed by The Gallup Organization of about two million people. The purpose of the study was to find out why some people excelled at some areas and others don’t. They also want to bring the concept to the business setting and encourage companies to focus on the strengths of their employees versus focusing on only improving their weaknesses.
I want to encourage you to pursue finding your talents, the natural gifts that God gave specifically to you. In addition, God also gave you spiritual gifts that, when combined with your natural abilities, you can maximize your work for God while you’re here on earth. I want to share two Scriptures where God clearly tells us the different types of gifts we find amongst all of us brothers and sisters in Christ.
Romans 12:4-11 New Living Translation (NLT)
4 Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, 5 so it is with Christ’s body. We are all parts of his one body, and each of us has different work to do. And since we are all one body in Christ, we belong to each other, and each of us needs all the others.
6 In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out when you have faith that God is speaking through you. 7 If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. 8 If your gift is to encourage others, do it! If you have money, share it generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.
9 Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. 10 Love each other with genuine affection and take delight in honoring each other. 11 Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically.
In addition to these types of gifts, God also gave us spiritual gifts:
1 Corinthians 12:8-11 New Living Translation (NLT)
8 To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge. 9 The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. 10 He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. 11 It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.
1 Corinthians 12:28 New Living Translation (NLT)
28 Here are some of the parts God has appointed for the church:
first are apostles, second are prophets, third are teachers, then those who do miracles, those who have the gift of healing, those who can help others, those who have the gift of leadership, those who speak in unknown languages.
These are spiritual gifts that God has distributed amongst all of us and it is our responsibility to discover them, develop them, and use them for His glory. As you can see, “He (the Holy Spirit) alone decides which gift each person should have.” We don’t have any control over which gifts God gives us. He chooses for us. He does the same with the natural talents and the color of our skin. God decides all of that at the moment when He created each one of us. He knows the best combination of gifts that we each should have in order to fulfill our unique calling and serve Him the best way.
I encourage you to ponder on these Scriptures and ask God to reveal to you not only your natural talents but also your spiritual gifts. If you look at the list above and think, “Oh no, I don’t have any.” I would disagree. We are all the church and at the minimum, God gave us the gift “those who can help others.” I always say, we’re all here to help others, you just have to find your niche!
So, find your gifts, pursue your calling, go out and serve God by serving others. You can do it!!