Author: Pastor Rufus Ajiboye

In the Gospel of Mathew Jesus told a parable about Master giving his servants different talents. «For the kingdom of heaven is like a man travelling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered goods to them. And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey» (Mathew, 25: 14-15).

Jesus shows us here that the criterion of His assessment is not quantity, but faithfulness. God know that every one of us has different abilities, so the quantitative result will be different for different people. Numbers are not important to Jesus; He cares about how faithful you have been with what God has given you. He cares about your attitude towards His work.

We have been talking about how all big things start small, whether it is a known person, great ministry, great accomplishments or great influence. It all starts when a person does what he can do and does it with all his might as unto the Lord with faith and consistency. When one has such attitude towards life he will have his or her reward from the Lord. Such a person will be blessed and exalted by God. His or her gift will make room for him or her in God’s overall picture and the Body of Christ.

Person’s gift will make room for him and will bring him before great men, – this is on of the Bible principles; the Bible teaches about it and also it can be seen in the lives of the people in the Bible.

«A man’s gift makes room for him, and brings him before great men» (Proverbs, 18: 16).

Studying the church history, we see that all of God’s generals didn’t start big. These people used what they had and did whatever they could. They began using the abilities they had. Eventually, their gifts found their place in the Body of Christ and grew into large ministries.

For example, Dr. T.L. Osborn saw that people needed salvation, so he started meeting this need to the best of his ability: he started printing little tracts on his printing machine and went door to door leaving them in their post boxes. At the time he couldn’t even imagine that it will lead him to huge international evangelistic ministry that he has today.

«A man’s gift makes room for him, and brings him before great men» (Proverbs, 18: 16).

Your gift will make room for you and will broaden your boarders, if you won’t hide it. So many times believers ask: «Where is my place in the Body of Christ? What is my calling?»

Do what you know. This simple principle gives an answer to many questions. Find the thing that you know how to do; find what you can do to promote the Kingdom of God, to help the church to grow and to extend your influence in the society.

Calling upon God – means to have habitual prayer life. Prayer helps us to draw near to God and releases His provision, because He is close to all who call upon Him. We also talked about the fact that our provision depends not only on our ability to call upon God, but also on how much we fear God. To fear God means to avoid evil, to do good, to seek peace and to follow it. God’s provision and blessing is the reward of those who fear Him. We also pointed out that God has secrets that are meant for dedicated people who call upon His Name and walk in the fear of the Lord. Besides all of the above, it is important to know that dedication to God is impossible without the love for Him.

Many people have learned to call upon the name of God, but they do not have a slightest idea of the fear of the Lord. It is very important to understand that our provision depends not only on our ability to call upon God, but also on the level of the fear of God in our lives.

My lifestyle is what determines the power of my prayers. Anyone who calls upon God must also fear God, – and that is what it means to call upon God in truth.

«The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth» (Psalm, 145: 18).

To call upon God – it means to have a stable prayer life. God desires you to have consistent and stable prayer life. You have to have a place where you call upon Him.

«But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly» (Mathew, 6:6).

God is always good, and He will never change in this sense. God is always powerful. God changes His strength for my weakness. God always has blessings for every one of us. The unchanging God can change you. You can always come to God – in any situation – and He will change you and your circumstances.

All of us need provision, because we all have needs in different areas of our life: finances, health, wisdom for making decisions etc.

The third type of believers is servants. Servants are the ones that are on the giving end. It is more blessed to give than it is to receive. We all like to receive, but if we want to be truly blessed we need to look for opportunities to give.

Jesus said that the rivers of living water will flow out of those who believe in Him:

«”He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified» (John, 7:38-39 ).

Isaiah saw three important things that totally changed his life. Isaiah saw God. He saw God’s greatness and holiness. When you draw near to God, God reveals Himself to you more and more. When we see God we also see ourselves, because we are created in His image and according to His likeness. In His light we see light.

Isaiah saw himself. God desires for us to see ourselves clearly. For this very reason He allows different things to happen to us so that our eyes would be open about what we are like inside.