April 19, 2012

Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others,

as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.

1 Peter 4:10

Thoughts ~

When my kids were young they would ask for special birthday or Christmas gifts.  In fact, they would make lists of so many things they wanted, the list would be impossible to fulfill. As adults, they rarely ask for anything and are happiest when I give them gift cards so they can get exactly what they want or need.

The gifts we receive from God are not things we have asked for: they are exactly what He wants to give us for the building up of other believers. Let me say it another way: He gives special gifts to us not for our own use, but to use for the good of others.

I think it is so important that we are using our gifts as much as possible and not allow them to sit idly on a shelf collecting dust. There are believers that are using their gifts in unique ways to build you up so make sure you reciprocate and “pay it forward”, blessing them with your own unique gift.

Action ~

Romans 12:3-8 goes into a lot more detail about the spiritual gifts we are given and throughout the New Testament we see the early Christians using their gifts to help one another. Today’s action is to read this section and if you know what your spiritual gift or gifts, make sure you use them daily. If you don’t know, here is a link that helps you discover your gift with 60 questions. The results will be given to you immediately.  I took it and it was 100% accurate.http://www.christianet.com/bible/spiritualgiftstest.htm

Pray ~

Father, Thank you for the gift of salvation when I accepted Your Son as my savior. And thank you for the gifts You have trusted me with to use to build your Kingdom. Please give me opportunities every day to use them.

Trusting in Him,

Becky