The Gift of Organization

Dr. Charles Stanley: The person with the gift of organization, they see the big picture. Not only for whatever business they may be in, their spiritual life, they're always looking at the big picture because they realize if my life is going to count today, I must be able to see the big picture out there somewhere. Now, the truth is all of us ought to be organized. All of us should be organized. But the gift of organization has a special bent in that direction and God has wired them in a very special way.
Guest (Male): You have a great project in mind. You also have a group of people willing to help. Now, you need someone to lead. Believers with the gift of organization are uniquely equipped to be God's planners and coordinators. Today on In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley, we'll learn about those gifted to be leaders and managers as our series, Living in the Power of the Holy Spirit, continues.
Dr. Charles Stanley: God has a plan for your life. In fact, He has plans for your life. He has a purpose for your life. He has a will for your life. He's made choices for your life. And then knowing that He's a God of absolute wisdom, unconditional love, and infinite power, that ought to excite every single one of us to say, "All right, I want to find out what the plan is. I want to get in the center of it, and I want my life to be a fulfillment of the plan of this awesome, all-wise, all-loving, and all-powerful God." When you think about He loves us that much, and He didn't just say it, but He also has equipped every single one of us to fulfill that plan. Whatever His purpose and plan for your life is, He has given us the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit has given to each one of us a spiritual gift. That is a gift that fits, that suits, that's tailored just for the plan and purpose that He has for our life. So, the spiritual gifts fit, and they're an absolute necessity. This is a part of the series on Living in the Power of the Holy Spirit. And one aspect of that is spiritual gifts. And that is there are motivational gifts, there are manifestations of these gifts, there are different ministries. But Paul said in Romans chapter 12 in verses six through eight, he lists and he describes for us what these motivational gifts are. And each person has at least one motivational gift and oftentimes more than not there are secondary gifts that come close, all of which fit together which simply says that God has equipped every single one of His children. That is those of us who've trusted Christ as our Savior. That's when the Holy Spirit comes to live His life in and through us and to grant us the gift and put it to work. He has enabled us to so live and to so operate we'll be a success at whatever He calls us to do. So, listen to what he says these gifts are in Romans chapter 12, beginning in verse six. "Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us," that is God's the one who decides. He says, then each one of us is to exercise them accordingly. That is, God not only grants us a gift, but we are accountable to Him for the way we operate these gifts. Then he says, "if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; if service, in his serving; he who teaches, in his teaching; he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads with diligence; and he who shows mercy, with mercifulness and cheerfulness." And so, these are the gifts. Now, today we're talking about the gift of organization. Now, watch this carefully because I don't want you to be misled here. When we say the gift of organization, that Greek word means the one who stands in front and leads. It means organization and it means administration. All three of those words are encompassed here. Organization, administration, and leading. So, in order that you will not have the idea that we're talking about some corporate president somewhere, though that may be included, we're talking about every single person who has this gift, has a gift of organization, which will involve administrating, which will involve also leading. And I want to start by simply saying this, that I want you to recognize this is true in the home. Mother, father, children. It's true in your relationships with people. It's true anywhere and everywhere because God has given you this gift for a very specific reason. So, the gift of organization is a gift that is to be employed as he says in every aspect of your life. So, with that in mind, when you listen to these characteristics, you have to ask yourself, "Is that the way I think? Is that the way I think? Is that the way I would respond? Is that what motivates me?" And if when you can say yes to these, then you'll know that you have this gift. Now, the truth is all of us ought to be organized. All of us should be organized. But the gift of organization has a special bent in that direction and God has wired them in a very special way. So, what are those characteristics? Let's begin. And they have the ability to see the big picture and be able to visualize the results. Now, let's just bring this down to home. For example, let's say that you have children and you're raising children in your home. And so, what is the big picture in raising children? Well, it ought to be that you want to raise godly children who will grow up, serve the Lord if at all possible in some fashion, and they will live a godly life, marry a godly person, and live the kind of life that will bring honor and glory to God and be a good heritage to you. So, if that's the big picture you have, what happens? You're able to visualize that, and that's in your mind. That's the big picture in your mind about children. So, ask yourself this question. In your life today, what is the big picture you have about your personal life? What is it out there that you're looking for? Where are you headed? How do you intend to get there? Do you have a dream? Do you have a vision? Do you have a purpose? Do you believe you have God's plan for your life? Now, watch this carefully. The person with the gift of organization, they see the big picture. Not only for whatever business they may be in, their spiritual life, they're always looking at the big picture because they realize if my life is going to count today, I must be able to see the big picture out there somewhere. And so, very important the person with the gift of organization understands it. Secondly, the ability to break down major goals into smaller achievable tasks. It's one thing to have big goals. But the question is, are they did they just remain big goals? The person with the gift of organization looks at the big goal and says, "All right, how can I achieve this? I break it down into smaller bites." And we all have heard the old saying, "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time." You certainly couldn't swallow him. And the truth is if you're going to accomplish anything in life, you must not only have the big picture, but you must be willing to be able to break it down into smaller fractions. For example, let's say back to godly children. And that is you're raising godly children. Here's what you do. You take a bite at a time. You break it down into smaller bites and here's what happens. You hammer away at a principle. And then you hammer away at another principle. Another principle, another principle. So, what you're doing is you are instilling within the minds of your children or grandchildren these thoughts, godly thoughts, godly principles, principles of the Word of God. And so, little by little, month after month, year after year, by the time they leave to go away to college, you have sort of impregnated them with so many wonderful godly principles. When they get away from home, it doesn't make any difference. They know that they're still accountable to God because you have taught them, you've demonstrated to them. And so, what you've done not sat them down and say, "Now in one time, here's the kind of young person I want you to grow up to be, here's the kind of adult I want you to be." And you give them all these principles one time and say, "There." It doesn't happen that way. It's a bite here and a bite there. It's a step here and a step there, a principle here and a principle there. And you think about this, 18 years you have those children in your home under your leadership, under your influence, under your testimony, your abilities, your skills, your habits. And you know what happens? They pick them up, they listen to what you say, they watch the way you live, and what you have done over a period of 18 years, you have instilled within them either good or evil. You've instilled within them diligence or lack of diligence, discipline or lack of discipline. So, what happens? Then we wonder why they turn out the way they turn out. And so, what you have to ask is, how do we put this big picture together? One step at a time. And so, I hammer away at that in the issue of families and so forth because I don't want you to have the idea, well you're just talking to somebody who has a big corporation. Big corporation man, you know what he has to do? If he doesn't have the big picture and he doesn't break it down into small bites, then you know what, he won't succeed no matter who he is. And so, the gift of organization certainly understands that. Then of course, there's the ability to know what can and what cannot be delegated. The person of gift of an organization knows that they're responsible. They know what they can delegate to someone else, they know what they cannot. And oftentimes parents need to recognize this because in the family there are certain things you can delegate to one child because you know that they'll do a good job of it. If you delegate the same thing to one of the other kids, not going to work. So, also whether it's in the ministry or whether it's in your business, people you work for. They delegate responsibilities to certain people because they believe that person has the ability and skills to achieve that. And a person who has a gift of organization, they know what they can delegate and they know what they cannot because the person not only knows to whom, but realizes that ultimately they're responsible. And you remember this. We can't delegate our private meditation to somebody else. In other words, if we said, "Well I'm going to delegate my quiet time with God, I'm going to delegate that to my wife, let her do that." Now, let me just say this. You can't do that, but sometimes I see a lot of evidence of that. Well, you know, the wife takes the notes. Now, I'm not looking in anybody to see who's taking notes. I'm just saying that I do know that a lot of times the wife's a secretary. Now, that's okay if you get home and you share the notes and talk about them. But maybe you ought to stop and ask yourself the question, "Would I learn more if I took the notes?" Because more than likely she's only taking the things that apply to her. Or the things that may not make you look so good. So, you got to think about that. And so, the person with the gift of organization, they know what's going on and they have the ability to know what they can delegate and what they cannot delegate. If I just made you uncomfortable, it's your own fault, not my fault. So, then of course there is the tendency to remove themselves from distracting details in order to focus on the ultimate goal. For example, a person who has responsibility, you must focus on the big picture, you must focus on what you want to achieve, you must focus on the dream and not be distracted. And here's what happens. When God gives you a goal in your life or purpose or sense of direction, mark it down, Satan is going to do everything in his power to be a distraction. He's going to distract you with people, ideas, temptations. In other words, there's always a side trail. And remember this one. Most of the time, right before you get to a very crucial point in your life, Satan will offer you a detour every time. He'll let you get right up to it and offer you a detour. And so, a person with the gift of organization is a person who knows that they must keep their focus on the goal. They must not allow themselves to get distracted by something else. Listen, when somebody offers you something, you have to ask yourself first of all, "Does this look like God? Does this sound like God? Is this the wisest thing I can do?" That's always the right question. Is this the wisest thing I can do? When you ask yourself that question and you're willing to be obedient to God, He's going to keep you out of trouble and you're going to be able to accomplish what God wants you to accomplish. So, when I think about that and I think about how oftentimes people get off base because they get distracted by something that looks really good and as a result, they come up with a great bit of disappointment because that's just not the way life is. Then of course, there is the whole issue of the need for loyalty. They want to choose people to work for them who will be loyal to them. They don't want somebody working for them and behind their back stabbing them in the back. Now, I want you to think about this for a moment. Disloyalty is a horrible sin. I'm going to show you why. Listen very carefully. When you're disloyal, you walk the pathway of Judas Iscariot. For the simple reason he walked with Jesus for three years. You would have thought he was as faithful and loyal as anybody because that's the way he acted. But deep down inside he was not. And in those crucial moments of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, for 30 pieces of silver, he betrayed, he was disloyal to the Son of God. He was disloyal to God. He was disloyal to the man who had told him more about who the Father was. He watched His miracles, feeding 5,000, raising the dead, healing lepers, and what happens? For 30 pieces of silver, he turned his back on Him. Before you're disloyal to a friend, to a wife or a husband or to your children or to your parents or to the people you work for, ask yourself the question, "Do I want to walk the path of Judas Iscariot?" That's disloyalty. That's the ultimate expression of disloyalty. Right in front of all the other disciples. In front of everybody, he walks up and kisses Him, having sold Him out for 30 pieces of silver. There are people who work for you who will do the same thing to you. Disloyal. The person with the gift of organization realizes that if they're going to accomplish anything, especially the goal that they have before them, loyalty is very important. So, the gift of organization, that person knows how to choose the right people to do what needs to be done. Then, there is the desire to complete the task as soon as possible. Person with the gift of organization, they don't want to just mess around. They want to get the job done. And so, whether it's for example, it's the home, cleaning up, or on your job, or in the ministry. Let's get it done. In other words, be disciplined enough to put it to work. Let's don't wait around. Let's don't wait till it's convenient. Let's don't wait till—in other words, the person with the gift of organization will never say, "Well, when I feel like it." Well, if you do things on the basis of what you feel, you won't get much done in life probably. It's not how I feel, it's what's the task, how do we get it done, let's get it moving, let's make it work. And then there is the whole idea of the joy and fulfillment that comes in seeing a completed task and the joy that the other people will also have. And so, the person who has the gift of organization, if you ask them what brings you the greatest sense of joy? People's approval? Nope. Not people's approval. What brings them the greatest sense of satisfaction and contentment is they got it done. Here's the finished product. We were building this building or we were doing this or whatever it might be. We got it done. Even if it's a vacation. We sat down, we planned it, we worked it all out. We went on the vacation, we had a fantastic time, we came home, we're all just happy as we can be. The most important thing is, you know what, we planned it, we did it. And that's very important because you see every time you and I plan something and we complete it, there's a sense of satisfaction and success. And remember this. God wants you to be successful at everything that fits His plan and purpose for your life. You have the Holy Spirit to enable you and to help you. And the person with the gift of organization of course understands that. Then, there's the desire to move on. When a person has the gift of organization, when they complete one task, their desire is to what's the next project, what's the next task. They just sort of live from one task and one responsibility to the other and one project to the other. And the person with the gift of organization, they're just wired that way. They're just wired to accomplish the task and then look for the task that is to follow. And so, I just want to challenge you that if that's your gift, hey look, get busy. Identify, even if this's not your gift, identify what are your dreams in life? What do you want to achieve? What do you want to accomplish? What do you want to be like? Who do you want to be like? How do you want your life to end? You better get started now. Then why don't you look at those questions, get by yourself with Almighty God and say, "Lord, show me Your plan. Show me Your will. What's the next step in my life? Show me if I'm on the right path. Show me if I'm headed in the wrong direction. Show me if I have a right relationship or a wrong relationship. Show me financially where I am, where You want me to be." For Lord, I want to walk in the center of Your will and I guarantee you God will answer that prayer. He's committed to that. And I want to challenge you to be honest enough to ask Him and then you decide. Listen carefully. Do you want the best possible for your life? Now, next year, 20 years from now, the last day of your life? You want the best? Then do what He tells you to do. I want to encourage you if you've never trusted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, listen. All of this may be nebulous to you, but not really. Because once you ask Him to forgive you of your sin, which you need to do if you're not saved, and you ask the Lord Jesus Christ to forgive you on the basis of the fact that He died on the cross on your behalf. Once you ask Him to forgive you of your sin and you say to Him, "I'm surrendering my life to You." You know what happens? Your sins are forgiven. The Holy Spirit comes to live inside of you, seals you as a child of God forever, and then He begins to reveal His will, work out the plan and purpose for your life that God has set before you, if you'll let Him do it. If you're waiting on God, stop waiting. He's waiting on you to surrender your life to Him so He can demonstrate His awesome love for you if you will allow Him to do it.
Guest (Male): You're listening to In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. Regardless of your gift, God has a place for you to serve. Ask Him to show you where and how to make an effective impact on those around you. Are you wondering what gift God has given you? You'll find help with that at intouch.org. And you can go back over this lesson by following the link to Today On Radio. You could also click over to the store if you'd like to order the complete series. It's titled, Living in the Power of the Holy Spirit. You could also order a copy of just today's message, The Gift of Organization. Again, you'll find these resources at intouch.org. To call or text, the number is 1-800-INTOUCH. To write to us, address your letter to In Touch, Post Office Box 7900, Atlanta, Georgia 30357. That's P.O. Box 7900, Atlanta, Georgia 30357. Do you feel like you are already off track? Some helpful advice for sharpening your focus is coming up in today's Moment With Charles Stanley.
Dr. Charles Stanley: Let your time and your schedule and everything about you revolve around this, that you and I are to develop and continue to develop this ongoing, intimate, wonderful, exciting, satisfying, indescribable, incomparable relationship with a personal God.
Guest (Female): Dr. Stanley devoted his entire life to helping us.
Guest (Male): Get closer to Jesus as we all want to do and also discover all that He has for us. Help us to be fully prepared for God's purpose in our lives.
Guest (Female): So, are you ready for the next step in your journey? It begins at the Charles Stanley Institute. Bible-based, Christ-centered, Holy Spirit-filled instruction so you can know God and experience the abundant Christian life for which He created you. You can learn how at charlesstanleyinstitute.org.
Guest (Male): You're listening to In Touch. Have you ever been so caught up in what you're doing that you forgot where you're going? With a reminder for believers, here's a moment with Charles Stanley.
Dr. Charles Stanley: If you just live from week to week to get paid so you can make ends meet so you can live to the next week and make ends meet, that's no way to live. You say, "Well, that's the best I can do right now." Then stop and ask God, "Lord, what's Your plan?" And let me just say this. It's very important for all of us, I do it for myself, I know it's wise. Probably about every two or three months, usually about every three months, I'll stop, back away, don't answer the phone, get in the prayer room in my house and just say, "Okay, Lord, I want You to help me to see where I am. Where I am in my relationship to You. Let me see where I am in relationship to the church, In Touch, my friends. Where I am in relationships, my health, my exercise, what I'm eating." In other words, where am I? Just help me to understand where I am. If you don't take time often to check at where you are, do you know what will happen? You'll be off on some side road somewhere. Why? Because there's a thousand voices pulling you over here. "Well, I want this and I want that. This ought to be done, that ought to be done, and these ought to see these people, you ought to do this and ought to do that." Listen, if you live by "should," "ought," "must," those three persons will kill you. I should do this, I ought to do that, and I must do the other. No. Father, what would You have me to do? And so, what you have to remember is this. It's not what other people think. The issue is, what's the task that God has for us? And so, if you have dreams and you only dream, you'll never get anywhere. When you're willing to ask for the wisdom of God, accept the unconditional love of God to enable you, and you trust the power of God to provide for you, you can accomplish anything and everything God has set out for your life.
Guest (Male): Learn more about the believer's life of faith at intouch.org. And if you have a story about what you've learned through this program, please share it with us. Upcoming on In Touch, we'll wrap up our series on Living in the Power of the Holy Spirit. Join us again to learn about the gift of mercy on In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. This program is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia, and remains on this station through the grace of God and your faithful prayers and gifts.