God's Design

In the array of your gifts, there is a "map" of God's intention for your life. There is meaning behind your design. Nothing about you is ornamental. Your strengths, desires, and abilities, each intricate detail is purposeful. Paul states clearly in Ephesians 2:10, "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
      All our gifts, natural and spiritual, were given by divine design. They are not acquired nor given arbitrarily. They were bestowed so that we might have the capability to achieve certain specific accomplishments God had in mind as we were designed. Since strengths are given by God, they carry a responsibility to Him for their use. According to Romans 12:3-7 our gifts are our calling. It is God's will for us to function in the areas of our God-given strengths.
Knowing your strengths then can take a great deal of the guess work, guilt, and anxiety out of determining God's will for your life. Under the barrage of expectations coming from friends, parents, mate, children, church work, school, society, etc., knowing the abilities that God has given informs you of what God's expectations are.
      If you are making decisions on how to give your resources, whether financial or personal energy, based simply on needs and appeals, you are letting someone squeeze you into the wrong mold. Using the gifts God gave brings joy, energy, and enthusiasm. When you function in the area of your God-given abilities, you engage God's creative power. There is no deeper satisfaction than doing what He desires, and your being knows this intuitively, responding in joy.
      Understanding who you are is not only a mater of satisfaction, it is essential for anyone serious about obedience to God. To choose jobs, ministries, and commitments unsupported by your gifts is to deny not only His sovereignty in your design but His claim on your life.
      Using your strengths as good stewards of God's grace is also a matter of effectiveness. God has designed each of us to play an important role in His Kingdom. You simply cannot function with any degree of effectiveness outside that role, and without the energy He has committed to us in His gifts.
      What is the best way to track down your gifts? Follow the scent of joy. It will lead you to the role God designed you to play, the role in which you will feel the greatest sense of satisfaction, enjoyment, and know the greatest effectiveness. The assessment process we use to uncover your giftedness is offered at two levels: a church-based assessment program called Discover Your Design and an executive level called the Motivated Ability Profile. Click the boxes to the right for more information.