Tag: POSITIVITY

Eyes Opened after Looking Back

The end of the year is a logical time to reflect on life: What did we learn? Do we notice a pattern? What good happened? What are we grateful for? What do we want to change? What will our goals be heading into the New Year?

If you’ve read any of my prior blogs, you will understand this: our lives have a purpose, we are where we are for a reason. Do you know your purpose? Do you know the reason your life is the way it is right now?

I went through most of my life not thinking about this until my life was “shaken” in 2015 by an untimely death. That caused me to question everything in life: purpose, reasons, etc. I had no answers, only questions. I was confused about life and wanted answers, started searching. It led me to evaluating and making significant changes in life, taking action, but without knowing my purpose or the answers to the “reason.” I was lost, but moving, aimlessly, seeking, wanting life to be better but not knowing how to make it better.

2016 was continued seeking, transitioning to a “changed life.” I began praying more than I ever did in the past and in 2017 “surrendered” my life to Jesus, wanting his guidance. I was lost, I needed guidance, I didn’t have the answers, but I knew my way of doing things wasn’t effective; it was lacking. 2017 was a year of mild turbulence: ups and downs and I was wondering why since I surrendered but I kept my trust in God. 2018 seemed to be the turning point, everything seemed to be falling in place and I was grateful. 2019 brought a noticeable “dark cloud” into my life but I still trusted in God and went to Him for answers. I was led to the Bible and read it front to back for the first time and it literally made me want to change my life even more. My eyes were opened. I realized I was not living as God wanted me to. I decided to try to live better. I was hopeful heading into 2020. (LOL) I don’t need to explain 2020 to anyone; I think we all had the same year! But that’s when I “woke up” I realized what was happening in the world. I continued to go to God for answers to my questions and He revealed the answers in the Bible. It was amazing to experience this “communication” from God through prayer and the Bible.

2021 in summary was probably the worst year I’ve experienced in life, but not in every way: God was all I had to help me through it and He did. God is truly all I needed. When the Bible says God is faithful, God provides, God protects – all that is true. Throughout these past 6 years, I’ve learned to fully trust God. I’ve learned the answers to most of my questions (through the Bible). I have a different outlook on 2022, than I have in past years. In past years I looked forward to the hope of a better year. I don’t have that outlook this time. I don’t expect a better year. I actually expect a more challenging year, but I have all I need: God.

I have a mindset very different from a few years ago. I foresee the years ahead as getting tougher, but I KNOW (not just guess) this is only a transition to the greatest years of all time ahead, and I look forward to that with much anticipation. This is a time for endurance and perseverance. I don’t yet know how many future years ahead, but my intuition is that it won’t be too far away. Stay strong, stay connected with God and we will make it through.

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Happily Ever After: The True Story Everyone Should Know

Once upon a time…yes, this is a true story, but it happened “once upon a time.” There was this creative King who enjoyed making beautiful things filled with joy and happiness. There is no one greater than Him in any way; He was the first King. He created the earth and everything in it, on it and surrounding it out of enjoyment. He created people and made them to look similar to Him. He used His own breath to breathe life into the people and make them living. He was delighted and interacted with His creation. The people He made were not like puppets or programmed a certain way, although He did give them unique abilities and skills. It was enjoyment for Him to see what they did. He gave the people complete freedom because complete freedom is love. This King became known as LOVE.

Because this King had been around for awhile, He had made other things prior to the earth. We only know a little about the prior creations He made because the beings live in a different realm than we do. There are spiritual beings that can travel between realms, unlike people who are limited. One of the spiritual beings began to think He was as good or better than the King and became competitive with the King. He convinced a few other spiritual beings that he was as good or better and they joined him in rebelling against the King, that’s how the spiritual war began.

Not very long after the earth was created, the Rebelling Being determined he would destroy everything the King created and went into action. He knew that people had certain limitations making them easily able to be manipulated and influenced by unseen spiritual forces and he knew the King loved the people. So that became the Rebel’s focus: separate the people from the King and destroy them. The Rebel was also creative in a manipulative, crafty way. He uses lies, deception, and fake promises to convince people to believe and be led by him. He started in the King’s garden and convinced the people to disobey the one rule the King gave them. He was successful at this because he put doubt in their minds and convinced them that the King was trying to limit their knowledge, keep them oppressed, and they believed the lie and disobeyed the King. At that point, the people unknowingly allowed the Rebel access to their lives and their children’s lives from that point forward. Not very long after this happened, the first murder on earth took place: one brother killed his own brother out of jealousy.

Things became even worse. Other rebellious spiritual beings from another realm came to earth and impregnated women creating unusual evil offspring. These rebellious spiritual beings also taught people things that were not meant to be known by the people of this world. The rebels taught people to contact the rebellious spiritual beings rather than the King for information and the people did. The people on the earth were quickly becoming influenced and spreading evil, killing, lying and reflecting the actions of the Rebels rather than the King. This angered the King because the good He created was being corrupted and dying, so the King decided to destroy the majority of the living beings, keeping only a small portion who remained loyal to Him. He destroyed everything with a flood and gave His people a new start.

It didn’t take long for people to be manipulated by the evil spiritual beings once again because the spiritual beings that can travel between the realms hadn’t been destroyed. So this began the cycle that continues today: people reconcile with the King, the evil spiritual beings manipulate the people, they separate from the King, the King disciplines the people so they learn a lesson, the people reconcile with the King and the evil spiritual beings manipulate people again.

As time goes on, the King finds loyal people who are willing to break this cycle and want Him to protect them from the evil beings. The King does, He is willing to do this for anyone who recognizes what is happening. The King is then able to work through the loyal people. But even the loyal people are not perfect and mess up, but the difference is that they ask for forgiveness and try to never do it again. The King gave the people 10 rules to live by and gives His Spirit along with protecting angels to help His loyal people. The King saw that the people had good intentions but were too weak to resist evil completely.

The King can’t be in the presence of evil, so this had to be solved so one day He could live with the people He created once again. He sent his Son to earth to break the curse that evil had placed on the earth. The Son lived on earth, taught people about the King and explained what was happening on the earth. Some people believed him, but others didn’t. He taught people for approximately 3 years and told those people who believed him to continue to let others know about the King. He told the people the King has future plans and everything will be made new again and the earth will be repaired and the King will once again live among the people. The Son told the people that he himself would be killed, but would continue to live (in another realm) but would someday return to to bring all who believe and love him back together, including those who had died already and those who would die in the future. All will be brought back to life by the King’s spirit, His breath of Life.

The Son was killed, but returned, living, as proof to those he had told of this. Thousands of people saw him, ate with him and communicated with him before he ascended to another realm. He promised he will return and today we are waiting for his (Jesus’) return. Those who are loyal, believe what Jesus taught and show God (the King) that we love Him by our actions (i.e. willingly obeying the 10 commands the King gave) will live forever with God after Jesus returns…happily ever after!

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Can Anyone Prove Jesus Saves?

The answer to this question depends on which word is emphasized: Is it “Proof” that’s being questioned? Is “Jesus” being questioned as our Savior? or is “Saved” being questioned? I’ll address each of these:

PROOF.

Proof always ties to a belief system whether we like to admit it or not. So the simple answer to this question is yes, it can be proved just like science is proved, but we will still choose “belief” or “unbelief” based on our personal mindset and what we personally choose to believe. We all make our own conclusions based on what we hear, see, experience, study, etc. and if those beliefs are strong, rarely does something change our minds. I’ve personally found that so many opposing beliefs can be “proved” by very educated people, data, statistics, etc. Data and information can be used to support opposing viewpoints and can be equally, strongly supported with opposing facts. It truly comes to choice: what do you want to believe? There ultimately is a truth, not every viewpoint can be the truth, but if our own personal beliefs are strong, we may hold on to those beliefs forever and may not truly have “the real truth”.

What is our source for TRUTH? If we are going to prove something it has to begin with identifying the source of the Truth we hold. Agree? Our personal truth typically begins with what we have been taught. When we come into this world at birth, we are taught everything we know by experience and through education. Our belief system begins at that point, sometimes it remains throughout our life but often it changes as we gain new information. I’m fascinated by science, it was one of my favorite subjects in school and it still fascinates me, but what I’ve found over time is new discoveries often disprove concepts that we held as truths! Simply put: We don’t have all the answers and even some of our scientifically proven assumptions are later proven fallible through science, as education evolves. If we are honest, we will admit this. We learn from people, from the past, from books, from research, from experiences, but what we CHOOSE to believe is based on our own personal belief system. I often see a strong polarization between those who base personal beliefs on Science vs. God, but there are also some who believe in both. Here’s the question for us: when it comes to choosing between science and God, which do we believe in? Which one do we choose? When there is a conflict between science and God, which prevails? This is our choice and indicates our belief. As for me personally, I choose God as my priority; because God is infallible, never changing (prove through history) and God cannot be “unproven” by anyone, as our creator. Yes, there are people that say creation started with a “big bang”, but they can’t explain how those particles came into existence to create the “big bang,” can they? If you say something just “came into existence,” how does science explain that? It can’t be explained, but God explains it: He is eternal and has communicated with people since sometime around 2,000 BC according to biblical records. It was significant enough to those early people who experienced this communication to record it and pass it on to generations. Another point, a good portion of the Old Testament follows the ancestry of Jesus. It shows us how, starting with Adam, Jesus came to be through every generation. Also documented in the BC times, were the books of the prophets who told of future events, some are yet to happen, but significant to the topic of Jesus, many of them spoke of Jesus 500 – 700 years BEFORE Jesus was born; they told that the Messiah would be a descendant of David and even gave a timeframe (the book of Daniel the prophet) all prophecies of which were fulfilled/PROVED (except for the future event of Jesus’ return, which remains). I believe what the Bible tells us. So to me, the Bible represents the only reliable source of truth to follow.

JESUS.

So the next possible question is: who is Jesus and what do we know about him? Since I identified the Bible as my belief and resource for Truth in the paragraphs above, I will use the Bible to answer these questions and include the bible verses supporting these statements in the active links. Jesus is the Son of God, supernaturally conceived by Mary because he arrived as a baby when he first came to earth. He is the Messiah spoken of by the prophets in the Old Testament of the bible whose entire purpose here on earth was to SAVE people. The first person Jesus saved was the criminal on the cross next to Him. There are numerous verses in the Bible telling us Jesus specifically came to save (some of these verses in this link don’t address this topic, but this was the easiest way to do a broad search of the topic in the bible) and Jesus also told people, He came to save.

SAVED.

How does a person become saved by Jesus? Jesus told us: 1. Repent, 2. Believe what Jesus taught while He was here on earth and 3. Be baptized Peter, one of Jesus’ disciples, one of the original 12 apostles, repeats this: Repent and be baptized. Jesus also told Nicodemus (a person who was faithful in following the religious law of that time): that people must be “Born of the Spirit” to enter God’s future Kingdom. (Read the entire conversation here) We need to receive the Holy Spirit to be saved and we receive the Holy Spirit by first repenting (recognizing our sins, wanting forgiveness and changing our future ways), then believing what Jesus told us about God’s future Kingdom. This belief becomes the motivation to get baptized. Baptism is the symbolic representation that we have surrendered our natural born tendencies/ways of living and made a personal choice CHOOSING God’s way/Jesus’ shown way to live life, putting into practice what he taught while He was here. But since we are human and not perfect, we need help; that help is the Holy Spirit (who provides wisdom, self-control, peace, power, spiritual gifts and more). Once we have been baptized, we can pray and ask for the Holy Spirit, which God will not withhold (as long as our intentions are “good”) and this helps us endure to the end of our earthly lives or until Jesus returns, whichever comes first? Believing in Jesus means more than believing he exists; even demons believe He exists. Believing means more, it is faith with action, faith shown by our actions, faith shown by how we are living our life. Jesus’ brother, James, tells us that point. Getting back to Baptism and the “surrender” part is also important. In surrendering we are acknowledging a submissive place/role to God. This is important for a couple reasons that come to mind, the first is it eliminates Pride; Pride (being “haughty“) is one of the 7 things God hates. We realize that we will never be capable of being “good enough” to enter God’s Kingdom/Eternity and the only way this was made possible was by Jesus’ death on the cross, the substitutionary sacrifice of His own life exchanged for the lives of those who choose to be saved. This last part is challenging to comprehend because the concept of “sacrifice” involves spiritual laws that I don’t fully understand. For some reason, unknown to me there is a universal law that requires sacrifice to become holy to be in God’s presence and Jesus was that only acceptable sacrifice. It’s talked about throughout the Old Testament, first with animal sacrifices. But over and over again, people made bad choices, fell back into sinful life styles, continuing with animal sacrifices, until God put an end to that because He loves people so much: He sent His Son, Jesus, to make the final required sacrifice making it possible for those who choose to be saved: to live eternally (in new bodies) with God in His future Kingdom, that will come to earth in the future.

Being “SAVED” is all about our personal choice. God gave us the gift (Jesus’ substitutional sacrifice made it possible) but we have that choice available to us. Eternity with or without God is a PERSONAL choice/decision. Each person has to make this choice on their own. God is love; Love involves choice; therefore God gave us that choice.

So yes, to me, based on the statements above and the bible; I am proving that Jesus saves.

Please share this with someone if you think it might make a difference in their life! Thank you!

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES.

If you are interested in learning more about the conflicting viewpoints between science and the bible, there are educated scientists who dedicate their time addressing these questions and providing answers. Here is a website resource: Answers In Genesis

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When the Obvious Isn’t.

How many times have we had this happen: something that puzzled us becomes known and then we think: “Wow, I should have seen that!”? Often it happens when we consider another person’s thoughts, another person’s perspective, someone who notices something we didn’t initially, until that person points it out. This is how each of us can help each other. So many people throughout my life have unknowingly influenced me; they unknowingly contributed to my direction in life: some were positive influences and others were negative influences, but both influenced change in me. This is also a reminder to “be thankful in all circumstances.” when that influence contributes to a positive change, and even if the circumstance is negative. But sometimes the change was negative: a great reminder to be intentional with friendships.

Those are examples of “small details” in life, the bigger picture in life is something that I gradually became aware of, through other people who pointed out very obvious details that I’ve passed over so many times throughout my entire life:

There is a literal Kingdom that has been and is forming right in front of us; it’s a “right in front of your face” “secret” formation (only because we are “blind” to it), so subtle that many don’t see it!

Thinking about a “Kingdom” in a literal sense is not something a US citizen would necessarily embrace, and many others may not either because of the mistrust and corruption we see every day. But this literally is happening right now, but not by force as many historical Kingdoms have formed in the past; with this one, each of us is allowed and encouraged to decide if we choose to live in this Kingdom which is currently forming.

Something finally connected with me this morning, many people might know the words to this prayer, but many of us may have simply memorized it, not thinking about each and every word. Here is the prayer, the prayer Jesus gave by example of how to pray to God:

“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
    as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,[a]
    but deliver us from the evil one.[b]’

This is what I see now, some of which I didn’t see before:

  1. Where is God? “in heaven“- a spiritual realm we can’t fully comprehend because we haven’t seen it, (click the links for supporting documentation).
  2. Hallowed: “greatly revered and honored”- God, and only God, is to be worshipped, nothing should be more important than God in our lives (the first 3 Commandments given by God, summarized here)
  3. your kingdom come: This is literal, I didn’t comprehend this until now! God’s Kingdom will be coming to us, to earth, a NEW earth with a NEW ruler (Jesus) pay attention to how many times Kingdom is referenced, Kingdom – of heaven, not only that but the bible references “heavens”, plural, not a single place where people will permanently be! There is a new literal place that is offered to those who accept God’s Kingdom and God’s commands/God’s Kingdom’s rules will live, a place so beautiful, so challenging to describe, so peaceful, without sickness or evil.
  4. your will be done: God’s plan will happen, but along the way people’s choices are allowed by God, but eventually His plan will prevail, Jesus was part of God’s plan, part of God’s plan from the very beginning, prophesized by Isaiah approximately 700 years before Jesus was born!
  5. on earth as it is in heaven -the Kingdom of heaven will be brought here, to earth, under Jesus as ruler (see prior links)
  6. Give us today our daily bread – if we seek God first, all that we need will be provided to us, Jesus said this.
  7. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors – Jesus explained how important it is for us to forgive others, it affects us if we don’t forgive.
  8. and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. This is where we see that those who are still controlled by the devil, do not recognize Jesus; it is our choice to break from and abandon that (be born again) and with the help and power of the Holy Spirit given to those who obey and ask God for help in Jesus’ name, we can overcome that slavery to sin.

It’s pretty amazing how much is within this simple prayer and referenced in other teachings Jesus gave us and throughout the Bible! There are a couple of videos I recommend on this subject, if you, or someone you know prefers to watch rather than read ?

Video 1: The Kingdom of God -AOC Network

Video 2: Walking in the Spirit – AOC Network

Video 2: The Millennial Reign of Christ – Pastor Daniel Batarseh

This is something I certainly look forward to! I love to travel, so I think about the beautiful places I’ve experienced (like driving the Na Pali Highway in Oahu, HI), or other places I’ve only seen through photos….and God created all that, but He has plans for something even better than that, something new- now THAT is VERY exciting to think about!!

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2021 is Our “Do Over” Year

2021 is our “Do Over” Year

….with that in mind we have something to celebrate:

Happy New Year: Day 1 of the year 2021!

2020 gave many of us a “ feeling” of “being defeated” during the course of that year. But we probably all learned something from the things that happened, especially those events that were “out of our control.”

Life (physically) is meant to be out of our control (God decides), but our eternal life (spiritually) is within our control. We have freedom of choice: we get to choose eternal life or reject eternal life (but rejecting eternal life, by default, means choosing eternal torment, even if we don’t want to accept this, or believe it, it is the truth and a reality we all will face). The second phase of life is way more valuable to us than the first. If you’re reading this: you and I get a “do over” starting today: Day 1 of the year 2021. That’s something to be thankful and grateful for right now!

I’m looking forward to 2021 with a new mindset based on what I learned during 2020.

I’m heading into 2021 with: A positive mindset having no fear of the future (because I’m under God’s protection), knowing there is a place of true peace in my future even when it isn’t peaceful here and now it will be (with God in eternity), knowing I’m in control of my destiny based on my decisions regarding the most important aspect of my life (eternity) no matter what happens outside my control.

NEW YEAR GOALS: With every future important decision, these are questions I will use when evaluating what is the right direction (for important matters). I never gave much thought to this before, but just now realized, the only important decisions are ones that affect God or other people! If these questions below don’t apply, then the choice probably doesn’t matter for the most important phase of my life: eternity and whatever I choose is truly okay.

2021 questions:

1. Am I making this decision out of love? Not the “feeling,” but the love that God wants us to give Him and others (our obedience to His commands: 10 Commandments) that proves we love God. As I linked the Bible scripture to the 10 Commandments, I noticed something: it’s from the 20th book through verse 21! 2021! (that’s nothing more than an easy way to remember where the 10 Commandments are located: Exodus 20: 1-21)

2. Will my decision or action do something that will create some sort of joy (for God or someone else)?

3. Will my decision lead or create peace? (Blessed are the peacemakers)

4. Am I being patient? Not forcing something for my own selfish reasons? I need to have patience.

5. Is this kind?

6. Is this good? (From God’s value system)

7. Does this show faithfulness and loyalty to God?

8. Am I handling this decision in a gentle manner if it involves someone else?

9. Am I being impulsive? Should I take more time to make the decision?

The questions above relate to characteristics regarding “the fruit” of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5: 22-23). When we have a relationship with God (which is what I choose/want), those characteristics are present, so if we want to make “the right” decisions for our life, we can use those questions to direct our actions (what we control).

Getting back to eternal life: Jesus said, the only way to eternal life is through Him/Jesus and to be born again. Being born again is a spiritual birth, a new “person,” a new way of thinking, a new mindset, it means surrendering to God by doing what is right (read the last sentence again), changing our ways to God’s ways (this is Baptism), then we are prepared to receive the Holy Spirit’s gifts. If we don’t change our ways (become a “new” born again person), we can’t receive the Holy Spirit’s gifts and if we don’t change our ways/surrender to God, that’s when we might hear from Jesus: “I never knew you.” on Judgement Day.

If we don’t obey, then we won’t receive the gifts of Holy Spirit (these gifts are provided so we can help each other/be of service to one another, the gifts are for service to others, not for our own benefit) and as Jesus said we have to ask for this. The gifts from the Holy Spirit are different for different people (not everyone receives the same gift).

To summarize, I’m starting 2021 with a new mindset: A mind set on eternity, because 2020 woke me up and made me realize I was given additional time and the opportunity to change my future in a positive direction. Happy New Year!

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What is my (our) Purpose in Life?

About five years ago, this question became more important to me: “What is my purpose in life?”

(To be honest, this question was lingering in me, unrecognized as a teenager too, but I never put much thought into it. I would make decisions about my future when I felt like I was running out of time, and had to choose something, then I’d quickly make a decision, go with it, figuring out how to make it work over time.)

As time passed, I truly wanted to know the answer because I felt like there had to be more to life. I felt like I had been wasting time, and didn’t want to continue this way, so I started searching for the answer. I can remember thinking: “We can’t just be here to eat, sleep, and do whatever it is that keeps us busy during the day and night?” There should be something more important, more meaningful in life, than “existing and taking up space:” a Purpose.

I finally stumbled upon the answer to this question in the Bible:

“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

So the answer is: God created each of us with a specific purpose to fulfill. But when we find an answer like this, let’s be honest: “Who is looking to do MORE work and have MORE responsibilities than we already have?” Probably not many, UNLESS the REWARD is worth it, right? So is the reward worth it? YES! For this answer to be personally true, meaningful and understood for each of us, it requires a relevant context, because without that, we are probably not interested.

So why is this information relevant to each and every person?

It is relevant because it affects our future: what happens to us and is something that only we, personally, can direct, through our daily choices. To receive the reward, we must have faith in Jesus, however we will be judged on our faith through our actions (our works and obeying the Ten Commandments). “Faith without works is dead.” James 2:14-26

So why would we trust what the Bible has to say?

The information in the Bible is from God, our creator, Who speaks only in truth, and reveals some of the mysterious aspects of our existence through the Bible about what is happening and why it is happening. The Bible is an historical book providing reasons why some events took place, giving proof of God through miraculous events, prophesies that came true and through living proof when Jesus was present on earth and teaching, died and rose from the dead. All of this was done to help us, strengthen us and for God to see what choice we will make once we find out and learn about this. (Think about this: Have you ever evaluated a relationship to see if it was worthwhile? That’s what God’s doing with us: He’s giving us a choice about a relationship with Him.)

The Bible is like an “open book test”: the answers are there, but will we seek them and then apply them to be successful? What we are experiencing in our lives right now is something more significant in process: it is a test with a significant reward (heaven/eternal life), if we are successful and horrible consequences (hell) if we fail. So this is why it is important to know what’s in the Bible and apply what we learn.

This is personal: the best way to get answers to our individual questions is by reading the Bible and praying for the understanding of what we read, because this is how God communicates with us; God will provide clarity, directly to each of us when we are looking for answers in the Bible and through prayer. Seek God first in everything. (Matthew 6:33)

So getting back to our purpose in life, I wondered: We were created to do what specific “good works”?

Doing these “good works” and obeying is evidence of our Faith, which is required to receive God’s reward and our life right now is a TEST. The day-to-day “worldly” things that we experience and worry about are truly UNIMPORTANT and INSIGNIFICANT when we understand the high level reason we were created and what we should have our focus. There is so much to focus on in life, but if we make God the priority and focus in our minds, everything else will fall into place. That’s why the Bible tells us not to worry: God provides what we need in support of His plan for us. (Side note: this also explains the reason for some unanswered prayers.) This also requires faith; we have to have faith in God to really believe that He provides, but little by little as our faith grows, we start seeing this come true, which grows our faith.

Getting back to “good works” I also found this answer:

“We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us.” Romans 12:6

The gifts, given by God for the purpose God determined when He created us, are:

  1. Prophesying: boldly proclaiming God’s word
  2. Serving: physical and spiritual help provided to others
  3. Teaching: applying information from the Bible in a clear, accurate and understanding way to others
  4. Encouraging: motivating others to take action and fulfill their purpose
  5. Giving: providing material and financial resources to others
  6. Leading: various Leadership Roles
  7. Showing Mercy: comforting those in need

What gift is mine?

When we work using the specific gift we were created for, our actions happen with ease, we are comfortable and enjoy what we are doing, using the gift feels natural to us, personally. The specific gift we were given is also something that others will notice in us, and likely tell us we seem so “natural” in our actions when operating in that way.

Life is complicated, but the overall simple goal and purpose for us is to Love. Love God and each other.

In summary: God created each of us for a specific purpose of His, and provides us unique gifts to fulfill His plan; which also means every person is very important and is here for a reason!

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