Do you want to know your purpose?

A while back I wrote about being “God’s cornbread pan” which is good because I take great care of my cornbread pan, keep it well seasoned and only use it for that one purpose. When it is not in use it’s hidden under the cabinet because it is old and the outside of it is blackened from years of using it over gas flames, but if the most important person in the whole world were here and I was going to make cornbread for them, I can guarantee you I would pull that pan out and use it!  I want to be like that cornbread pan as a person, someone who may not be the shiniest, youngest, prettiest, smartest or most talented, but maybe I would have the very thing He needed for me to be used, the willingness to stand in the gap and make up the hedge for someone in need!

Ezekiel 22:30 And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.

While watching a football game I heard an announcer refer to one of the players as a “Swiss Knife” because he could do a little bit of everything! Wow, I thought, that is a wonderful thought! I always wanted a real Swiss knife and I finally got a very tiny one, but it has a tooth pick, a tweezers, a fingernail file, a scissor, and of course a knife! The only way anyone could be a “Swiss Knife” is for that person to be filled with the Holy Spirit and have all the fruit and gifts of the Spirit operating in their life!

Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

With the fruit of the Spirit we have nine different attributes that will help us to help others! I think the fruit I lack the most in my life would be the “longsuffering“, or patience,maybe the Lord will let me keep working on that one, although the Bible says;

Luke 21:19 By your patience possess your souls.

James 1:2-4 “Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.”

As you see it is dangerous to pray for patience unless you are prepared to face trials and tests! So what else will convince God to take me out from under the cupboard for use?

1Corinthians 12:4-11 “Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits. All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people! The variety is wonderful: wise counsel, clear understanding, simple trust, healing the sick, miraculous acts, proclamation. Distinguishing between spirits, tongues, interpretation of tongues.”

The person that can soothe a wounded spirit with a word, or know when the person spouting religious quotes is really nothing more than a wolf dressed up like a sheep, or what about someone that can encourage you and help you find your way back to the right path? That is the person I want to be! What do you need to do to become that person? Simple, you invite the third member of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit of God, to come into your life!

Well whether you decide to be a cornbread pan or a multi-purpose Swiss Army Knife make yourself available for His use!