ptl@fluke.UUCP (Mike Andrews) (03/17/86)
Hi,
A lot of great discussion going on about the Gifts of the Holy Spirit,
personal gifts different people have received. One thing to remember please
is that the Gifts of God are meant to be used as tools to build
up the Body of Christ. One thing Christians will learn the more they use
the Gifts they received at birth, or God choses to give in a particular
situation at a specific time, they aren't *our* gifts, they are God's Gift
to the person He builds up thru you. A subtle difference, but a big one, too.
It's not wrong to call them our Gifts, mincing words is a waste of time.
It's just important to keep the Gifts in perspective - they are God's Tools
given to us to give to others.
As an example, the person healed thru you by God was the one to receive the
Gift of the healing. You usually receive a Gift of increased Faith and Trust
in God by using the healing Gift for His Glory which is the building up of
the other person, as well as yourself.
And please remember what Paul said in I Cor 13 - if Love isn't the first
consideration when using the Gifts, then it serves no real purpose, it is
a complete loss.
God Bless,
Mike Andrews
P.S. Ask yourself the question - if God chose not to use the Gifts He's
given you, for whatever reason, how would you respond? If suddenly
you lost the ability to sense another's pain (thru a word of Wisdom
or Knowledge), and thereby didn't know what to pray for, what would
you feel, what would I do?
Then, based on your honest answer, ask yourself who gets the Glory
for the Gift? Who is the focus? And then - just praise God, no
matter what your answer was. Either way the answer went, He'll
Love you and build you up. That's His Way.
--
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God says He is always with us, and will never leave us.
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ARPA : fluke!ptl@uw-beaver.ARPA
UUCP : {uw-beaver, sun, allegra, sb6, lbl-csam}!fluke!ptl