Today the word that dropped into my spirit is “GIFTS”. I took this to mean things given by the Father. I’m sharing what is on my heart which I received from scripture. Get ready get ready get ready.
Today’s Prayer
God, we’ve heard the saying, “You are the only Bible that some people will ever read; the only sermon some people will ever hear; the only ‘JESUS’ that some people will ever see.” We understand what this means is that our lives as Christians should be a clear picture and example of Your love and a light in the dark because many people will never step through the doors of a church or listen to an evangelist or attend Christian events to hear the gospel. Please help us to reflect Christ in our lives and to be godly witnesses to other people. Help us to be more like JESUS every day and draw nearer to You. We cannot live an exemplary Christian life without the power of the Holy Spirit strengthening us and guiding our conscience every day. So right now, we submit to that strength and power. Thank you, GOD, for hearing us. In JESUS’ name we pray, amen.
Let’s eat.
Understanding What God Has Given
We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. – 1 Corinthians 2:12
GOD desires for us to know what He has freely given to us. One of the responsibilities of the Holy Spirit is to reveal His plans and purposes to us. They may be hidden for a time, but if we seek Him with our whole heart, we can know what He has given to us.
John the Baptist understood this principle. When asked if he was the Messiah, he replied, “A man can receive only what is given him from heaven” (John 3:27). John understood his role in the Kingdom of GOD. He came to pave the way for the Messiah; he was not the Messiah himself. His ministry on earth was very brief, yet JESUS described his life in this way: “ ‘I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he’ ” (Matt. 11:11).
Once we understand what GOD has given to us, we can walk freely in our calling. However, if we strive to walk in a role that He never gave us, it will result in frustration and failure. GOD wants to reveal His plan to us by His Spirit. This requires a willingness to seek and accept what He gives us. It may be different from what we thought. It may require adjustments to follow His path for our lives. As we learn from the life of John the Baptist, obedience requires death to our own wills.
Ask GOD to reveal what He has freely given to you. Pray that you receive and embrace only those things He has reserved for you to receive and to accomplish in your life. Then you can be assured of a life full of meaning and purpose, and you can look forward to hearing those all-important words someday, “Well done, My good and faithful servant.”
Quote of the Day
He does not need to transplant us into a different field, but right where we are, with just the circumstances that surround us, he makes his sun to shine and his dew to fall upon us, and transforms the very things that were before our greatest hindrances into the chiefest and most blessed means of our growth. No difficulties in your case can baffle him, no dwarfing of your growth in years that are past, no apparent dryness of your inward springs of life, no crookedness or deformity in any of your past development, can in the least mar the perfect work that he will accomplish, if you will only put yourselves absolutely into his hands and let him have his own way with you.
Hannah Whitall Smith
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REV. ELDER G E STERRETT
FOUNDER
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James H. Taylor Sr. – Kankakee City News has published my Daily meal message for a decade.