As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 1 Peter 4:10.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
This is your day. Every day of your life is your day, each day is a gift from Me to you and it was made to put a smile on your face. Each day of your life is your opportunity to shine.
It is good to give thanks to the LORD and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; to declare Your lovingkindness in the morning and Your faithfulness by night, with the ten-stringed lute and with the harp, with resounding music upon the lyre. For You, O LORD, have made me glad by what You have done, I will sing for joy at the works of Your hands. Psalm 1:1-4.
My Word gave you life and My Word gives you new life each day. Do you rejoice in it?
This is the day which the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24.
And what day is that? The day of your salvation! Read the context around that verse of Psalm 118 and it will tell you the day, and you are living in it. Many a prophet longed to see what you see and to hear what you hear; they announced it but did not get to live in it.
This is the gate of the LORD; the righteous will enter through it. I shall give thanks to You, for You have answered me, and You have become my Salvation (Yeshuah). The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief corner stone. This is the LORD’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day which the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:20-24.
The age of grace, the time of the Church, His body, on earth. The called out, consecrated and sanctified ones. And I have given you gifts and talents uniquely yours for you to fulfill your part in the body of Christ on earth. These gifts and talents I give you are opportunities to shine before Me, the angels, and mankind but they are actually about doing what you were set aside and consecrated for before the foundation of the world.
The strength of Samson was in his consecration of which his hair was a sign. But in the consecration is the power.
Again the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When a man or woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to dedicate himself to the LORD, he shall abstain from wine and strong drink . . . All the days of his vow of separation no razor shall pass over his head. He shall be holy until the days are fulfilled for which he separated himself to the LORD; he shall let the locks of hair on his head grow long . . . because his separation to God is on his head. All the days of his separation he is holy to the LORD. Numbers 6:1-8.
And the first thing I tell Moses when I finished telling him of the vow of dedication and separation of the Nazarite is the blessing for the priests to speak over the people to put My Name on them so I can bless them. Again separating you from the curse of the world by your consecration as Covenant people. People who bear My Name, the whole family in Heaven and on earth. Blessed to be a blessing. The opportunity to impact the world with the Kingdom, the glory.
Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, ‘Thus you shall bless the sons of Israel. You shall say to them: The LORD bless you, and keep you; the LORD make His face shine on you, and give you His grace. The LORD smile upon you, and give you shalom.’ So they shall put My name on the sons of Israel, and I will bless them.” Numbers 6:22-
The talents I give you are opportunities to invest in others and bless them with your gifts that I have entrusted to you.
As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 1 Peter 4:10.
And how do you employ it? Do what I put in you and set you apart to do.
Whoever speaks, as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves, as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. 1 Peter 4:11.
Whatever you do, do unto Me.
Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father. Colossians 3:17.
And My servant Paul, to whom I gave the revelation of the body of Christ, the church, shared his revelation as well.
For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. Romans 12:4-8.
You are consecrated and sanctified in the truth. And My Word is truth. My Word is what sets you apart and consecrates you.
“I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify [hagiazó (ἁγιάζω): to make holy, consecrate, sanctify, set apart as holy] them in the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. For their sakes I sanctify (consecrate, set apart) Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified (consecrated, set apart as holy) in truth. I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.” John 17:14-21.
People of My Word are not like the people of the words of the world and of the devil. Set apart by My Word in them, they shine with the glow of My glory.
“The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” John 17:22-26.
Samson did not value his consecration or My Word, he gave his whole heart to sin in lust. A chosen vessel became a cracked and broken cistern that could hold no water. He did not even know My Spirit had left him and he was taken captive by the enemy. No longer separated unto Me.
All the days of his vow of separation no razor shall pass over his head. He shall be holy until the days are fulfilled for which he separated himself to the LORD; he shall let the locks of hair on his head grow long . . . because his separation to God is on his head. All the days of his separation he is holy to the LORD. Numbers 6:1-8.
Honor reaps honor. Dishonor reaps dishonor. Esau despised his birthright, he did not value it and he lost it. What you do not value, you lose, for you do not guard it and nourish it.
Samson despised his consecration, he did not value it. Honor keeps the gifts and talents intact and increases them.
As Bezalel used the talent I put in him for making the holy things of My tabernacle his skill increased, grace on top of grace.
Now the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “See, I have called by name Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. I have filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all kinds of craftsmanship, to make artistic designs for work in gold, in silver, and in bronze, and in the cutting of stones for settings, and in the carving of wood, that he may work in all kinds of craftsmanship. Exodus 31:1-5.
And it drew others with him to work by his side that he trained to be skillful in the gifts I had put in them as well. He had been set aside and consecrated since his mother’s womb to work within My shadow in My house. His name, Bezalel, in Hebrew means “in the shadow of God.”
Talents have to do with consecration—what you are set apart for, your special gift.
I had consecrated Jeremiah a prophet to the nations from the womb.
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1:5.
And My Words were the joyful delight of his heart, which he devoured, and it set him apart, no longer able to sit as one with the worldly, with the sinful.
Your words were found and I ate them, and Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart; for I have been called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts. I did not sit in the circle of merrymakers, nor did I exult. Because of Your hand upon me I sat alone. Jeremiah 15:16-17.
Your talents will delight you, they become the joy and treasure of your heart. Your gifts and talents are what you were chosen, set apart, and consecrated to do. It is not about impressing people, though your gifts will bring you before great men, but in blessing people and Me, your LORD God and audience of one. Like Joseph in Egypt. Those who love and live their lives unto Me bless Me and are My precious treasures.
Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own special treasure among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Exodus 19:5-6.
Called, predestined, consecrated, glorified is who every one of you is before Me. Predestined to a destiny of glory. Preordained and consecrated from your mother’s womb.
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. Romans 8:28-30.
But, like Samson, you can dishonor that consecration and join the enemy as Samson did. It destroyed him. And he was no longer free. But My gifts and calling are irrevocable and it was still there for him when he turned once more to Me.
What I separate and consecrate you for I then give you opportunities to develop and increase. Like the parable Jesus told about those servants that the master entrusted talents to so they would invest them while he went on a journey. The ones who went out and invested them increased what they had been given.
I called, anointed, consecrated, and set apart David early in his life to shepherd My people Israel as their king and I trained him from his youth as a shepherd for his father’s flock which he defended zealously. He went from taking down lions and bears to taking down a giant threatening My people, until he was routing entire armies and clearing away all the enemies of My people Israel. For he honored the anointing, even in Saul who sought to destroy him, and he was faithful to his consecration.
And so many have been faithful to their consecration—Mary, set apart since the beginning to be the mother of the Messiah, the Word made flesh. Joseph set apart to be her spouse and known as father to My Son. Paul who I set apart from his mother’s womb as well, in fact, that is the story of each of you.
But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went away to Arabia, and returned once more to Damascus. Galatians 1:15-17.
You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a people set apart to the praise of My glory, for I have called you out of darkness into My own marvelous light so that you may live each day filled with opportunities to shine to release My glory into the earth so that all may be saved and come to know the truth that will consecrate them and set them free.
I love you. I have entrusted gifts and talents to you that set you apart and consecrate you for the life of good deeds I prepared for you in advance that you should walk in them. Honor them and live pure in them. There was a great difference between the lives of Samson and Samuel and yet their gifts and callings were very similar. It all had to do with whether they honored My Word and the value they gave to what I had set them apart to do.
Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, and some to honor and some to dishonor. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work. 2 Timothy 2:20-21.