6 This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you. 7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. - 2 Timothy 1:6&7
We all have our times where we get caught in a rut. I know it happens to me! We go through the motions, slap a smile on our face and "do our thing".. but in all actuality, everything is a blur and we just feel numb. We all hit dry spots, where we feel distant but that's not the rut I'm talking about here. I'm talking about when we feel comfortable. We have overcome obstacles and hit our peak and kind of just camp there for a while. What happens when we just lay around? We get lazy. We become careless. This is more dangerous than walking in the desert.
I like the analogy my high school science teacher used a few times (for something totally unrelated of course). He said, "If you boil a pot of water and try to stick a frog in it, it will jump out. But start that same frog in a pot of cool water and slowly bring it to a boil, it will stay there as it "acclimates" and gets "comfortable" in the temperature of it's surroundings." What happens to the frog? It dies. (I know what you're thinking; what is this chick talking about??) It is just like this for us in our spiritual walk. If we lay there and acclimate and get comfortable where we are with Christ, our thirst and our hunger will dwindle away.. our passion will die. So how do we pull ourselves out of our comfort zone? Simple, take a moment to step back and hear God. There is no break in His plans for us, we just need to seek out and listen to what He is calling us to do next. A great way to do this, is digging in to His word.
He has given each and every one of us a special calling and spiritual gifts. If we don't exercise them, we become lazy and spiritually out of shape. We were given these passions as a way to serve, and to also give us spiritual drive! If we are exercising our gifts, it doesn't mean we are feeding into the passion He has bestowed us. We need to be diligently searching and growing and stretching these passions to be a burning fire.. to keep a fresh anointing and to effectively live our lives the way He intended. This can be applied not only to our personal life, but in our ministries in our churches. In a ministry, this is not a pyramid scheme.. we're not all going to rise up an be the head of our ministry, but we can be spiritual warriors and are essential parts to building up an effective ministry!
10 God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. 11 Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen. 1 Peter 4:10&11
Also, in the bible it is mentioned several times that we should "sing a new song"! I don't think this pertains to musicians alone, but to each of us in our own passions and seasons. All of our passions and gifts are songs of praise unto Him when used for His glory! We need to not get so stuck in what happened yesterday, but be excited for what He will do today! Expect new things, and accept the challenges laid out before you. Sure they're a little scary some times, but oh how sweet to taste and see what He has for you next!
He has given me a new song to sing,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see what he has done and be amazed.
They will put their trust in the LORD. - Psalm 40:3
Be blessed!
