5 Impacting Things We Can All Do Regardless of Our Natural Abilities

I’m fascinated by people who are exceptionally gifted in some area of life or ministry.  I know some people who are incredibly good with people.  Their charisma is magnetic.  They don’t know a stranger and can win over the toughest adversaries.  Others are exceptionally talented musicians or singers.  They can play or sing with a level of skill that surely causes angels to envy.  I’ve listened in utter amazement to gifted public speakers who can capture the attention of the hardest audience and hold them spellbound.  The world has many people with amazing gifts and abilities who are able to do what may seem impossible to you and me.

Sometimes the great talent we see in other people makes our own abilities seem inferior. At times, we’ve all felt intimidated and looked at our own lives and wondered if we had any special talents or abilities at all!  But the reality is we are all gifted in unique areas.  God has given all of us differing talents and abilities.  He bestowed a diversity of gifts to different people so that we would all need one another.

I’ve accepted the fact that there are some areas where I’ll never make a great impact because I’m not gifted in those areas.  That’s ok.  I will try to focus on my areas of giftedness because, obviously, that is where I’ll make the greatest impact.  But regardless of the gifts any of us possess or don’t possess there are some things that we can all do – things that really make a difference.  There are some areas where we can make an impact and there are no special gifts required!  Let me quickly identify a few:

1. Kindness.  We can all be kind.   We can all demonstrate kindness.  We can all be gracious toward people. There’s no special gift required.  It may never be said of me, “He brought the house down with that song!”  But I can be kind.  It can be said of me, “He is so caring and thoughtful.”
2. Encouragement.  We can all be an encourager.  The world is a discouraging place.  Our adversary is discouraging.  Life can be discouraging.  People are desperate for encouragement.  We can all be an  encourager.  There is no special gift or talent required to simply offer words or gestures of encouragement to the people in our lives.
3. Integrity.  We can all people of integrity.  Regardless of what special gifts I have or don’t have, I can be a man of integrity.  I can do what I say I’m going to do and practice what I preach.  We can all be people of character and integrity.
4. Prayer.  We can all pray.  We don’t have to possess some special talent or ability to pray.  Prayer changes things.  Prayer changes people.  Prayer changes situations.  Prayer changes us.  And anyone can pray.  I may not be a gifted singer, musician, speaker, writer or creative genius, but I can pray – and prayer makes an impact.
5. Faithfulness.  We can all be faithful – faithful to God, faithful to our calling or ministry, faithful to our spouses and family, faithful to our church, faithful to our vision and mission.  Diligent, consistent commitment to what’s important in life makes an incredible impact – and you don’t need any special gift to be faithful!

I’ll never play or sing at Carnegie Hall.  I’ll probably never receive a Pulitzer Prize for a literary masterpiece.  There are some things in life that I’ll never achieve because, frankly, I’m not gifted in those areas.  But in spite of what talents we may or may not possess, there are some things that we can all do – things that will positively impact our lives and the lives of those around us.  There are some areas of greatness where no special gifts are necessary!

– Pastor  Ball

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I’m often amazed by what I see happen at Faith Apostolic Church.  After just about every weekend service I leave in awe of the great things I see God doing in and through His people.

Last Sunday was one of those days.

A family in our church came to service carrying an unspeakable burden.   Their daughter had just been raped earlier in the week.  I can’t even imagine the pain and confusion this young, innocent, fourteen year-old girl was feeling.  I’m sure her father wanted to find the low-life perpetrator and give him what he deserved.  I didn’t know what to say or how to minister to a family in the jaws of such a deep sorrow and grief.

As we all began to worship, the Spirit of the Lord swept through the building like a cool, refreshing breeze.  I sensed that gentle nudging of the Holy Spirit and, in retrospect, I’m so glad I followed His lead.  I didn’t tell the church the details of what happened, I just mentioned that this family was dealing with a terrible situation and that we needed to pray for them.

The members of our church poured out of their seats and filled the aisles and packed in the rows around the family.  They literally locked arms in concentric circles around them as if to make a human shield that would ward off all the fiery darts of the enemy.  Without even knowing the details of the incident, our church began praying and interceding.  They wept and sorrowed with that grieving family.  Compassion and concern gave way to deep empathy and true burden-bearing.  It was like the whole church shouldered the weight of that tragedy.

God did a miracle that morning.  He didn’t change what had happened to the young lady.  He didn’t take all the pain and hurt away.  He didn’t erase all feelings that she and her family will have to sort through.  But, He did use a church family to minister healing and comfort.  It was like God opened a vial – a vial full of the prayers and tears of the saints – and poured it upon the wounds of that family. Like a healing salve, it brought them comfort.  It eased the pain.  It brought hope and peace. 

The book of Revelation records a scene in heaven.  Twenty-four elders are before the Throne of God and they have vials in their hands which contain the prayers of the saints.  An angel takes the prayers in those vials and offers them up to God.  The aroma and fragrance of those prayers fills the room.  It is a sweet smell that blesses and ministers to God.

The gospel of Luke records a woman coming to Jesus with an alabaster box of precious ointment.  She breaks open the box and pours the ointment upon Jesus’ feet along with her own tears.  Jesus tells the onlookers that by her act of pouring oil and tears upon His feet she was “anointing His body.” 

We know that pouring our tears and prayers out to the Lord is like offering to Him a sweet incense that ministers to Him and blessed Him.  Could it also be that when we pour out our tears and prayers for one another we are ministering to “His body?”  We are the hands and feet of God.  We are the body of Christ.  When the woman poured the oil on His feet, Jesus said, “She has anointed my body.” 

Our Prayers and tears are like incense that ascends to the Throne and blesses God. But, so are the tears and prayers we pray for one another like a healing salve that blesses the Body of Christ.

When our church family began to pray on Sunday for one of our families who was suffering, it was like a vial of salve was opened and poured upon the wounds of that family.  Our tears for them and prayers for them were like a precious ointment that ministered healing and hope.

Ministry like this is so needful in our world that is so full of hurting people. I pray the church will always know how and be ready to “open the vial” and pour out our prayers, tears and intercession for one another. 

 Pastor Ball

 

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Facebook, Twitter and Unrealistic Expectations

In less than ten years, Facebook has grown from a small network of Harvard students wanting to stay connected to a worldwide phenomenon with over 1 billion subscribers.  Twitter was launched just a few years ago by Jack Dorsey.  Today there are over half a billion users and that number is growing by 135,000 a day!

Social media has become part of our everyday lives.  It’s radically changed the mode of communication in the 21^st century. Some people love it. Others hate it.  But, love it or hate it, Facebook, Twitter and the growing number of other social media platforms are here to stay.

Social media can be a valuable tool.  It can be used to report up-to-the-minute news, promote a cause or just stay connected with old friends.  But like anything else it can also be used for less-than-honorable purposes.

A brick can be used to build a school or break a window.  How it’s used depends on whose hand it’s in – a builder or a thief!  Whether social media has a good or bad impact depends upon the person using it.

Social media is a great tool in the church world.  It’s used to connect with people, promote missions, offer encouragement and even share the Gospel.  Unfortunately, it’s also used as a platform for gossip and criticism.  It’s sad that marital infidelity oftentimes begins with inappropriate interaction on social media.  But, just like we don’t outlaw bricks because some people use them to break windows, we can’t ignore the value of social media or boycott it just because some people misuse it.

There is another, less-obvious danger of social media – especially in the church world.  What we read on Facebook or Twitter can result in us having unrealistic expectations about our churches and ministries.  If we’re not careful we’ll compare our behind-the-scenes life with everyone else’s highlight reel!

You know what I’ve NEVER seen on Facebook or Twitter?  A post like this from a pastor or church leader….

“Terrible crowd today.  Worship was dead.  Praise team missed it.  My sermon never got off the ground. Met with a family after church who’s decided to leave.  I feel like quitting.”

Never once have I seen a post like that.  It’s always something like this:

“WOW! Unbelievable service today!  Packed house.  497 baptized.  Miracles of healing.  Message was incredible!”

The truth is we all have sub-par church services on occasion.  Sometimes our sermon just isn’t that good.   Sometimes the praise team chooses the wrong song.  Sometimes disgruntled people leave the church.  But we don’t ever share that.  I wish people would on occasion.  I think I will.  The next time we have a sub-par service, I’m going to share the “not-so-spectacular” report on social media.

When, multiple times a day, we read all the great victory reports, we are tempted to compare our week-in and week-out reality with other people’s best moments!  We think, “Why isn’t my church seeing those fantastic results every week?”  The reality is that we all have off weeks; we just don’t post about them.  Facebook and Twitter can set us up for unrealistic expectations.  Nobody (but Jesus) is on 100% of the time.  I have a secret about that pastor who just posted that incredible report – it was probably his first post in 10 weeks!

I’m not implying that we should be timid about reporting the great things that God is doing.  We should not keep silent about growth, revival and victory!  (As long as our motives are about exalting Him and not us.)  I just think that when we ONLY share the pinnacle moments, we can actually discourage others when we are hoping to build their faith.  Perhaps when I have a “not-so-great” week and share it on social media it could actually be an encouragement!  I love to hear great reports of what God is doing in churches around the world.  But when I hear a great pastor of a great church admit that sometimes even he has an off week, I realize I’m not alone in being human.  To me, that’s encouraging.  I’m not encouraged by someone else’s bad week, but by the reality that, if another pastor had an off Sunday, but he’s pressing on – then I, too, can recover from a bad Sunday and go on and have revival!  Being honest about my own weaknesses may even bring a greater dimension of God’s strength into my situation.

I’m not advocating that we use social media to give glory to the devil (bless his holy name!) I just think a little honesty would serve us all better than implying that EVERY Sunday is “Off the Chain!”

~ Pastor Ball

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