Recognizing the grace of God in your life is important. When you recognize the grace of God, you will make the most of it and develop under it. Do not be someone who does not recognize the grace of God and take advantage of it. God will bless you and do things in your life that are the grace of God in action!
- A leader recognizes the grace of God that has given him particular abilities.
God may give you a special ability to do certain things. You may be able to sing; you may be able to paint or you may be able to play instruments. These are all special abilities God may have given you. If you recognize that the grace of God has given you special abilities, you will nurture and prosper through them. You will be able to receive God’s grace to prosper. Notice this interesting story of someone who used his artistic ability to escape and prosper.
The Freedom of the Artist
One day, for amusement, the Italian Renaissance painter Fra Filippo Lippi (1406 – 1469) and some friends went sailing in a small boat off Ancona. There they were captured by two Moorish galleys, which hauled them off in chains to Barbary where they were sold as slaves. For 18 long months, Filippo toiled with no hope of returning to Italy.
On several occasions, Filippo saw the man who had brought him pass by, and one day he decided to sketch this man’s portrait, using burnt coal – charcoal – from the fire. Still in his chains he found a white wall where he drew a full-length likeness of his owner in Moorish clothing. The owner soon heard about this, for no one had seen such skills in drawing before in these parts. It seemed like a miracle – a gift from God. The drawing so pleased the owner that he instantly gave Filippo his freedom and employed him in his court. All the big men on the Barbary Coast came to see the magnificent colour portraits. Eventually, Filippo’s owner returned the artist safely to Italy.
Like Fra Filippo (if to a lesser degree) most of us possess some gifts, some talents, an ability to do something better than other people. Use your talent as a stepping stone. Your God-given “special ability” may buy your freedom and give you the prosperity and blessing that you need.
- A leader recognizes the grace of God that enables him to prosper through something that he was not trained for.
Prosperity may not come through what you learned in school. Accept this fact quickly and open yourself to God’s provision. Jesus was trained to be a carpenter. “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary…?” (Mark 6:3) but He became a minister of the gospel. His needs were not met by the carpentry trade. His needs were met by the way all ministers’ needs are met – through gifts, offerings and substance ministered unto Him by the people.
And Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of their substance.
Luke 8:3
Most successful people that I know worked in areas that they were not trained for. I was trained to be a medical doctor but I do not live by the practice of medicine. I am sustained through the ministry. Most of the presidents I know of were trained in different fields but are sustained by politics. In one presidential election, I could count six medical doctors including heart surgeons who wanted to be presidents of Ghana. Their desire to be presidents is not wrong. It is just another example of how people are trained for one thing and yet prosper through something else.
Note that the children of Judah were endowed with skills that set them apart:
And the king spake unto Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children of Israel, and of the king’s seed, and of the princes; Children in whom was no blemish, but well favoured, and skilful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and SUCH AS HAD ABILITY in them to stand in the king’s palace, and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans. And the king appointed them a daily provision of the king’s meat, and of the wine which he drank: so nourishing them three years, that at the end thereof they might stand before the king. Now among these were of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah:
Daniel 1:3-6
There are people whose main gift is in their carefulness, their tact, their diplomacy, their prudence and their maturity. God may bless you with a particular skill. You must learn to use these skills in order to prosper. Your prosperity may not come through your education but through a skill God has blessed you with.
theaol@ymail.com
By Dag Heward-Mills