The Treasure Series | Equipped and Empowered

A few years ago, I had the privilege of blessing some sweet teen girls on a retreat.  The Lord laid it on my heart, to go the extra mile and find out what their favorite things were and personalize each welcome bag.  Many things they received on that weekend were special and wonderful, and they would have had a beautiful retreat without the “favorite things” bag, but the Lord laid it on my heart, I think because all of us, especially teens need a little extra affirmation that someone notices our “uniqueness?”

I have a little reminder right by the mirror in our bathroom. 

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.   Ephesians 2:10 

It warms my heart each morning to be reminded that my life is a part of God’s plan.  It reminds me of my friend Mary’s prayer,  “Lord make my appointments and help me to keep them.”  But the really amazing reality is that God will supernaturally equip and empower me to do those good works.

Back to Paul’s admonitions to Christians (I think he may have gotten a few extra gifts—pastor, teacher, evangelist, leader, exhorter, apostle. . . .)

In his letter to the church at Ephesus, he writes

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.   Ephesians 4

I am privileged to be the wife of a pastor/teacher.  His devotion to study is mind boggling.  At the age of fifteen, God saved him from all the craziness of being a teen and so focused him that every decision from that day forward was devoted to equipping himself and others for works of ministry.  David’s devotion to hours of study, learning Greek and Hebrew and pouring over each word and phrase was so foreign to me.

I remember planning a potluck dinner (more my kind of giftedness) and having him wondering what he should teach.  I was baffled as to why we needed a teaching at a potluck, but as a pastor/teacher every opportunity to feed the soul and spirit should be taken, even while eating Publix chicken and homemade chocolate cake.

Our final “E” in our Treasure chest stands for equipped and empowered.  It is your “special sauce”, the gift God has given to you.  It is your unique way of reflecting the character of God.

Watching believers move in the specific gifts God has given them is enlightening.  This example has been around many years and helps us to understand how each gift responds.

To summarize what the spiritual gifts look like in action, imagine seven people around a dinner table having dinner together. The hostess walks in with a dessert tray, and she accidently spills the tray. How would the seven people representing each of the seven gifts in Romans 12:6–8 respond to a spilled dessert?

—The person with the gift of prophecy would say, “That’s what happens when you’re not careful.” His motivation is to convict people of their sin, what they did wrong.

—The person with the gift of serving might say, “I will help you clean it up.” She has the desire to meet a practical need.

—The person with the gift of teaching might say, “The reason that tray fell is it you put too many things on this side and you needed to balance the weight more carefully.” He wants to clarify truth.

—The person with the gift of exhortation would say, “Next time, we can serve dessert with the meal.” She gives a practical solution to the problem so it doesn’t happen again.

—The person with the gift of giving would say, “I will buy a new dessert.” He uses his personal assets to meet a practical need.

—The person with the gift of mercy would respond by hugging the hostess and saying, “It’s okay. Don’t feel badly. It could happen to anyone.”  She doesn’t care about the dessert. She doesn’t care about the seven people around the table. She is empathizing with that one person who is in distress at the time.

—And the person with the gift of leading would respond to the spilled dessert by saying, “Bob, would you get some towels to wipe up the table? Mary, grab the mop for the floor. And Jane, help me fix some other dessert.” That is the gift of leading.

Which is more important?  No doubt, if you answer this at all, you will answer according to your own giftedness.  Because we are motivated based on the characteristic of God that has been given to us.  My gift of service complimented David’s ministry through hours and hours of typing papers, creating bulletins, decorating for holidays.  But God gave me specific gifts just as a wife to this amazing man.  He gave me faith and encouragement when Satan came after his heart and exhortation to speak truth against the lies of the enemy.  To speak words that didn’t come through my mind at all, just straight from my spirit to his.

We are super natural beings with supernatural powers equipped by God and empowered by the Holy Spirit to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do.  And this gift is also not just for ourselves.  It allows the body of Christ to reflect the image of God to the world and to come together to accomplish the plans and purposes of God as each of us brings to the table the specific gifts we have been given.

Enjoy this song from BJ Thomas that so marvelously depicts Jesus working in and through His children.