You Are A Unique Child of God, by Minister Gabriel Adunmade
TEXT: Matthew 25 vs 14-30
The simple definition of unique or uniqueness if you like, according to English dictionary is:
1. Existing as the only one or as the soul example.
2. Having no like or equal, unparalleled, incomparable.
When you say somebody is unique, what you are saying in excess is that there is something in such an individual that is peculiar to him/ her only, that cannot be found in somebody else.
It may be the way he/she does things, the way he talks, walk or even the way things happen to him/her. Or even simply his outlook.
For every man/woman God created, it is for a purpose, and that purpose is unique to individual.
There is something that is unique about God that cannot be found in the other so call gods.
That something is that God never created a duplicate. He always has a subtitle, but definitely not duplicate.
No two people are exactly the same. Yes two people may look alike to some extent, do things almost the same way, but if you look closely, you will see hundreds of things that differentiate one of them from the other.
As at 2013, the world population was 7.125bn, maybe by now it will be closed to 8bn if not more.
Yet no two people are exactly the same.
Even if you don’t agree with me on this, you will agree with me that no two fingerprints are the same
As of today, the only and most reliable form of identity is fingerprint
It reminds me of a story published in a local newspaper. It was about a lady aged 21, an acid victim.
After investigation about the incident, it was discovered that her childhood lady friend was trying to copy her so as to look exactly the same in all things. If she buys anything, shoes, clothes, plat her hair in a particular style; her friend will make sure she appears in the same outfit as soon as possible. She tried this for ten years.
One day, out of frustration, this her friend wore a Hijab; the head covering that reveals only the eyes as disguise, laid ambush for her on her way home from work and poured sulphuric acid at her face, left her deformed for life.
After trying to look like somebody for 10years, she was so frustrated to the extent that devil pushed her to commit that atrocity.
We live in a highly competitive world where the best is highly sought for, and the eligibility criteria are usually spelt out.
In our attempt at meeting these criteria, we should be careful not to lose our identity in the process.
The human fingerprint is one of the demonstrations of the awesomeness of God’s wisdom in creation. God in His infinite wisdom has created us individually for a unique purpose to fulfil.
Our own part is to discover that purpose, key into it, and run with it.
Just be yourself, be real and whatever is meant for you, God knows how to bring it your way.
(That will be your portion IJN)
Let us examine some areas God Created us as a unique individual:
YOUR CALLING: The word calling simply means the assignments God has given you to do, i.e. your area of service in God’s kingdom on earth.
This is in accordance to His divine purpose for our lives.
If we look at the 5- fold ministry in Ephesians 4 vs 11, God called some to be apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastor and teachers.
Prophet here does not necessarily mean that you have to put on white long flowing garment with long necklace with pendants of Jesus nailed on the cross.
As a matter of fact, Jesus is no longer on the cross, but sited at the right hand of God interceding for us. Evangelist here may not necessarily be at the level Reinhard Bonke or Billy Graham is doing evangelism.
Pastor here is not only about you being the shepherd of church with 10,000 members.
Paul the apostle here was not saying that you have to be standing in front of people to teach Sunday school lesson or Bible study before you can be called a teacher.
God has called us into these different offices at different levels.
God may have given you charismatic personality; a compelling charm (not juju) which inspires devotion in others, people will tend to listen to you and believe what you say. God wants you to use that to speak about Him to somebody.
God might have given you a life style that inspires others.
Sometimes what you say for saying sake always comes to pass. You are a prophet
In one way or the other, you are operating in one or more of these offices, hence you must use it to benefit others and to the glory of God.
Another area God has created us as a unique individual is our;
GIFT/TALENT: When God gives you an assignment, He will equip you with what you need to carry it out. It is this equipment I call gift or talents. This gift is what you will use to carry out the assignment.
We have all been given assignment and the equipment we need to carry it out.
Nobody is without assignment and nobody is without the equipment i.e. gifting to carry it out.
2 Corinthian 5vs10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
That suggests to me that everyone has been given an assignment to carry out and we are going to be rewarded accordingly.
1 Corinthian 12 vs 4-10: The scripture outlines 9 gifts of the spirit.
Verse 11 made a point of emphasise, the spirit distribute to each individual as He will.
God will only give you what is needful for the fulfilment of your calling. He will not give you beyond your ability. In Matt 25, the parable of the talent, the bible says each one was given according to his ability. The big question is; to what extent are you using the gift God Has given you?
In the church of God, God has not created anybody or has not brought anybody just to complete the number, or to increase the population, or to come and observe. To stand when ask to stand, sit when we are asked to sit, pray when asked to pray etc. And that’s all. No, you must be involved.
God has brought you here to make impact in people’s lives. In the community or neighbourhood you find yourself. As Christian, if our live is not making impact in life of people in one way or the other then we need to check our lives.
Another area where God created us as unique individual is our PHYSICAL APPEARANCE.
Our God is a God of variety. The world would have been a boring place if we were all created in the same shape, size and colour, or look exactly the same. God created us as a unique entity for a divine purpose.
Some people have undergone plastic surgery to alter their look. Some were not so lucky because it resulted to serious complications.
Some have even met their untimely death in the process. (I remember the story the First Lady in a particular country who went for TORMY TUCKING to reduce her abdomen. She was not all that lucky, she died in the process). We will not die untimely death because of our own making IJN.
As individual, we see different things in different ways, think differently, observe things in different way, and In fact consider the end result of action in different way.
God made it so in order to complement each other. Somebody said that if husband and wife reason the same way, think the same way, observe things the same way all the time, then one of them is irrelevant or not needed.
Say for instance, the case of Nabal and Abigail in 1 Sam. 25, if Abigail had not used wisdom and just say that is it , what my husband says is the final. What would have become the entire family.
Or the case of Ananias and Sapphira in Act 5. One person could not advice the other, Oh don’t let us do it in that we, let us come out point blank, this is what we can give out of the price. Maybe the story would have been different. (but they all slept put the head in the same direction)
That is not to say husband and wife should not cooperate or agree with each other, but at the same time, they should reason together.
God created husband and wife as individual; some time agree to disagree. We are to complement each other.
Psalm 139 vs 14: I will praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Appreciate God for whom you are and what He has made you to be, because you are a peculiar treasure in the hand of God.
THREE WAYS out of many by Which God deals with individual that make us to be unique before Him:
1. God may choose to attend to your case in a brand new way.
Don’t ever think that the way God did it for somebody is exactly the way He will do it for you. God who has 1000 ways whereby man has none.
Why many of us are so frustrated is that we expect God to do it for us exactly how He did it for others. That may not always be the case.
If He did something in a particular way years ago, He may decide to do it in a brand new way and still achieve the same result.
Never put God in a box. Therefore, let our hearts be opened to God, our God is a sovereign and all powerful God. Isaiah 43 vs 19.
2. He can break all protocols to intervene or attend to your matter.
The word protocol means the system of rules and acceptable behaviour used at official ceremonies and occasions.
God can orchestrate a situation to allow people to take note of you.
This was demonstrated in the life of the woman with issue of blood for 12years who pressed through the crowd to receive her healing in mark 5 vs 25-34.
By protocol, she was not supposed to be among the crowd at all because she was regarded as unclean or at least seek permission from the disciples of Jesus to request to see Him.
(I remember my first job after completing my supervised placement programme to enable me practice my profession in this country. During the interview I was told that I have to wait until my work permit comes from home office and that I have to pay for my work permit fees. And that the best they can do for me is to deduct it from my salary install mentally which was alright by me.
To my surprise, 3days later, I had a phone call that I can start work as they have approved my work permit and that they will send the paperwork later. Not only that, when I received my first salary, I discovered it was not deducted, when I drew their attention to it, they said, we have changed our mind, we will pay for you. To my surprise, those who were employed after me paid for their work permit.
WHO TOLD YOU GOD CANNOT BREAK PROTOCOL BECAUSE OF YOU.
The 10 lepers by protocol, they supposed to have undergone process of treatment and healing and inform the priest to come and certify them healed, not to just go to the priest without even prayer being said. But that was how God decided to attend to their cases.
(God will fast tract somebody’s breakthrough, deliverance and healing here today IJN.)
He will do it in a way you least expected IJN.
Do you know that Jesus did not even asked them the usual question he usually asked people like do you believe or do you have faith that I can do it. No, He simply told them to go and show themselves to the priest. Luke 17 vs 11-19.
3. There is more than one way of solving a problem. All we need is to ask God for is creative ideas.
It is often said, ideas rule the world. One single God’s given idea is enough to change one’s life status or circumstances.
Are you stuck in life? Ask God for a way out.
James 1 vs 5, if any of you lacks wisdom, ask God who gives generously without finding fault, and He will give you.
IN CONCLUSION: As a unique child of God, you need to get in the driver seat of your own life, take control and steer it in the direction you want to go, of course using God as your navigator.
Quickly, here are five tips to help you get started.
1. Take full responsibility for your life. Don’t blame anyone or anything else for where you find yourself today.
Not you parent, not your spouse, nor even the circumstances of your birth or background, or the things that have happened in the past.
Your background does not necessarily determine your front ground.
You are where you are today as a result of the choices you made yesterday.
2. Learn from your mistakes and the mistakes of others. The reason why the bible recorded both positive and negative of all bible characters, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, Samson etc. is for us to learn from their mistakes and avoid repeating them.
If you don’t learn from your mistakes, you are most likely going to repeat them. It is as simple as that.
3. Let someone hold your mirror for you.
Les Brown said, it’s difficult to see the picture when you are standing in the frame. In other words, we may need some help from somebody who genuinely loves and wants the best for us to point out some issues in our lives that need to be addressed.
Bottom line is you cannot correct what you refuse to confront.
4. Anticipation and Reaction: most people are fire fighters in their own lives. They wait for something to happen to them expend time and energy reacting and fighting that circumstances.
Successful people are not like that. Just like a trailer driver, to drive and reach their destination safely, they anticipate changes in weather and state of the road well ahead. If there is a sharp bend ahead, they have to prepare steering the trailer way before they actually get to the bend, if they wait until they actually get to the bend before steering, it will be too late.
It’s no different in life. Learn to be forward thinking.
FINALLY;
5. Take control: you cannot stop certain circumstances from entering your life, but you can control how you let it affect you.
What happens to you is not as important as what happens in you.
The story of Joseph is a very good example. What happened to him in life was not what brought him to palace to become prime minister but what happened in him.
In fact what happened to him was to prevent him from becoming the prime minister.
Being thrown into dry pit, or if he had granted Potiphar’s wife request, it would have led him to something else. But he learned to take control of his life through self-control and self-discipline.
You were uniquely created by God for a unique purpose. Discover it with the help of God and run with it.
PRAYERS
1. Father, as your unique child, with unique purpose, please equip and empower me to fulfil that purpose IJN.
2. Father, since I know since I will stand before you one day, to give account of what I have done here on earth, please let me not be condemned, help me to do what I need to do be commended IJN.
3. Father, please let my work not stand against me, but stand for me on the last day IJN.
You Are A Unique Child of God, by Minister Gabriel Adunmade was delivered on April 19th, 2015