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Saturday, January 18, 2014

WHAT ARE YOUR GIFTS? HOW ARE YOU USING THEM?

     Outline of the Spiritual Gifts… Scripture taken from NKJV                    

These “Gifts” come from the Lord to His Child.

The gifts are to be used for Kingdom purposes.

   These are not natural phenomena.  One does not come by them 
except as given by the Spirit of God and are distinct from natural
talents or abilities.

One does not qualify for Spiritual gifts.   They are disseminated
by the Holy Spirit through the process of Election, God’s choice.
The gifts are considered to be Spiritual gifts, therefore, the first
of these gifts and basis for all gifts (In my view) is the gift of the 
Holy Spirit.  For, without that gift we have no others. 

 Luke 11: 13,  If you then, being evil, know how to give good
                        gifts to your children, how much more will your
                        heavenly Father give  the Holy Spirit to those
                        who ask Him.  (Faith)

In Ephesians 2: 8, we read; For by grace you have been saved
through faith, and that  not of  yourselves; it  is the gift of God.

(This gift, like the others,  is not to one who works, but to the one
who believes, or has  his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior
and Lord. The difference in this gift is;  it is secure in the hand of 
God and  is eternal.  One  may lose other Spiritual  gifts through 
disuse, misuse or sin in the life.   Although one does not lose the
gift of the Holy Spirit, we may quench the Spirit, lose the power
associated with the Spirit in  one's life and one may fail  to obey 
Spirit leading.  These failures, as to Spirit  blessing, leads to ill-
ness or even early death of the one who  lives his life in disobe-
dience to our  Lord.  (There are differing  views on  this subject 
among  various sects or  denominations of  the Church,  as well 
within a local assembly.  No one is perfect in belief or practice.)

There are many and varied gifts given to men through the Holy
Spirit  according to  the will of  God the Father.  Along side the
gift of  the Spirit is the gift of  Prophecy.  That is the foretelling 
of future events on God's calendar and/or the telling forth of the
Gospel of Jesus Christ.  (Preaching of the Word of God) 

 Romans 12:  Having then gifts differing according to the grace
                       that is  given to us, let us use  them:  If prophecy,
                       let us  prophesy  in  proportion  to  our  faith.  (6)
                       or  ministry, let  us  use it  in our ministering;  he
                       who teaches  in  teaching; (7 ) he who exhorts, in 
                        exhortation;  he  who  gives, with  liberality;  he 
                       who  leads, with  diligence, he  who shows  mercy, 
                       with cheerfulness. (8)
                                 
       1 Corinthians 12:  There are diversities of gifts, but the same 
                                      Spirit...
        This passage continues to list more of the varied gifts as:
                  "the Word of Wisdom"
                  "the Word of Knowledge" (8)
                   "Faith"
                   "Gifts of healing" (9)
                   "Working of Miracles"
                   "Prophecy"
                   "Discerning of spirits"
                   "Different kinds of Tongues" 
                   "Interpretation of Tongues"  (10)
"But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing
  to each one individually as He wills." (11) 

 Below, we find the emphasized spiritual gifts to be prophecy, 
 the building of the church and excellence.

  In 1 Corinthians 14: 1, "Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts,
                                          but especially that  you may prophesy.
                                  12, "Even so you, since you are zealous for
                                          spiritual  gifts, let  it be for the edifica-
                                           tion of  the church  that  you  seek  to
                                           excel.
In 1 Timothy 4: 14-15.     "Do not neglect the gift that is in you,
                                            which was  given to you by prophecy
                                            with the laying on of the hands of the
                                            eldership.  Meditate on these things;
                                            give yourself  entirely to  them,  that
                                            your progress my be evident to all.       

 James 1: 17, Every  good gift and every perfect gift is from above,
                       and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom
                        there is no variation or shadow of turning.

As we close, there is a word to the wise to be inserted here.  Our Lord
was  kind,  considerate,  humble and  never self  promoting.   We must 
always  display that same humble Spirit as  we serve Him  in His name
and in the power and wisdom of  His Spirit.  There are none among us 
who is able to point a self-righteous finger  at  others among  us, since
we are flawed, every one,  and  are just  sinners saved by the grace of
God in Christ Jesus.

There was one  place in  Scripture where Jesus displayed anger;  that 
was in His Father's House, the Temple, as he discovered money chan-
gers  and others selling  animals, taking advantage of  the worshipers.
He drove them out with a whip He made from cords. Jesus Christ had
a deep respect for his Father and  His house of  worship.  Desecration
of that temple was one of the few things that raised  His indignation to
the point of demonstration...Reflect on that...  

Our gift(s) may be small and little known outside our immediate circle.
Each of  us must search  out, seek and discover  (a) Spiritual  gift(s) in
order to  become the  person  our Lord  intends  us to  be  and  accom-
plish the Divine mandate  placed on our lives by our Lord.   At the age
of 74 years, in my case, it seems there has been opened a new window
of grace as though the Lord God who created it all is giving a mission, 
never before expected....   Praise His Holy Name!!!

   The context in which one develops and makes use of these gifts from
our Lord  is to  be within  a community of  believers in  Christ Jesus, or
"The Church of Jesus Christ."  See the link below:

http://biblicalclarity-don.blogspot.com/2014/02/a-call-and-gift.html

Definition:  Prophecy:   Inspired declaration of Divine will and 
                                        purpose Concerning things to come.

                    Prophesy: To utter future events by Divine inspiration. 
                                     These utterances have to do with God's Kingdom.

donporter 1.18.14;  Thanks for looking...    edited 4.08.14 &, 8.22.14

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