God calls for us to love one another. This is a fact we all know by now. We are held to the same standards, and we are all a part of the body of Christ. But even in our uniformity, we have distinctive qualities. Think about a cell phone. It does a little bit of everything--it takes pictures, plays music, records videos, and the list goes on. But in its core it is a device used to communicate with others. That's what it does best because that's its main purpose. We are the same way. We are required to have empathy for others, serve people, and in these ways show love. But each of us have a distinctive way we love. It's the gift God gave us.
1.) Gifted Empathizer:
I have a sister who can hear of someone's misfortune and breakdown in tears. I, however am not that kind of person...yet. I'm learning! Anyway, there are some of you who have a gift of empathy. You love strong. You can have one conversation with someone and honestly say you hold them near and dear to your heart. What an amazing personality trait to have! This is the kind of love Jesus Christ calls for all of us to give to one another. This kind of love makes even the toughest demon flee. God is going to use that heart of yours to do great things for His people. Typically people with these traits are called to be evangelists, because they have the love it takes to get out there and share the love of Christ and bring them to the church. This is why Satan hates you! He knows the dangers of love. This is why he constantly tries to weaken the definition of love by portraying it in shallow ways through the media. But people like you can show lost souls a love they never thought could exist. A love that comes from God. I'm sure you've had many people tell you things like "I've never had someone show me such kindness!" That's your gift! But Satan will constantly attack that love in you. He will do this through people. His goal is to get you to close that beautiful heart God has given you. So he will speak through people and insult you. That's the most common way Satan will attack you. Since he doesn't fight fair, he will even go as far as to speak through the people you love the most. This means your mom, dad, sister, brother, best friend, boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife--you name it. The weakness you often struggle with is unforgiveness. This is because you love hard. You often give every ounce of you to love others. So when someone mistreats you, of course you are going to be upset! But remember this. The bible tells us,
1 Peter 4:8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
Love covers a multitude of sins because love is strong. Despite what Satan will try to convince you, stick to the truth. Love shows strength, and anger shows weakness. Since love is so strong, it has the ability to soften even the hardest heart because love makes demons flee. For this reason when Satan attacks you through people, it will be through extremes. I mean people will say and do downright evil heartless things to you. This is because Satan knows he has to come with his toughest stuff to try to defeat the love God placed in you. So why would God let him? Because after every attack God will be there to strengthen you again. He will fix you up. Don't get anything twisted. God is VERY overprotective of you. He has placed a unique gift of love inside of you, and that's a large investment. He's going to protect that. So I suggest you pray and ask God to have mercy on every person who attacks you.
Forgiveness is key for you. Every time you forgive, it's like a child opening their mouths to let the doctor take a look in. It allows God to come in and fix all damages. This strengthens the love God has given you. It enhances your gift. This is why God lets it happen. So hang tight and trust that it will be worth it in the end. You have to trust that God knows what He's doing. You are doing nothing wrong. You should be more concerned if you were not being attacked. God is looking out for you every step of the way.
Matthew 5:11-12 Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
2.) Gifted Servers:
Matthew 20:27-28 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Satan will try to attack you by making you feel used. He will try to convince you that the people you help are thieves looking to take from you and walk away. This is a tactic he uses to get you to close up. He wants to arouse your suspicions about everyone because the more you see people as your enemy, the less likely you are to help. This is an attack to get you to shut down the gift God has given you. These thoughts are poison to your spirit. Jesus Christ said to give to others even if their intentions are bad.
Matthew 5:46-47 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?
Although you love serving others, you can't help but feel like there's no one there for you like you are for them. That may be true depending on where you are right now in life. But ignore Satan when he tries to convince you its a bad thing. Since you have a gift from God to give in ways that many do not, then it is no surprise that those around you aren't giving to you in the same way you are to them. I am blessed to have many friends who are gifted servers. Often when they do things for me I think, "man why didn't I think to do that for them?" This is because God has blessed your mind for the purposes of giving. He will bless you with organizations and/or business for this reason, and He will give you innovative strategies to lend a hand to His people. Your gift of giving comes from Him so when you feel like those around you aren't giving you everything you need, then turn to God. He will refresh you and strengthen you.
Your gift is the embodiment of James 2:14-26:
What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead
For that reason God will always give you favor. You may go through periods of isolation and periods when you can't get a moment to yourself. This is all to strengthen your gift. When you are in periods of isolation, God is pulling you aside to work on you and build you up. He does this because sometimes you are so dedicated to helping others, you often forget about yourself! Don't worry, He loves you so much for that! Your dry seasons are for Him to polish you back up before you go back into the ring.
Then there are times when you are surrounded by people. This can only be stressful when you listen to Satan who tries to convince you these people are only using you. The more you ignore him, the more your true heart shines forth. Your heart in its purest form loves to help these people flooding into your life. Remember God will always provide for you because He knows that you are not just thinking of yourself when you ask for things. It's no different than with King Solomon's life. God told him he can ask him for anything he wanted. Instead of asking for money, fame, etc., he asked God for wisdom to lead Israel. God was so touched by his selflessness He told him,
1 Kings 3:11-15 So God said to him, “Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for—both wealth and honor—so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings. And if you walk in obedience to me and keep my decrees and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life.”
So continue to do what you do best. God is with you and He will continue to provide for you. If you feel like there are takers in your life, forget about it. It's not your job to worry about who has bad intentions and who doesn't. It's your job to give what you can. God will deal with those who abuse the gift He has given you!
3.) Gifted Advisors:
You're the one everyone knows to go to for advice. You always know just what to say. This is your gift! God speaks through you to help His people. The moment someone asks you for advice, you hear the words you need to say to them. Remember this is God speaking through you. Many times you can confuse it and think it's your own thoughts. That's one way Satan will try to get to you--by pride. People will often call you wise for the things you say. But it's not wisdom from your own accord, it's God's wisdom. Many prophets/prophetesses fall into the gifted advisors category. The key is to stay in tune with God at all times. Satan knows that your gift is a very powerful weapon. He knows God will speak to you and it sounds like thoughts in your head. So he will often try to torment you with thoughts that are not of God--things that are unspeakably evil, and he will try to convince you it's your thoughts. Rebuke those thoughts and expose Satan for the liar he is.
If tactics like that doesn't work, then he will try to harden your heart. Since God often speaks to you and uses you to give advice to others, you often learn from others mistakes. You don't fall into some traps that those around you may fall into. If you're not careful Satan will use this to harden your heart so you don't empathize with others. God is love and He works with love, and love requires understanding of all situations. Just because a problem didn't crush you like it crushed another person, doesn't mean their feelings aren't valid.
Romans 12:15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.
Take a lesson from the gifted empathizers. The key to strengthening your gift is to fight the urge to dismiss others emotions. God speaks clearer through you when you have an open heart. The more open you are, the less static will interrupt your gift.
Since you hear from God often, you have to seek His presence as much as possible. You can't afford to surround yourself with the distractions of this world. Of course there's nothing wrong with kicking back and watching a movie or something. But it's not ok to go a day without communicating with Him. Satan will attack your mind the most because he knows it's a form of communication between you and God. So you really have to beware of media that will put perverted thoughts into your mind. In other words, you can't afford to be listening to Trey Songz and other baby-making music. It will hurt you more than those without this gift because Satan wants to cloud your mind with as much filth as possible.
The more you build on your friendship with God, the more powerful your weapon will be. God has given you favor in this area. This means God will tell you things that He might not tell others because it's tied to your gift. So don't let Satan pull you away from God. Study the word and ask God to reveal Himself to you everyday.
I thank God for the unique gifts He has sprinkled into our hearts. The common thread for all these attacks on our gifts is love. Satan is trying to attack our love. The more we keep the love of God and the love of others in our minds, the more power we will have against Satan's attacks. Each of us serve the kingdom of God in our own unique way. Even if two of you are gifted servers, you serve in unique ways. Seek God and ask Him to reveal your identity in Him. In return He will show you your unique gifts and He will reveal how He wants you to use it. I can't wait to see how God will bloom you in His presence!
1 Corinthians 12:12-14 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.
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