SPIRITUAL "Gifts"

I won't get paid for saying this:  I have a new Life Application Bible which I am enjoying greatly.  I quote from Romans 12,

"How to Behave (12:1-16:27)...then "Moving from the theological to the practical, Paul gives guidance for living as a redeemed people in a fallen world.  We are to give ourselves to Christ as living sacrifices, obey the government, love our neighbors, and take special care of those who are weak in the faith. He closes with personal remarks.  Throughout this section, we learn how to live our faith each day."

"In His grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well.  So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you.  If your gift is serving others, serve them well.  If you are a teacher, teach well.  If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging.  If it is giving, give generously.  If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously.  And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly."

I believe the Lord revealed to me a great number of years ago that my "motivational" gift is encouragement.  I think that may be why I have been sharing these thoughts via this blog over several years.

Today I was struck by reading the following:  Deut. 11:13 - "If you carefully obey all the commands I am giving you today, and if you love the Lord your God and serve Him with all your heart and soul, then He will send the RAINS in their proper seasons--the early and the late rains--so you can bring in your harvests of grain, new wine, an olive oil.  He will give you lush pastureland for your livestock, and you yourselves will have all you want to eat."

If you've watched the news at all lately, you surely have noticed that much of our nation has been suffering extreme drought, yet other areas are overwhelmed with unusual snow quantities, or heavy rain and hail, which cause flooding.

Are these signs???  In my humble opinion...YES!!!  Some years ago, while I was living in Kentucky, a couple of friends and I went away on a spiritual retreat.  We separated to seek the Lord for "how to pray."  I felt led to read the book of Jonah and was especially struck by the last words:  Jonah 4:9 - "Then God said to Jonah, 'Is it right for you to be angry because the plant died?'

Yes, said Jonah retorted, even enough to die!

Then the Lord said, 'You feel sorry about the plant though you did nothing to put it there.  It came quickly and died quickly.  But Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness, not to mention all the animals.  Shouldn't I feel sorry for such a great city?"

Kentucky was experiencing drought at that time, so I felt led by the Holy Spirit to intercede for an end of the drought...and of course a change in circumstances that had caused it in the first place.

I wanted to share these words as an exhortation also because of the following words:  Deut. 11:16 - "But be careful.  Don't let your heart be deceived so that you turn away from the Lord and serve and worship other Gods.  If you do, the Lord's anger will burn against you. He will shut up the sky and hold back the rain, and the ground will fail to produce its harvests.  The you will quickly die in that good land the Lord is giving you.

So commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these words of mine.  Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders.  Teach them to your children.  Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.  Write them on the door posts of your house and on your gates, so that as long as the sky remains above the earth, you and your children may flourish in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors.

He goes on to say, "Look, today I am giving you the choice between a blessing and a curse!

Trouble is all around, but I do believe that we can look to God in prayer, based on His word, The Bible and receive our requests of Him.  So take your requests...especially that we will have "just the right amount of rain," both spiritual and natural.