Specific Personal Promise #101 (Marilyn) ALREADY
IN BOOK
The situation:
We were working with Married Young Adults in our church. One of our concerns was to help them discover where
God wanted them to serve in the church. We shared this with a friend in our home, and her response was that we
needed to take our Married Young Adults through S.H.A.P.E., developed by Rick Warren, Saddleback Church, Lake
Forest, California.
The question I was asking God:
“Lord, is this what you want us to do? Do you want us to take our Married Young Adults through the S.H.A.P.E.
materials so they can discover how God has SHAPEd them for ministry within the body, the church?”
God's answer/specific personal promises:
"...I will show you what to do…”
—1Samuel 16:3 NIV1984
Note:
We may think that we know where a person could serve well in a church, but God's anointing for a specific job at a
specific time is very important. God has the ability to look into the heart and know when to anoint a person for a
specific job.
S.H.A.P.E. is an acrostic for S = spiritual gifting, H = heart, A= ability, P = personality, and E = experience. We
have found that each of these parts is important in helping people discover on their own how God has SHAPEd them
for ministry within the body, the church.
The rest of the story:
We ordered the materials and began to study how to take our Married Young Adults through S.H.A.PE. Now many
years later, we look back and can see many of our former and present Married Young Adults joyfully serving
throughout the church in the area where God has SHAPEd them for ministry—the area where they have the spiritual
gifting, heart/passion, ability, personality, and experience to serve.
The truth(s) God was reinforcing in my life:
God not only tells us what to do, but He will show us what to do. Trust God.