GOD SPEAKS THROUGH
OUR NATURAL ABILITIES

We wonder, What am I to do with my life? What is my
purpose here? Does God have a calling on my life? God
answers these questions through our natural gifts and
abilities. He leads us to our purpose through the natural
skills and unique talents He bestows upon us.
God-given gifts are the skills a person easily performs
without formal training. Many great artists know just
how to put shapes and colors together, and so they enjoy
designing buildings or sculpting beautiful and useful
items. Many songwriters just write down the music they
hear in their head. Some people are great at organizing,
while others are natural counselors, helping people sort
out their lives and their relationships. We derive great
pleasure from doing what we are naturally good at doing.
If you aren’t sure of your purpose, just do what you are
good at doing, and then watch God confirm you by
blessing your endeavors. Don’t spend your life trying to
do what you are not gifted to do. I tried to grow a garden
and can tomatoes and sew my husband’s clothes. I wasn’t
at all good at any of these things, and I even despised
trying! It was obvious that God wasn’t calling me to grow
and preserve vegetables or to sew. But what if no one
enjoyed gardening or canning or making clothes? God
keeps our world in balance by giving each of us natural
talent and pleasure in doing what needs to be done for the
good of everyone around us.

God speaks of this division of gifts several places in His
Word. Genesis 4:20-22 mentions that Jabal was the father
of those who raised cattle and purchased possessions. His
brother Jubal was the father of all the musicians who
played the lyre and pipe. His half-brother Tubal-cain
forged instruments made of bronze and iron. When
Solomon built the temple, God empowered skilled
craftsmen to do the work (see 2 Chronicles 2).
Then again, in the New Testament church, God makes it
clear that He calls us to work together as one body in
Christ. He appoints some to be apostles, some prophets,
and some teachers. Some people are given the faith to be
workers of miracles, some have gifts of healing, some are
gifted to help others, some have gifts of administration,
and the Word says that some are speakers in different
tongues (see 1 Corinthians 12:28).
I tried to be like other women I admired, but I didn’t
understand at the time that they were gifted to do what
they did. If we work at doing what we hate to do, we won’t
be good at it, and we won’t glorify God with our lives. God
came to give us an abundant life, not a miserable one (see
John 10:10).
God wants us to enjoy life. How can we enjoy spending
time doing something that we hate to do? There are
wonderful tests available to help us discover which jobs
we might enjoy. There are tests to help us understand
how we process information and make decisions unique
to our personalities. And there are tests that measure our
spiritual gifts.

When people work at jobs they aren’t gifted to do, they
quickly become unhappy, and they make everyone
around them unhappy too. Even in raising our children,
we need to see what they are good at and give them
household chores in line with their gifts. It is senseless to
make everyone conform, because we are not alike. God
needs each of us in our place. He needs every one of us to
function to our fullness, without wasting time competing
with someone with different gifts and talents.
When teams of employees are in their right places with
everyone in his or her niche, operations run like a finely
tuned machine. If we do what we are good at doing, we
will enjoy it, because we will sense God’s anointing on our
efforts and achievements.
God speaks to us through this inner anointing. We know
we are operating in our gifts and calling when what we do
ministers life to others. If what we do makes us miserable
and fills us with a sense of dread, it’s possible we are not
in God’s perfect will. God gives us peace and joy to let us
know we are fulfilling His perfect plan.
You can be called to do something that feels difficult to
your flesh, but if you can get beyond your initial doubts
and find that you have peace once you are doing it, then
you will know that God is confirming your natural talents.
It is senseless to make everyone conform, because we are
not alike.

A woman I will refer to as Sharon (though that’s not her
real name) worked as our housekeeper a long time ago,
but she didn’t feel that her work was important. She
wanted to do something else, so she begged God to lead
her elsewhere. When Sharon left us, she tried several
other jobs, but nothing ever gave her a sense of
fulfillment. She finally started keeping house for
somebody else and discovered that it was easy for her to
do the work and to find people who needed her. She came
full circle and worked for us again doing exactly what she
had done years earlier. The difference was that this time
she was happy—and peaceful.
People who are anointed to the “helps” ministries often
struggle with the feeling that their work is not important.
Satan deceives them to keep them from fulfilling their
purpose. God’s ideas are never achieved without help
from the entire body working together toward His
common goal. The devil hates our anointing and our unity
when we use our gifts to supplement one another’s
calling.
It is important to hear from God and find out where you
are called to bloom. Then get where you are supposed to
be—get planted, rooted, and grounded—so you can bear
fruit. We don’t have enough years left on this earth to be
miserable working at the wrong assignments. Sometimes
we become tired of doing what we are anointed to do. But
we find that we become miserable when we try to do
something we are not called to do.

God will speak to you through your own gifts and talents.
Make sure that what you are doing ministers life to you
and not death. Watch for the evidence of grace on your
life. If grace is not present, you will struggle through
works of the flesh that are not ordained of God. I know
I’m into works if I’m pushing and pushing to get
something done and becoming resentful of the process.
When there is no desire or energy from the Holy Spirit,
and I dread the task, I know that God is telling me there is
something wrong with my plan.
When we were working hard to get on television, I
became so tired I cried, but I still loved the process.
Sometimes I am so tired after our seminars that I just
weep before the Lord. But then I get built up again and
feel a burning desire to get to the next conference. I have
to have grace on me to do that. God won’t give us the
grace to do something He hasn’t called us to do.
I encourage you to look at what you enjoy, what you’re
good at, what God is giving you grace to do—and then let
God be God in your life. He wants to flow through you in
many different ways, but it may not be the same way He
flows through others. Trust His ability in and through
you, and don’t be afraid to be unique.