Episodes of Living: HOW TO ACTIVATE YOUR GIFT

²A certain man lame… ³Who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms. ⁴And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, “Look at us.” ⁵So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. ⁶Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” Acts 3:2-6.

THE great opportunity in life is that everyone is born with a gift or two. Gift can be talent, special aptitude, or ability. Gifts are free but your duty is to activate in order to maximize them. Apostle Peter, a coward, was transformed into a great leader by the activation of his gift of healing. Peter represents a lot of people in life who have massive treasure but discover it late in life. In this article, we will discuss four paths to stirring up the gift in you from the story about Peter in Acts 3:2-7.

KNOW YOURSELF. He who knows himself knows what he can do and what he cannot do. The world will demand more than you can do. But know this: you were not born to do everything. Peter knew his limited and unlimited potentials. He knew he didn’t have “silver and gold” (money). He knew he had one thing: the gift of healing. Do you know that if you give a basketball to Michael Essien, he will not be successful at it as in football? It’s because great as his strength in football, his weakness is in other disciplines including basketball. Even companies know that the more they focus on themselves, the more they can achieve their corporate goals. Knowing yourself is critical to unearthing your spark of gifts.

FACE PROBLEMS. Nothing activates your talent or ability other than problems that confront you in life. Most of the problems we face ignite what is within us. Up until this time, Peter had never done a miracle. With the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, he became aware of what he had. But awareness didn’t lift his gift. What lifted his gift of healing was stretching himself to solve the man’s sickness need as never before. No problem will come your way other than the one you were born to solve. Face problems and activate your gift.

TRY SOMETHING NEW. What if Peter had not tried to heal the man? I am sure he would have been a silent apostle who never did anything extraordinary. That singular decision he made to take a bold risk catapulted him to fame as a leader. I can remember my own experience some years ago at an essay competition launch. The man we invited to launch it delayed and the ball rolled to my court. I had to do what I had never done before speaking in front of head teachers, teachers, and students. I did it and I received commendations. Once you do what you have not done before, you become bold to act in ways you have not done before. When was the last time you tried something new? Ask to try something new like Peter and possibly you can activate your gift.

INVOKE THE SUPERNATURAL. One of my favourite scriptures in the Bible says that, “With God, all things are possible.” Knowing yourself is an edge, facing problems makes you a leader, trying something new will expand your capacity but inviting the supernatural will take you to places you never dreamt of. A partnership with God achieves unusual results. I have seen the grace of God abound towards me in places of my life I thought I was weak in. Peter’s invocation of the supernatural shattered his cowardice acts and raised the true leader and healer in him. Invite God and He will magnify you.

I have two mobile phone SIM cards. One is for tigoand the other for MTN mobile phone operators. I use only the MTN and so the tigo has been block for lack of usage. The only way I can utilize it is to reactivate it. How? By knowing that it can still be used, by making it solve my communication problem for me, by consulting the mobile operators and finally by trying it. Most of us are like SIM card which is not in use but has the potential to make calls. We just have to activate what we have.