Focus

Experience silence in the midst of your busy day. Take some time to relax into a time to be with God.Pay attention to the tension in your body. Let go of it and any expectations to do anything other than God’s will today. Prepare yourself to hear God’s word.

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Read

I Corinthians 12: 4-13

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.

Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.

Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

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Reflect

When I read this scripture about spiritual gifts, I was reminded of a church member who longed for a particular spiritual gift. She was convinced that several of her friends had asked God for a particular spiritual gift and God had answered them. She was deeply troubled by the fact that she had asked God over and over again for a particular gift but God had never responded.
Unlike her, I had never longed for a particular gift of the Spirit and was curious as to why a particular gift was so important to her. She shared with me that she needed this spiritual gift in order to feel as “spiritual” as her friends.

After much discussion and prayer with her, she begins to realize that God gives spiritual gifts to each person as God determines. She also began to realize that the spiritual gifts God had given her were as essential to the body of Christ as her friends were. Most importantly of all, she realized that one believer in the body is not more spiritual than another believer. The spiritual gifts given by God are to be used for the common good of all.

So I want to encourage you where ever you serve, to use the spiritual gifts God has given you, and realize that’s all God desires from any of us.

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Pray

God, we thank You for the work and the gifts of Your Spirit, and for the willingness of Your servants to use their gifts for Your glory and honor. Amen

Go with God!