Living My Best Life

“God is the only way of life we can get lost in and find ourselves.”

— Joshua Komolafe

Put the baby cap on!  

• When you know who you are, you know what fits = knowing your calling 

• You have a giftedness cluster = a spectrum of gifts and talents 

• Everyone has at least one gift! 

• And our value system should be from God 

• All others = substandard, there’s a limitation to what we can get from it 

For your purpose in life there is a scripture that God can release to you for you to hold onto for the rest of your life = He honours his Word over his name 

For real guys, we can literally go to God in our secret place and be like “Hey God, this is your Word, and you will never let your Word go back to you void! God you’ve gotta do this for me thank you.”

We literally have the power (within reason) to ask God for whatever we want! Provided we have faith and it aligns with God’s Plan (NOT OURS!) then it’ll happen. 

Don’t get it twisted, many of us have our own plan and want God to jump on board, that’s not how it works! Did you give yourself your purpose or did God? You’ve got to jump on board to God’s plan. He wants the best for us! 

We have to be obedient – obey the Holy Spirit on time When you are on course for your purpose, the Holy Spirit gives you an instruction, we have to do it. If you don’t do it = it takes longer to complete it. Something that could have taken a week takes you 6 months! Why are we creating more struggles for ourselves? The world, the enemy gives enough things to deal with, let’s not add to it peeps! 

 

Bible Time – y’all should totally read the verses  

Ephesians 3:1 – 11  

• Paul is telling us that his purpose is to evangelise to all the people and his purpose was tied in with being in prison = he wrote his letters in prison 

• There is a uniqueness with purpose – it hasn’t been done before 

• Regardless of what you think of yourself, God has put things in you, remember we each have AT LEAST one gift! 

• Your purpose is given to you by God (Why? It doesn’t matter.) 

• It is the glory of God to go conceal the matter (what) not the reason (why) 

• It is the purpose of kings/queens to reveal it (the what not the why!) 

  Genesis 45:7 – 8 

• Once you are shown something once it is completed, God will show you something else, the next phase of our journey – unless it’s time to die 

• We have to spend time with God to find out more, go back in his Word 

• Esther 4:14 

• Esther achieved personal success by becoming the Queen 

• But her significance was to save the Jews 

• We should not stop when we achieve personal success, we have to go above and beyond that 

 

God calls us to a group of people - then next level is significance 

2 steps to purpose (only given to us by God) 

1. Personal success (for yourself) 

2. Significance (doing it for others) 

 

Summary: 

• We have our own purpose anchor scripture! 

• We must be obedient! 

• There is a uniqueness with purpose! 

• We do not need to know the why, just the what! 

• We should not stop at personal success  

Location

Send me your location (Lord), we’ll focus on communicatin’, cause… let’s be honest we can’t navigate through life without you as our GoogleMaps, Uber, SatNav and compass! Direct us lawdd! 🎶😅

Our location; where we are can aid or hide our gifts, it is important that we dwell in the secret place to ask God to position us in the right place and at the right time. When it comes to our purpose; it is not a destination, it is a journey. We never arrive, we keep uncovering, till we die.

Think of it this way, just because a light has been shone on a particular aspect of your life, does not mean the light produced what you are seeing, rather it revealed it. Just as you discover your purpose it has always been there, God just reveals pieces of it to you bit by bit. In the same way on a car journey you see buildings, trees, people and many other things before arriving at your final destination. Well, it is almost the same with your purpose except you can’t see the final destination.

Let’s look at perspective; perspective means you're seeing, hearing and believing.

When you change your perspective, you can gain a better understanding, of the different opportunities God has for you. It can take changing your location, to change your perspective and with the right perspective, your gifts and talents can arise or unravel right before your eyes. Sometimes we are placed in different locations to have a different insight or perspective to God’s plans for our lives (Judges 7:9-15).

Yours gifts and talents arise from your perspective, so that’s why it is important have the right perspective and be in the right location so that your gifts will be revealed.The right location presents the right opportunities and as you tackle them you discover your gifts and talents. 

On this journey of ‘finding purpose’ do not be discouraged if you find yourself lost or disorientated. God is working everything out for your good - follow His word, His will and His ways.  

Discovering our Gifts & Talents 2

God has called us to fulfil a purpose here on earth. He has also blessed us with the tools (our gifts and talents) required to execute that plan, to work the ground and care for it. In Genesis 2:4-5, we learn that even before the fall of man, God had called man to work and had equipped man with the tools to accomplish that task. 

 Based on Joshua Komolafe’s analogy, our tools metaphorically take on four different physical means. Using your hands to tend the ground symbolizes operating in an area that doesn’t allow your gifts to flourish. You achieve results at a slow rate because you find no fulfilment in that work, hence you are unproductive and frustrated.  

On the other hand, working the ground with a trowel signifies working operating in an area that favours your gifts. There is less struggle to achieve good results because you have placed yourself in an environment which allows your gifts to surface.    

Thirdly, tending the ground with a shovel implies understanding your gifts and acquiring the relevant skills to sharpen your gifts and talents. This results in a very productive outcome. 

The best tool of all four at working the ground is a digger. The digger denotes understanding your gifts and talents, positioning yourself in the right location so that they can surface, acquiring the appropriate skills to improve on them and working together with the Holy Spirit to achieve supernatural results. Note that, a higher level of productivity attracts a greater level of responsibility as explained in Luke 12:48.  

 In conclusion, we must pray to uncover our gifts and talents, position ourselves in the right location and to attain the necessary skills to enhance them. Most importantly, we must seek direction from the Holy Spirit to be able to execute our talents accurately. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Discovering our Gifts & Talents 1

In discovering our gifts and talents, we need to be aware of where or what we place our value in. Usually, our value systems often stem from ourselves, other people or external sources/beings. Even when we don’t want to admit it, more often than not we look to these things for validation or confirmation. Let’s be real, it usually doesn’t end up good, no matter how much we want it to sometimes. 

So ask yourself - where does your validation come from? Is it from your boyfriend/girlfriend? Social media? Friends or family? Let’s take a minute to think about this… 

If we see Psalm 139:16-18 as a love letter from a father to his child, we will see a letter saturated in love, validation and confirmation. God has created each and everyone one of us with so much care and intentionality you can’t help but think “wow this is what He thinks of me, I really matter to Him”.

A wise friend once said “How can you worship the creation and not the creator.” You have been created to be set apart from your co-worker, your friend and even your siblings. So be bold, hone in and maximise on the gifts and talents God has placed in you because whether you want to believe it or not - there is NO ONE like you!

So because there is no one like you and with the gifts and talents given to you by the creator of heaven and earth, accepting God as your Lord and Saviour means there will be no fear in asking God show me what gifts and talents you have given me and help me to use them for your glory - *somebody say hallelujah!*

So let’s explore these amazing gifts and talents through our gifted cluster - SNAPE APE (shout out to Joshua Komolafe for this great acronym).

1. Spiritual gifts - this is our God given unique capacity that has been given to each of us for the purpose of releasing a Holy Spirit empowered ministry

2. Natural Abilities - these are our innate skills, talents or aptitudes that enable us to accomplish things.

3. Personality/Emotions - this is the combination of characteristics or qualities that form our character/individuality/temperament 

4. Acquired Skills - these are our learnt skills, talents or aptitudes that enable us to accomplish things

5. Physical Expressions - our environment, experience and exposure 

An amazing man of God once said “Our gifts and talents are not our physical expression it’s just an expression.”

So I leave you with this question… how do you want your gifts and talents to manifest and are you willing to do the work required of you?

What on Earth am I Here For?

Did you know that up to 89% of 16 to 29 year olds believe their lives lack meaning? Are you surprised? In the next few blog posts we are excited to explore the different facets of purpose. Stay tuned! 

Purpose is described as the motive behind the creation of something. In Jeremiah 1:5 we are enlightened on the understanding that before we were born, we had been appointed to fulfil a purpose. Hence, from a biblical perspective, there is a meaning for our lives! From a psychological perspective, through Maslow's hierarchy of needs, we discover that at some point food, shelter, clothes, assets and relationships no longer drive us. At this point we are driven by intangible things. This is described by Abraham Maslow as self-actualization- the desire to reach your full potential. In other words, at some point in our lives, only the fulfilment of purpose can motivate us.  

As we go through lives journey, we are to discover our purpose for the various seasons we go through. Joshua Komolafe explained that “when you know who you are, you know what fits and your purpose becomes easier to identify.” 

He illustrated this using the analogy of jumper sizes. For instance, if you know you are a size 20, then you know that a size 8 would be too small for you. Therefore, when you know your purpose, you know which activities support you in achieving that purpose, and which activities lead you astray from your purpose. There is a jumper that fits you perfectly and that jumper is your purpose.  

 How then do we discover this purpose? We are to search it out in the secret place as Proverbs 25:2 admonishes us to do.  Imagine walking into a dark room and switching on the light. You can now see the things in the room. These things were in the room prior to switching on the light. However, light in the room has allowed us to see these things. In the same way, our purpose is innate, but  we must seek to be enlightened on what it is.