Unique Mission (Part 2)

God has uniquely designed each of us. Not only our physical appearance (yes, I can blame God for the bald spot on top of my head) but our entire make-up, abilities, and life experiences. Let me explain through the acronym: S.H.A.P.E.

Spiritual Gifts
Heart
Abilities
Personality
Experiences

God has uniquely SHAPED each of us to fulfill His specific purpose and plan for our lives.

Spiritual Gifts (1 Cor 12; Romans 12, Ephesians 4)
We receive Spiritual Gifts at salvation through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Each believer has at least one Spiritual Gift and most have a combination of gifts.

Do you know your Spiritual Gifts? (I will share a list of Spiritual Gifts and talk more about them in a future blog.)

Heart (motive, passion, concern)...Heart is what makes you jump up and down and what makes you pound the table. Your heart is what you are passionate about.
(I.e. sports, children, animals, music, students, the poor, etc.)

What has God placed on your heart? What are you passionate about?

Abilities...These are given to us by God at birth. Rick Warren says, "Everyone has over 500 abilities." Personally, I could only come up with 499.

Our abilities are from God (James 1:17).
Our abilities can be used for God's service (1 Cor 10:31).
Our abilities affirm God's direction (Heb. 13:21).
Our abilities need to be sharpened and developed (Eccl. 10:10).

Personality..."You created my inmost being" Psalm 139:13

Our personality is the outward expression of ourselves. There are various ways of categorizing our personality traits and/or our temperaments. Some more popular ones are:

Animals: Lion, Otter, Beaver, Golden Retriever
Colors: red, yellow, green, blue
Choleric, Sanguine, Meloncholy, Phlegmatic
DISC- Dominant, Influencer, Steady, Compliance
Myers-Briggs - (most detailed) 16 different combinations of traits

Experiences (Romans 8:28)...God uses experiences in our lives to shape who we are. I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. God allows both the good things and the bad things to happen in our lives to accomplish His purposes. God has been working in us our entire lives and preparing us for the work/ministry that He wants us to do.

Conclusion

Your SHAPE is irrepressible...You must be you! God has given you particular spiritual gifts. He has given you a heart and a passion for certain things. He has given you unique abilities and a specific personality/temperament. And He has allowed certain experiences to happen in your life. The combination of all these SHAPES who you are. You are who God wants you to be, and you need to serve God in a way that only you can serve Him.

How has God SHAPED you? What has He gifted you to do?

God is good!
Johnny

PS Over 200 people signed up at Graystone on Sunday to serve God in one of our ministry areas. PRAISE GOD that the people of Graystone are stepping up to the plate and using their gifts and abilities to "go and serve" God!