What is my God-given purpose? Is it not to worship, and to bring glory to God? These are the priorities of my walk with God and living in this priority, His work will be established through us.
When Moses was sent to Pharaoh he was to announce to him, 'The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to tell you, "Let My people go, so they can worship Me in the wilderness." (Exo 7:16). Worship was God's priority for them. And Jesus declared in John 3:4 "But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him."
This God-given purpose, to worship, is what I need to keep before me continually. Jesus prioritised His life by spending time with Father.......and then "went about doing good." (Acts 10:38)
I believe in the gifts the Holy Spirit gives us but do we tend to worry too much about our gifts? I don't seen anywhere in scripture Jesus expounding His gifts or worrying about what they are. He just lived in the presence of the Father and in this intimacy of worship and mutual love, the works and words of the Father were manifested through Him. The more we fellowship with someone, the more we know their heart and desires.
"So Jesus explained, "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by Himself. He does only what He sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does." Joh 5:19
In looking for my gifts, and I still don't recognise them, I have found that I sometimes struggle with envy of another's gift. It comes from a pure (or maybe not so pure) motive to serve God and a desire to move in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. I certainly have had to repent and I have to constantly ask myself, are my motives pure? Is there this smidgen of pride in me that maybe seeks my own glory? Oh let it not be Holy Father, but that, even like Jesus, I would seek to do your will and give all glory to You, recognising that in doing so and living this priority will bring certain opposition.
In the early history of the church, the apostles moved in such power, the work of the Holy Spirit evidently witnessed by all. This resulted in persecution because of the jealousy of the religious leaders of the time. (Acts 13:45; 17:5) Envy and jealously of those moving in the spirit is a real thing. Look at the example of Simon the Sorcerer. He had the crowds, in awe of the magical signs at his hand, yet when he received his salvation, he became an ordinary, on the same level as others who witnessed the outpouring of Holy Spirit signs. Seeing the power of the Holy Spirit being imparted at the apostle's hands, he offered money to move in the same gift. (Act 8:24) Thankfully after a rebuke from Simon Peter, he repented. God's power cannot be brought. It comes to those who by faith and grace, boldly move in obedience to the pulse of the Holy Spirit, when His compassion compels us and His love declares through us the wondrous truth of salvation.
We need to know the Father to know what His will is and to know the work He wants to do. We find our God-given purpose out in gazing upon His face and connecting with His heart. It's in worship and prayer that the sweet whisper of the Holy Spirit compels us to do, to give, to encourage, to love and to show grace to others. When we live in worship, our intimacy with Him is strengthened in His presence. When we know and walk in the presence of God, we will know the power of God.
"but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits." (Dan 11:32)
