One of my teammates asked me, “What has God been teaching you lately?” I stopped and paused. I couldn’t really answer that question because I have been learning so much. This past week at debrief I learned to step into my spiritual gifts and use them, how to let God make me uncomfortable, and I led worship twice which is so not something I would ever do. The biggest thing I have been learning is that God trusts me. As we grow in intimacy with him our desires start to match up with His. We want what His heart wants. This week I have learned that I don’t struggle with trusting the Lord because I know Him by his faithfulness and goodness. Just like any other friendship or relationship both people need to trust each other. With God I know I trust him and don’t struggle with that but I am learning to trust myself with what God trusts me with. God trusts me with specific spiritual gifts and a role in the kingdom to carry out his desires and love.
This week I have been digging into the story of Rahab. Rahab was a woman of the Old Testament known for being a prostitute who hid two spies. The spies were trying to scout out the city of Jericho which the Lord said he would hand over to the Israelites. Why am I telling you this? Because Rahab feared the Lord, but with a fear strong enough to prompt her to forgo logic and act out of faith. Her fear came from the stories she heard of God’s faithfulness and goodness. Rehab took a risk by hiding the two spies. She asked the spies to protect her and her family when they came for the city. She trusted God and his goodness based on the stories she had heard from Moses and the Israelites. (If you want to know more check out Joshua 2. The whole awesome story is there.) I had someone tell me I reminded them of Rahab. They said I was “A bold woman who feared the Lord more than she feared man.” I have seen that a lot recently in choices that God has asked me to make and stepping out to use my spiritual gifts. For instance, doing the World Race. Not necessary the most logical choice or popular among my family at all but I knew that’s what God wanted me to do, so here I am.
This week at debrief one of my teammates got this picture for me during a listening prayer we did. Side note- listening prayer is just sitting in the presence of the God and inviting the Holy Spirit into your prayer for a person and seeing if he has a word, phrase, vision, picture or Bible verse for someone.
“I saw a really beautiful, vast lake. Surrounding it was a cobble-stone lined sidewalk and street lamps that ran along it. The street lamps were reflecting onto the water. Right next to the water was a bench and you were sitting on it, alone. You were just sitting in some much peace and looking out upon the lake and all of its beauty. All around you, people were walking past and no one else seemed to take notice to everything around them, but you did. You could only see the part of the lake that was illuminated by light- everything beyond it was dark. But even though you didn’t know what lied beyond, even amidst the uncertainty, even still, you continued to sit there in steadfast peace.”
Peace. A word that I would not really say I had. I am a loud and silly person. I don’t really give off the peaceful vibe, or so I thought. Coming on the race, my team is really into encouraging each other in what we see in them. Words I have gotten a lot is “strong-willed, strength, confident, warrior and peaceful.” I have had to sit with those words. Those weren’t words that I would really say about myself. I have never sought the acceptance or approval of other people so I have never thought twice about what people said about me whether positive or negative. This week I have been learning to step into the role that God has for me in the kingdom. The gifts I have and am learning to steward are intercession, the special gift whereby the Spirit enables certain Christians to pray for extended periods of time with great positive effect for the building of the Kingdom. Exhortation, the special gift in the church to strengthen and encourage those who are wavering in their faith to uplift and motivate others as well as challenge and rebuke them in order to foster spiritual growth and action. Discernment, the special ability that God gives which enables a person to know with assurance whether certain behavior is to be of God, human, or demonic. Prophecy, to make God’s heart known and to edify the church or its people. Faith, those with this gift have a trust and confidence in God that allows them to live boldly for Him and manifest that faith in mighty ways. God has already been using me in each of these areas this past week at debrief with different teammates. I am excited to step into this new season with the Lord. Stay tuned God is doing some rad things…..
Also if you want more info on spiritual gifts, this is a rad site- http://www.spiritualgiftstest.com/
-Bri
