Articles by Charlotte Gambill

God's Gift Vouchers

Paul's recent ministry to us as a church has been amazing! It is raising our awareness of the time we are living in and challenging us to take the opportunity we have to make our mark like never before. It's as if God is the conductor and we are his orchestra. It is vital that every instrument is played on the cue of his baton in order for the piece of music to flow. The baton is raised and this is our time!

You are gifted

With all this excellent ministry in mind, God spoke to me through a simple illustration. He said to me, 'I have given my people all the gift vouchers they are ever going to need to do all I have called them to do in this time.' So I began to think about gift vouchers.

Scripture says that God, 'has given us everything we need for life and Godliness.' (2 Peter 1:3) Everything! Not some things, a few things, or just enough but everything. All the gifting and talent God expects you to use is inside your life in 'voucher' form. He doesn't call from us what he hasn't already prepared in us. You may feel unprepared but God's not. He prepared good works in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10). And if he prepared the works in advance he has also supplied the ability and gifts with which to do them. It is these God-given gifts and abilities that are like the gift vouchers God spoke to me about.

You don't choose the store

If I bought you a gift voucher for a music store and you went and tried to exchange it for food at a supermarket, no matter how convincingly you made your case, it would not be valid. You're in the wrong store. You see, I decided to bless you with some music rather than food, and the only place you can exchange your voucher is in a music store.

The same principle applies to your God-given gifts. God decided what they would be and therefore determined the places where you could enjoy redeeming them. Yet many Christians are frustrated because they think their voucher is a blank cheque from God in the area of gifting, granting them access to all areas they choose. So if they like the look of the 'preaching shop' they go and try to spend their voucher there. Or if they find the worship-leading shop window attractive they will try and exchange it there. How much better to acknowledge what 'gift voucher' God has given you and linger in the stores you can enjoy spending it in!

Too many Christians are trying to involve in any and every ministry to be fulfilled. They try every week to get up and share, to be noticed, to look for a badge of office or leadership. Yet each time they leave frustrated, not finding the satisfaction they had hoped for, all the time never thinking, 'Am I in the right store? Is my gift voucher valid here?'

God knows what 'store' you were made for, that's why he gave you those 'gift vouchers.' Realising this is liberating not restricting; it allows you to soar with your strengths, to say no to some things and to involve fully in the 'store' you were made for.

Paul put it this way: 'Let's go ahead and be what we were made to be without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren't. If you preach, just preach God's message. If you help, just help, don't take over. If you teach, stick to your teaching.' (Romans 12:6 The Message) He is trying to help all the confused shoppers out there to find their 'store' and stick to it.

People who are frustrated in there gift area are usually trying to tell God what they want to do and then seeking out the gift to do it. Whereas God is simply looking for people who will trust him enough to spend the vouchers he has chosen for them.

The value is the same

Too many Christians look at ministry options like shop windows. Some things look more attractive or glamorous than others, so they try to shop there. Others look less attractive, so they walk on by. But the truth is that all ministry roles are vital, all are hard work, and all are equally rewarding. Those just in search of glamour never last very long!

We make a big mistake when we devalue our own gift through comparing it with others. After all, which is worth more, a £20 voucher for a music store, a £20 voucher for a DIY store, or a £20 voucher for a clothes store? The answer none of them; the store may be different but their value is the same. And so it is with God; all his 'gift vouchers' carry the same value.

Just as the body does not need ten eyes, we do not need ten preachers in one church. We need a preacher, a teacher, a kid's church worker, a helps ministry, and so on. As Paul told the Corinthian church: 'God's various gifts are handed out everywhere but they all originate in God's Spirit. Various ministries are carried out everywhere but they all originate in God's Spirit… Each person is given something to do that shows who God is; everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits. All kinds are handed out to all kinds of people; the variety is wonderful: Wise counsel, clear understanding, simple trust, healing the sick, miraculous acts, proclamation, distinguishing spirits, tongues, interpretation of tongues. All these gifts have a common origin but are handed out one by one by the Spirit of God. He decides who gets what and when.' (1 Corinthians 12:4ff The Message)

Although each gift varies, it originated from the same awesome God. So are we going to look at what he decided to give us and call it unworthy? Yet when some of us read this list of gifts, we immediately want the one called 'miraculous acts' and seem to think it is worth more than 'simple trust' or 'clear understanding'.

Where ever you are and whatever situation you are in as you read this, I want you to know that if God has gifted you to be at home with your family and to 'simply trust' in him and pass that trust on to others, that gift is as valid as the one whose gift sends them out to heal the sick. We all need each other.

So how do you know if you are using your God-given 'gift vouchers' in the right store? Well, here are a few things I have observed:
• It will be easy, not an effort
• It will flow, not frustrate
• It will liberate, not limit
• It will release, not restrict
• It will be an original, not a copy
• It will be a voice, not an echo

You have to redeem the voucher

Gift vouchers are no good until they are redeemed. The responsibility for taking that voucher and spending it on something that will bless and be useful rests with each one of us.

Yet I often hear people asking leaders to redeem their vouchers for them. It is like you asking me to take your music voucher and spend it for you. I then have to try and interpret what your preferred choice of music is and bring back something you like. If I don't, you will be disappointed and I have failed to understand you. In the spiritual we do the same; we ask others to tell us what we are good at, find a role for us, develop a ministry around us, or we chase a prophecy to tell us what we are good at. And all the time we are asking other people to do what God called us to do.

The parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14) teaches us how God regards those who just bury the talents he has given them. The Master was angry with the servant who did nothing with his 'voucher.' and the same is true for the gifting he has given you. Don't hide it or ask others to spend it for you. Rather, take it and redeem it in this time of opportunity. A voucher can't be played, danced to, eaten or worn, until it is spent. And your 'gift voucher' will never be the blessing it was meant to be by God until you go out and choose something to spend it on.

Vouchers expire

One final thought. Every gift voucher has an expiry date and I believe the same is true in the spiritual. God will allow us a period of time in which to use all that he has given us but eventually that time will run out and others will be given what we didn't use.

In the parable of the Talents, the Master took the talent from the servant who buried it and gave it to the one who had the most. Here I see God's heart of urgency for us all to spend our gift by doing something with it. But if we don't, watch out, it is not without consequence!

Don't let time run out on you. Don't let fear rob you. Don't let anything lock the lead on your life in this time. Get out all the gifting God has blessed your life with. Find your store and shop 'til you drop!