Gifts

Let us Talk About GIFTS!

 

Man I love to receive gifts, especially when they are a surprise and I had no idea I was getting one! Then of course there are also times when I would desire such and so and low and behold I would receive it. I believe that is the way our heavenly Father works. There are those gifts He places within us that surprise us and then others we desire which we also receive.

 

And his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teacher. (Ephesians 4:11)

 

And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues. (1 Corinthians 12:28 NIV)

 

We have different gifts, according to the grace given us.. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his[b]faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully. (Romans 12:6-7)

 

One cluster of gifts which I will call ministerial gifts are used for building the body of Christ. They are for exhortation, edification and correction. Then there are natural talents. We will keep that discussion for another time. The ministerial gifts are for the Body of Christ

 

For God's gifts and his call are irrevocable. (Romans 11:29)

 

If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! (Mathew 7:11)

 

Then there are some gifts that are just given without us asking and at times we do ask. Those gifts are given without repentance! They are deposited within us at birth and are exposed as we grow in this world. That goes the same for our talents. Notice some of these gifts are in our natural makeup! Yet they are still given to us through the grace of God!

 

Then there are gifts such as Salvation, that is free to those who call on the name and profess Jesus as Lord and Savior. And the gift of Faith. It is said that all receive a measure of Faith and it is our choice to grow that faith! Notice these gifts are spiritual in nature however they are for us personally. Praying with an unknow tongue is one of those spritual gifts meant for ourselves.

 

Today I would like to unveil the gift of tongues. Not to be confused with the gift to be used for the Body of Christ at large. The gift of tongues or utterance is available to all believers for the uplifting, encouraging, edification, correction for oneself and intercession for others!

 

So too the [Holy] Spirit comes to our aid and bears us up in our weakness; for we do not know what prayer to offer nor how to offer it worthily as we ought, but the Spirit Himself goes to meet our supplication and pleads in our behalf with unspeakable yearnings and groanings too deep for utterance.. (Romans 8:26 Amplified)

 

That scripture clinches it for me. For it is not always easy to pray for the people I love or the people who come to me asking for prayer in my own understanding. Yet I know that by using my prayer language, I will be praying that perfect prayer, for others, for myself, and for those I love.

 

We will consider some reasons why we as believers should hunger and thirst for the infilling of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of praying in tongues!

 

ON LOSS

The following is a note I recently sent to a young woman who lost her baby at 23 weeks.

I believe we all have loss of some kind in our lives and the Lord would want to deliver this message to us as well.

What the enemy meant for evil (taking you from the Almighty-God) your loving Father God has turned to good. For your faith shall be larger than the mountains and your Words more powerful than a tornado!

Psalm 121 (paraphrased by me!)

As you lift up your eyes to the hills, you ask where does my help come from? Your loving Savior responds "Your help comes from no other then me, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip. He who watches over you will not slumber. Indeed, He who watches over you will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day or the moon by night.. The Lord will keep you from all harm. He will watch over your life. He will watch over your coming and your going both NOW and FOREVERMORE.

For the Lord has spoken into your spirit a New Song of Jubilee. So go forth in Faith and Sing of His Praises!

Many Blessings, Dianne

What's Driven YOU?

The First Fruit is...LOVE

But the fruit of the Spirit is love. —Galatians 5:22

 

When the New Testament was being written, there were four primary Greek words to describe the concept of "love": 1) eros, 2) stergo, 3) phileo, and 4) agape. I am most interested in the agape love of God. This is what I call high-level love, for there is no higher, finer, or more excellent love. There is no other love like the agape love of God our Father and the Son.

Agape occurs when an individual sees, recognizes, understands, or appreciates the value of an object or a person, causing the viewer to behold this object or person in great esteem, awe, admiration, wonder, and sincere appreciation. Such great respect is awakened in the heart of the observer for the object or person he is beholding that he is compelled to love it. In fact, his love for that person or object is so strong it is irresistible. The scriptures say that love covers all. This means that this type of love knows of one's sin, but sees beyond it –matter of fact treats it treats that loved one as if he/she has no sin at all.

 

The best example of agape is found in John 3:16. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Now that is agape love.

 

 Our Father God looks upon the human race, in awe of mankind, even though man was lost in sin. God admired man. He wondered at man. He held mankind in the highest appreciation. In other words, He loved us! Even though mankind was held captive by Satan at that moment, God looked upon the world and saw His own image in man. The human race was so precious to God and He loved man so deeply that His heart was stirred to reach out and do something to save him. In other words, God's love drove Him to action.

 

You see, agape is a love that knows no limits or boundaries. There is no limit to how far, wide, high, or deep it will go to show that love to the recipient. If necessary, agape love will even sacrifice itself for the sake of that object or person it so deeply cherishes. Agape is the highest form of love — a self-sacrificial type of love that moves the lover to action.

 

Agape is a love that has no strings attached. It is not looking for what it can get, but for what it can give. To me it is like the love and adoration we get from our dog, Tuffy. No matter what, she loves us. No matter if we forget to feed her, leave her alone too long, trip over her, step on her—she love us. This agape love is so deep that it is compelled to shower love upon that object or person regardless of the response. That is our Tuffy. This is the profound love God has for the human race, for He loved man when he was still lost in sin with no ability to love Him back. God simply loved mankind without any thought or expectation of receiving love in return.

 

When you love with such a pure love that you expect nothing back in return, it is impossible for you to feel hurt or let down by the response of the recipients of your love. You don't love them for the purpose of getting something in return. You shower them with love simply because you love them. It is a love that has no strings attached, a love that loves simply and purely — the God-kind of love.

First John 3:16 plainly says that we are to love and appreciate each other just as fully and freely as God loves us.

 

The Father loved us to the point of self-sacrifice. Jesus' agape drove Him to lay down His life for us. In the same way, we are to agape our brothers and sisters to such a high extent that we would be willing to lay down our lives for them. If we are truly operating in agape and they don't respond in like fashion, it won't offend or hurt us. We are not looking for what others can do for us; we are simply focused on how to love others with no strings attached.. Therefore, the way other people respond to us has no effect on our desire to shower them with agape love.

 

Now you might be thinking "How in the world can I do that?" I have been so hurt, so wounded by man, I don't think I could ever… Right now if that is you, ask the Father to expose His love for you and to you. Receive completely His love, appreciation, and adoration for you just the way you are. The more you receive the more you will be able to give.

 

John said in verse 18 not only do we love in word, but in our talk in and about one another. This love is a force so strong that it demonstrates itself with deeds and actions. This is not an empty love that talks but does nothing. It is a love that does something, just as God loved us and then did something to save us from our lost and sinful condition.

 

This love is also is also expressed in First Corinthians 14:1, which tells us to follow after love. Like a hunter would pursue his game following the tracks we are to follow His Love. Love of this nature doesn't come easy. If we want to attain agape love and regularly walk in it, we must hotly pursue it! It must be the focus and the aim of our lives. Love and be loved, that is what I am looking for.

You may ask, "But how can I possess such love? Is it really possible for me to regularly exhibit such love in my life for other people?"

 

 If you were seeking to walk in the kind of love that originates in the power of your flesh, it would be impossible, for flesh is selfish and self-focused and therefore cannot love that highly. But because the seed of God's Word has been sown into your own human spirit, the potential for this divine love is within you all the time. Now it is up to you to shove the flesh aside and release the love of God from down deep inside.

 

 If you will let the Spirit of God release it from your heart, you will discover and enjoy the fruit of the Spirit called "love." This high-level love is already inside you!

 

The question is this.   What is driving you? 

 

Is it the Love of the Father or ????

Response: Reaissance Man

Food for thought? Perhaps we don't 'think' we see enough answer to prayer, so we think, why bother …. God knows anyway …or perhaps we have prayed about something for years with no relief in sight so without realizing it, we become full of unbelief, despair and even anger towards God. I think we need to remember that when we love someone, we enjoy spending time with them, regardless of the current situation or what is going on.  That is how it should be with our Father – spending time with Him just because .. I mean after all HE is the greatest, and HE does answer prayer … in HIS time. Blessings

RENAISSANCE MAN

Daniel 10:12 NIV Then he continued, "Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. Have you ever gone through a day, a week or a life time of expressing yourself with these words?: ·         Are you Feeling as if you just do not make the grade? ·         Are you just a little off? ·         Or maybe I am not quite right?   How can those statements make any sense? We are either passing or failing! On or off! Right or wrong! That is the way it is guys. And by the way, there is no such thing as a little sin! Sin is just that, sin. There is no measure there. My spirit man yearns for the Spirit of God to move in my life; yet I do not pursue God as I should. I don't pray or meditate enough either! A fresh anointing does not come cheap. It will cost us our knees! Our prayer life needs to increase for our mortal man to decrease.   The message our Father has been speaking to us from the beginning of time is "Spend time with Me!" Let us not delude ourselves. Teaching a Godly message, Singing a Godly song, Preaching a Godly message, or Prophesying a Godly word does not equal time spent with our heavenly Father. Let's face it. We lack the discipline of prayer—Personal and Corporate prayer. Needless to say, God does not respond unless His people are communicating with Him, face to face in the intimate places of our souls and spirits.   It seems to me that we are afraid of the outward silence of prayer. Prayer brings about a peaceful silence that is soothing to the soul. Yet as a people of clutter and noise, we too quickly want to change that holy silence into a voice, a noise, or a musical chant. Not that those things are bad, yet we are to have that solitude for the Spirit to do His work in us so that we may be filled! Our inner man touching the hem of His garment will set forth the amazing power of God to heal us and the land in which we live.   I leave you with this thought. One common denominator to all Revivals is PRAYER! It is prayer that turns the hearts of man toward God—Then God responds producing a Renaissance.               James 4:10 NIV Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

Up Front and Personal

Philippians 1:9-11 (NIV)

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God।

Living in our past with past relationships and experiences will not get us into the place we have been called to by God!

For those seeds of greatness are within us all। There is no comparison one to another. Those seeds are divine and are ready to produce His fruit. Today we come together in Christ Jesus, seeking Him in a deeper way. In that seeking we realize it has nothing to do with attending a church, Bible studies, or any other religious function.

Today we come hungry, even eager, anticipating God to express Himself in us and through us. We are awaiting a new touch in our minds, souls, and bodies. This personal touch will change us for life setting us free from all glitches in our lives and bondages of our past.
Galatians 5:1 tells us that it is for freedom that Christ has set us free। So then, we stand firm and do not let ourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery (those glitches/bondages of sin in our lives)

We want to get up front and personal with our Lord and Savior and today I shall call Him our groom! We want an intimate experience to bring us to new revelation, a new dimension, and a fresh new divine purpose।

Let us not be confused with the definitions of relationships and intimacy। The world calls us a connected society with many relationships. Technology has warped our understanding of communication and relationship. We are a connected yet disconnected society believing relationship means email, text message, twittering, or face book. I recall those old adages like "We are only a jingle away" and "Reach out and touch someone" by telephone, or today using Web technology with Skype or Vonage.

My understanding is that these technologies do help enhance our relationships but they are not a substitute for the personal embrace, pat on the shoulder, loving embrace, or that face to face contact you do not get with Facebook। Gazing into ones eyes over lunch or a cup of coffee or stroll in the park is intimate.

Today we come for one on one with Christ himself and with one another। Even our "church" life, our traditional religious upbringing, has twisted the meaning of relationship with Christ and with His Church. Scriptures we spout should reflect the life they brought to and into our lives and not merely be a measure of our place in an intellectual community.

Romans 8:2-16 (NIV)

Because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death। For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering। And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit।

Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires। The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.

You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you। And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.

Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it। For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.

Romans 8 tells us who we are in Christ and how we no longer are the same "and if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in US he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to US mortal bodies through His Spirit, who lives in US।"

Therefore we have an obligation--but it is not to live according to the sinful nature। If we live according to the sinful nature, we will die. But if we live by the Spirit we put to death the misdeeds of the body and we shall live, because those of us led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father."

That scripture (paraphrased by me!) did it all in my life. My DNA comes from my heavenly Father and not my natural father. My inheritance has changed and so has my gene pool. Therefore all of heaven has opened up a new bright life for me! And for YOU.

Response to Isaiah 58

Shalom Dianne, Isaiah 58 was in my heart this am to prepare for an important meeting. It is what I read when dedicating any type of fast. I so appreciated your comments and sharing as I returned from this meeting about an hour ago. It was very victorious and unity was there, sweet fellowship. So pleasant and sweet as brethren dwell together in unity and harmony.   We are blessed by our Father's holy creativity and love being expressed in our lives thru Dianne Evans.   I had you both on my heart about a week or so ago, I saw your names on a truck or something like it with the Evans family.   May you be lead in paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Amen.

Fifty-Eight

How Great is our God. Surely, He uses all things as messages to His children. Today, is my birthday, 58 years old. Clearly the Lord reminded me this morning that five is the prophetic number for GRACE and eight is the number for NEW BEGINNINGS. How appropriate for me. Dick and I have just recently celebrated our 25th Anniversary and his retirement from full time employment at RI College. We have taken a turn in our natural lives by putting our RI home on the market and searching out land in Ken for a second home while we make our residence in Florida! Let me not forget the launching of deeper waters in the ministry the Lord has given us to the body of Christ. Needless to say, I certainly need His grace to fulfill the purpose of these New Beginnings in our lives! Then this morning Dick and I went to the water's edge to spend some quite time in the Word. I randomly opened to Isaiah 58. How am I to get that grace for these new beginnings? And I read. Fasting in many cases is a Christianize word for dieting or in some cases to give the appearance of being holy. Whatever the case may be, I must say there are very few times since my healing that I have been on a fast. The reason why people do not see the results of God's hand in their lives is because they do the righteous things of God without the right heart attitude. They pray and fast yet turn around and do as they please. They continue to exploit co workers, quarrel, and allow strife by spreading vicious rumors or using bad language to one another. This is not love at all. Isaiah goes on to tell of the ones who see God moving in their lives. If you do away with the yoke of oppression, stop pointing fingers (judging others), satisfy the needs of the oppressed, and spend some of your time on behalf of the hungry, THEN your light will rise in the darkness and your night will become like the noonday. Read for yourself the promises of God from verse eleven to the end. There is much meat in Chapter 58. Take it to heart and obey our living God. Psalm 5:8 is my heart cry for the Lord to lead me in His righteousness, because my enemies would like to distract me. Lord, make straight your way before me so that I will not be lead astray! As I flipped back to Ecclesiastes 5:8 again I was reminded of how earthly things are nothing as compared to being in God's will. It says if you see the poor oppressed in a place and justice and rights denied, do not be surprised at such things; for one official is eyed by a higher one, and over them both are other higher still. The Almighty Himself will judge. We are to love and provide when and where He shows us! So Today I breathe in the Goodness of God, and exhale the pressures of the day knowing He will set my path straight and all I need to do is follow! Hey, that goes for you too!