The Power Of A Half Hour DevotionalSample

Sharpening Gifts and Abilities in 30 Minutes

God has blessed you with a variety of gifts and abilities. Those talents become more strategic and influential—for your benefit and assistance to others—when you invest in developing and sharpening them. And it’s amazing how much sharpening can occur in thirty-minute blocks of time.

Various passages of the Bible discuss the fact that God gives spiritual gifts to those whom He calls to His service. Because the ways we can serve the Lord are so diverse—from being a loving husband and parent, to helping kids learn while teaching in a public school, to praying for discouraged friends, to donating money to the less fortunate, to more formal types of ministry in a church setting—each of us receives a different mix of gifts. But they are all provided to us for the same purpose. To bless others for the glory of God.

If you love Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you have gifts from the Holy Spirit at your disposal. You might think of those gifts as supercharged abilities. But just as a baseball player has an unusual talent for hitting or pitching the ball, that talent has to be developed. Spiritual gifts are the same. You must cultivate spiritual gifts through study, practice, and application.

What happens when you commit yourself to maturing your gifts? You become capable of accomplishing superior outcomes.

The Bible tells us about all kinds of individuals—who were no different from you or me, who took their gifts seriously and worked at refining them until they were unusually capable.

• Samuel became a great prophet by working with Eli to understand and expand his gift.
• As a shepherd David perfected the use of a slingshot, which came in handy in his battle against Goliath.
• Apollos was a gifted speaker with a good heart, but it took mentoring from Aquila and Priscilla to enhance his abilities as an evangelist and apologist.
• Peter was given a master’s course in leadership, which helped convert him from an impetuous bungler into a reasoned and seasoned elder.
• Even Paul transitioned from being an angry scholar to a loving teacher beyond compare.

God has similar plans to use the gifts He’s placed in you and me.