Give and Receive

What we give to the Lord opens the way for us to receive from Him.

This Day

This day has been set aside by the Lord. He’s filled it with opportunities for us to love the people around us. He’s going to reveal needs that folks have and equip us with what will bring them comfort and healing. Oh what a beautiful day it will be.

Let

Romans 6:12 has five words in the middle of it (four if you use a contraction) that read “do not let sin reign”. The little word “let” indicates that we have a say in the matter, which is really great news unless we believe it means we have the power over sin and all we need to do to conquer it is try harder. What we have the ability to “let” is to let God have our sin. It’s only in coming to Him and placing the things we struggle with in His hands that we are able to overcome for real. Sure we may be able to will power a temporary behavior change but true healing comes when we place our weaknesses with Him and trust enough to leave them there.

Wounded

We’ve all been wounded; it’s part of life. We live in an imperfect world filled with flawed people, not the least of which is I. As we mentioned yesterday, being aware that we are no better than those around us allows us to have the heart of God towards people but we have to present our weakness to Him. It’s the same with our wounds. A wound kept from the Lord only hardens our heart and like our hidden flaws, keeps others at a distance. Hurt and pain turned over to God brings healing and permits us to be used in the healing of others.

Waiting

Because selflessness or putting our pride aside is such an important part of being intimate with The Lord, we can’t wait until we’re perfect before we are ready to help folks heal. Our healing, our filling is integrated with the healing and encouraging of others. We know the answer; let’s not sit by waiting for one more sermon or one more class before we reach out.

The Source

God is the source of everything. He cares about the smallest details of our lives and wants to walk through our greatest triumphs and be there for our biggest ordeals. Joy and peace can only be found with Him. It is possible to be so in tune with Him, so filled and so full that we get to be used to fill others. We can be part of the healing process.

Gifts of the Spirit

I want them all, not in a greedy way, not all the time but when one of them can benefit someone around me I want that one. If a word of encouragement is needed I want the wisdom to recognize the need and to know what to say and the same goes for the other gifts. I don’t need to possess them, just receive them when needed so they can be shared.

Greater Things

Jesus said in John 14:12 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. Why do we see so few of these greater things? Are we distracted? Are we doing too much on our own apart from Him? Do we believe what He said? I not only want to see these greater things, I want to do them. Do you?