Thy hands have framed me and fashioned me together round about; (Job10: 8).
You have fashioned me as clay (out of the same earth-material, exquisitely and elaborately Job8: 9AMP. After God made you, He broke the mould. There has never been and never will be any one like you
Before architects design any new building they first ask, What will be its purpose? How it will be used? Before God created you, He planned exactly how He wanted to use you to serve Him and He fashioned you for those tasks.
God doesnt make junk Ethel Waters. Moreover God doesnt waste anything.
Eph2: 10; Ps139: 13-16
God is at work in the world and He wants you to join Him. Whenever God gives us an assignment, He always equips us with what we need to accomplish it.
FASHION the make or form of anything
F-Facilities-1Cor4: 7 family, education, health, nationality, finances, experiences
There are people without many facilities have excelled.
Facility: something designed, built, installed, etc., to serve a specific function affording a convenience or service: transportation facilities; educational facilities; a new research facility. Something that permits the easier performance of an action, course of conduct, etc.: to provide someone with every facility for accomplishing a task; to lack facilities for handling bulk mail.
What have you learnt?
A-Applying your abilities Mt25: 14-30
What you are is Gods gift to you; what you do with yourself is your gift to God Danish proverb
God deserves your best.
He doesnt want you to worry about or covet abilities you dont have. Instead He wants you to focus on talents He has given you to use.
Natural talents you were born with: Jacob to shepherd, new ideas to increase Ge30, 31
1. All our abilities come from God. You have dozens or hundreds of untapped, unrecognized and unused abilities. Many studies have revealed that the average person possesses from 500-700 different skills and abilities.
2. Every ability can be used for Gods glory 1Cor10: 31; Deut8: 18; Acts9: 36, 39; Jg20: 16; Davids ability to swing the sling
3. What I am able to do, God wants me to do Heb13: 21
S-Spiritual Gifts
1 Cor.12: 8-10, 28; Ro.12: 5-8; Eph.4: 11-13; 1 Pet.4: 10-11 Joseph, Daniel
H-hearts desire Ro10: 1; Phil2: 13; Ps37: 4;
Heart represents the bundle of desires, hopes, interests, ambitions, dreams and affections. Make your goal to be a Kingdom-builder rather than just a wealth-builder
Sir James Young Simpsons hearts desire was to save the patients from pain during surgery which led to the invention of chloroform
Louis Brailles hearts desire was that the blind people should be able to read which led to the invention of Braille code
Samuel F.B. Morses hearts desire was that people should be able to communicate faster which led to the invention of Morse code
Christopher Latham Sholess hearts desire was that his pastor should find a means to prepare his notes fast which led to the invention of the typewriter. It was the forerunner to the modern word processor.
Ida Scudder, Adoniram Judson, Alexander Duff, Bartholomaes Ziegenbalg, Robert Moffat, Pandita Ramabai
Corrie Ten Booms desire to protect the Jews, author of: The Hiding Place
Get the gospel to as many people as possible, as quickly as possible, as clearly as possible, as irresistibly as possible through the power of the Holy Spirit to the glory of God
I-Intimacy with God
We were created to live in intimate relationship with God. In Eden we see this. Adam and Eve enjoyed an intimate relationship with God, but after the Fall, that ideal relationship was lost. However Jesus restored that intimacy through His Cross and Resurrection. It is difficult to understand how an intimate friendship is possible between an Omnipotent, invisible, perfect God and a finite, sinful human being. But that is very much possible. God does not want to shout at us 1Kings19: 11-13. God is whispering, but we are looking for earthquake, thunder and fire.
Only a few people in the Old Testament times had the privilege of intimacy with God. Moses and Abraham were called friends of God, David was called a man after Gods own heart and Job, Enoch and Noah had intimate relationship with God (Ex33: 11, 17; 2Chr20: 7; Is41: 8; James2: 23; Acts13: 22; Ge6: 8; 5: 22; Job29: 3-5); Elijah 1Kings17: 1; 18: 15; Elisha 2Kings 13: 14 could say with Gabriel Lk1: 19 that they stood before God.
This busy world conspires against relationship with God. Yet some Christians seem to enjoy a relationship with God that the rest of us only dream of. We are the ones who need to determine the vibrancy and depth of this intimacy. Intimacy is indispensable for progress in spiritual life.
There is a great difference between intimacy and familiarity. The disciples were familiar with Jesus. They knew his habits, etc, but no intimacy except for John.
In Ecclesiastes, nothing can satisfy you, but in SOS, there is complete satisfaction because of intimacy with God-perfection and beauty.
Intimacy with Christ is a major issue in the life of every believer. No man of God is in so perilous a position as the man who has lost his place of intimacy with Christ. We will become like a painted flower that has no fragrance, a painted tree that has no fruit, a painted fire that has no warmth. And eventually we will set aside our convictions, our spiritual conscience, and even our calling.
We have begun to fall in love with principles than with the person of Christ. If being precedes doing, then isnt it true that being with Jesus should precede doing for Jesus?
Luke 10 the familiar story of Mary and Martha vividly speaks to the issue of intimacy with Christ. From the passage, we can draw three principles of intimacy with Christ: posture, proximity and preference.
How Mary was seated -- before Jesus -- reflected her reverence for Him, referring to her posture. We bow our head in prayer knowing that this bowed head is hooked to a stiff neck. A reverent physical posture must be predicated on a reverent spiritual posture.
Mary was seated at His feet, referring to her proximity to Him. A man was working with his grandfather in his grandfathers woodshop. His grandfather asked him to pass him a tool - a tool unfamiliar to him. When he was unable to locate the tool quickly enough, his grandfather told him to never mind and used a screwdriver instead. "I didnt use this screwdriver because it was the best tool for the job. I used the screwdriver because it was close to my hand," his grandfather said, adding, "there are a lot of men out there who are perfectly equipped to do incredible things for God, but God will never use them because its the handy tool that gets used the most."
Marys preference was to listen to the Word of God rather than work in the kitchen. Whereas intimacy with Christ is defined by Mary, it is differentiated by Martha, who is "a picture of everything that being with Christ is not." "Doing" church-related activity is not necessarily "being with Christ."
A person who does not walk intimately with Christ cannot expect Gods blessing, leadership or protection. How arrogant it is for us to believe that we can be and do anything, unless we develop intimacy with Jesus.
"Intimacy is the secret Mark of Gods children, the one mark, the sure mark, the infallible mark of regeneration and adoption"! Spurgeon"
The soul is in danger when knowledge of doctrine out steps intimate touch with Jesus"! Oswald Chambers
O-Opportunities: an appropriate or favorable time or occasion: a situation or condition favorable for attainment of a goal; a good position, chance, or prospect, as for advancement or success.
Wasted opportunities Num13&14; Jer8: 20; Mt23: 37; 24: 49-51; Lk14: 16-24; 13: 1-5; 2Pet3: 9
Scotlands Queen Mary, used to go around in disguise to know the citizens better. One day went far and it began to rain. Asked for an umbrella from the nearby house. The lady gave a torn useless umbrella thinking, the stranger may not return. The next day soldier brought the broken umbrella. The lady wept bitterly. I could not use the rare opportunity I got to serve the Queen. Acts. 20:35.
N-Name: whatever has come to be has already been named Ecc6: 10 RSV.Your uniqueness is a scientific fact of life. What a Name Signifies
Personality for names are given to distinguish between individuals
A persons character-for the name which designates a person stands for what that person is.
A persons life and work: for what he is and also what he has done
A persons reputation before men; a persons stand before God
Peter was a choleric (extremely irritable or easily angered); Paul was a sanguine (confident); Jeremiah was a melancholy (sad); John was phlegmatic (calm, or composed). But God uses all types of personalities.
Five people named by God before their birth
Ishmael-God that hears (Ge16: 11);
Isaac-laughter (Ge17: 19);
Solomon-peaceable; perfect; one who recompenses (1Chr22: 9) Jedidiah-beloved of the Lord (2Sam12: 25);
John-the grace or mercy of the Lord (Lk1: 13);
Jesus-savior; deliverer (Mt1: 21);
Two peoples name prophesied many years before their birth
Josiah-the Lord burns; the fire of the Lord (1Ki13: 2);
Cyrus (Is44: 28: 45: 1)
Four peoples name changed by God
Abraham (Ge17: 5);
Sarah (Ge17: 15);
Jacob (Ge32: 28);
Peter (Jn1: 42)
Tow disciples given a name
Boanerges (Mk3: 17)
You may think that you have nothing, but thats Devil trying to keep you silent, but you have a storehouse of experiences, facilities, abilities, spiritual gifts, opportunities.
So you have been fashioned by God. Use all these for the glory of God and the extension of His Kingdom. God bless you.
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