My Sunday Skl

Made to be Problem Solver- Part 2

Born TO BE a problem solver

Identity.

Check this out:

Your identity dictates your behaviour. Your behaviour does not dictate your identity.

I’d like to start off saying that you are already a problem solver, even if you feel as if you do not solve problems. Often, we try to do new things or find things in our past which can allow us to assume a certain identity. But I’d like to suggest that many of us need to find our identity, so that we know how to act.

I am a “XYZ” so this is what I do.

Not.

I do this, so I am a “XYZ”.

So why aren’t many of us walking in purpose?

Why aren’t many of us moving as problem solvers?

I think it’s because we don’t identify ourselves as one, and rather, we are constantly doing things with the hopes that one day we will be able to assume that identity.

So how do we deal with this?

Well, it starts with how you see yourself. In fact, it starts with how God sees you. God already recognises that you are an answer to a problem. When God created you, He encoded something within you.

The way you look. The way you think. The way you learn. The way you hear. The family you were born into. The way you taste. There are so many things within and around you that makes you an answer to a problem.

These are things you largely had no hand in.

Yet you possess.

You were born an answer.

That’s why you wake up and see some things and it just has you feeling funny.

That’s why you see a kid with their clothes looking all rough, and you wanna tell them to, or help them to, fix up.

That’s why you be doing groceries, and you see a kid running around, and you want to find their parents.

You see a problem, and innately want to solve it.

I would even say this:

There are problems in which God has put a desire inside you to fix.

So one thing I’d like to you to tell yourself is this:

I am an answer.

Alright.

Can I push this just a little further?

Here’s a quote I saw while reading around this topic:

“In life you will be remembered by the problems that you cause, and the problems that you solve.”

And yes we just did the whole…

“I am an answer” thing.

But I also want you to ask yourself this: Do you solve problems as much as you cause them?

Let me be honest. I’ve caused a lot of problems. I’ve made mistakes. I’ve done things on purpose.

Yes. Let’s be real.

Not every mistake we’ve made, was by accident.

We have made a lot of conscious errors.

But that’s okay.

2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

That’s good news for us.

But what are we going to do moving forward?

If you are like me, you are constantly thinking about impact. Where can I make an impact?

Or you may even see it like this: How can I become influential?

See many of us are chasing things to gain relevance and influence, but what God wants from us is to solve problems.

If we just focussed on solving the problems placed in front of us, God will take care of the rest.

Check this:

A resume is simply evidence of an ability to solve.

A CV is simply a paper which shows a history of problems you have solved.

Go to a CV workshop and they’ll talk about quantifiers.

I raised profits by 25% in comparison to the previous quarter.

I managed stakeholder relationships, and improved satisfaction rankings by 14%.

These are simply examples of being a problem solver.

Nobody puts on their CV:

I was great friends with everyone, and they all loved working with me.

What people are looking for, are problem solvers.

And I may be out of line saying this, but I’d suggest, when God looks at who to promote, and who to use for the next task, He looks at those with a past record of problem solving.

You may be a nice person.

You may be sweet.

You may be so genuine.

But do you solve problems?

I’m even talking to myself right now.

This is a life lesson, and a life question.

This is a question I need to be asking myself.

Do I solve problems?

Alright let’s get this in before we wrap up this part.

Nehemiah 1:1-4

1 The words of Nehemiah son of Hakaliah:

In the month of Kislev in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa, 2 Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that had survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem.

3 They said to me, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.”

4 When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.

So what’s happening?

Nehemiah is chilling, away from his home, at the citadel where the King resides.

One of his brothers comes through from Jerusalem to visit.

Nehemiah, of course, wants to know how things are going back home.

How are the people who survived the exile, and what’s Jerusalem saying right now?

And they’re real with him.

It’s bad.

The people are in trouble and disgrace.

The wall of Jerusalem is broken down.

It’s gates have been burned with fire.

It’s tough right now.

But check this, this is important.

Verse 4.

Nehemiah. He sat down and wept. Not for a couple hours. For some days he mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. Now we may have to end on this.

The birth of a solution starts with your heart and not your hands.

Let me rephrase that.

Your purpose should move your heart, before it moves your hands.

I don’t know how many times I’ve done something, and my heart wasn’t into it.

A lot. It was the right thing to do. But my heart wasn’t into it. I didn’t care for the problem, I just wanted to be a solution.

But the issue is, a weak heart will eventually lead to weak hands.

That’s why we start things and a few weeks into it, we quit. Because our hearts wasn’t into it.

Aint that crazy. You offer up your hands, but where’s your heart? Ah I think I’m gonna stop there. Wait.

One more thing. I’m just speaking to myself right now. Maybe I’ve been picking up so many things with my hands, that my heart cannot handle it.

James 1:8

being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

Maybe there is so much in my hands, that my ability to solve problems in unstable? Maybe I am overloading on purpose?

Okay.

Let’s stop there.

We’ll continue in part 3 next week!