Are You Using Your Talents?

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. Matthew 25:14-15

If you have not read this parable of the Talents, you can find it in Matthew 25:14-29. It is a parable of a merchant who gave his servants money to double for him. In banking terms he made an investment in his servants and expected to double his investment in return. To one he gave five talents, to the other two and to the last one he gave one, according to the abilities that he knew they had to make profit of his investment and went on his trip. When this merchant returned to settle accounts with his servants, the one he gave five to had doubled his investment. Likewise the servant whom he gave two talents to, doubled his investment, but the servant to whom he only gave one talent, hid in the ground and did nothing with it.

God gives each and every one of us a talent. It may not be an obvious talent like some but nonetheless it is a talent. A talent is something that you can do and do very well; a specialty so to speak that you may have. For example, some people have the talent of hosting. People can go to their house and they will make them feel as if they are in there own home or at a luxurious resort. That is a talent not everyone has. Some people have the talent of calming situations so they don’t escalate into something ugly. These are not very obvious talents but they are effective and necessary talents nonetheless. If they weren’t necessary why would God give them? God gives us these talents to use for His glory. If we host, we host for Him, if we pacify a situation, we pacify for Him. Whatever your talent is, you are to use it, practice getting better at it, and multiply it. How do you multiply it? By using your talent to bless others. I know a newlywed couple who have several talents and they use them all to glorify our Father, hence I have been witness to the multiplication of those talents. Not only do they sing, they host, they direct, they preach, and they lead and there are probably more talents I have seen yet in them. The point is that they are multiplying that investment that God made in them by blessing others. If you hear these two sing together or individually you will be truly blessed.

The first thing you need to do is discover your talent. Once you discover your talent, you have to develop it or put it into practice. It can be an obvious talent such as singing, preaching, or teaching, or it can be a talent that is not seen in crowds or the general public. A talent is a talent, however obvious or unobvious it may be. Is that a word?? You have to use it. As you develop your talent and become good at it, you multiply it. You cannot hide your talent and do nothing with it. God gave it to you for a reason. He gave it to you to bless others and to bless you and in so doing you are honoring the One who gave you the talent. If you allow fear and other elements to prevent you from using your talent you can lose it. Now let me be clear on what I mean about losing it – you will lose the desire, you will lose the ability to do it well, it is like a flower that receives no sunlight or water and dies. It is like a muscle that is not exercised and grows weak to the point where it is useless. A talent in monetary terms is equivalent to 10,000 shekels. In American money that would be about $1500. Jesus used the monetary example so that the people would understand but He was actually talking about those deposits that God makes in each and every one of us.

If you read the verses where he came to the last servant who he gave one talent to, you will see that the servant did nothing with his talent. He knew he had it, but he didn’t develop it and he didn’t multiply it because he was afraid. He was considered wicked and lazy by his master. Fear, insecurity, low self esteem, complexes and other elements can prevent you from discovering and developing your talent. A low self esteem will make you think that there is no way that you could have a talent but you do. Fear will say, you can’t do it, what if you fail? Insecurity will say you’re not that good, so and so can do it better, let them do it. These are all obstacles the enemy puts in your path to keep you from your full potential. You have to step over those giants and remind yourself, if God gave it to you it’s because He knew that you had the ability to do it. You see, verse 15 says “to each according to his own ability.” Not according to so and so’s ability but according to your own ability God gave you a talent or 5 talents or 10 talents or more! It is up to you to discover them, develop them, and multiply them!

I want to hear the Lord say “well done, my good and faithful servant”; how about you? Verse 29 says: ‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.” If you don’t use your talents they will be taken away. Let us use those gifts God has given us to further His kingdom so that we can hear the Lord say “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”
God bless!

The Sanctity of Marriage

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”
Ephesians 5:22-31

This is for those who are married and those who will get married. I don’t pretend to be an expert on marriage – far from it – but there are some things I learned in the course of my marriage to my wonderful husband that I would like to share and may help someone in need.

First – IT CAN BE DONE! The society and age we live would have us believe that marriage doesn’t work. So many people are terrified of the commitment of marriage or are hostile toward it because of past hurts or the wrong example of the marriage of someone close. The statistics of the divorce rate in the 21st century alone are scary and at the highest they’ve ever been. 50% of married couples in America end in divorce. A person who marries more than once is more likely to divorce sooner than the first time. The sanctity of marriage is no longer regarded in today’s society. It was every little girl’s dream to have a beautiful wedding and spend the rest of her life with the man waiting for her at the altar. Those dreams can still come true! It is God’s design for man and woman to live in the intimate relationship called marriage. Of course the world has a twisted and warped view of what marriage should be. It is more challenging today to marry and stay committed to that union than it was 50 years ago, even 20 years ago, but it can be done. Marriage is not a fairy tale where you marry the person of your dreams and live happily ever after. It requires an investment of time, patience, sacrifice, compromise and commitment. It is a decision to love when life is just like a fairytale and when it’s not. A decision to love when you realize your spouse is not perfect and you can not change him/her. The good news is that you can be a vessel that God uses to mold him/her. Marc and I will be celebrating our 8th wedding anniversary on June 29th, a little more than 2 months away. It has not always been easy and there have been times when one or the other wanted to throw in the towel but God continued to remind us that it can be done, we could make it work if we put Him first and build our marriage on His foundation. 8 years is a victory!!! Praise the Lord!!! I’ve noticed that each year that we’ve been married, God has taught us something new about marriage, about ourselves, and we’ve grown as individuals and as a couple. This brings me to my next point.

Ladies, WE CAN SUBMIT to our husbands. Not only can we submit but our Heavenly Father tells us to do so. Growing up and in the first couple of years of being married I had a terrible misconception of what it meant to submit to my husband and I believe many woman as well as men share this misconception. The dictionary’s definition of the word submit reads as so: to give over or yield to the power or authority of another. My understanding of submitting was different and when you grow up in a home where the woman does everything it’s hard to see yourself submitting to someone else. I thought that submitting to my husband meant that I had to be a doormat for him to walk all over and/or be his slave. So my attitude was, “no man is going to walk all over me.” As I began to grow in the Lord and as a wife, God began to teach me what submission to my husband truly is. Ladies it has absolutely nothing to do with being his slave or him telling you what to do and you have to do it. It’s about giving him the respect he deserves as a man and as the head of your home. Men yearn for respect from their wives and sadly today there aren’t many marriages where the husband is respected by his wife even in the church. When God created woman, He created her to be the helpmeet of man. He created her to help him in his walk with God, in his struggles as a husband, father, friend, brother and as a man. Of course we cannot relate to some of the things men struggle with, but we can be supportive and give them the respect they need that will encourage them to keep pressing forward. You’d be amazed at the difference it makes when you show a man respect. Your respect motivates him to do all that he can to keep your respect and your trust.

Gentleman, YOU CAN LOVE your wives. This is what you are called to do in your relationship with your wife. The woman is usually more emotional than the man so it is in her nature to love. That is why God does not tell her to love her husband because she is going to do that anyway. It’s how she is wired. That doesn’t mean that men cannot love, they just don’t show it the way women do. Women want to feel loved by their husbands. Sometimes that requires showing affection, telling her that you love her, or doing little things to make her smile that let her know you care. Some men have a hard time showing affection. They may have brought up to think that showing emotion is not manly, but gentleman we love it when our men show us how they truly feel and when God is at the center of the marriage it is so much sweeter! In the past few months, I have experienced and continue to experience the gentle side of my husband that made me fall in love with him in the first place. The side of him that lets me see how he is feeling about me and our life together; the side of him that comes out when God is the center of his life. Guys, when you allow your Heavenly Father to have His way with you or as I like to say, invade your mind, soul, and spirit, your heart is open door. He can then go in and do spring cleaning in those dusty closets inside your heart that have stuff you probably didn’t even know was there collecting dust and hindering your spiritual life! When your wife allows herself to be the vessel that God uses to mold you and you allow yourself to be molded, beautiful things happen in your marriage. Your wife has to feel loved; she needs to feel secure in your love. Without the demonstration of this element, the wife feels unloved, unwanted, and can become quite bitter. This does not mean that you don’t love her, but if you are not showing her, she will think that you don’t. The same way you men need respect, we women need to be loved.

The Bible describes the love/respect relationship between the husband and the wife as the relationship between Christ and the church. The church/the bride submits to her beloved Bridegroom/Christ. The Bridegroom/Christ loves His bride/the church. Paul said in Ephesians chapter 5 that the husband should love his wife as Christ loves the church. He goes on further to say that the husband ought to love his wife as he loves is body. The church is the body of Christ, Christ is the head of the church. The husband and wife become one flesh when they are married. The bible says that when a man marries, he will leave his mother and his father and cleave to his wife. This simply means that he becomes one with his wife.

The world would have us believe that it is okay to marry and divorce and marry again. That it is okay to have more than one spouse. That it is okay for men to marry men and women to marry women, defiling the sanctity of marriage as God intended. But the Bible is very clear on the marriage relationship. Genesis 2:24 says: “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” The marriage relationship was meant for one man and one woman per marriage. Not one man and one man or one woman and one woman or one man and three women or one woman and three men, but one man for one woman and one woman for one man. Only a man and a woman joined in marriage can become one flesh. All other substitutes just don’t work! Those of us who know the Bible or who have understanding or know of the Word of God, let us keep the sanctity of marriage as it was meant to be; holy before God, to be fruitful and to multiply. Wives respect your husbands, husbands love your wives. Every year that you celebrate a wedding anniversary with God at the center of your marriage is a victory! God bless you!

Called to Love

As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. John 15:9

God is love. We have heard it said many times and have read it many times. The very thought alone that He would give up all He held precious to Him for us to be reconciled to Him, demonstrates that love. Jesus as a man was love in the flesh. Everything He did, He did in love. Everything He said, He said in love. Even when He got angry in the temple, He got angry but still there was love. Even when He rebuked His disciples, the Pharisees, and the scribes, He rebuked them in love. He poured out His love on the disciples and the people every time He healed, spoke to them, delivered them from demonic oppression. He taught the disciples what love is and how they should walk in love. John spoke about this love in his letters years after the crucifixion. He was the embodiment of God’s love for us and He gave His life for us because of that love.

So now that we are saved and sanctified we have to walk in that love also. The same way He loved us, and still loves us, we have to love others. Like Pastor was talking about yesterday in the message about Juan and his co-workers, only a person filled with the love of God can withstand abuse in that way because his desire is to please the Father and the Father is love! When we deal with people who have been hurt, abused, betrayed, who don’t trust anyone and have walls thicker than El Yunque in Puerto Rico, built up in their hearts to protect them from being hurt, love is the only thing that can penetrate those walls. Love is the only thing that is going to help that person trust again, open up, receive love, and give it in return. God’s love that abides in us is what penetrates those walls.

In our walk with Jesus, we will encounter many such people but if we are not walking in love they will never see Christ in us. They will only see the religious acts of going to church, praying, and reading the Bible but they will never see the transformation and renewing power of the Holy Spirit in us if we do not walk in love. We are getting ready for a new dimension in the Lord. Anytime God gets ready to move His people into another dimension in Him, He prepares them for it. God is calling us to love as He loves. God is telling us that there are those that are hurting and wounded and they will only be reached in love. God is telling us to walk in His love, abide in His love, and let His love shine in us! It is a requirement for where He is taking the church and what He is going to do and is doing.

Jesus came to mend the broken hearted, comfort the grieving, heal the sick, deliver the oppressed, release those who are in prison from their bondage; He did it because He loved us so. Now we are called to love the loveless, give hope to the hopeless, comfort the grieving, and do everything Jesus did because we are His ambassadors here on earth. He empowers us to love those we thought we could not love. He empowers us to comfort others in their pain and lead them to Him because He reveals His love to them in us. We should ask the Lord to fill us with His love daily. Let us abide in His love as He abided in the Father’s love. The Father loves Him with all that He has and all that He has He freely gave to Him. He gave His most precious to show us the true meaning of love. The Father’s love heals, restores, revives, reinstitutes, reestablishes, reaffirms. The Father’s love was all it took to bring humanity to a place where they could reconnect with Him. Because of that love Jesus gave His life to become the bridge between the Father and humanity. Praise God for His everlasting love!!

Heavenly Father,
We come before You this morning recognizing that You are love and that we need more of You. We ask You to fill us with Your love this morning so that everyone who encounters us today will feel that love and see that love. Father we ask that if anyone we come across today and everyday is sad, lonely, broken hearted, rebellious, or has walls built around their hearts to keep from feeling pain, that Your love in us would penetrate those walls, heal the broken heart, turn the sadness into joy, turn the rebelliousness to submission to You and let them know that they are not alone. Father let us be Your vessels and show us how to love the way You do. In Jesus mighty name, we thank You because You first loved us and because You showed us love, we can love You in return. Allow Your love to reflect in everything we do and say that others may feel You and come to know You through Your love in us.

In Jesus name,
Amen!