What Do You Have To Give?

In Matthew 10, Jesus sent out the apostles to the lost sheep of Israel. They had marching orders to proclaim, “the kingdom of heaven has come near.” “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.” The Passion Translations says, “Heaven’s kingdom realm is accessible, close enough to touch.” Jesus could share his power and authority with others. This wasn’t just for the twelve apostles, but he sent out another seventy-two disciples to different towns. They returned with joy after seeing how God gave them power to cast out demons.

The apostle Paul prayer the following for us:

Ephesians 1: 19-20 TPT “I pray that you will continually experience the immeasurable greatness of God’s power made available to you through faith. Then your lives will be an advertisement of this immense power as it works through you! This is the mighty power that was released when God raised Christ from the dead and exalted him to the place of highest honor and supreme authority in the heavenly realm!”

God has given us authority and gifts. Some religious teaching and the misuse of these gifts has caused us not to see all God has for us. Many of us walk around feeling we have no voice or power to change things in our lives and in other’s lives, but that is a lie. How do we receive all God has for us? Reading God’s Word, asking the Holy Spirit to help you learn, and giving God permission to direct your steps will reveal a hidden path of victory.

Discovering God’s Gifts In You!

Matthew 10 explains that if you receive a prophet, there is prophet reward. If you receive a righteous man, there is a righteous man’s reward. What does this mean? Each of these positions, prophet, and righteous man, are needed in the Body of Christ. They each have different gifts to give to people.

A righteous man can give you entrance into right standing with God. He knows now to walk with God and keep on God’s path. A prophet has the gifting to break off strongholds and give revelation that causes you to receive breakthrough. The prophets gifting allows them to see the big picture like a chess player that knows the moves ahead to win the game.

I was asking God what I had to give to people. I had a prophetic word that I had a healing ministry. I was puzzled because I didn’t see many physical healings happening when I prayed for people. Then Holy Spirit reminded me that the prophetic word was about healing trauma. This last year I started to understand that most sickness and emotional hurts were from what we perceived as a wounding word someone spoke, or a misdeed done against us.

Since I had diagnosed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) for over 40 years, I have the gift of endurance and strength to push through past damages and still be used by God. The healing gift God has given me is the removal of trauma. I can see and know the roadblocks and damaged areas that have stopped people from moving forward. This gift has allowed me to open people’s gifting and give them their identity in Christ.

What Is Your Story of Victory?

What is your story of victory? Have you overcome some areas of fear? You can impart faith to overcome fears. Maybe you conquered a bad marriage. You will have the compassion to comfort a person walking through divorce. You can give them strength to walk through the emotional roller-coaster of discovering their identity without a spouse. That is what you can impart to others.

God’s word in Isaiah says, “no weapon formed against you will prosper.” This means everything, including life’s problems, can be redeemed. One of God’s names for us is “The Redeemed” in Isaiah 62:12. Jesus redeemed us from the curse of the law which means God’s grace is working in our lives to cover our mistakes. Redeemed in the Bible means: payment for freeing a slave; returning property that was lost; God using you to glorify His power and love: getting back lost peace; taking back what the enemy has stolen; and redeeming our lives back to God’s original purpose for us.

What did you learn when you walked through a challenging time in life? How can you use this to help someone else? The storms of life are meant to destroy you, but God uses these storms to create people who overcome the adverse winds of life. It causes you to have the power to deliver others. This also gives us an understanding of how we can help others and gives us boundaries of protection.

Understanding Your Authority!

Understanding your authority sets boundaries of protection for you and others. If you don’t have a place of authority, you have no power to influence and bring change. It would be like you correcting another person’s child. You have no authority over them and will get a backlash from stepping over your boundary of influence.

Who do you have influence with? What I mean by influence is people you have favor with, and they listen to you. It could be people at work or a neighbor. What relationships have you invested in? I have favor with waitresses. I think it is because I was a waitress, and I understand how hard it is to deal with all those different personalities. Maybe you have favor at your barbershop.

Favor can be for a season of time. You can tell this by closing doors in jobs, relationships, and desires that change. David had favor with King Saul for a limited time. Paul and Barnabas walked together for years as co-laborers, then they separated and went different paths. When you allow God to open the right relationship doors it will bring an alignment with people whom you can share life with.

Jesus built relationship of safety, trust, and allowed people to mess up. Jesus invested in discipling people that allowed him to know when they needed easy to digest words or when they needed a wake-up jolt. He was not worried about his reputation or trying to build a ministry. He had a Kingdom of God view that saw beyond the worldly ideas of how to build a church. Because Jesus walked with the Holy Spirit, this allowed him to trust that the Holy Spirit was able to protect, direct, and empower God’s people to walk out their destinies.

Prayer

Father God,

I want to understand and receive all You have provided for me. Show me the gifts You have given me through the Holy Spirit. Allow me to understand what gifts You have given me and how to use them in love. Help me to see the things that I have walked through that can be used to set others free. If I have some wounding and trauma from my life journey, please heal me and redeem these events in my life. Teach me about your authority that You give me so I may stay within the boundaries You have set for me. Jesus has provided all I need through His death and resurrection. Help me to see my inheritance in Christ and make a way for me to touch the lives of others in this world. Amen!

Scriptures

Hebrews 4:12, Proverbs 3:5-6, Luke 10:1 & 17, Isaiah 54:17, Lamentations 3:58, Psalm 107:2, Psalm 55:18, Galatians 3:13, 1 Samuel 18:1-10, Acts 15:36-41, Luke 2:52, 4:19, and 2 Corinthians 6:2.