Gifts and Callings

 “For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable [for He does not withdraw what He has given, nor does He change His mind about those to whom He gives His grace or to whom He sends His calling.

‭‭Romans‬ ‭11‬:‭29‬ ‭Amplified

In God’s own words, He will not take our gifts back.  

God is not an “Indian giver”. In layman’s terms..  Remember when we were children, we would say to our friends don’t be an “Indian giver”.  Don’t take my gift back, you already gave it to me.  

Is that how we see our gifts from Jesus?  Do we fear He will take them all back? When we asked Jesus into our lives He gave us a calling, a purpose.  Along with our calling He gave us gifts to help us and aid us.  These are two different things.  Our gifts are about us.  Our calling is about others and Jesus.  I heard an expression in my devotions this morning.  Breathing in- is about our gifts, to us.  Breathing out- is our calling.  Spreading the Gospel to others.  

We need both.  We need the discernment, wisdom, and knowledge from our Lord to live and survive, and be strong for the next part.  Breathing out is spreading the Gospel out over others.  We cannot have life without one or the other.  God made us to inhale and exhale. That is how we survive, how our organs survive.  

We often say to ourselves “oh someone else will do it “.  Sure there are others with your gifts.  But your calling, Jesus gave that specifically to you.  For you to do.  We love receiving gifts, do we love giving gifts just as much?  

I think most of us will agree, we don’t want to die without using those gifts Jesus gave us. We want to please Jesus. I want to please Jesus. I want to walk in God’s favor. And use those gifts for His glory. Are we excited to use our calling also?    

Let’s open our hearts to Jesus, surrender to Him, receive and give.  We won’t be disappointed.  

There is so much more I could write on these topics.  But then I find myself going in another direction.  Feel free to dive into God’s Word and see what He wants you to know.  

Being Dressed for Service

We all have heard different expressions about our “dress”.  A good portion relating to our jobs.  Some examples are come dressed appropriately for the type of work you will be doing. Or come looking professional.  If in the medical field come in your scrubs, they should be clean and pressed.  Your shoes should be clean and polished.  Your hair pulled back neatly.  When I started my nursing career nurses wore white.  I took great lengths to be sure my uniform was sparkling white, no wrinkles, white hose, and clean white shoes.  Now it is totally different.  Nurses wear many colors.  My husband worked in paper mills.  That is very laborious work, 8-12 hours per day.  He had to wear what the mill requested.  Heavy duty work pants, shirts with the mill emblem, and steel toe boots.  Our son is a professional musician.   He wears what is appropriate for the audiences they play for.  A lot depends on the venue.  No matter what type of work we do, it seems all of the jobs require a uniform.  And that uniform tells us to be neat, orderly, professional, and ready to perform our duties.  I would also include in these descriptions is to come prepared and dressed appropriately and with modesty.  

I can hear responses now, what does this have to do with serving God?  My faithful readers, plenty.  God has given us specific tools to equip us with.  He even tells us in Ephesians 6 what we must put on to be prepared.  

“Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the tactics of the Devil. For our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens. This is why you must take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand.”

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭6‬:‭11‬-‭13‬ ‭HCSB‬‬

Jesus tells us all through the Scriptures that He will send us a helper, the Holy Spirit, to help us understand.  He will give us tools to help us, He will teach us what we must know and how we should minister to those He sends us to.  These things are part of our uniform.  We must put them on to help us be ready.  

“Stand, therefore, with truth like a belt around your waist, righteousness like armor on your chest, and your feet sandaled with readiness for the gospel of peace. In every situation take the shield of faith, and with it you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is God’s word.”

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭6‬:‭13‬-‭17‬ ‭HSCB

Jesus cannot make it any clearer.  We do not have the goods to stand on our own.  We need Jesus to empower us, equip us, fill us with His Spirit, and to give us the knowledge and discernment to minister to others. We must put on our uniform that is ready to go, to enable us to do the work He has asked of us.

Now that we know how to dress and to prepare for the tasks that Jesus gives us we should have no excuse but to get up and go and do those things. We all have excuses, we all have things come up, some of us have illnesses, some of us have large families to take care of, some of us have crazy work schedules. I am totally convinced that Jesus will not ask us to do something that is physically impossible for us to do. He knows each of our needs, he knows our limitations, but he also knows exactly what it will take to empower us to complete the tasks he has given.

I’d like to encourage you this week to pray and seek the Lord. Ask Him what he would like you to do for Him and not for our ourselves.  I am quite sure that I am not alone when I think “I want Jesus to say to me well done good and faithful servant” .  

Holy Saturday

We have now gone through Holy Week and the Scriptures.  I do pray you all go through these posts again. And take in the love that Jesus has for you.  

By now, Saturday morning, we all know what happened to Jesus.  He was murdered, crucified, tortured on that cross so that we can have life.  So we can have forgiveness.  There is no more for me to say.  

I’d like you to listen to this song.  And more importantly, I’d like you to pray, ask Jesus to forgive you and cleanse you.  That is the only way to reach heaven for all eternity.  There is no in between.  Either heaven or hell. No magical island for you to sit on.  I choose life, for eternity.  

I ask you all to pray, and go to a Bible believing Church on this Easter.  There is no judgement.  Just those willing to accept you into their family.  Jesus Christ’s family.