Over a period of 12 years I pushed hard to fulfil my calling and use my gifts to their full potential. I listened to personal development and motivational books, but none of them had the impact that they promised. I finally realised that the books and the approaches are not the problem, but what I truly desired is to experience the love of my Heavenly Father.
I knew He loved me, but I didn’t experience it. If you add will power, techniques and tools to an unfulfilled heart it doesn’t work. If you add tools, techniques and discipline to a fulfilled heart, that is the day when your motivation (desire fulfilled) lines up with discipline and you become effective beyond measure. It is not a quick fix solution, but a journey with peaks and valleys.
I am not referring to people that do things on their own, but rather to individuals that have declared Lordship in their lives. Once you have declared Lordship in your life you are on a special journey where the leadership development process is not the same as in the world. It becomes about relationship. God gives you gifts, talents, abilities and then invites you to join him in exploring them. It can be a big challenge of faith and patience. Sometimes He will ask you to use your gifts to honour Him and other times He will ask you you to lay them down for exactly the same reason.
The focus is constant: If you seek His kingdom (His will, His principles, His love, His peace, His rest and His presence in everything you do on a daily basis) He will add all else on (everything you need to accomplish the purpose He has called you for).
It takes an experience of trust in your heart to understand when He wants you to use your gifts and when to lay them down. We need to move from a spirit of slavery to a spirit of sonship!