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How God Provides For Us Through Our Faith

29 Nov

I was facing foreclosure on my home through a series of improper choices. I had done everything I could to prevent it but here I was facing the possibility of losing everything in my golden years. How did this happen to me?

Trusting God had never been a problem for me. I knew He was with me and could rescue me at any time. He had never failed me. I also I knew how to find inspirational Bible verses that would encourage me.

I loved my home and didn’t want to move. To make matters more difficult, I had a small business at home which was my only source of income other than my Social Security. I now faced one of the biggest challenges of my life. I had no idea where I would go or how I would make a living.

I was really scared. I did all I knew to do.  The first foreclosure date was miraculously delayed for 30 days. During that time the fire got hotter. I thought maybe I should pack and begin to look for a job. But each time I made an attempt to do those things I felt uneasy. So, instead, I concentrated on seeking God. I wanted to make sure I was hearing Him. I spent much of my time looking up  inspirational words from the Bible. Those meaningful quotes from the Word of God were literally words of life for me to live by. I held on to them as one would hold on to a life raft.

During this major life event, the most frightening I had ever faced, my prayer life began to change.  I spoke with God all the time. I acknowledged Him in everything. I did know He had never failed me.

Our church had just started a new series on The Circle Maker. The Pastor read some good Bible verses in Matthew 20: 29, 30-32. There were two blind men sitting by the edge of the road. When they heard that Jesus was passing by they called out to Him, “Lord, Son of David have mercy on us”! Jesus stopped and called them. “What do you want me to do for you”?  He asked. “Lord,” they answered, “we want our sight”.  NIV

That’s when my miracle really began. God spoke clearly to my heart that He wanted me to tell Him what I wanted Him to do for me. I thought I had done that. As I sought Him further on the matter, He began to show me how I had limited Him by asking only for the things I could visualize Him doing for me. I was limiting Him to those things I could see. Oh my! He challenged me to ask Him for what I truly wanted from Him.  Like the blind men, I thought it was obvious what I wanted from Him. But, He wanted me trust Him – to step out and ask for something that might not happen. Oh, that’s what faith is!

I had been telling God what I wanted but I was giving Him a way out. I ended my prayer something like this, “Father, I’m willing to give up my home, if that is your will”.  God stopped me there. He revealed to me at that point that in saying that to Him I was, in fact, opening the door for the enemy to steal my home from me.  He pointed out to me that this was where I was giving Him a way out instead of believing Him for what I wanted Him to do for me.  God wanted me to ask Him to allow me to keep my home!

My mind began to race. I began to reason and to jump ahead and work out all the details. He stopped me there and instructed me to take one step at a time as He directed my path. (Psalms 199:105) It was a struggle to form the words and get them out of my mouth. I was afraid I was asking too much of Him.

I did succeed in forming those words. I asked Him with great humility to please allow me to keep my home. God did not fail me. How God provides is the exciting part. The quotes to live by that God led me to were my hope and my salvation.

I saw miracle after miracle for another 30 days. That’s another story!

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Who Will I Be Today?

19 Nov

Scripture tells us that God’s ways are higher than ours. Our imagination doesn’t do justice when it comes to working out the details of our lives and the purposes God has for us. We can’t know just how effective we can be in His hands if we follow His guidance and step out in His courage as He directs us.

Our first concern is usually ourselves. We consider all the ways that our lives will be affected and how we are going to be inconvenienced. We reason and plot, plan and scheme. We don’t mean to be crafty. But we can be.

  • Robert Burns was a poet from Scotland. In his Scottish dialect he said, ” “O wad some Power the giftie gie us To see oursels as ithers see us!” Or simply,  “I wish for a power to give us this gift: Being able to see ourselves the way other people see us.” (Wikiquote)

Each of us sees ourselves differently than others do. We wear many masks. We want others to like us and to accept us, so we have become adept at changing those masks as needed. We work so  hard at being what others want us to be that we do not become all that God intended. We rest secure in our own decisions instead of yielding to His direction for our lives.

I don’t know about you, but I have an idea of how I want my life to be. I set my goals and work hard at achieving them. If something comes up to  interfere with my preconceived ideas, it upsets me – or, it used to. I  have discovered that God’s ways are always so superior to mine. I have to bury my flesh, my emotions, my “rights”, my will. It’s called FAITH.

God sees potential in all of us. He knows our limits. He uses all the pain and failures in our lives to train us. We don’t pass through our trials and tribulations for no reason. Even if we have brought them upon ourselves! God can use everything that is meant for our destruction as a gift to someone who needs us to understand what is happening in their lives. They need someone who has received God’s grace and mercy to show them that same grace and mercy.

No experience is wasted. We need one another. We should sometimes forget the awkwardness we are subject to or the inconvenience of the disruption in our lives – if God has a task for us that is not exactly what we had made room for in our goal setting.

We should always be available to God if we truly want Him to use us as His disciples. We must look beyond our own comfortable surroundings and yield to His call – whatever it might be.

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Are We There Yet? – Keeping Up With God

14 Nov

God’s Word tells us that He will guide us – He said He would shine a light on our path. That means that we can’t see too far ahead. Think about it. If it is totally dark and you had a flashlight, just how far ahead could you see? God wants us to trust Him and to walk by faith, not by sight. He will lead us, if we let Him.

Lately, I’ve been on a journey with an idea where I am headed yet not fully aware of everything I would like to know. I have a tendency to hear something from the Lord and then run with it. Oops! I’m finding out that I can get off track that way.

We have read in the Bible that there were many who didn’t seek God first. Sometimes, even when they did ask Him, they didn’t obey. They did it their way! Well, it seems that God  has been working that out of me lately. I recently wrote an article about not getting comfortable, yet I seem to do it all the time. (Do what I say – not what I do!!)

In the past few weeks I have been seeking God about some very serious decisions I need to make. I pray and wait. Wait some more. Pray some more. Get a little news. Change direction. Wait some more. Pray some more. Are we there yet? God, can’t this go a little quicker? How about doing it this way? Oh, you don’t need my help – I need yours? Oh, okay.

Things begin to pick up – move a little faster. Now we’re getting somewhere. Now I’m sure I know where He is leading me. Oops! Got it wrong again. I ran ahead again. Had to back up a little. Wait some more. Wait some more. Wait some more. Oh, well – I must have misunderstood. I didn’t really hear Him; or did I? Hummmm, okay, that does it. It didn’t work out after all. Heck fire. Guess I got it all wrong.

A few days later things turn around completely, God says “Go!” – and I’m not ready. I thought . . . Oh, I see. I’m sorry, Lord. It wasn’t time yet. But, it’s time now. Then, everything starts falling into place – one thing after another. There is no doubt God was at work behind the scenes. I couldn’t see it. I got weary and quit talking to Him about it. But, He was still faithful. He never gets weary. He was still working all things together for my good, because I love Him and He loves me.

The great news  is – He didn’t give up on me. He knew how to get my attention so that I didn’t miss one of His blessings. God is so smart. God is so good. Thank you, Lord, for loving me so much.

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God Speaks Through Internal Peace

9 Nov

When God speaks to our hearts, He gives us a deep sense of internal peace to confirm the message is truly from Him. Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Don’t let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” John 14:27

When the deceiver speaks to us, he cannot give us peace in our hearts. We might experience peace, emotionally, but emotional peace won’t last. Only spiritual peace will last. When we try to solve things with our own reasoning, we cannot experience lasting internal peace. “The mind of the flesh (which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit) is death (death that comprises all the miseries arising from sin, both here and hereafter). But the mind of the Holy Spirit is life and peace (both now and forever). Romans 8:6

One of my Mother’s favorite expressions was “follow peace”. God’s Spirit lives within us if we are born-again believers. One of His gifts to us is His peace if we are following His will. If not, that peace becomes disturbed. There is a fine line within us about recognizing God’s peace. We may have hardened our hearts to God’s Spirit. In other words, we may have trained ourselves to ignore that still small voice within us by giving way to the comfort of the flesh (our bodies) or our emotions (our souls).

Ignoring the peace within our Spirits to follow the peace within our souls (our emotions) can be very dangerous. The Scriptures tell us that our hearts are deceitful and that we don’t even know how deceitful. That is why we need the Holy Spirit within us to be our guide. Some of us have become accustomed to selective hearing and obedience. God didn’t intend for us to live like that. We must be deliberate about listening for the Holy Spirit and in walking in obedience. Our commitment to God should be deliberate and constant. We are to “acknowledge God in all things”. This indicates that we don’t sail along doing things our way and stopping to ask God when we feel like it. To walk in this way is like walking on a slippery slope.

If we want a true and real relationship with our Father, God then we must yield to Him in everything. He isn’t just a “Sunday morning God”. He is a “24/7/365” God. He lives IN us. He is WITH us at all times. Sometimes we feel like God doesn’t keep up with us. We get in a hurry and don’t take the time to ask Him about things that concern us. The truth is we are the ones not keeping up with God! We like things done in our time and in our way. God just takes too long sometimes – most of the time. So, we think we just don’t have time to ask Him about it.

I would go so far as to say that I believe that many of our problems would go away if we would take the time to wait for God’s direction. That being said, know that there are times when God directs and things still seem to go wrong. Recognize that when this happens God did not call us to a life free from difficulty and hardship. But He IS there to walk us through those things. To walk through them on our own is possible but with much more turmoil. When we are yielding to God, we can keep our peace and know that we can trust Him to guide us to our destination, shielding us from anything not acceptable to Him.

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Do You Live in Bondage or Walk in Freedom?

31 Oct

WHAT DO I PAY FOR FREEDOM?

We all want to be free. What does that mean to you? If you love the God of Abraham, freedom comes by walking in obedience to Him. To be able to do that you must first know Him.  You must be born again by inviting Jesus Christ into your heart. To know Him you must spend time reading His inspired Word written down for us in the Holy Bible. This is where true freedom is.

God wants only the best for us. Satan tries every way he can to deceive us; his mission is to steal, kill and destroy. Some have unknowingly tried to make the God of Abraham like pagan gods by worshiping an “image” of whatever they have made Him out to be.  Instead He is our Father in Heaven who wants to know us personally and develop a relationship with us – a personal relationship.

Serving God is not following a set of rules, nor is it just attending services to fulfill an obligation. Serving God is an honor and a privilege. He loves you and me with a love we can’t understand. We have to use our faith to receive it. The more time we spend getting to know Him, the more we are drawn into His presence and the more our spiritual eyes and ears are opened to His ways and His truth.

WHAT IS FREEDOM?

Freedom means different things to different people. God has a plan, a pattern for our lives – a road map, if you will. He didn’t just toss us in this world and tell us to sink or swim. If you belong to Him, He is with you always and will never, ever leave you. He will walk with you through whatever comes your way. He doesn’t always remove the pitfalls but He does pick us up and dust us off when we fall down. He sets us back on our feet and stays with us, continuing to guide us.

If you are a believer in the God of Abraham and you want to live a life dedicated to Him, you are expected to walk in obedience to Him at all times. You can’t know His will for your life if you don’t know Him. We make it so hard on ourselves. The Bible tells us that His yoke is easy and His burden is light. That doesn’t mean we won’t have problems. If becoming a Christian meant being free from all problems . . . well, it just doesn’t.

CHOICES, CHOICES, CHOICES

We face a world full of choices and decisions every day. Some are easy – most are not. Let’s discuss the ones that have us really bound tightly. We have a problem and we take it to God in prayer. We tell Him the problem and then tell Him what solution we need.   ????   Hummmm, it really doesn’t work that way. We can certainly tell God what we want and how we would like the answer to come.  Then comes the hard part. If our minds are set on only receiving our answer the way we want it we may be in for many disappointments. Preconceived ideas generally set us up for disappointment. The Bible tells us that God’s ways are higher than our ways and that we cannot fathom the depths of His understanding. In other words, He has plans for us that we can’t even understand, let alone ask for.  We ask Him for something based on our limited knowledge of how things should be worked out.

GOD IS FULL OF SURPRISES!

The most exciting thing about God is He is full of surprises. His answers will always be the right ones. He knows us better than we know ourselves. Also understand that when God answers prayer it isn’t always a “yes”.  It can be “wait” or . . . “NO”! Oops – not what we wanted to hear.

THIS IS WHERE THE FREEDOM COMES IN . . .

If you limit God to what you know and what you can see you are possibly setting yourself up for a great fall. You are also in danger of becoming “bound” – Encarta Dictionary defines bound as “. . . obliged to do something or behave in a particular way”.  Two definitions from the Thesaurus for “bound” are “obligated” and “constrained”.  That is opposite from “freedom”.

It’s a matter of the Spirit being in control – yielding our Spirit to God for His guidance. He loves us like we love our children. He wants the best for us and has the ability to make it happen. He also has the ability to “see around the corner” – He knows what is coming, we don’t. His answers sometimes aren’t what we want to hear. Yielding to God is not always easy. It means yielding (submitting) to Him. Many times it means we don’t get our way. This is where trust comes in. If you will notice, when you let God have His way you are putting your trust and “faith” in Him. Remember, faith is the “substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”  Scripture also tells us that without faith we cannot please God.

NOW FOR THE HARD PART

When God answers with “No” or “Wait” or leads you in another way, your emotions (soul) kicks in and you want to dig your heels in – have it your way. You can. But when you do, you have lost your freedom. Say what? You heard me correctly. When you pick and choose which of God’s directions you will follow, you are not actually being obedient.

Let’s say you pray that God remove you from a situation and you tell Him how you want it done. He answers by sending just what you need to be removed from the situation, but it’s different from the terms you told Him you wanted. So, instead of following God’s plan and being removed from the situation, you hold out for doing it your way. In the meantime tension builds, stress becomes harder to deal with and everything turns out to be a mess. Then, the “way out” God offered you may not still be available or even if it is, you have delayed your freedom by trying your own way first. If you had done it His way immediately, you could have avoided many of the problems and most of the stress.

That is sort of a simple way of saying it, but I think the message is clear. We have freedom of choice – God gave us a free will. But, we have the honor and the privilege of having His Holy Spirit as our counselor and our guide to give us the perfect solution to our situation. It doesn’t mean we will always immediately like the way God has shown us. But, as we step out in faith we will eventually see that His ways are better than our ways and He has a reason for wanting us to follow the map He gives us.

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There Are Two Sides of the Spiritual Realm

16 Oct

Paul says in the 12th Chapter of I Cor. That the church, as the body of Christ, are believers, exercising various gifts, even as the human body have different functions and purposes. Paul describes how these members working harmoniously together, become the mystical Body of Christ on earth. Without the Gifts of the Spirit, the Church becomes something quite different from that which God intended. Instead of being a supernatural organism, the Church is then only another human organization.

  • There is no evidence whatever that the Gifts ceased because the Lord withdrew them. (Gordon Lindsay, All About the Gifts of the Spirit)

    A Scripture that has been commonly used by those who hold the position that the Gifts of the Spirit have ceased is I Cor. 13:8-10. Here we are told that prophecies, and tongues, and knowledge shall cease, or pass away. Just one glance at the Scripture shows however, that the period referred to is not this age at all, but the perfect age which is yet to come! (Lindsay)

    • 8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
    • 9  For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
    • 10  But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. (KJV)

    Many hold back in seeking the Gifts or even the knowledge of them. Some have decided (without Scriptural confirmation) that  the manifestations of the Spirit they see couldn’t possibly be “holy”, so they mistakenly decide that it must be from the devil himself.  We all have a little fear of the unknown but without knowing the facts it is like watching a football game without knowing there is a football on the field! We would just see big men, dressed kind of strangely, running around and knocking each other down! We would see part of it but not understand what it was all about because we didn’t know what the object of the “game” was.

  • We actually need the Spiritual Gifts to give us power in the battle – in our spiritual warfare. Scriptures give us means to test the spirits and discern which is not from God. Keep in mind that satan always attempts to counterfeit what God does. There will always be people in the world who prefer to believe in the evil side of the spiritual realm than the godly side. Why is that? If we can believe the things we read in God’s Word it should be evident that God doesn’t do things like man does. There is a touch of the supernatural in so many of the Biblical testimonies. God has not ceased to do His mighty works. The Scripture above does not mean that after Jesus came all the other miracles of God ceased! Just the opposite – Jesus came to fulfill those promises and magnify those gifts. If you read the verses again you will see that “when that which is perfect is come” — that means when Jesus comes to take us all home — He will take the place of everything we have known – He IS love and love (charity) NEVER fails.

  • Regular Bible reading is so vital to our spiritual growth! If we don’t study God’s Word for ourselves we will listen to so many untruths about God and His ways, including the gifts He has so freely given us to live in a world full of hate and evil. It seems obvious that we need His gifts in order to help us overcome our obstacles, as Jesus promised. Jesus also told us (in Scripture) that we would do GREATER things than He did (provided we are born-again believers).  We really need to relax a little about God’s spiritual gifts.

  • I heard a story about a man being given a tour of heaven after having just arrived. During the tour, he was shown many beautiful things. The angel  guiding him passed up one particularly large room with a beautiful door. The new resident of heaven asked why they passed it by without looking in. He was told that if he were to look inside the room he would become very sad. But, the new resident pleaded until he was granted permission. When the door was opened he saw a room full of unopened gifts – all sizes and shapes – beautifully wrapped. He asked the angel what all the gifts were for. He was told by the angel that they were gifts from God, intended for him while we was on earth but that they were never accepted.

  • Wouldn’t you just be heart-broken if you knew you were refusing to accept amazing gifts from your Heavenly Father? He won’t force them on us. He loves us enough that He gave us His only Son. Why in the world would He then offer us something that would hurt us in any way? God loves us so much. Think of how you have felt at a time when you wanted to give something special to someone you love and it was rejected. Remember how it felt. You were probably hurt and/or disappointed. But, you can’t force someone to accept a gift. A gift is just that – a gift. A gift is something given to someone to express love or appreciation.  It is usually something special, out of the ordinary.

  • What better way for God to express His love and appreciation for us and to reveal more of Himself to us than to give us Spiritual Gifts? God IS Spiritual – His gifts should be supernatural. He does give us all kinds of gifts in the natural – some we don’t even realize are gifts. God IS love – He desires to bless us. His spiritual gifts are one of the ways He does that. It is one of the ways He shows His love.

  • This is the season for Halloween – spooky – strange things. It is one of the largest holidays celebrated – bigger than Christmas to some merchants. People are curious about the supernatural – more so the evil side. They aren’t so willing to accept the godly side. Please understand that the spiritual realm is very real – both sides. We know plenty of the world’s carnal side – we need to desire more of God’s supernatural side. Our pride is usually what keeps us from it.

  • Pray about it. Study the Scriptures and ask God to open your heart to His truth. He won’t embarrass you. He won’t force anything on you. He wants you to have everything you need to fight the spiritual battle you face every day of your life. Trust Him.

    In addition to my own material I have included quotes from the following:

    • C. Peter Wagner “Your Spiritural Gifts”
    • Gordon Lindsay “All About the Gifts of the Spirit”
    • Adult Education and Discipleship Ministries – FBC – Garland “Gifts are for Giving”
    • Biblesoft Libraries
    • Sandy Trice
    • David Francis
    • KJV

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    • Should I Say “Yes” or “No”?

    10 Jul

    Discovering Our Spiritual Gifts (4)

    Discovering our God-given spiritual gift will give help us become a better steward of the time we spend in God’s service. We have each been given a personalized gift from God. If we spend our time doing every project that comes along we won’t be able to focus on the major motivational gift God has designed us for. In fact, we will probably be doing someone else’s job, therefore keeping them from being a part of the body of believers in fulfilling their call.

    God wants us to be available to say “yes” to opportunities that require our gifts, and not to feel guilty when we say “no”. In addition, we will be more enthusiastic about doing what God has prepared us for and are less likely to face “burnout” or dread in accomplishing our task.

    “As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others . . . If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides . . .”
    (I Peter 4:10-11)

    The Scripture above tells us that God provides the strength we need in doing what He has called us to do. This is where we can most clearly understand the areas God has prepared us for. We will remain enthusiastic and give ourselves completely to the task without extra frustration and fatigue. On the other hand, when we volunteer for those things that God has prepared someone else for, not only are we keeping them from their part in God’s plan, but we face continual dread, frustration, and fatigue. We begin to question what we have gotten ourselves involved in and wonder why we did it. Many times we will even look for excuses to quit and quitting is much harder!

    This is a good place to add an important note. There will be times when a need arises for which there is no one available due to time restraints or other causes. Also, we need to realize that even though God has created us with a major focus doesn’t mean we can excuse ourselves from coming together for the greater good. For example, I love to help others (serve) but serving is not my “spiritual gift”. When our church has “dinner on the grounds” I struggle – really struggle. I don’t like cooking, I’m not very good at it – it frustrates me, and so on, and so on. But – I need to do my part so we will have enough food for everyone. So, I do the best I can. Sometimes, I just buy a bunch of grapes, wash them and put them in a pretty dish. I know, I know – those of you who spend hours cooking have a problem with me. Which leads me to my next point.

    We need to understand that not everyone is talented in the same areas we are. Instead of grumbling, complaining and gossiping, it is easier to accept if we do what we do because we are serving God – it is for Him we do what we do. If not, our hearts are in the wrong place. This is what is meant by gaining a better of understanding of others around you when you come to understand the spiritual (motivational) gifts.

    There are many areas of need in our world. We can’t do it all by ourselves. We aren’t supposed to. God designed us as one body for a reason. There is only one head – Jesus Christ. He is the one who deserves the recognition – not us.

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    We Do What We Do Because . . .

    6 Jul

    Discovering Our Spiritual Gifts (3) Continued

    The importance of discovering our spiritual gift in the Body of Christ brings us into one accord as a church and helps us to become more accommodating. We begin to understand and fulfill the calling God has in our lives, as well as giving meaning to our participation in our congregation.

    The more we understand about ourselves and the gift God has created us with, the more we can understand what motivates us and those we love. We then will also be less critical of others when they don’t react the way we think they should. We are also less likely to be jealous or angry when we realize each individual has a unique gift – given by God – for a particular task.

    Sometimes we “feel better” if we jump into every activity that is presented to us. We are good at several things and believe that we can certainly be beneficial to the new project. Besides, it makes us feel better about ourselves.

    We all have a variety of things we do well. Whether we are in charge of a project or baking cookies for the event. (Trust me – some would say that baking cookies is the most important thing we can do for a function!)

    Maturity in Christ brings balance in all areas. We learn to embrace the work we are designed for with enthusiasm and joy instead of dread and frustration. This being said – we will be better at prioritizing our time and less likely to get involved in so many things that we can’t possibly do any of them very well. When we learn to refuse the guilt that the enemy, satan, tries to inflict upon us, we can begin to do the things we love to do rather than the things we feel that we should do (triggered by guilt or other motive).

    God has given the church gifts as tools to do His work. They are not toys to use for fun, nor are they rewards that we earn. Each born-again believer was created by God. He knew us while we were still in our Mothers’ womb. (Ps 139) He knew every day of our lives before we came into the world. He decided what gift He wanted us to have – how our personality and character would come into play. It is very important that we discover the gift God instilled within us and that we don’t try to do someone else’s job.

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    What Do You Love To Do?

    3 Jul

    Discovering Our Spiritual Gifts (1)

    Rom 12:3-8
    4 Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we who are many form one body , and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. 7 If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; 8 if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully. NIV

    I want to do a series on Spiritual Gifts. I believe that every Christian should know their Spiritual Gift. Knowing your gift will assist you in understanding why you do what you do. You will also better understand those close to you and what motivates them.

    A Spiritual Gift is sort of like an assignment from God. It is an ability He give us. Some may describe it as a natural ability we possess. This gift from God motivates us to use our talents in a specific area.

    As born-again Christians we have been commissioned by God to go into all the world with the Good News. Hold on – this isn’t just for Pastors, Music Leaders, Sunday School Teachers and other Church Leaders. We all have a part to play. Remember that Jesus said we are all one body of which He is the head. God empowers us with the desire and the energy to accomplish His work with excitement, not dread. There is a difference between “good work” and “God work”.

    The Spiritual (Motivational) gift God has given you makes you happy. You are the happiest when you are using this gift. You seem to have more energy in this particular area. You get excited at the thought of being involved in projects where your gift can be used. God has something for each of us to do for Him. He never intended for us to just sit and watch everybody else get things done.

    As an example, let’s take a look at how many workers are needed for any event. A successful event cannot be accomplished by only one person. There are a number of gifted and talented people involved. Look at the list below to get an idea of some of the helpers needed in any event. This list covers only a few of the areas where those with differing gifts will be asked to help.

    • The Origination of the event – A Banquet
    • Establish a Committee to make decisions
    • A Treasurer
    • A Secretary
    • A Venue
    • A Caterer
    • Decorations
    • Tables & Chairs
    • Table Linens
    • Musicians
    • Media Person
    • Concessions
    • T-Shirts
    • Transportation
    • Printer
    • Speaker
    • Entertainment

    This will give you an idea of the teamwork required to create a successful event. Everyone has a particular area of interest they are responsible for. No one is more important than the other. It takes everyone doing their part to make it all happen successfully.

    We can’t all be the leader. Each one of God’s children is gifted and their gift is as important as any other on the team. Consider a football team without a football; a concert without musicians; A play without actors.

    God has distributed His gifts throughout the church to prepare us to do His work – so that we can help one another – so that we can build up one another.

    Throughout this series we are going to examine this subject closely. God gave His children, you and me, ministry gifts, speaking gifts, gifts of faith, the desire and ability to serve, a hunger to speak to the world about Jesus (Evangelism), the ability to understand and explain God’s Word to others, the ability to lead, the heart of mercy to comfort those in pain, and exhortation to help people in setting goals.

    These are only a few of God’s gifts to us. Stay with me and we will explore this subject in greater detail. I invite your comments and questions.

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    Don’t Give Up Too Soon!

    3 Jul

    The LORD selected Joshua to replace Moses after his death. Joshua and Caleb were the ONLY two men from the entire generation of Israelites, delivered from slavery out of Egypt, who were allowed to enter the land God promised to give them! The only others who were allowed to go were the children under the age of 20 – the new generation. Moses wasn’t even allowed to go because even He lost his temper and disobeyed God. (Numbers 20)

    Please see the importance of the faith and obedience of Joshua and Caleb. Not only were their lives at stake, but so were the lives of many others. They were the minority when it came to trusting God and receiving the promise of an abundant life. Instead of seeing their enemies as giants, they knew that since God had promised them this land that He would give them the wisdom, the knowledge and the strength to win the victory. The other men just looked at the negative side of things and let fear guide them. I also think they were disappointed that the land wasn’t just going to be handed over to them. They had to fight for it.

    How often do we do the same thing? If we happen upon difficulty – or even what seems to be an impossibility – we don’t even try. We are defeated before the fight begins. Battles make us strong. Our faith in God is stretched and know this – God honors faith! Scripture teaches us that “It is impossible to please God without faith”. Keep in mind – if we can see the outcome – we are not walking in faith.

    *The first men sent to spy out the land God had promised them went down in history as cowards and losers. They never even got to see what God had for them because of their doubt and unbelief. And – Because of their fear.

    *They limited themselves – God didn’t! He gave them every opportunity to be winners and to achieve great and wonderful things.

    *It was their own decisions – their own choices that brought them a sad end to God’s promise of a “land flowing with milk and honey”. Instead, they finished out their lives wandering the hot, dry desert.

    *In other words, we can’t just SAY we believe, we have to ACT like we believe. We have to continue to walk in faith, believing God, taking Him at His Word and ACTING on it!

    We all face giants along our journey. Some of them look impossible to overcome. I wonder how many wonderful gifts from God we have lost because we gave up too soon?

    Please be encouraged to go full steam ahead with God. Do not limit Him. Do not doubt Him. It’s okay to ask questions and to check things out. Scripture tells us to do that. But when He gives His approval or says “No” to something. The best thing for us to do is to believe God – not to limit Him or to challenge Him. Only HE knows what our future holds and what great things we can accomplish as we pray and obey!

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