Liz’s Morning Devotional: Scripture selected from Upper Room
June 20, 2023
1 Corinthians 12:4-11
4 There are different spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are different ministries and the same Lord; 6 and there are different activities but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. 7 A demonstration of the Spirit is given to each person for the common good. 8 A word of wisdom is given by the Spirit to one person, a word of knowledge to another according to the same Spirit, 9 faith to still another by the same Spirit, gifts of healing to another in the one Spirit, 10 performance of miracles to another, prophecy to another, the ability to tell spirits apart to another, different kinds of tongues to another, and the interpretation of the tongues to another. 11 All these things are produced by the one and same Spirit who gives what he wants to each person.
Good Morning, We are one in the Spirit! We are one in the Lord!
My, oh my! What a wonderful feeling of cleanliness following the rain. My flower and vegetable gardens were in such need of soaking rain. Thanks be to God.
Accepting Christ makes us part of the one body of believers. The Holy Spirit blesses each of us with spiritual gifts. God equips every Christian with gifts of the spirit to enable their devotion to God and to build up the church for Christian service. The first reference to spiritual gifts comes in Isaiah. In the New Testament, Paul spends much time in his Epistles discussing these gifts.
When we compare the workings of our own physical body with the spiritual body of believers, we can see that each organ and body part has its own function. There are some built-in redundancies so that we can function when we lose the use of a body part. Imagine if our eyes, ears, and noses all did the same thing: see. We would not hear or smell the world around us. We would become vulnerable to things triggered by what we hear or smell.
As the fellowship of Christ, we need those with various gifts to serve God effectively. “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
In the same idea as the physical body, what if we were all blessed with the gift of exhortation (the gift of speaking to direct others)? We would do a lot of talking, but we could not bring our words to action. Likewise, a group of servers is ineffective if no one can direct their efforts.
We are each called to discern and use our gifts as we are blessed for the work of the Lord. No one gift is more important or valuable than another. Only by the grace of God can we work together to gather all the lost souls so that we may feast together at the heavenly banquet.
Loving God, We thank you for Your blessings. It takes all of us to accomplish your work. Help us see and appreciate what others bring to the table. We Thank You! In the name of Christ, we pray. Amen
Thought for the day: I will appreciate the rich diversity of God’s universe every day.
Use your gifts to glorify God! Pastor Liz
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