Hello everyone, the next few blog posts will talk to you about Mantles. Mantles are blessings we receive from God to operate in our God-given calling on this earth. They are hope. They add hope and encouragement to those who need it, and it helps sometimes for us to " see through our struggle." I know that sounds kind of odd, so I will explain. Mantles add purpose to our lives and in every struggle , there is purpose. what if you knew right away the REASON - you were struggling. Would that help you to endure the struggle that much more? Well I wrote a book about this very topic, and it's called Red Sea Situations : Finding Courage in the Deep Seas of Life.
I wrote red Sea Situations not really with complete understanding of why I was going through such a struggle, at the time, yet I found that spending time with God in the struggle made me realize several things:
- I really didn't have to fight this struggle.
- I had to learn how to acquiesce. ( To yield without protesting.)
- I needed to "rally up support" around me while I was struggling.
- We never should do struggle alone. There are a myriad of ways to endure it, faith-filled.
- I needed to TRUST THE PROCESS.
- God had my back, I just had to look for signs.
- I can make it through anything with God's help and support.
- I needed to learn how to embrace and not resist hardship.
- Understand that everything I endure happens for a reason, all I have to do is ASK.
- Learn to GO with the flow. There is a grace flow in everything , i just had to find it.
We all have a mantle, whether or not we fulfill that purpose in our lives and operate in it, is totally up to us. I may give a few examples or share about the spiritual gifts and how they relate to mantles, and you can decide whether or not you are walking in purpose and are fulfilled in this walk of life.
If you aren't let me help you. I can walk you through some questions and even some thoughts and conversations - with a little coaching that might help you be more self-aware and help you to understand you calling in life.The gifts of God are often the way the Holy Spirit blesses us to experience His love working innately within us. There are several gifts . There are however a few main spiritual gifts that help us to understand how we can bless someone's life or we can thrive in our own lives.
First , I am going to share with you my own spiritual gifts , then I will share how they have been used and how I cam into the knowledge of myself having them.
Here are a few spiritual gifts I have :
- Leadership gift
- Discernment gift
- Teaching gift
- Encouragement gift
- Word of Knowledge gift
- Giving gift
- Mercy gift
- Prophetic gifting
- Gift of faith
Right now I am only sharing three gifts, but I will share more later. Let me also say , I didn't ask for all these gifts, and when I first started out , I didn't' have them all. The Bible says God gives the gifts severally, as He wills. ( I like to think God likes me and wants me to share several. ) I admit, it's been a fun journey to help others get here, including learning on my own.
Teaching & Word of Knowledge Gift .There have been many times, for instance, where God has used my knowledge and my voice to bless someone as I gave instruction or taught them something by explaining at length something they could not understand easily, and they would get it right away. This was my teaching gift and my word of knowledge gift working together. I love to teach. I always thought I would be a teacher one day, like my mother. I was always giving people advice. Actually, the advice took form once I began to go to college and major in social work. I actually found comfort in giving words of comfort to others and showing them things about life I noticed, or had learned. My word of knowledge gift, even enlightens ME, sometimes! You ever have an (AHA! Moment), and then you realize you too, are enlightened and also learning from information you shared? Well... that was me, indeed. (I did this often, and all the time. ) And another way I knew I had this gift was I always had an answer for something. Someone would ask me something , and whether I had insight or not, the knowledge would sometimes come to me if I just ventured out and began speaking on the topic.
The Prophetic Gift.Once, I took on a job as a professor. I had never ever learned how to teach as a professor. How did I know I could do it, if I had not done it before. I just knew I could, so I did. What I had years before this job came to me, was a vision. I would see myself teaching and being at my old college, and I would be actually involved with others and helping them. So when the opportunity came to spend time as a panel expert and share on my profession, I did. My old professor, Norma - called me out once for dinner and asked would I be willing to take over and teach a course in social work. My first answer to her was :" I am not sure." I had to talk it over with some, and think about it. So I went home and prayed about it. This is the scripture that came to mind:" Delight yourself in the Lord and the Lord will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4 Once I prayed about it, - the VERY SAME NIGHT - God used a friend to come to my home after I had prayed ( AND give me THAT scripture frame with this scripture!) I cannot truly say I was shocked, I was just really surprised. The DAY had come. I was now LIVING the vision that had come to me years ago.
As I attempt to join in with God and allow Him to use me, in that process of learning, I am opening myself up to my purpose being used. The mantle of hope I bring to someone begins to be utilized by God to help them flourish as well.
The way I learned about my mantle of decision-making and that God purposed to use me in this way - was revealed through prayer. I was deep in my feelings and compassionate over a situation for someone I loved dearly in my family. I felt as though I was suffering with them - as they endured some hardship, as I witnessed them suffering. I wanted so bad to help. I began to pray for that family member whom I knew (from the fruit they were bearing) - was not walking in alignment with God. I began to pray they make better decisions, and that in making those decisions - they find answers. The Lord revealed to me what was going on, and that "them not making a decision", was their decision; and that I could influence this, though my prayers. "not deciding" of course, I found was immensely harming their soul - because it was a decision they were making and I saw that clearly. They were also allowing someone else to decide for them. Immensely, and that person was actually guiding their life decisions, NOT themselves. And their purpose. So, knowing what I knew about agreeing prayer, I began to ask God to use me and a few others to help 'set them free' and bring them into greater understanding and enlightenment.
I started seeing God use me often in helping people decide. I knew Deciding was not a gift, because everyone did it. I asked God what else was going on here, and that's when he revealed the decision-making was something he supernaturally gave me insight about for the benefit of myself , and others.
