Unfortunately, sometimes we forget what we are part of. We get so focused on all the challenges of life in this place, all the difficulties, all the failures that we lose our ability to see Father’s glory in all the beauty in us and around us. We may say that we are not of this world but most days we live by “what you see is what you get”.
Over the next little while I want to write about the gifts we have been given that are part of the reason we know that we are not of this world. It is more than just the world changing Kingdom values we live by, it is also the supernatural things we have been equipped with to carry out our assignments.
I am a bit different in my understanding of the gifts, some of which we find listed in 1 Corinthians 12. I believe these are not an exhaustive list but just some of the gifts Paul used as examples in his explanation of the Body of Christ. Some people will tell you that we are limited to twelve gifts and others will name nine. I believe that our Father is so creative that he gives us a wide variety of gifts to cause the Body to stand apart from everything in this world.
We cannot afford to look at our Christian history and decide that certain things were only given at certain times. Like everything else in our Father’s creation, humanity got in the way and messed it up. The Church was never intended to have the history that we have. Men desiring power got in the way and corrupted what was intended to be beautiful. It didn’t mean the Spirit left but only that we lost certain knowledge of the “how”. Father kept his agenda moving forward so that as believers came out from under the yoke of the corrupted they started to again walk with the Spirit and the gifts were seen again.
Of course we are going to see an ongoing dispute over this because our enemy never wants us to step into the reality of who we are in Christ. I am not here to convince anyone who is determined to limit the Spirit of anything. If you step out in the wonder of how Christ intended you to be you will get to encounter these dear people. Always treat them with love and respect, allowing the Spirit to do what he will with them. But as for you and me …
I want us to explore the wonder of what Jesus has made us to be as members fit together in this wonderful thing we call the Church, the Body of Christ. I hope that we will both receive much encouragement in this, not in seeking power, but in the fullness of a trusting relationship based on faith and love. So here we go …
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