I’m not a very social person. It takes great effort for me to introduce myself to someone; but nevertheless I must if I’m going to follow Jesus as He asks me to share His good news with others.

I spoke with a friend yesterday with the exact opposite dilemma; he’s very social and can’t tell if he’s being led by the Holy Spirit when he approaches someone or just being his normal friendly self. But didn’t God make my friend this way? And if He did, didn’t He intend for my friend to function in the way he was made?

Now, I admit that sometimes our gifts and abilities get in the way of what God wants to do because we rely on our own strength… but yet it is God who gifted us. How do we know that we’re not operating out of our own strength?

I believe the answer is surrender. Surrender to the Holy Spirit sanctifies our motives and enhances our natural gifting. God will always take us way beyond where our natural abilities could ever have taken us.

Whenever you feel a tug to follow your natural inclinations, pause for a second and ask the Holy Spirit if this is where He’s leading you.

We may not always get it right, but certainly it pleases the heart of God that we would pause to ask.