How to capitalize on the real you. Leveraging your gifts

You might be encouraged by this story from a recent trip to Sri Lanka. My grandfather is 96 years old yet doing very well. Years ago he began trusting God for his health and God continues to bless him.

Because he is doing good health wise he was able to travel some with my wife and daughter and two of my cousins. One of the special moments on the trip was when we went to Fridsro Orphanage. This is especially cool since my grandfather went to Bible school with the man who founded the place. Jacob, the founder, is 81 so between him and my grandfather there was 177 years of life experience.

After hearing stories of God’s faithfulness, visiting the site and having lunch it was close to time to leave. The ladies had already gone outside and the only ones in the room was Jacob, my grandfather, my cousin and I. My cousin and I listened to a conversation that grabbed my heart.

Jacob was sharing all of the work that God had allowed them to do over the years with the orphanage. My grandfather then basically said that God had given Jacob faith for that kind of work. He then shared about another college classmate who God had used to build one of the largest churches in the country. He had the faith for that.

It reminds me of these verses. Romans 12:3-8 ³For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. ⁴For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, ⁵so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.⁶We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; ⁷if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; ⁸if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

What has God given you faith for? You do not need to be someone else? Be who God has called you to be. But the way my grandfather said it makes me think of an important fact. Not only must we be who God has called us to be, but we must stretch ourselves in that area. Whatever gift God has given you stretch yourself. I pray that if God lets me live to 96, I will look back and see that I used the gifts that God gave me to the limits. Will you?

10 Ways To Improve Your Score of Praying Without Ceasing (Updated)

Sometimes God’s word is very clear, but very challenging. A great example of that is Paul’s simple instruction, “pray continually.” Elsewhere he says to, “never stop praying” (Rom. 12:12 CEV) and Jesus teaches us to “pray and not give up” (Luke 18:1) when it comes to things we are asking God.

But just because it is clear what the Bible is asking does not make it easy. This is not about guilt but heading toward a goal. Having embraced the nerd within a good way for me to think about this is to think of trying to get a high score every day, week or month. Frank Laubach made a challenge to think about God 1 second of every minute of the day.

Here are ten ways to help you increase your score:

Set up reminders. I have used simple things like my 3 x 5 card plan as a reminder to pray. My wife uses certain times on the clock (for example 12:34) as reminders to pray for people.
Join a movement that engages your heart in prayer. Part of the reason we challenge people to pray for their pastor and church is the more your heart is engaged the more you remember to pray.
Pray in the Spirit. Paul says that when you pray in the Spirit your mind is unfruitful (1 Cor. 14:14) which means that your mind can be somewhere else. This means that I can pray while I am doing other things.
Use social media as set ups to pray. Since you are going online anyway to see what your friends are up to you might as well pray for them while you are there.
Let news to draw you to pray. If you hear news, whether it is world, national, local or even your office, think of it as an opportunity. Use it as an excuse to shoot a prayer to heaven.
Pray for needs as they come up. Too many people say they will pray about things and never do. Make a habit of praying for needs that come your way right away.
Use music to your advantage. If you can have music in the background use music that draws you into the presence of God. When you hear it this may remind you to pray.
Set yourself up for conversation thoughts of God at night. Reading a little Bible or trying my journal method may set you up for a good night. You may even wake up thinking about God.
Use daily struggles to remind you to pray. I think it was Rick Warren who said that, “if it is big enough to worry about it is big enough to pray about.” Worry becomes the trigger to pray.
Start where you are. In this “game” of spending time with the God of the universe it is best to slowly improve your “score”. Maybe pick one of this and build on it. As Dr James Rouse says, “One good habit will beget another good habit.

Make one new commitment today and see where your score will go. Check out my book Enjoying Prayer for more ideas

Using Time Travel in Prayer (Updated)

Your time is very precious. Moses made this prayer: “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” (Psalms 90:12) If we are to live well we must respect the time that we are given. I made a video showing to take advantage of this though prayer by doing a little time travel.

Darren Hardy, the publisher of Success Magazine does a great job helping us picture this idea in this short video.

Will you take advantage of some of the moments that you have today to invest in your future through prayer? The fuse of your life has been lit! Let’s use our time wisely.