Devotional Song: … Go to this link … Please take the time to take in a video of Phillips, Craig, and Dean singing the poignant song … Your Grace Still Amazes Me, declaring the reality that God imparts His grace to all believers to do His work and give Him glory in this world.
Highlight Passage 1st Corinthians 12: 4 [NKJV] … 4 There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord.
… The gifts of the Spirit equip the unified Body to do Christ’s work in the world.
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Highlight Context - 1st Corinthians 12: 1-11 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Many gifts - one Body in Christ.
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Reference Passage #1 - Romans 12: 3-8 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK
… Serving God through the gifts He imparts to glorify Him in our lives as Christians.
Reference Passage #2 - Ephesians 4: 1-16 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK
… We are unified as the Body of Christ by the diversity of God’s grace in His gifts
Reference Passage #1 - 1st Peter 4: 10-11 [NKJV] ...
10 As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 11 If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
… We minister to one another in the Body of Christ with our Spirit-imparted gifts.
My Journal for Today: Today’s Our Daily Bread devotional entry, authored by C.P, Hia, relates a story of a Pastor who was overwhelmed by His wife’s illness and his responsibility as a Shepherd of God’s Body.
Hia writes: A pastor’s wife was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. That put the family in a difficult, stressful situation. The pastor wondered how he was going to be able to take good care of her while he still had responsibilities for his church family. But he needn’t have worried because church members stepped up and volunteered to assist him with meals and some of her care.
And the Apostle Paul and Peter wrote to the early Church about this concept, which can be found in the writings copied and linked above from Romans 12, 1st Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4, 1st Peter 4. I hope you’ve taken the time to take in the passages I’ve provided above as well as the attached photo and linked song. Because if you have, as a Christian, you should be asking yourself, ”What are my Spiritual gifts; and am I using them within and through the Body of Christ (i.e., the Church) for God’s glory?”
We Christians have at least one Spiritual gift, imparted to us by God’s Spirit. Perhaps yours is hospitality and you find it easy to invite others into your home and life to provide a meal or fellowship or help. Maybe your gift is teaching; and you see that the best way you can serve God is teaching a Sunday School class, mentoring a lesser mature Christian, or sharing God’s word with others in a small group in your church. Or maybe your gift is leadership; and you’ve been called to lead a ministry or to be an Elder in your Church. No matter what our gifts might be, they were given to us God’s grace to equip us to serve Him for His glory through the unified Body of Christ.
So, let’s go forth today, with our brothers and sisters in Christ, and do all we can to use our gift, or gifts, for God’s glory!!
My Prayer Today: Lord, right now, in this blog, I pray that You use my gifts of teaching and encouragement for Your glory. Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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