The Giver and The Gifts
25 Aug 2011 Leave a Comment
I wanted to share a minute about a few things I have been feeling God doing in and around me. I have had such a desire to study the Gifts of the Spirit lately. Especially after my daughter Rhonda came over for a visit and we started talking about the gifts she has. I seen it spark something in her, and made me want to dig into them and see what they were all about. I have been raised around Pentecostal settings all of my life and sometimes because people’s character does not line up with their “gift” the gift gets a bad rap. The Lord showed me that this is not true and actually a deception that the devil wants to portray to the Church so we will not eagerly desire the gifts of the Spirit. We have to keep things in perspective about the gifts. One, that we are to eagerly desire the Giver of the gifts more than the actual gift. Two, that the key note is not “gift” it is “Spirit.” The Spirit gives the gift, so the Lord gets the glory and the credit for anything that we accomplish for the Kingdom.
Without the gifts in operation though, the Church is anemic and weak. We have to have the Spirit and we have to have the gifts moving or we will not be able to come together as a whole Body and touch the world. Could you imagine only having pieces or parts of our own physical body in operation? How hard would it be to get the things we needed to get done in this shape, yet we are willing for the Body of Christ to look broken. So in saying all of that I want to say, find out where you fit. Usually your “gift” is something that just comes real natural to you or something that you are passionate about. Seek the Lord out and see what He would say to you about this matter. The World is waiting for the “full manifestation of the sons of God” (Romans 8:19). Why are walking around pitiful, poor, blind and naked (Revelations 3:17), when we have the most beautiful, wonderful Savior that died to know a lost and dying world.
You may think that this is not important, but the Holy Spirit tells me that it is more important than what we realize. I don’t have what it takes to look good to the lost. I don’t have the right words or expressions to communicate to them that Jesus is what they need, but the more I get filled up on Jesus and the more availability I give to the Spirit of myself, He will begin to move on the lost when I get around them. That is another thing too, if we don’t spend time around the lost, they will never hear and they will never see Christ. So I just want to encourage us all to seek the Giver and eagerly desire the Gifts…see what He wants to do with us and allow Him to do it.
