Passion in Service

 

        Passion is a strong attraction, enthusiasm, or desire for something.  It is a burning desire that can consume you because it evokes strong emotions.  It directs where you invest your time, energy, and thoughts.  It is what energizes your life.  It is neither good or bad until you apply it toward something.  If you have passion to serve God, then passion is good.  If it is self-serving, then it will lead you into evil.

    You have personality, great talents, and abilities to be used in serving God.  You have passion, but do you know how to use it to serve God?  If you still do not know what yours are, then take a personality quick, list what you are good at, and ask yourself what you would do if you never got paid for it.  What drives you even if you never see any benefit from it?  That will help direct you on how to turn passion into service for God.

    God wants a relationship with you first and foremost.  Once you are saved, then you have a purpose for your life and that is to serve.  Your service brings God glory.  Your passionate service starts with prayer.  Follow His lead and He will develop what He has given you into something you never could have imagined.  

    If you open yourself up to God, then you can see how God will use your passions.  He turns passion into something beneficial for the church.  Serving God is something bigger than yourself.  You should enjoy it and when you do, you can take a step back and see how God used your small part to do something big.

    God will challenge you out of your comfort zone.  If you can embrace that, then you can get excited about service.  Your service is evangelism, even if you are not the one speaking.  Your service is a ministry even if it is never acknowledged by people.  God sees and He will be happy with you as long as your heart is in it to serve Him and not other people.  

Proverbs 4:23, 27:19, Acts 1:1-5, 14:14-20, 2 Timothy 2:22, & James 5:16-17

Reflect on Your Abilities

 

    Your personality, gifts, talents, and abilities are all gifts from God to be used for the church and to bring more people to Him.  Get comfortable with what you have, but do not become complacent.  You have a purpose.  You need to pursue that purpose every day.  When there is confusion, stop and pray.

    When you follow God in all aspects of your life and with who you are, you discover ministry.  Your ministry will be unique to who you are, but can change with with circumstances.  Your spiritual gifts and abilities are your guide.

    Knowing yourself will help you be more confident.  You can say no to the things that you are not called to do without feeling guilty.  If you are following Jesus, then you will know if you are filling a void or if you are called. God will use your abilities, personality, and spiritual gifts to put you in the right place at the right time.

    When you understand yourself you will see your primary personality.  You will be able to utilize your primary spiritual gift.  You will use your abilities to work it all together in ministry with confidence and joy.  It is okay not to enjoy every aspect of ministry.  It may just be an indicator that you are in the wrong place.

    If your heart seeks God, then you will have a desire to investigate ministry to find your path.  Pursue your church to see where you can be used with your abilities.  Do not allow life to side track you.  It is one of the strongest tools that Satan will use to stop your from being useful for God.  

    Don't give up.  Keep leaning into God.  God  will complete the journey with or without you.  If you give up, then you are the one that misses out.  You will also have to give an account one day for all of your choices.  Instead of missing out, have all that you do glorify God.  Use who you are to glorify Him instead of making everything about yourself.

Matthew 25:14-30, 1 Corinthians 12:4-6, Ephesians 2:8-10, Philippians 4:10-14, 2 Timothy 1:5-7, & 1 Peter 4:10-11

Abilities Found in the Bible Part 2

 

    Your personality and abilities are influenced by life events and experiences, but it does not change who you are.  No matter what you face, use what God gave you to serve Him in love.  He will use the hard times, hurt, and other people to heal or make you strong.  The past does not go away, but how you deal with it can change your future.  Obey God and you will be blessed.

    The Investigative personality is represented by the craftsmen that God assigned to build His temple and design things.  It is a skill needed to learn, educate, and perfect a talent because it drives you not to give up.  Investigation requires critical thinking, reflective thought, and flexibility to change direction.  An unconventional attitude helps with creativity in the process.  It takes logic and order to determine how to make things work.

    The Artistic personality is represented by Bezalel.  His talents were to lead and teach the craftsmen, builders, and construction.  He had creative expression.  He recreated the work of other people to make it work for them as they traveled nonstop for 40 years.  He was validated and gave feedback to all that contributed to his work.

    The Levites represented the Realistic personality.  They all had their all skills to contribute.  They did come across harsh and inhumane to today's standards, but they followed God's directions.  They were God's representatives, so that required a lot of different abilities.  They balanced their emotions and solved problems pragmatically.  They were conventional in their politics.  They worked hard and were spiritually, physically, emotionally, and mentally strong.

    Aaron's sons represent the conventional personality.  Aaron's sons were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.  Like other sibling, they were probably very different, but put together their abilities made them priesthood leaders.  They followed the rules and made sure everyone else did too.  They were very orderly and methodical in what they did.  Everything had a purpose and reason.  They taught and trained with that mindset.

Exodus 25:10-30, 26:1-6, 29:19-46, 31:1-5, 32:25-29, 39:42-43, & 40:16-19

Abilities Found in the Bible Part 1

 

    When people live closely together their lives intertwine.  It makes it a lot easier to see the different personality types and abilities that people have, then when people are alone.  Your personality intertwines with your abilities, so it can be hard to see where one begins and one ends.  You can try if you want.  Or you can accept that this is what God has given you and find a way to use it to serve Him.

    Moses was enterprising.  He was reluctant to step up to be a leader of a nation.  It was his past that blocked him from being able to see it.  God was patient with building his confidence and gave him Aaron as his helper.  Moses became a great leader for the Hebrew nation because he was persuasive.  He convinced the people follow him (aka God) in all situations.  He accepted authority and stepped up for his people.

    Aaron was the social brother.  He became the spiritual leader of the nation and the spokesman in the beginning as Moses prepared to be the leader.  Then Aaron had to take a step back.  That was hard for him, but he did it.  His personality was larger than live, so it got him into so trouble at times.  Some of his decisions led to sin instead of life, but he showed the nation how to repent.  He brought the different tribes together through listening and facilitating.  Even though he messes up big time, God still used him.

Exodus 24:1-3, 25:1-9, 26:1-6, 32, 35:4-9, & 36:2-5

Personality and Abilities

 

    The Levites are a great example of the realist.  They used their emotions to become pragmatic and to balance their lives.  They were politically conventional.  They were physical and somewhat mechanical when it came to their task.  God used their abilities to carry out His purpose as spiritual leaders.  They made a difference in the world.

    The twelve spies are an example of the investigative personality.  They solved abstract problems in an unstructured work environment.  They were original and creative in their ideas.  God used their abilities to represent the Hebrew nation.  It proves that they are not always right, but they did serve God.

    Bezalel represents the artistic personality.  His abilities were used in art and being creative.  He was imaginative.  I was able to recreate other people's work, but needed validation and feedback.  God used his creative expression to encourage ministry.

    Aaron appears for the social personality.  Aaron liked to be in the center of attention.  He wanted to be involved and know what was going on in the community.  He listened and facilitated.  God used his abilities to show the nation how to repent.

    Moses appears for the enterprising personality.  Moses was a persuasive leader.  He accepted the authority that God gave him and took it seriously.  He was the unlikely candidate to lead a nation, but God used his abilities to change everything for His people.

    Aaron's sons are examples of the conventional personality.  They were all about the rules.  Everything they did had a high level of order.  They were methodical and patient in training.   God used their abilities to give ministry structure.  

Exodus 24:1-2, 25:10-16, 29:19-45, 31:1-5, 32:1-29, 39:42-43, & Deuteronomy 1:1-36

Talents & Abilities

 

    Spiritual gifts may be gifts from the Holy Spirit, but your talents and abilities are gifts that God gave you when you were born.  Some come easier than others. You may have to work to achieve talent and ability, but it is still something given to you from God along with your personality to make you who you are.

    Education is a gift that broadens your your range of abilities.  It can make you confident and give you satisfaction.  Instead of comparing education levels, we should focus on style and development of what best suites each child and adult.  Education should cultivate natural competencies and gifts, so everyone can succeed at being themselves.  Education gives you direction.

    What you believe about yourself has a profound effect on your abilities.  If you give up, then you will never discover what you can unlock within yourself.  Test your abilities through motivation and self-discipline.  Are you someone what is a defeatist or are you determined to succeed?  

    You have been given a level of intelligence to use toward achievement.  Develop your talent, so that you mentally never are defeated.  It is a combination of reasonable talent and ability that will make you a leader, independent, or defeatist.

Proverbs 22:6, Luke 22:58-62, Acts 2:36-37, & Philippians 4:10-14

Personality Awareness

 

    Awareness is the knowledge or perception of a situation or fact.  In Hebrew is it mudaut (מוּדָעוּת).  We got the English word from the old English word "gewær" which means watchful or vigilant.  It derived from the Proto-Germanic word "ga-waraz".  In Latin awareness is conscientia which encompasses a lot of meanings: knowledge, science, skill, expertness, awareness, and acquaintance.

   Having awareness of yourself is vital to living a fulfilled life.  To know what your personality is a part of being self-aware.  Look at your abilities and let them start describing your personality.  No one will fit into an exact box.  You will have tendencies of more than one type of personality, but there will be dominant ones that you can fit together to describe your personality.  (R=Realistic, I=Investigative, A=Artistic, S=Social, E=Enterprising, C=Conventional)

   Those that are drawn to Enterprising know how to use their words.  They tend to be salesmen or leaders.  They enjoy persuading other people to their viewpoint.  They tend to be impatient and lack concentration for long periods of time.  They are energetic, enthusiastic, adventurous, self-confident, and dominate.

    The social person is responsible and concerned with the welfare of other people.  They strive to get along with others, so they work on communication skills.  They enjoy being the center of attention or discussion.  They come across as cheerful, friendly, popular, high achieving, and good leaders.    

    The investigator enjoys abstract problems.  They understand the physical world and will challenge themselves to push further in discovery.  They are not fond of structured situations, lots of rules, or working with several people.  They come across unconventional.  Their attitude is creative.  They are analytical, curious, reserved, and independent.

    The artist is unstructured when dealing with problems.  They express themselves in their art.  They like working alone or with only a few people.  They are sensitive and emotional.  They are individuals that can't be put in a lump sum with other people.  They are seen as independent, original, unconventional, and expressive.

    The realist is practical, active, and skilled.  They tend to like to be outdoors and create things with their hands.  They prefer dealing with a situation rather than people.  They can have difficulty expressing themselves, ideas, or feelings.  Their political and economic perception is typically conventional.  They come across rugged, robust, practical, and strong.

    The conventional person is highly ordered in their activities.  They do not want to be the leader.  They like well-established chain of command with clear boundaries and expectations.  Vagueness makes them very uncomfortable.  They come across traditional, conventional, stable, self-controlled, and dependable.

    

Exodus 4:11-12, Proverbs 3:5-6, Luke 14:12-14, & Romans 8:26-30, 12:1-2, 15:7-13