IncreaseSample

Increase in your Maturity

Inside each of us are gifts and callings that need to come out. Most new believers are oblivious to what God is doing in their lives. As we endeavor to walk and stay close to the Lord, He will guide our steps and give us the opportunity to see what He’s placed inside of us come out for the world to see.

We have books to write, songs to sing, businesses to start, and creative inventions to discover, yet we discount ourselves, buying the lie that we will never be successful in life. We need to let God show us our hidden potential. As we mature, He does. He'll open doors that train you to accomplish what He has placed inside you, yet so often we can’t explain why God has placed you in certain circumstances or given you certain experiences and lessons. Even the most important men and women in history have said the same thing. In his book “Libro de las Profecias,” the famous explorer Christopher Columbus looked back on his success in discovering the Americas. He wrote this toward the end of his life. Here are two quotes of how God had prepared him and ordered his steps:

“At a very early age, I began to sail upon the ocean. For more than forty years, I have sailed everywhere that people go. I prayed to the most merciful Lord about my heart’s great desire. And He gave me the spirit and the intelligence for the task: seafaring, astronomy, geometry, arithmetic, skill in drafting spherical maps and placing the cities, rivers, mountains, and ports correctly. I also studied cosmology, history, chronology, and philosophy.”

Perhaps you have wondered why you are where you are. Why did you learn so much? Why did you work at the jobs you did? Why are you motivated the way you are? I’m sure Columbus had those same questions. But draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. (James 4:8) “It was the Lord who put into my mind (I could feel His hand upon me) the fact that it would be possible to sail from here to the Indies. All who heard of my project rejected it with laughter, ridiculing me. There is no question that the inspiration was from the Holy Spirit, because he comforted me with rays of marvelous illumination from the Holy Scriptures…encouraging me continually to press forward, and without ceasing for a moment, they now encourage me to make haste.”

My word for you today is: Don’t give up! Press on to your maturity in Christ!

Reflection and Application:

1. What gifting or motivation has God placed inside of you?

2. Have you asked God to give you a glimpse of how you will use that gifting?

3. Are you spending the necessary time alone with God so you can sense
the hand of the Holy Spirit upon your life?