So when we tell God to help us, He will reveal all these things to us. He will make you know who you are and what you are capable of doing. He will help you understand yourself better, everything about yourself that you need to know. You will discover who you are and what you can do.
You will know yourself, even from within. Your deepest thoughts, your anger, your fears, your reactions, even things you cannot know about yourself on your own. The only thing you are expected to do is to build a better relationship with Him. Start taking His commandments more seriously. Start obeying His commandments. Start pleasing Him.
Also, devote more time to personal fellowship with Him. Meditate on His Word, the Holy Bible, and He will surely reveal Himself to you. God is what you need. And God will come closer to you if you decide to come closer to God. Always remember that God never fails, never betrays, and never deceives those who belong to Him. Come closer to God.
Very Important To Note
Before you can become anything meaningful, you need to first know certain things and engage in certain activities. You need to lay your intentions straight. Yes, your intentions. When you have laid them straight, then you work on them. What do you want? In life, from life, from yourself, for your society, what do you want?
When you begin to know yourself and the things you can do, even in unusual situations, then work on them. And as I said earlier, it is only with God’s divine help that one can do these things properly.
It is so important that we should first know ourselves before we try to bring our abilities into the spotlight. Yes, before you try to have full knowledge about your potentials, your attributes, and your talents, it will do you a lot of good to first know your real self.
On many occasions, these two things work hand in hand. In fact, it will be easier for you to discover your abilities once you have discovered your personality. When you know who you are at your core, the gifts inside you begin to show more clearly.
Again, in the attempt to discover your talents, it will help you a great deal when you first, with God’s help, see yourself as someone who has many unique abilities inside of you. Believe that there are lots of potentials inside you waiting to be discovered and used for good.
With the right view of yourself, when you see yourself the way God sees you, you will be able to see the right things both in yourself and about yourself. Now that we have discussed the necessity of discovering yourself first, let us talk further about discovering your talents, your natural special abilities.
Step one: Stay calm and search yourself
Stay calm. Do not rush. Begin searching yourself by looking through the various attributes you already use in your everyday activities. Those small things you do daily without thinking too much.
Among all those abilities and characteristics, bring out the ones you can do naturally, or the ones you enjoy doing. These are the things that even when you repeat them, you do not get bored easily. In fact, many times you would not mind doing them for hours.
Yes, bring out the things you can do better and with ease, but which many people around you find difficult to do or cannot do at all.
Look closely at your immediate environment. There are things others in your environment can do, but on your own part, keep two words in mind: better and ease. Even if there is someone else who can do it better than you, ask yourself, on my own side, do I do it better than most people? Do I do it with ease, or with little effort? That ease is one of the natural signs of talent.
Look closely into these things and point them out.
Step two: Take note and pay attention
When you are reflecting on your abilities and pointing out those natural things you feel you can do better and with ease, start taking note of them. Write them down in a book or your phone.
Do not forget that at first, it might just be one thing. And remember, it can be anything. When I say anything, I mean anything good. Whether your society currently values it or not is not the main issue here. Do not allow what people think to intimidate you in this matter.
Are you the best table tennis player in your street or school? Or are you the type who can sketch the portrait of anything with just a few strokes of a pencil? Do you like writing stories or letters? Are you good at acting in church drama? Are you good at explaining things to people so they understand quickly? Are you good at fixing things with your hands?
Anything it can be, just ensure it is something good and does not push you away from God.
After taking note of these special abilities and characteristics, do not jump to conclusions yet. Instead, start paying closer attention to them in your daily activities. From now on, as you go about your day, give more attention to these abilities. Get more interested in doing them and always observe the results.
Pay attention to what others say about you too. Sometimes, people see things in you that you do not see in yourself. A teacher might tell you, you explain things very well. A friend might say, you have a way of making people laugh when they are sad. Listen to those comments.
But at the same time, do not allow other people’s opinions to intimidate you in the wrong way. Do not allow them to make you feel like a failure. Do not allow them to make you abandon your dream of using yourself positively in ways that will please God, according to God’s plan for your life.
Do not let them make you see your abilities as not productive, or your attributes as not useful, or your talents as not relevant. Try to be bold. Try to have confidence in yourself. Put your full trust in God alone. Rely on the Word of God. Believe in Jesus Christ our Lord. Ask anything you want from God in the name of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ died on the cross and reconciled us back to God.
Yes, we are Jesus’ friends. We are God’s children. Rely on God’s promises. Look at what He told us in Jeremiah:
I alone know the plans I have for you, plans to bring you prosperity and not disaster, plans to bring you the future you hope for. Jeremiah 29 verse 11 Good News Translation.
Amen. God is good. And He also said in verse 12 of that same book:
Then you will call me. You will come and pray to me, and I will answer you. Jeremiah 29 verse 12 GNT.
Amen. We need to ask God for help in everything if we truly want to succeed. The issue of talent discovery is not excluded. The Bible is full of good promises God made to those who love Him. See what our Lord Jesus Christ also told us in Matthew:
Ask, and you will receive. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. Matthew 7 verse 7 GNT.
So after asking God for help, and after doing your own part by paying attention, when you are genuinely convinced that you can do this thing much better and with ease than many others, then you have discovered a talent.
Step three: Match your talent with purpose
But wait. The next thing you should do is to match and compare that talent with yourself, your intentions, your significance, and your purpose. Do they go in the same line? Do they agree together?
The fact that you discovered you have the capacity for certain dangerous sports does not mean you should indulge in them. Why? Because such things can push you off the path of righteousness which is of God.
Not every ability is a calling. Some abilities are just skills, but God may have a better assignment for you. That is why you must check. Does this talent support my purpose? Does it help my good intentions? Does it glorify God? Does it benefit my society?
For example, you may discover you are very good at talking and influencing people. That is a talent. But you must ask, will I use this talent to encourage people and point them to God, or will I use it to deceive and manipulate people? The talent is neutral. Your purpose decides how it is used.
So discover yourself, and discover your talents, making sure the ones you will work on agree with your purpose. Make sure your talent supports your good intentions, and you will truly be happy.
A simple 7 day exercise to discover yourself and your talent
If you want to start now, try this for 7 days:
Day 1, spend 30 minutes in prayer. Ask God, Father, show me who I really am. Show me what You have put inside me.
Day 2, write down 10 things you do regularly without being forced. Things you enjoy doing even when no one pays you.
Day 3, ask 3 people close to you, what is one thing you think I do better than most people? Write their answers down.
Day 4, pick one activity from your list and do it for 1 hour. Observe how you feel during and after. Are you energized or drained?
Day 5, read Jeremiah 29 verse 11 to 13 slowly. Meditate on it. Write what God is saying to you about your future.
Day 6, compare your list of abilities with your life purpose. Ask, does this ability help me fulfill God’s plan for my life? Does it help people?
Day 7, choose one ability to develop for the next 30 days. Commit to practicing it a little every day and praying for God’s direction.
Final word
Self discovery comes before talent discovery. And both need God’s help. When you know who you are in God, you will stop copying others blindly. You will stop feeling like you have nothing to offer.
God already placed something unique inside you before you were born. That thing is waiting to be discovered and used for His glory and for the good of people around you.
So come closer to God. Obey His commandments. Spend time in His Word. Ask Him to reveal you to yourself. Then watch Him open your eyes to see the talents hidden inside you.
Discover yourself first. Discover your talents next. Make sure they agree with God’s purpose for your life. And walk boldly in it.
God bless you. God is faithful, and He will not fail you.
