To be GIFTED and ANOINTED… this seems to be every believer’s deepest desire. Well, in the life and ministry of every believer; gifts and anointing does play a critical role in shaping their divine purpose and in how they bear witness to God through their lives. It is even reasonable to say that a person’s giftedness as well as the anointing could be instrumental in determining how a person prospers and succeeds.
At the point of birth (both natural and spiritual) you were born with a gift(s) that was given specifically to you by God for the purpose of equipping you with an attribute or a tool that would cause you to find success in life and would also be a witness to mankind that the God through Jesus Christ LIVES. If you look hard enough or pay attention to the things that come naturally for you that also in some way make you special among others, cause you to stand out or make people amused, happy, admire, envy or in awe of you…these are your natural gifts and they indeed come from God. They are a gift to your life; a kind of deposit from God’s riches from Heaven…that by His love you would find blessing and favor in life and among men.
Unfortunately, because mankind is born in sin at birth (natural) he/she is clueless in regards to the purpose for their gift and why they were born with it. That being the case, each of us then holds within us the power to choose how we will value our gift. Nonetheless, our choice is simple. We can choose to honor the God that gave us the gift or assume that our gift is ours to do whatever we want with it. Nine times out of ten if we have a distorted relationship with God our gifted pursuits will be after power, riches and to glorify self sometimes to the point of being worshiped like gods.
As a believer (born of the Spirit) we were born to walk in TRUTH. This truth recognizes that our natural gifts come from God. They were given to us by God to bless and prosper our lives however; and most importantly, they are there to be a witness unto God. Natural gifts testify to the truth that a supernatural God formed us from the dust of the earth and His personalized love is demonstrated by Jesus’ extraordinary sacrifice that reconciled our relationship with God. This love was also uniquely bestowed upon each of us in the form of natural and supernatural talents and abilities as gifts of recognition – testifying we belong to God. Even the ability to learn is a natural gift from God; enabling man to enhance his present gifts, invent products and discover new resources from the resources God created within the earth. The natural gifts that each human being possess is a God given ability given to him as a demonstration of God’s love so that man, in all his glory would be a light and blessing to the world and others the God is REAL.
Existing parallel to this natural gift is God’s spiritual gift that is bestowed only when one is born of the spirit through faith and grace in Jesus Christ. These spiritual gifts are much like the natural gifts in that they are abilities that equip us to bear witness to God and prosper in life, except these alone bear the literal “Presence of God” upon them. This presence is recognized as the “Anointing.” The anointing or “presence of God” is something that EVERY believer is born with as a result of being a Child of God (Gal. 5:22-23, Col. 3:10). This anointing rest upon any one of the supernatural spiritual gifts that was given to each believer as the Spirit of God chooses (1Cor. 12:8-10). These gifts are given to not only bear witness of God but to accomplish His will in the earth and in the lives of mankind. These gifts were also given to us through the passionate love God has for us as His own “spiritual creation” and purposed to equip the believer to find success and blessing as an Ambassador of Christ in the earth. Only this kind of anointing (presence of God) can break ungodly mindsets (yokes), addictions, emotional ties, cycles of abuse, low-self esteem, heal the broken hearts, heal sicknesses and disease, cause eyes to see and ears to hear (both naturally and spiritually) and yes, even raise someone from the dead. This is what the presence of God can do and it is the reason why the believer has been made into living vessels that would house “gifts from God” (Gen.1:27).
So, how does all of this work together? As human beings, each of us are born with unique God given talents and these talents are given to us from God. The purpose for these talents are to testify of the existence that there is a loving God in the world who is intimately invested in our lives and desiring that we would prosper in every manner in life and in the earth. Then, when we come to personally know God through relationship with Jesus Christ, we are given additional gifts and these are supernatural in nature and they are clothed with the supernatural presence of God.
You see, our natural talents bear within it a measure of anointing or presence of God by its shear uniqueness and exceptional qualities that exceed human capabilities however, its power is solely as a “witness unto God.” When we become born again believers our spiritual gifts and abilities could be recognized as a “double portion anointing” because it functions congruently with our natural talents enhancing our life and purpose in the earth with the supernatural power of God to now be able to CHANGE THE WORLD and the lives of MANKIND. Together, these anointings are given as a measure of God’s love and does not require our righteousness to possess it or our submission to Him (Rom. 11:29). However, understand that the presence of God is infinite and therefore containing many layers of God’s wisdom and power and these deeper resources of God’s nature is where we find the mysteries in God, divine revelation, power to move circumstantial mountains and the working of miracles unfold. This is where lives are empowered and legitimately transformed into new creations in the light and glory of God. This anointing can only be accessed by an intimate relationship with the person of Jesus Christ and walking in love and obedience (alignment) with His will and purpose. This anointing and reality of God is earned by way of a sacrificed life and few genuinely choose to discover it. This is what Jesus meant when He said “Take up your cross and follow me” (Matt. 16:24).
Now I don’t know about you but this dialogue causes me to want to examine myself and lay down my own life daily and then look at the world, in particular those in the Christian and secular fields of politics, science, entertainment and ministry with new lenses. It becomes clear who truly understands the purpose for their talent and who doesn’t. It becomes even more apparent who is walking with a supernatural awareness of their purpose in contrast to those with a carnal awareness of their purpose. It is also clear to recognize those who have genuinely chosen to take up their cross and follow Jesus and those living comfortably on the side lines with their gifts and talents – over indulging upon God’s love and grace without becoming a “living sacrifice” unto Him (Rom. 12:1).
So I ask you today…are you a child of God living your FULL POTENTIAL? Are you living in your natural gifts alone or are you living in both your natural and spiritual gifts as a fully manifested creation of God? There’s only one way to find out…you will be known by your FRUIT. Upon the platform that God has given you to shine what is the depth of the fruit you are bearing? Does it glorify God or YOU? Are your gifts drawing you deeper in God or are you living only on the surface of what you were truly created for? Do you even desire to “Go Deeper?”
I leave with you the words of Jesus in Matthew 25:14-30 and Matthew 7:21-29 that brings this discussion to full circle. Take a look at these passages and determine who of these characters in the stories best represents you. Then allow the Holy Spirit be the voice of conviction for the rhyme and reason of your life as a Vessel for God.
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Matthew 25:14-30English Standard Version (ESV)
The Parable of the Talents
14 “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants[a] and entrusted to them his property. 15 To one he gave five talents,[b] to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16 He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. 17 So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. 18 But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. 19 Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20 And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.[c] You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 22 And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here I have made two talents more.’ 23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 24 He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ 26 But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. 29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
Matthew 7:21-29New King James Version (NKJV)
I Never Knew You
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
Build on the Rock
24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
28 And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, 29 for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
Karen Gaithers-Life Discipleship 