Apostle Don Meares

And God blessed them [granting them certain authority] and said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, and subjugate it [putting it under your power]; and rule over (dominate) the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and every living thing that moves upon the earth.”
–Genesis 1:28 (AMP)

To be fruitful, multiply, fill the Earth, and subdue it was the command that God gave Adam and Eve. But, many of us know that this command is still valid for us as believers today.

It is important to God that we, His children, are fruitful. It’s important to Him that we multiply what He has given us, subdue the Earth with its vast resources, and take dominion. We must start to keep a record of what we have personally done to expand God’s Kingdom.

Let’s take a look at the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25:14-30. In many of the parables taught by Jesus, the characters are usually waiting for a special person to arrive. Some of them will receive a great reward but all of them will finish with strong judgment. Some will be deemed good and rewarded, while some might receive a horrible judgment. The Parable of the Talents gives us insight into the Kingdom of God. Many teachings claim that God has given us abilities or talents. But literally, talents are a currency. It’s money. The master gave each person according to His own ability. The amount of talents the laborers received gives us an insight into their competence and how the master trusted them. Whatever the servants did with their talents has been given according to the potential they have. The Greek word for ability is the word dunamis which also translates as talents with explosive potential.

There is Dunamis Power Inside You

Like the servants in the parable, God looks at all of us not just as who we are today, but He looks at us according to the potential that He created us to have and to grow in. We are always becoming. This is why we need to recognize that we have a lot of untapped potential that God wants to bring out of us. God’s Kingdom is expanding and at work today. He has invited all of us believers to partner with Him in this. He expects us to leverage who we are for His purpose and His work, not ours. He wants us to leverage our potential for His purpose and calling. God wants us to come to the maximum use of our explosive power.

However, we can get so caught up in the comparison game that we focus more on what we don’t have than being faithful to God with what He has given us. In the Parable of the Talents, the Scripture forbids us to compare ourselves with one another because it is a trap. It can bind us. It can sometimes be easier to focus on what you don’t have than what you do have.

Put yourself in the shoes of the servants. If your master gives you millions of dollars and says nothing to you, without any instructions, not even a checklist, what would you do? Just like in the parable, the master must have done this because he trusted his people. He also trusted that they knew him and how he operated.

In our walk with God, He doesn’t always give us an explicit list of the things that He wants us to do with the resources He has given us. There are times when He would tell us exactly what to do with certain things. But, sometimes, when it comes to our possessions, we don’t know what God wants us to do with them. Still, we must always remember that everything we own belongs to God.

James 1:17 says,
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”

This should also be our mindset when it comes to tithing. The tenth belongs to God and we are called to steward it. If we’re unclear on how to manage what God has entrusted us with, we need to wonder what God wants us to do in certain situations. We also need to consider how we are engaged in His work. If you have a relationship with Jesus, you should know His ways. You should know His heart deeply that managing His resources well should be second nature to us. Just like in marriage, the spouse doesn’t need to say what they want all the time because they trust that their partner knows them well. They can trust that their spouse also knows how to handle their possessions.

In the parable, the man who had received five bags of gold put his money to work and gained five more. This is also the same for the man with two bags of gold. But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground, and hid his master’s money. He believed that playing safe was the right thing to do. Some listeners might think that hiding the money was a prudent move. There was no risk involved. He didn’t want to lose anything. Parables were meant to challenge conventional thinking. Jesus introduced the Kingdom by showing us that we need to leverage our abilities for us to experience the blessing He meant for us. God our Master wants us to come and share in His happiness. He wants us to experience blessedness for it delights Him. Because the resources came from Him, He wants us to partner with Him.

Like the men in the parable, God will give us opportunities to make the most out of our potential. But for them to receive double what they started with, they had to understand the heart, mind, and ways of the master. He wanted to increase and multiply the resources. God, our true Master, is rich. We need to watch closely how He moves and know Him well so that when we receive an opportunity, we will operate the way He wants us to.

Reaping the Rewards
In the parable, the master took notice that the two men had been faithful at managing his resources and his money well. The rhema word here is that because the men managed the resources well, the master will give them more ability and responsibility to go along with the resources.

Have you ever wondered why God has not given you more money to manage? It’s because of how you have managed the small things He has given you, to begin with. If you can be faithful in the small things, and not compare yourself with others, He can entrust you with something bigger. When God gives you money, you should use it for His purposes. If you want to become rich, you have to reflect on yourself. Do an inventory of your life. Remember that we are in a time when there’s going to be a major transfer of wealth and you want to be one of those God entrusts His wealth with. Some might still have a long way to go but with God, all things are possible (Matthew 19:26).

If you want to manage more, you have to multiply what you have with what God’s entrusted to you. Make a line of demarcation with whatever it is you have concerning wealth. What does God want you to steward for His Kingdom? How are you managing it?

We have to ask these questions and seek God’s answers. We must also consider how we are managing the resources we have for ourselves and our families. The resources God wants us to manage might be small in our eyes but we can leverage them for His Kingdom. There’s an explosive power that is inside of you that can make an impact on the very Kingdom of God. Don’t focus on possessions. Focus on expanding God’s Kingdom.

A Perspective of the Master

Let’s go back to the third servant. Unlike the two other servants who took major risks, the man who received one bag of gold said,

“‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed (Matthew 25:24-25).”

There is no fruitfulness in the third man’s life. He wasn’t able to harvest because he did not sow anything. There was no dominion or multiplication with the one talent he was given. He did not do anything worthwhile. Unlike the two servants who saw their master who was productive and trustworthy, the third servant saw a master who would not have done anything. But the two successful men saw the freedom and trust given to them even if it meant taking risks. The third man saw the master as unethical and mean, reaping where he did not plant.

Sadly, many Christians grew up thinking that God was angry with them and that He was out to get them. This is someone difficult to trust. What you believe about God is what you experience in God. If you see God as a harsh man, this will affect your reality. This will also affect how you receive His Word. But if you accept that God loves you unconditionally and that He invites you to be part of His family, this truth will impact you in a great way. This love will allow you to see the Scriptures differently. You will understand the beauty of the Kingdom of God.

Perhaps the reason why some people don’t experience God is that their perspective of God is very limited. Those who experience God as loving and generous understood that they have been loved even when they were sinners. The two successful servants saw their master as a kind and rewarding man. This gave them the freedom to take risks.

The third servant should have taken the opportunity from the master as an invitation into his world. That he wants them to go to another level. He wants the servants to partner with Him.

Like the three servants, we often make God in our image and don’t see Him for who He really is. Seeing God incorrectly can lead to a scarcity-oriented life. But when we see that He is rich, generous, loving, and rewarding, we will see that He wants the best for us. We will realize that He has given us what we need to prosper in all areas.

God wants us to be healthy, wealthy, successful, and prosperous in all areas for His glory. As we manage the blessings He has given us, we need to check our hearts to see if we understand His love and goodness.

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