Transcription
Lord, we give you thanks. Lord, we give you praise.
Thank you, Lord, for your faithfulness in our lives. Thank you for yet another time in your presence to receive your word. In Jesus name, we pray.
You are welcome to the presence of the Lord. And today, we shall go into the second part of our exposition on how to discover your talents and special abilities. Once again, we begin by looking at a scripture in Proverbs chapter 22, verse 29.
And we shall look at the New King James version of Proverbs 22:29. It says, "Do you see a man who excels in his work? He will stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men. Do you see a man who excels in his work? He will stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men."
And in the first part of this exposition, we shared with us three of the signs and clues that could indicate your area of talent and special ability. And today, we continue by looking at some more of the signs and clues.
Number four: Raw talent. This is described as, this clue is described as raw talent. And what does this imply? Raw talent has to do with areas where times, where you see someone excel so well in a particular activity or service or subject, where, interestingly, the person had no background training, no background education, no background mentorship or coaching. And so, in discovering whether or not you have a raw talent in some area, these questions will be very, very useful at uncovering where you stand in this realm of assessment.
What do you naturally do so well on a consistent basis? For instance, attaining excellence without any initial education. We have seen people excel in a particular field, in a particular activity, in a particular line of service, far above those who have gone through the various levels of education and professional training. And in many of such instances, it could be traced to the existence of a God-given talent and special ability in the life of such persons.
When we see people excel without any initial exposure, someone has never been in an environment where things are done in such a special way. But the person, right from time, over time, is observed to consistently manifest such tendencies of getting things done in a very special and outstanding way. So, for such a person, it has nothing to do with his exposure, high exposure. Whatever trait the person is manifesting in the realm of excellence was not picked from somewhere. It's just a God-given ability, talent, endowment, and grace.
You see people excelling. When you see someone excelling without coaching, without training, without receiving any form of coaching, training, or mentoring, and the person is just excelling consistently. Sometimes it could be a very young child, at age two, at age three, at four, age five, it's six, depending on what is under consideration. And over and over, a lot of such instances could be attributed to the obvious presence of a God-given talent or special ability. I pray that whatever is that talent that God has deposited in the life of your child, the life of your son, your life of your daughter, I pray that that talent be discovered on time. I pray that that talent will be utilized to the optimum, bringing great impact to as many people as possible, possibly solving problems, providing solutions, answers.
What do you do so well, even though you had no initial academic or professional training in that particular field? It could be indicative of your area of talent. What do you do so well, even though you were never taught, you were never supervised, you were never mentored, and you could, you could come up with such an excellent product, excellent work, with such a masterpiece, and you were not taught at any point in time, you were not supervised, you were not mentored? Obviously, there's a strong indication that there is a talent of God, special ability of God upon you.
In that, in that light, you see when people have a raw talent, one of the attributes you see is that they are able to put up outstanding performance without prior preparation. Did you observe in the book of Judges how, without going through, undergoing any kind of physical training, combat training, Samson repeatedly, consistently overcame his opponents, overcame the Philistines? When you see people operating their line of talent, what would take others months of rehearsal, months of preparation, sometimes years of training to achieve, someone with a raw talent would excel and operate at that same level of expertise without undergoing such prior preparation or rehearsals. So, what is that thing you are naturally good at to the extent you always do it so well without prior preparation, without a long notice, without a rehearsal? You could just be called up at short notice, and you stand up, and you begin to perform, you begin to excel. That could be indicative of what is called a raw talent in you.
And yet another sign or clue, which is number five: Innovation and creativity. Innovation and creativity. When people are talented or specially gifted in a particular area, one of the common traits you see in such persons is innovation and creativity that is far above what will be observed with others in the same field. So, we could ask the question, in what area are you very original? Because when you are not talented, you could do well, but virtually everything you put up at every point in time was learned from someone, was copied from someone, was copied from the system. Nothing comes out of you by inspiration. Nothing comes out of you originally. But when a man is talented, when a woman is talented in a particular field of activity, you see consistent manifestations of innovation and creativity from that person. So, in what area are you very original, very creative, highly imaginative, very innovative? People will subsequently observe this about you. This will be clear confirmations at the point in time people will observe this about you, and they'll begin to talk about it, they'll begin to affirm this to you. Instances where you see innovation, creativity play out are so many, so many activities and fields. Dancers, footballers, scriptwriters, masterminds, musicians, designers, you just see them coming up, coming up with something completely new, completely different, and then sometimes out of the normal, they come up with, you know, something on another level. It's a divine gifting, it's a divine grace, it's a divine endowment. I pray that your gift will make way for you. I pray that your talent, your special abilities, your divine endowment will usher you onto a greater realm of relevance and impact in your lifetime.
Still talking about innovation and creativity, when you are talented, you easily think of new ways, better ways of getting things done in that area. When you are talented or gifted, you will easily think of new ideas, new designs, new solutions in that particular field of gifting.
And that brings us to the next sign and clue, number six: Exceptional insight and wisdom. Exceptional insight and wisdom. When people are truly, truly endowed in a particular area, one of the traits you see in them is exceptional insight in that particular subject, field, activity, exceptional wisdom that just comes out naturally from them. In Ecclesiastes chapter 9, verse 15, Ecclesiastes chapter 9, verse 15, the Bible tells us about a poor wise man who, by his wisdom, delivered his city. This man was naturally gifted as a strategist, and his, his scope of, of manifestation in the realm of strategies cut across different fields. And so, he was already, he was already known. He was already known in his small city. Within the city, people had come to recognize that gifting, that ability in him. And so, it came time that that small city where this poor wise man was, was besieged by a great army. And when they couldn't find any solution, they remembered that they had someone in that small city who, over and over, has a way of coming up with solutions, coming up with new ideas of what could be done out of very complex situations. When people didn't know the best way out, the best way forward, through the wisdom, the grace of wisdom upon this man, he would, by inspiration, always come up with a suggestion, a strategy, a plan that when implemented, solves the problem. And so, it happened also in Ecclesiastes chapter 9, verse 15. Not only was he able to come up with a strategy, the Bible says, by his wisdom, the city was delivered. And it's quite instructive that the Bible did not really emphasize that that small city confronted the great army. So, possibly there wasn't even a fight after all. Perhaps that poor wise man suggested something, and when it was done, the great army that was about to come into the small city and crush them, withdrew from their initial intention. These are some of the things you see from men of wisdom. So, your area of talent and special ability, you begin to manifest exceptional insight consistently and far above most other persons in that setting. You naturally imagine and think of fresh ideas, better insight. You easily come up with new solutions, you easily come up with new strategies, effective strategies.
And then number seven: Another sign and clue is doing easily what others find difficult. Doing easily what others find difficult. Your divine talent, a divine talent always comes with the required grace to do whatever you are expected to do with that talent repeatedly over a long period. That is why in an area of talent, in an area of calling, people can do repeatedly, they can do joyfully, what others find boring and stressful. So, your talent will enable you to do things continuously or repeatedly for long hours without being stressed, without being unhappy, without being tired, without being weary, without it being boring. And you see this manifest in the lives of different people. Some have it in the realm of reading, some have it in the realm of researching, some have it in the realm of proofreading, some have it in the realm of standing, some have it in the realm of talking, some have it in the realm of teaching, some have it in the realm of driving, some have it in the realm of even barbing, babysitting. It's all over. And in whatever area people have this obvious ability, grace, and endowment, they are able to do it joyfully, repeatedly, and over a long period of time. When others would naturally be tired, others would naturally become bored, people who are talented never get tired of doing that thing day in, day out. Day in, day out.
And then number eight: Another sign, another clue of your area of talent, your area of gifting, is something or a subject you learn very fast and easily. You learn it very fast, you learn it easily, unlike other people. And you'll discover that, you know, because you learn it so fast and you learn it so easily, you can easily replicate the original work. You can easily replicate the original product. They just need to show you a sample. They just need to show you an existing model, and you are able to replicate that thing and even bring forth an improved version. You are able to replicate the original performance, a product of someone else, because you can easily learn, you can easily catch it, you can easily pick it, you can easily come to grips with it and master it within a very, very short time. It's your area of talent, it's your area of gifting.
And one very interesting thing about your area of talent and gifting is that is that area, is that blessing of God upon your life that makes people salute you. It makes people acknowledge you from time to time. It makes people happy with you because you do it so well. May your talent, may your ability, may your gift always bring you moments of joy, moments of blessing, open doors every new season in the name of Jesus Christ.
And then we shall be looking at two more of these signs and clues, and then very importantly, certain steps that you must take, certain steps you must take with your God-given talents, abilities, and personal strengths. Please join us for the third and final part of this teaching, discovering your talents and special abilities.
I will pray with you at this moment. Lord, we thank you. We appreciate you for your word that has come. Thank you for the gifting. Thank you for the talents that you have already given to everyone listening to this message. Lord, once again, we pray that you will open their eyes to discover that gifting, that talent, that area of strength in each one of them. We pray, Lord, that you will also stir them up to begin to use that talent, begin to use that ability in every possible way to answer questions, solve problems, bring forth innovations that will be of benefit to humanity. Lord, we pray that the talents and gifts you have blessed your sons and daughters with will also open doors of progress and appointment to them in the name of Jesus Christ. Thank you, heavenly Father. In Jesus name, we pray.
Once again, I remind you to please be in touch with us as we bring the third and final part of this message, how to discover your talents and special abilities. Thank you for your time with us today. Jesus Evangelical Assembly, the House of Answered Prayers. God bless you richly in Jesus name.