Each one of us is uniquely shaped by God to do certain things.
A key aspect of the design process is to establish purpose. Once the purpose is established the design takes shape around that. Our designer, God, has a clear purpose for us and went about shaping us to specifically fulfil that purpose.
“You are the way you are because you were made for a specific ministry.”
Rick Warren
The Bible tells us that we are God’s workmanship. Our English word poem comes from the Greek word translated “workmanship”. Think about that. You are God’s handcrafted work of art. We are not fashioned together as an assembly-line, mass produced product would be. We are custom made, artisan designed, unique for a purpose.
Nothing that happens in your life is insignificant.
God never wastes anything. He would not give you gifts, talents, abilities, personality or life experiences unless he intended to use them for his glory.
From The Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren has created a simple acrostic to help us understand our make up based upon a combination of different factors. SHAPE.
How God SHAPEs us for our ministry:
Spiritual gifts
Heart
Abilities
Personality
Experience
SHAPE: Unwrapping our Spiritual gifts. These are special God-empowered abilities for serving him that are given only to believers. We can’t earn nor do we deserve these, it’s why they are called gifts. These are God’s grace expressed in our life. We don’t get to choose them either, they are God determined. These gifts are not given to us for personal benefit, they are always to benefit others. Not everyone has the same gift and no one will have all the gifts. This is by design so that we would depend on one another. Have you taken time to discover your spiritual gift? There can be a tendency to overemphasise spiritual gifts to the neglect of the other factors that God uses to shape us. Spiritual gifts are a key component but are not the only component in outworking our ministry.
SHAPE: Listening to your Heart. Our “heart” is the way of describing our desires, hopes, dreams, affections and passions. This is the source of our motivation. What do we care most about? Our heart is a revealer. This is the real us. We all have a unique emotional “heartbeat” that races when we think of certain subjects or circumstances. These are clues to where we should be serving. Our passions can help us locate our ministry. There is a reason why you love the things you do. Consider how these could be used to bring God glory? A great indicator that you are serving God from the heart is that you are self motivated. There is an enthusiasm.
“You can have a lot to live on but still have nothing to live for” says Pastor Rick Warren. Don’t settle for comfort when you can have significance.
We’ll continue with SHAPE in Day 31.
Summary:
Remember – You are shaped to serve God.
Key Bible Verse – “God’s various ministries are carried out everywhere; but they all originate in God’s Spirit. God’s various expressions of power are in action everywhere; but God himself is behind it all. Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits.” 1 Corinthians 12:5-6 MSG
Pray – Lord, I offer you my heart. Search me and know me. May my passions bring glory to your name.
Go make Jesus famous.
Bevan
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