Thursday, July 30, 2009

What Gifts has God Given You?

When I ask people what gifts people have to offer to God, I get various replies from ‘hearing complaints’ to ‘gardening’ to ‘making jams‘. These are all nice things to do. But what concerns me is that Holy Scripture tells us what gifts we can have to offer to God for His service. The first list is found in Romans chapter 12:6-8: “God has also given each of us different gifts to use. If we can prophesy, we should do it according to the amount of faith we have. If we can serve others, we should serve. If we can teach, we should teach. If we can encourage others, we should encourage them. If we can give, we should be generous. If we are leaders, we should do our best. If we are good to others, we should do it cheerfully.” The second list appears in I Corinthians 12:7-11: “The Spirit has given each of us a special way of serving others. Some of us can speak with wisdom, while others can speak with knowledge, but these gifts come from the same Spirit. To others the Spirit has given great faith or the power to heal the sick or the power to work mighty miracles. Some of us are prophets, and some of us recognize when God's Spirit is present. Others can speak different kinds of languages, and still others can tell what these languages mean. But it is the Spirit who does all this and decides which gifts to give to each of us.” In summary, the gifts that come from God are serving, teaching, encouraging, giving, leading, kindness, prophesying, words of knowledge, faith, healing, miracles and the discernment between spirits.

This is a lot. But St. Paul reminds us that not everyone has all of these gifts. They are divvied up among the members of the body. It is important to note that these gifts come from God. It is what He wants us to have for us to serve Him. So why can’t we just garden or make jams? That question is best answered by what is the greatest gift God has given us? Hopefully, you will say salvation. Can we save ourselves from death? No! Likewise, can we serve God with our own gifts? No! God gives us what we need to serve Him! Our life on earth is about serving God! He knows what the world needs and has given us the tools to serve Him in the world.

Every Christian needs to pray that each and everyone of us asks that God shows us what gifts He has given us. And then we must pray that we use holy boldness to serve God by being selfless in the sharing of our gifts. Easter we received the salvation of God by Christ’s death and resurrection. Lest us receive the Holy Spirit and all the gifts he has to offer!
Fr. Allen

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

God is writing your story!

Just finished a meditation on Genesis 1 & 2. These verses plumb the depths of creation that only in eternity can we know God's love for us.

I am struck by the number of times the phrase "And God said" is expressed followed by "And it was so" followed by "And God saw that it was good" followed by "And God blessed them saying..."

We are created by God's Word. He is the authority of our creation as He alone authored us. We are the pages of God's story. Look in a mirror today. Look closely. Do you see God's reflection? (Genesis 1:26)

We cannot change the past. Those pages have turned. But now at this very moment in time God, the author, is still writing your story. His desire is a happy ending. (Romans 8:18-25)

Is there any part of your life you are ashamed of, past or present? The prophet Jeremiah reminds us God will not count our sins against us (Jer. 31:34) Neither should we. This same prophet reminds us God knows the ending of our story,'For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.' (Jeremiah 29:11) God will not abandon what he wonderfully made. He is just not finished with you yet. Part of our story is Jesus and His cross (I John 2:2) As the author of Hebrews states, "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:2)

Look in the mirror today. Literally, I mean this. Take a few minutes and stand before a mirror. See what God, our Father in Heaven, sees". Do you see Him?

IHS,

Allen+

Monday, July 27, 2009

Do you have the Holy Spirit

One of my favorite passages in Scripture is Acts 19:1-7 It reads:

While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled across the hill country to Ephesus, where he met some of the Lord's followers. He asked them, "When you put your faith in Jesus, were you given the Holy Spirit?"
"No!" they answered. "We have never even heard of the Holy Spirit."
"Then why were you baptized?" Paul asked.
They answered, "Because of what John taught."
Paul replied, "John baptized people so that they would turn to God. But he also told them that someone else was coming, and that they should put their faith in him. Jesus is the one that John was talking about." After the people heard Paul say this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Paul placed his hands on them. The Holy Spirit was given to them, and they spoke unknown languages and prophesied. There were about twelve men in this group.

I like this account because I think it is indicative of the Church today. Many of us attending worship on Sunday know we were baptized. Many who don’t attend worship were also baptized at some point in their life at the behest of their family. Like John’s followers, it was expected the but the full meaning of the church’s teaching has been lost.

When we are baptized in a worship service, the Holy Spirit is imparted in us. But as we grow older, we may have forgotten our responsibility in allowing the Spirit of
God to make His presence known. How many of us have been in a room when someone walks in who knows us but ignores our presence? Well, for many of us, the Holy Spirit is in us, be we just ignore Him. One of God’s attributes is that He does not want us to be puppets where he pulls all of our strings. We, having been created in His image, have free will. We must on our own accord, acknowledge God’s presence in us and ask that presence become central in our life. We do that when we invite Jesus into our hearts. But we also have to let the Third Person of the Trinity fill us so that we are saturated with His being. This is what is meant by the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Like water that has been tapped by a fresh dug well springs forth saturating the ground around it, so we too must open ourselves to let the Spirit rise up and saturated us.
So how do we know if the Holy Spirit is reigning supreme in our hearts? Do you talk about church or do you talk about Christ? Do you wonder what the priest is doing or are you asking what you can do for the Lord? Do you see problems or do you see solutions? After all, God is the prayer answering business! Get the hint?

So let us be like the men in Ephesus! Acknowledge that we have been baptized, but also let us be filled with Holy Spirit. After all, this is the will of God!

IHS,
Fr. Allen

Thursday, July 23, 2009

This link was a tweet I received this afternoon upon my return from my walk. Loving Others Through Difficult Times...Taking Christianity Into the World HIS CPA

Mr. Dillard's word spoke to me as I wrestle with the same feelings that his letter writer is struggling with. I know the Phillipians passage and it is a difficult one especially when others are unforgiving and arrogant. But what I want to speak to is the timeliness of this piece.

This has been a strange week for me. Some events in the time-space continuum have been very edifying. After a weekend of getting Josh of on a plane for a trip halfway around the world without any complications, prayer gatherings have been holy and conversations have been good. But in the in-between times when I am alone, I have been bombarded by feelings and imaginations that are not of God. They hearken back to old wounds. I pray and read Scripture that I hope will change my thinking to be more of the mind of Christ. (Phillipians 2:5)And then I beat myself up when a godly mind does not come to the for! Satan loves that part the best, I'm sure! So what does Mr. Dillard's message say to me?

It says God, the Father, has not been far off. In this time-space continuum, he will bring a witness from another godly human to remind me I am on the right track. Others have gone through these dark thoughts as well and can help me from their learnings. Taking up our cross means forgiving others for they know not what they do - even if it means I have to do it 490 times! I pray that these words have been heard by you and especially by anyone who has been going through a dark night of the soul as well!