God’s free expression of His loving kindness is shown us when the Holy Spirit imparts unique gifts to each one of us…not for our benefit, but to edify others. These spiritual gifts follow closely along the lines of our character and personality…the distinctive things that make us who we are. The Holy Spirit gives varies gifts to different people according to His divine plan and purpose in their lives. We all have different gift combinations, but they all are given us that we may serve others.
Tag: Daily Inspirational Devotional
Genesis 1:3-4 ” And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness.”
The diversity between bright sunshine and complete darkness is a stark contrast. In bright sunshine, we can walk confidently, even in unfamiliar terrain, for we can see the path we’re following and the obstacles around us. But when it’s total darkness, we struggle to make our way…stumbling, falling, and lurching along…fearful of the next step. Isaiah 42:16 speaks of this, “I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth.” Allow the God of light to illuminate your path today with truth and wisdom.
I Corinthians 1:10 ” I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.”
Even the early Church had problems with Church division, and here Paul was pleading with them to unite rather than split into factions. For if you think about it, if the local Church can’t come together and become one voice…how do we expect the world to follow suit? When Jesus called those first disciples, He told them to “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” (Mark 1:17) And if you look at the other meaning for the Greek word for “perfectly united”… it means to mend or repair broken nets. Now anyone knows you can’t catch fish with torn nets…so how can the Church expect to follow Jesus and be fishers of men when their nets are shredded with division and strife? We as a body of Believers need to become perfectly united together, and mend our nets.
John 4:13-14 ” Jesus answered, ‘Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thrist. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’ “
Jesus spoke several times in John about this idea of water and thirst. John 6:35 says, “He who believes in Me will never be thirsty.” and in John 7:38, Jesus quoted the Old Testament from Isaiah 58:11, when He said, “You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.” Thirst is a very strong desire. It’s a longing to fill the dryness within us…whether with actual water, or spiritual water. For within us all is this God-shaped emptiness…but sadly, we will spend our entire lifetime trying to fill this emptiness with the wrong type of water. Arid and parched, we search for everything and anything to satisfy our thirst…but every time we think we’ve found it, the water dries up and we thirst again. It’s finally not until we find that Well of Living Water that we can drink and be fully satisfied.
Micah 7:7 ” But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.”
I don’t know about you, but patience has never been one of my greatest attributes. I want something to happen now, not later…and I get antsy and anxious when I have to wait. But if you look carefully at this Scripture, you’ll see Micah concluded there are two things we need to do…watch and wait. So, what does it take to successfully watch and wait for the Lord? In a word – it takes trust. To trust in the Lord is not a one time, one size fits all event. Trusting in God is an ongoing, ever-growing, process of waiting in hopeful expectation and increasing belief that He will do what He says. Our job isn’t to manufacture the outcome…or job is to rest in Him, waiting and watching as He does the work in our life.
Isaiah 29:15 ” Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the Lord, who do their work in darkness and think, ‘Who sees us? Who will know?’ “
Humans have always rationalized and hidden things they’re not comfortable about everyone knowing. We recognize that what we’re doing is wrong, but we say to ourselves, “What I do in the privacy of my own home is my business…it doesn’t hurt anyone, so why should it matter?!” We even brazenly think we can get away with the sin and won’t get caught. But it does matter…For every evil action will affect someone negatively somehow…every scheme of wickedness done in the realm of darkness will eventually be found out…it’s just a matter of time.
Genesis 2:15 ” The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.”
In this verse the concept of stewardship first appears. Adam was to tend the garden. He was to carry out the vision of the owner (God), be accountable to Him, and not be careless with what he was given. So, what makes up a good steward? First, it’s acknowledging that we own nothing…God owns it all – even our very lives. We then need to trust Him completely, embracing the plan and purpose of our life and “tend the garden” He has given us.
Hebrews 10:25 ” Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another.”
God’s people need to be in circles…not rows. Now, I’m not saying that you can’t obtain a tremendous amount of spiritual knowledge and wisdom from the Church Service you attend every Sunday. But there’s something very special about small groups that meet in homes. In Acts 2:42, these small groups of Believers met for the purpose of teaching God’s Word, breaking bread, and prayer…and the modern-day small group hasn’t changed that much. But unless you’ve been part of a small group, you don’t realize all the benefits there are. When you’re part of a small group, you make connections, and fellowship with like-minded people who become close friends. In small group, there’s the chance for openness and transparency to share each others burdens, while at the same time there’s accountability and follow-up. If you aren’t already part of a small Bible group, I strongly encourage you to take the step to join one. For we all need to encourage and be encouraged by each other as we grow in our faith.
Proverbs 11:27 ” He who seeks good finds goodwill, but evil comes to him who searches for it.”
What goes around, comes around…or better yet, you look for trouble, and it’ll find you. Or elsewhere, in Psalm 7:16 to paraphrase, “The trouble you cause will return back to you…the violence you create will come down on your head.” But if we seek what is good and morally right, we will receive favor…favor before God…and favor before men. And as we seek good, not only are we changed, but what we seek changes…for we are aligning ourselves with the Holy Spirit and seeking God’s Will, not our own.
Luke 18:28 ” Peter said to Him, ‘We have left all we had to follow You!’ “
From the moment Jesus beckoned that rag-tag group of fishermen with, “Come, follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”… there has been the decision of whether we follow Jesus or not. For many, it’s a sacrificial decision…knowing that they are at risk of losing everything. Following Jesus sacrificially means accepting the potential loss of family, employment, and even freedom. But Jesus assured the disciples, and all of us, that this sacrifice isn’t without great reward…for in Luke 18: 29-30 He goes on to promise them, “I tell you the truth,” Jesus said to them, “no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the Kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life.”
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