God is by definition incredibly creative. He has created a universe with hundreds of billions of galaxies, each one containing up to a trillion stars. The current scientific estimate of the total number of stars in the universe keeps increasing and is now about 70 sextillion. That’s a number with 22 zeroes, 70,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.
NIV Psalm 147:4 He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. God knows the number of stars and I guarantee you it’s a lot more than 70 sextillion. Not only does He know how many stars there are, but He has given each one a name. Each star that God created is different. Seventy sextillion and no two alike and so each one has a unique name. And on one planet, circling one average star, in one galaxy that we call the Milky Way, composed of 300 billion stars, God created human beings in His image.
God put you together in a unique pattern. Did you know that you are created with approximately 7 octillion atoms. That’s a number with 27 zeroes 7,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. God knows all about you and your atoms. NIV Matthew 10:30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. That number is somewhere between zero and one million, with most of us averaging about 150,000 hairs. God has created you with a unique SHAPE that is perfectly suited to carry out His plan for your life. One way to begin to understand the wonderful way that God has created you is with the acronym SHAPE. S – Spiritual gifts H – Heart A – Abilities P – Personality E – Experience. Each of those five aspects makes you who you are and makes you completely different than anyone else who has every lived or who will ever live.
Today I want to talk about “Putting Your Abilities To Work.” How can you use your unique SHAPE to make the impact in this world that God created you to make? You make the biggest impact with your life when who you are and what you do match, just as God intended. Today I want to further answer the question, How can you use your unique SHAPE to serve God? I’m going to focus on using your SHAPE in ministry, but the principles can be adapted to using your SHAPE in a career
To hear more about this topic, listen to my September 17, 2006 message entitled Putting Your Abilities To Work