What are the God given skills you have and how are you using them?
In this Godly Gain post, we hope this message encourages you to use the skills God has given you and to keep your eyes on Christ as you write your books.
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Got Skills?
CJ: Hey guys, got skills? I’m CJ Hitz with my wife Shelley Hitz and we’re excited to share a quick little encouragement from God’s word today. This is going to be short and sweet, but it’s fun to share some little nuggets that pop out as you’re reading through the Bible. This comes from Exodus 31 and some reading I was doing this last week.
SHELLEY: CJ is reading through the Bible, and I know many of you probably do that. So he was sharing to me about this part of the Scripture, and I thought that this would be a great Godly Gain Segment; A segment where we are aiming to keep Christ at the center and really encourage you.
We’re going to try doing these Live on Facebook on Sundays; maybe not every week, but as we can.
We know that the encouragement to keep our eyes on Christ is so important as we are writing our books.
CJ: I’ve been going through the Bible, and my goal is to read through the whole Bible in less than six months. We just did a segment on this a couple of weeks ago and I believe it would be 9-12 chapters a day.
So it’s a good chunk of reading, but if you really think about it, you can read through that at a fairly moderate pace of like an hour. It doesn’t take a long time, and some of you are speed readers and can actually grasp what you’re reading, so that’s good. I’m a slower reader and I digest things, ponder and pause, so it takes a little while.
This is Exodus 31:2-6 and just a little background, God has been giving Moses all of the different details about the tabernacle, all of the things inside the tabernacle, the tools, the altar, the curtains, and all those things. He is downloading this stuff into Moses, and here is what He said specifically regarding a lot of the stuff and who was going to build it, to put this stuff together, and I love this.
“Look, I have specifically chosen Bezalel son of Uri, grandson of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. 3 I have filled him with the Spirit of God, giving him great wisdom, ability, and expertise in all kinds of crafts. 4 He is a master craftsman, expert in working with gold, silver, and bronze. 5 He is skilled in engraving and mounting gemstones and in carving wood. He is a master at every craft! 6 “And I have personally appointed Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, to be his assistant. Moreover, I have given special skill to all the gifted craftsmen so they can make all the things I have commanded you to make:”
What popped out at me is in verse 6.
“I have given special skill to all the gifted craftsmen,” Why?
“So they can make all the things I have commanded you to make.”
What that says to me, is that God has given us all some kind of skill; whether you want to call it a special skill or some sort of special gifting.
Of course, we could go to the New Testament and read about the gifts of God, of the Holy Spirit, that He has poured out on his church in order to build up and edify one another and the church (1 Corinthians 12:1-11). But, here, tucked away in Exodus, with all of the things that God has told Moses to do He said;
“By the way, here are a couple of men, along with a whole bunch of craftsmen that I have given very special skill to.”
It’s important to note that God gives special skills. We’re talking to a lot of you who are authors, painters, creators, musicians, and we could go on and on about the skill sets you have.
You need to ask yourself, “What is it that God has specially gifted me to do, and why?
He has a special work He has commanded you to fulfill. God is basically saying to Moses, “I’ve got you covered. How is all this going to get done? Don’t worry; we have a whole bunch of people ready to chip in here.” No pun intended.
SHELLEY: Yeah. Just to add in there, we are the body of Christ, as believers, if you’re a Christian author. Sometimes you may feel overwhelmed if you’re independently publishing, like I recommend. You might be feeling overwhelmed with everything that has to get done. Guess what?
God has given skills to different people that can help you; book cover designers, editors, formatters. We hire people like that. We work with people that have those skills. So, don’t feel like you have to do everything. You can work together, have a team of people, and everyone has their skills.
Also, know that many times God uses the weak things of the world to bring Him glory.
I never thought I was going to write a book and I never dreamed of being an author. Actually, English was my worst subject in school; I mean, I still got a B, but I got straight A’s in everything else. Yet, I’ve authored over 40 books.
So there are skills that can be learned. I have become a much better writer since I published my first book in 2008, which is going through a revision right now because it needed it.
So there are times where you can delegate skills, you can learn skills, and there are sometimes that God just wants to bring glory to Himself by using you in the way that you are.
Where do you feel God is working in your life?
How has he gifted you?
What skills has he given you to help others?
How are you delegating?
And how is he using you sometimes even through your weakness?
CJ: I also encourage you, as you’re reading through the Bible, to pull out these nuggets and see how God is weaving His pattern throughout the Old and New Testament. How He is ultimately calling His people to glorify him here on the Earth, whether that’s 3,000 years ago, or today in 2016.
I’m excited for the rest of this year. I’m excited to continue to work on skills I feel that the Lord has given me; just to continue to hone those skills and sharpen them and to be around others who can also sharpen me and help pull some of those things out.
You can be a huge encouragement to others around you. Some people may just be waiting for someone like you to come along and say, “Hey I notice this in you.”
It’s not by coincidence; it’s a special skill that God’s given you, so keep that in mind.
SHELLEY: I’ve been doing that this year, and one of the things I noticed God helping me to see is what I am gifted to do.
One of the things I’ve been telling CJ this year is that he’s a master storyteller. He has the gift of storytelling. I tell him, “You’re so good at that!”
Sometimes you need somebody outside yourself to actually see what God has gifted us because it comes so easily sometimes to us.
CJ: Let’s pray for these special skills and that God would pull those out of us and point them out to us.
Lord, I want to pray for all those who are on Live as well as those who are going to catch the recording later. Lord, we ask that you would point out the special skills that we have to us. Maybe some of us have allowed some skills to lie dormant and not really be used. I pray that you would remind us of those things. Those are special skills to be used for your glory in the projects you have on this earth. I pray Lord that those of us that can see special skills in others, I pray that you would give us the words to give to them. That we would be encouragements to them, that we would be able to help sharpen them, and that they would be encouraged and know that they can put those things that they have into practice. I thank you for every single person who is on here right now and everyone who is going to watch the recording. I pray that you would encourage them along the way. We thank you for this nugget in scripture Lord, we see very clearly that it is you who gives us these special skills, and it’s for your purpose. We thank you Lord and we ask these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.
SHELLEY: Amen.
Thank you so much for joining u. We do have a free group for Christian authors and entrepreneurs, it’s at GodlyGain.com and we’d love for you to join us. It’s a group just to have additional support, prayer, and other people that get where you’re at and where you’re coming from.
So, we’d love for you to join us, and we are going to try to do these on Sundays from Facebook, and do them Live. We are hoping that you can join us next week as we continue to share what God’s teaching us, and just encourage you along the journey. So thank you guys so much for joining us, and we’ll see you next time.
CJ: God bless.
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