THE ESSENCE, PURPOSE, POWER AND APPLICATION OF A GIFT

SERIES:                       PROSPERITY

AIM:                                DISCOVERING AND EXPLOITING YOUR GIFT WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF YOUR DIVINE PURPOSE

MESSAGE:            THE ESSENCE, PURPOSE, POWER AND APPLICATION OF A GIFT

TEXT:                             PROVERBS 18:15, 16.

“The heart of the prudent (intelligent) gets knowledge (is always ready to learn) and the ears of the wise seek knowledge. A man’s gift makes room (opens doors) for him and brings him before great men (gives him access to important people)” – Proverbs 18:15, 16.

What a Gift Is:

Introduction:

A gift can be described as a present given by an individual or entity to another, possibly as an act of appreciation or as a result of a mere consideration of the giving entity because they have a favorable disposition towards the receiver of the gift. In this case it is more or less tangible ever material thing. A gift on the other hand can also be an endowment conferred upon an individual by a supernatural being like say God a Almighty in order to enable   the receiver function at a higher degree of excellence, like we see in the distribution of spiritual endowments or gifts by the Holy spirit in 1 Corinthians 12. The complete Dictionary Christian Dictionary describes a gift as something given as a present or as a natural (or is it God given) special ability. A gift is not necessarily earned but more often than not it is the product of favour by the presenting, giving or endowing entity. A gift can also be described as a special resource given to and privy to an individual or particular entity, which places them at an advantage over others in terms of possession and or ability.

Gifts in the Bible

The word gift and it’s related words appears 171 times in the Bible (NIV). Under different descriptions namely, ‘Minchah’ (apportion, donation or tribute), ‘Matan’ (a present, or reward), ‘Maseth’ (raising of hands, furnish), ‘Mattanah’ (sacrificial offering), ‘Shachad’ (Donation, reward) ‘Mattth’ (Present), ‘Nedeh’ (Bounty, as tossed), ‘Dorea’ (a gratuity or tip), ‘Charsima’ (Spiritual  endowment or divine gratuity), ‘Doron’ (Sacrifice, offering as an oppression of honour) ‘Doma’ (a present given to bestow, and ‘merismus’ (distribute, divide) .

A gift therefore is about a present, reward, a specially resource, giving, donation, tribute, sacrifice, bounty, a gratuity, honour, benefit, addition, recognition, goodness and unmerited favour. Matter of fact, the word ‘chris’, from where we derive the word charisma means grace. A gift area is ones proscribed area of concentration and operation and therefore ought to be one’s area of industry or work.

Sources of Gifts

Gifts as far as our study is concerned may be received from three major sources, namely:-

i.                  Human beings:- like the Magi (wise men) in Matthew 2:11. We can receive gifts from fellow men and women.

ii.              Satan (or the world of wickedness): The fact that the Lord Jesus talked about good gifts in Matthew 7:11 and Luke 11:13 by extension means that there are also evil gifts, which as the a foregoing are for evil or ill motives. These can be in form of bribes which are given in order to distort or compromise justice or for the manipulation and control of the recipient. A bribe should not be accepted because, it “blinds the eyes of the wise, and twists the words of the righteous” (Deuteronomy 16:19, see also 27:25). The Bible is very categorical when it come to the giving and the receiving of bribes and…strongly condemns it see (1 Samuel 8:3, 12:8, psalms 26:10, and Amos 5; 12. The girl with the spirit of divination (soothsayer) can be said to have been having the gift of forth telling events. This evil spirit of divination was cast out by Paul the Apostle. This landed Paul and Silas in prison thus revealing the magnitude of damage it had done to the kingdom of darkness given the repercussions. No wonder God hates these satanic gifts because they always attempt to stand in the way of His purposes (Acts 13:8-12).

iii.          God: The third and final   source of gifts that we will look at is God almighty Himself. God attribute wise is the giver of all good and perfect gifts, (James 1:17) life being part of them. “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). God’s gifts are given for His pleasure, out of pure motives and on purpose, and also for our enjoyment for fulfillment of our blessings and ultimately to His glory (1 Corinthians 10:31).

Areas of Gifting

Areas of gifting are diverse some of which are mentioned below:-

i.                  Music or singing – Talk of Whitney Huston who set an impassable benchmark in the sales of her works, Cecil Winans, our gospel musician Rose Muhando, Emy Kosgey, and the late Michael Jackson.

ii.              Oratory or Public speaking Hitler, Fidel Castro both of whom could give captivating and inspired speeches hours on end, President Barak Obama who has the capacity of giving flawless National addressing without notes, not to forget the intriguing and articulate gospel preacher John Hagee.

Space fails us to talk on other gift areas like academics, rally, driving, leadership, and physical strength like in the case of Samson, Farming, Soccer, Athletics for which our Country Kenya is well known, administration, authorship, the list is seemingly endless.  Nonetheless a gift must be discovered and applied well for fulfillment in anyone’s life.

iii.          Spiritual gifts

“Now there are a diversity (many) of gifts, but the same spirit…for one is given by the Spirit, the word of wisdom…, word of knowledge…, gifts of healing…, working of miracles…, prophecy…, discerning of Spirits…, diverse kinds of tongues…interpretation of tongues…, but all these work by one and the same spirit dividing to every man as He chooses (wills)” – 1Corinthians 12:8-11. Even in spiritual matters, God in heaven to give special endowments for His work to be done satisfactorily, thus revealing the critical place a gift has play in life.

The purpose of gifts

Someone has said that, if you don’t know the purpose of anything, then you are bond to misuse it. A gift is such a critical resource to an extend that a miss use not only amounts to a big lose but can also be catastrophic (disastrous) if misused. Good or godly gifts come to us in order to÷   

Open big doors for you. People are almost always very receptive and want to be associated with a person or persons with exceptional qualifies and achievements. We are originally made in the image of God and blessed to exercise rulership of the earth, which earth God has given to us as His stewards, in order for us to manage on His behalf for a season and for a profit. A gift here is a major avenue to help us successful execute our divine mandate and actualize (realize) our divine destiny. A gift therefore helps us complete our earthly assignment. Ultimately it is what we do and what we achieve or produce n life that defines us. “You shall know them (false prophets) by their fruits…every good tree brings forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree brings forth evil fruit” (Matthew 7:16, 17). Always remember that as a believer in Christ you are a duly authorized and empowered child of God courtesy of (John 1:12). An area of endowment or gift area solves the riddle of your purpose. If unveils what you are here for, socially and spiritually. Qualities and achievements. This is because these kinds of people add value to them. With the door of acceptability open, comes the opportunity for greater achievements. Our Kenyan athletes who excel in field events are always in demand world wide in field competitions because they are great crowd pullers. With their invitation to these events comes the opportunity for them to further break their own event record, this further spiraling upwards the level of demand. With this comes prominence, distinction and recognition, as a result of this accomplishments. A gift will fish one out of oblivion on to the platform of prominence and greatness, where we all belong (Proverbs 18:16).

iv.           Prayer and fulfill our life’s mission. Talk about Kipchoge Keino, Paul Tergat, the late Wanjiru, Pamela Jelimo and what comes to your minds is the story of from rug to riches. A single gift in you  can take or propel you from footing to ridding, driving and finally flying your own jet. A gift is powerful and should be given its high place of value and equally applied to God’s glory. Do not forget that God gives gifts to men on purpose and for deliberate and conscious exploitation by those endowed. Bottom line God wants you to proper and so bring Him glory. It is your gift which is the sure vehicle to draw resources (be they material, social, economic or spiritual) into your hand to help you accomplish God’s will for your life, and so actualize your prophetic destiny.

Stewardship in your area of gifting

A steward is not an owner but the executer of an estate on behalf of the owner. That is what we are especially with regard to what God has put at our disposal. At the end of the day when all has been said and done all glory must go back to God. Doping this will help sustain the flow of God’s blessing and visitation in your life. The renowned and athletic legend Kipchoge Keino opened and now runs a home for the destitute and the socially challenged young members of the society. Like Saul the King do not let Satan’ the world and the flesh sidetrack you into the vain agenda of self gratification and self aggrandizement which results in ultimate death and damnation. Never forget that God gave you the gift that you have on purpose. He expects you to discern it, exploit it properly, responsibly and wisely because you will need to give an account to Him on this area some day.

v.       A gift helps divine you.

“After a long time the master of the servants (who had been entrusted with talents  returned) and settled accounts with them. The one who had received  the five talents brought the other five. ‘Master’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five talent. 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 your in charge of many things. Come and share your masters happiness!” (Matthew 25:19-21). If the above servants disposition were to be condensed into a few descriptive words, they would be; a good attitude, faith, humility, Wisdom, servanthood, faithfulness, divine direction, consistency, hard and smart work, industry, tenacity, accountability which ultimately culminated in prosperity, inheritance and joy. How you as a person measure up to the above words defines in an accurate way your degree of good stewardship.

DISCOVERING YOUR AREA OF GIFTING

An indwelling gift area or sphere of endowment is the area in which one operates in with special grace. It is one’s area of passion and flawlessness within which things just appear to naturally fall into their perfect place often with much ease when the gifted individual applies themselves therein. We normally enjoy working in our gift areas and need minimum supervision and psychological effort to deliver even though the work to be done in this area may actually be very labourous. In an endowment sphere the gifted beats the crowd hands down, matter of fact they quietly wonder why there is no competition or serious challenge in that specific area of gifting compared to other areas. It is an area of exceptional strength and minimum boredom which culminates into much fruit or output because people efficiently deliver here as  they can work there for a very long duration without giving up due to exhaustion.  This is why one needs to work extra hard to discover and apply themselves majorly in a gift area especially when opportunity avails itself.

The best and most common way of discovering one’s area of gifting is when one decides to and take on a challenge of venture into a new environment or unfamiliar territory.  Every time you are required or requested to do what you are unfamiliar with, do not turn it down unless it translates in to evil or it turns out to be an unacceptable thing. It is through the process of taking on new ground that you discern what you are good at and of course what you are not good at. An area you find yourself excelling in with ease is most likely your area of gifting. The contemporary musician Mbuvi discovered his talent in music later in life when out of honour he decided to sing at his late mother’s funeral. He has since not looked back.  To quickly discover your gift area, you need to be bold and daring. It is necessary to state here that an individual can possess more than one gift or endowment.