This is a three-part reflection on my talents and skills in relation to my career/vocation, and business. Hope it inspires you.
Feel free to leave your comments.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Go with power
Glass ceiling on my career/vocation:
I am a second best. To whom? To everyone else. Because everyone else is better than me at something. Someone else is getting the opportunity before me because he/she are more talented.
REAL ISSUE:
Pride. People have different gifts and no one was born superior over another. God gave different skills and talents to everyone but we choose whether to harness them or not. The issue is that I have not given the time and effort to recognize and harness the gifts that God has given me. That is why, I am not excelling.
“29for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable.” Romans 11:29
God has called each of us to a certain unique purpose. We must therefore recognize what our gifts are and follow God’s irrevocable calling. If we do otherwise, we feel empty and unfulfilled.
“For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.” 2 Timothy 1:5-7
I have read this scripture many times but somehow my eyes just got opened to what it’s trying to tell me.
A. POWER. ”You have gifts Ingrid but you have to ‘fan them into flame’. You can’t be timid to share your talents and skills. That’s not the kind of spirit that’s inside you. God gave you the spirit of POWER. You have to step up and use your talents for God. Only then will realize what power you have.
Yes, with your gifts, you have God’s power to make an impact. You have great skills: listening and wise counsel, writing, and performing arts (singing, acting, directing, even dancing), persuasion. Use your talents to bless others and win others for the Lord because that is your life’s mission.
It really doesn’t matter if you are a novice, an expert, or average at what you do. Remember what the angel said to Gideon, “The Lord is with you mighty warrior….therefore go in the strength that you have. Am I not sending you?”
POWER does not come from you. It comes from God. Sometimes you feel weak because you think you are your own source of power. Wrong! POWER and STRENGTH comes from the Lord! “
Paul had the same struggle about himself. 2 Corinthians 11:16-12:11.
People were comparing Paul to the “super-apostles”-those who could perform miracles, signs, and wonders. In people’s minds, they were the first-rate apostles. In this sense, Paul was second-rate. There’s hardly any miracle, signs, and wonders being attributed to Paul---except maybe for his out-of-the-ordinary conversion. All that’s recorded of him (that I can recall) were his imprisonment, his arrests, his floggings, his preaching, his missionary journeys (2 Corinthians 11:21-29).
Sometimes, I feel like a second-rate person. I am a master of nothing, without any great achievement.
Like Paul, I would like to plead with the Lord to take away my weaknesses – thorns in my flesh that Satan uses to torment me and keep me from becoming conceited. It would be awesome to live life without doubts, failures, hardships, insecurities, character weaknesses.
In Paul’s mind, there was a tug of war between boasting about the things he can “really” boast about-- like the heavenly revelations he saw—and boasting about his weakness. Paul chose to boast about his weakness so that people will not think of him more highly than what is warranted.
Surely there are some things I can boast about myself in the past and in the present. However, if I must boast, I will boast of my imperfect knowledge, skills, and talents that God is able to use for His glory.
9” But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.’” 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
Did Gideon fight the Midianites with thousands of soldiers and charioteers? No…only with 300 soldiers and with GOD’S POWER. Did David fight Goliath with armor and spear? No…only with a sling and “a” stone and with GOD’S POWER. Did the walls of Jericho fall with grenades and nuclear weapons? No…only with marching and noises and GOD’S POWER.
God’s power is made perfect in my weakness. Whose power do I want recognized in my life? God’s power or “my” power (although there’s no such thing). If in my head my power rests in myself, I will be very tired with constantly trying to prove myself. But, if I rely on God’s power alone then I MUST BE NEITHER AFRAID NOR ASHAMED to show and use my imperfect talent or skill. I will boast all the more of my weakness so that Christ’s power may rest in me.
I have the spirit of POWER…but not the power that is of the world, humanistic, and arrogant. It is the power that comes from the Lord.
PRACTICALS:
1. Step up and share my talents and be confident. My skill or talent may not be perfect, yet I must still share and harness it.
2. Ministries I can be involved in are: BT leadership, BT d-group, talent/singing ministry, HOPE for grant writing.
3. Careers I can look for: Non-profit counseling, grant writing, school admissions counseling, job counseling, social services, family and children nonprofits
4. Whenever I am tempted to be insecure about my talents and skills, I can say to myself, “Go in the strength that you have Ingrid. God is with you. His calling is irrevocable. Your imperfect talent/skill highlights God’s power.
5. Skills I can maximize for the TechEdge Telecom business: writing, listening skills, wise counsel, persuasion.
I am a second best. To whom? To everyone else. Because everyone else is better than me at something. Someone else is getting the opportunity before me because he/she are more talented.
REAL ISSUE:
Pride. People have different gifts and no one was born superior over another. God gave different skills and talents to everyone but we choose whether to harness them or not. The issue is that I have not given the time and effort to recognize and harness the gifts that God has given me. That is why, I am not excelling.
“29for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable.” Romans 11:29
God has called each of us to a certain unique purpose. We must therefore recognize what our gifts are and follow God’s irrevocable calling. If we do otherwise, we feel empty and unfulfilled.
“For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.” 2 Timothy 1:5-7
I have read this scripture many times but somehow my eyes just got opened to what it’s trying to tell me.
A. POWER. ”You have gifts Ingrid but you have to ‘fan them into flame’. You can’t be timid to share your talents and skills. That’s not the kind of spirit that’s inside you. God gave you the spirit of POWER. You have to step up and use your talents for God. Only then will realize what power you have.
Yes, with your gifts, you have God’s power to make an impact. You have great skills: listening and wise counsel, writing, and performing arts (singing, acting, directing, even dancing), persuasion. Use your talents to bless others and win others for the Lord because that is your life’s mission.
It really doesn’t matter if you are a novice, an expert, or average at what you do. Remember what the angel said to Gideon, “The Lord is with you mighty warrior….therefore go in the strength that you have. Am I not sending you?”
POWER does not come from you. It comes from God. Sometimes you feel weak because you think you are your own source of power. Wrong! POWER and STRENGTH comes from the Lord! “
Paul had the same struggle about himself. 2 Corinthians 11:16-12:11.
People were comparing Paul to the “super-apostles”-those who could perform miracles, signs, and wonders. In people’s minds, they were the first-rate apostles. In this sense, Paul was second-rate. There’s hardly any miracle, signs, and wonders being attributed to Paul---except maybe for his out-of-the-ordinary conversion. All that’s recorded of him (that I can recall) were his imprisonment, his arrests, his floggings, his preaching, his missionary journeys (2 Corinthians 11:21-29).
Sometimes, I feel like a second-rate person. I am a master of nothing, without any great achievement.
Like Paul, I would like to plead with the Lord to take away my weaknesses – thorns in my flesh that Satan uses to torment me and keep me from becoming conceited. It would be awesome to live life without doubts, failures, hardships, insecurities, character weaknesses.
In Paul’s mind, there was a tug of war between boasting about the things he can “really” boast about-- like the heavenly revelations he saw—and boasting about his weakness. Paul chose to boast about his weakness so that people will not think of him more highly than what is warranted.
Surely there are some things I can boast about myself in the past and in the present. However, if I must boast, I will boast of my imperfect knowledge, skills, and talents that God is able to use for His glory.
9” But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.’” 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
Did Gideon fight the Midianites with thousands of soldiers and charioteers? No…only with 300 soldiers and with GOD’S POWER. Did David fight Goliath with armor and spear? No…only with a sling and “a” stone and with GOD’S POWER. Did the walls of Jericho fall with grenades and nuclear weapons? No…only with marching and noises and GOD’S POWER.
God’s power is made perfect in my weakness. Whose power do I want recognized in my life? God’s power or “my” power (although there’s no such thing). If in my head my power rests in myself, I will be very tired with constantly trying to prove myself. But, if I rely on God’s power alone then I MUST BE NEITHER AFRAID NOR ASHAMED to show and use my imperfect talent or skill. I will boast all the more of my weakness so that Christ’s power may rest in me.
I have the spirit of POWER…but not the power that is of the world, humanistic, and arrogant. It is the power that comes from the Lord.
PRACTICALS:
1. Step up and share my talents and be confident. My skill or talent may not be perfect, yet I must still share and harness it.
2. Ministries I can be involved in are: BT leadership, BT d-group, talent/singing ministry, HOPE for grant writing.
3. Careers I can look for: Non-profit counseling, grant writing, school admissions counseling, job counseling, social services, family and children nonprofits
4. Whenever I am tempted to be insecure about my talents and skills, I can say to myself, “Go in the strength that you have Ingrid. God is with you. His calling is irrevocable. Your imperfect talent/skill highlights God’s power.
5. Skills I can maximize for the TechEdge Telecom business: writing, listening skills, wise counsel, persuasion.
Glow with love
B. LOVE.
I come alive not with money and prestige. What really makes me come alive is serving others and spending myself for God’s work. Only in doing things out of love (not out of greed, recognition, advancement) do I truly feel complete and fulfilled.
I have a constant impulse to compare myself to others. I should earn more than this or that person because I am more talented. I should be more successful but I am not. Therefore, I am insecure.
Whenever I want to pursue counseling, I am nagged by the thought that it doesn’t pay much. I must try to get a career that pays better. That’s what a job should do: pay well. I must earn more than my sister, or my cousin, or my friend, or many other people because I am more talented or smart or intelligent than they are.
I say this to my shame because I probably think more highly or myself than what is true. I believe that this keeps me from truly living up to my potential.
In Paul’s discourse on love in 1 Corinthians 13, he says that even if we can speak in different languages, or prophecy and fathom mysteries, and move mountains with our faith, or even do great acts of charity and sacrifice, if we don’t love, we are nothing.
I believe he’s saying, even if we can do great, wonderful, history-making things, if love is not the motivation, we will feel empty and unfulfilled. Love is what perfects our imperfect talents and skills. If we do things out of love and with God’s power, we would have perfected our gifts.
1 John 4:17-19
In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. 18There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 19We love because he first loved us.
The only confidence I must strive for is the confidence before the Lord on the Day of Judgment. I can only have that confidence if I live like God, which means live in LOVE. Perfect love drives out fear. If I can do things out of love, then I will not be afraid or insecure.
PRACTICALS:
1. Only do things out of love. I will even stop doing something if I am doing it out of any other motivation, like recognition or money.
2. At church, constantly pray about my motivation to serve out of love.
3. At home, do things not out of obligation or guilt but out of love for my family (husband and son).
4. In the business, do things out of love for my clients and my son because I desire to be with him and raise him up.
I come alive not with money and prestige. What really makes me come alive is serving others and spending myself for God’s work. Only in doing things out of love (not out of greed, recognition, advancement) do I truly feel complete and fulfilled.
I have a constant impulse to compare myself to others. I should earn more than this or that person because I am more talented. I should be more successful but I am not. Therefore, I am insecure.
Whenever I want to pursue counseling, I am nagged by the thought that it doesn’t pay much. I must try to get a career that pays better. That’s what a job should do: pay well. I must earn more than my sister, or my cousin, or my friend, or many other people because I am more talented or smart or intelligent than they are.
I say this to my shame because I probably think more highly or myself than what is true. I believe that this keeps me from truly living up to my potential.
In Paul’s discourse on love in 1 Corinthians 13, he says that even if we can speak in different languages, or prophecy and fathom mysteries, and move mountains with our faith, or even do great acts of charity and sacrifice, if we don’t love, we are nothing.
I believe he’s saying, even if we can do great, wonderful, history-making things, if love is not the motivation, we will feel empty and unfulfilled. Love is what perfects our imperfect talents and skills. If we do things out of love and with God’s power, we would have perfected our gifts.
1 John 4:17-19
In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. 18There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 19We love because he first loved us.
The only confidence I must strive for is the confidence before the Lord on the Day of Judgment. I can only have that confidence if I live like God, which means live in LOVE. Perfect love drives out fear. If I can do things out of love, then I will not be afraid or insecure.
PRACTICALS:
1. Only do things out of love. I will even stop doing something if I am doing it out of any other motivation, like recognition or money.
2. At church, constantly pray about my motivation to serve out of love.
3. At home, do things not out of obligation or guilt but out of love for my family (husband and son).
4. In the business, do things out of love for my clients and my son because I desire to be with him and raise him up.
Grow in self-discipline
C. SELF DISCIPLINE.
What talent or skill is harnessed without hard work? Every great athlete works hard to perfect his skill. It takes discipline to fan a gift into flame.
1 Corinthians 9:25-30 25Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
My real goal in life is to make it to heaven and to use my skill or talent to win people for God. I must work hard with discipline towards this. People respect people who work hard at something, and are good at something.
It takes discipline to always look for ways to develop my skills. It takes discipline and sacrifice to always be serving. It takes a self-disciplined man or woman to accomplish and follow thru with goals. There shouldn’t be any excuse to be lazy and complacent. Without self-discipline, there is no growth or improvement.
PRACTICALS:
1. Have the self-discipline to schedule times to harness my skills by serving or working.
2. Have no excuse for laziness and complacency.
3. Have the self-discipline to truly accomplish what I set in my heart to do.
What talent or skill is harnessed without hard work? Every great athlete works hard to perfect his skill. It takes discipline to fan a gift into flame.
1 Corinthians 9:25-30 25Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
My real goal in life is to make it to heaven and to use my skill or talent to win people for God. I must work hard with discipline towards this. People respect people who work hard at something, and are good at something.
It takes discipline to always look for ways to develop my skills. It takes discipline and sacrifice to always be serving. It takes a self-disciplined man or woman to accomplish and follow thru with goals. There shouldn’t be any excuse to be lazy and complacent. Without self-discipline, there is no growth or improvement.
PRACTICALS:
1. Have the self-discipline to schedule times to harness my skills by serving or working.
2. Have no excuse for laziness and complacency.
3. Have the self-discipline to truly accomplish what I set in my heart to do.
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