I fast once a week for my blog topics. I do this in order to gain what it is God wants me to inform the reader about and to ensure that it is His Will and not my own. My hope is that I never write anything that He didn’t ask or direct me to write. Through fasting, I gain my topic and through research I reach the idea of the message that I should be sending.
This week, I was given no pre-topic. That is to say, I wasn’t given a topic until I started typing the title of this week’s post. Even now, as I type, I am waiting for the Holy Spirit to give to me what it is I should be giving. I am actively letting God guide my talent.
Talent
Everyone is given something to do in this world to help the next person. Society has shifted our focus from helping our communities to helping the world. I only see one issue with this, those who are reaching some, but not all, may feel like the talent they are using is not worth the effort.
On the contrary, any energy you use to conduct your talent cannot be wasted so long as it helps 1 person. You may not think of this as much, but what if the use of your talent helped someone choose a different choice? What if the one person your talent helped, uses that motivation to help someone else? And then the next person helps someone else, and so on? What happens is that God gives the talent to you, you give the talent to the people, the people give the talent to each other, and God’s power is magnified.
In this world, there is no useless person; only people who have allowed slothful power to inhabit them.
How do I find my talent?
Based on the book of the Bible, I believe talents are given with the person meaning, I believe that when God created us, He assigned us all with something(s) to do. Granted, I do believe that your gifts can shift. In one season, you may be called to act on the talent of speaking, writing, or learning, while in another season you may be called to utilize your talent of educating, producing, or broadcasting.
To find your talent, first start with asking God to reveal the talent you are to use in the current season. In my case, I had given birth to my second child and literally pleaded with God to give me my purpose. He ended up showing me that I was to be a mother and learn how to take care of my children on a level deeper than feeding and clothing. He showed me how to truly be invested in their souls, minds, and hearts. Something I thought was so small was, in reality, a very heavy task.
Once God reveals to you what your talent is, then ask for strength to carry it out. When our talents are revealed to us, we may be shy to act them out or we might think of it as something we can’t do. Asking God for guidance on how to utilize the talent(s) He has given us will aid in the assurance of completing it in the correct time and the correct format.
Finally, be open to moving into something else. God may have a purpose for you in a specific time and place and once your task is complete, He may move you to a different location, or a different position entirely. Our overall purpose is to be open to allowing God to use us in whatever way He needs at the time that He needs it. Being flexible will allow you to embrace changes and the talent(s) that come with it.
Matthew 25: 14-30
“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey.
The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a whole in the ground, and hid his master’s money.
After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master’, he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’
“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see I have gained two more.’
“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’
“His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.
“So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
With Love,
Mother Ocia