Text: 1 Corinthians 14:1-3

 1 Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy. 2 For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God:  for no man understandeth him;  howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries. 3 But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort. 

Monday, 7^th October 2024

THE RIGHT MOTIVATION

Text: 1 Corinthians 14:1-3

Memory verse: Luke 3: 18 And many other things in his exhortation preached he unto the people.

Make sure that your motivation is always to build the body of Christ. The Gifts of the Holy Spirit are always to edify, exhort and comfort people. To minister effectively in the gifts, you need to love people, have good relationships with people, have an acceptance by the people, otherwise so much of what we have to share with them will be rejected. To flow in the Gift of the Word of Knowledge or any other spiritual gift does not make you a prophet of God, you cannot demand that the people accept what we say or else it will be "Thus saith the Lord, brimstone and judgment will fall upon thee."

In exercising the Gift of the Word of Knowledge we are passing on to others information from the Holy Spirit that He wants them to know at that particular time in their life. A natural illustration that might be helpful to your understanding is that of the postman. He is employed to deliver a message to pre-appointed people. His job is to take the message to the person whose name is on the envelope. It is not the postman’s message that comes from the sender. The postman does not have to know or understand the lifestyle of the person who the letter is addressed to. His job is simply to deliver the message whether he understands it or not. If the postman gets careless or outside his realm of authority, then there is every possibility that the message will be delayed, or even delivered to the wrong person that will cause confusion.

In the Holy Spirit ministry. Our "employer" the Holy Spirit asks us to deliver a message to a certain person. It is not "our" message and the message is not for us. We are simply the delivery person. When we do just as the Holy Spirit asks us no more and no less, then the message the Word of Knowledge will be delivered to the right person in the right place at the right time. Remember, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth.

It is when we try to interfere with that process that the Gifts of the Holy Spirit fall into disrepute. Once that happens repeatedly people will "switch-off" to the messenger and not receive any "words" from them in their hearts, even if they show otherwise outwardly at the time of reception.

CGDS HYMN 22: SS&S 844:

I COULD NOT DO WITHOUT THEE

1. I could not do without Thee,
O Savior of the lost,
Whose precious blood redeemed me
At such tremendous cost;
Thy righteousness, Thy pardon,
Thy precious blood, must be
My only hope and comfort,
My glory and my plea.

2. I could not do without Thee;
I cannot stand alone,
I have no strength or goodness,
No wisdom of my own;
But Thou, beloved Savior,
Art all in all to me,
And weakness will be power
If I lean hard on Thee.

3. I could not do without Thee;
No other friend can read
The spirit’s strange, deep longings,
Interpreting its need;
No human heart could enter
Each dim recess of mine,
And soothe, and hush, and calm it,
O blessed Lord, but Thine.

4. I could not do without Thee,
For years are fleeting fast,
And soon in solemn loneness
The river must be passed;
But Thou wilt never leave me,
And though the waves roll high,
I know Thou wilt be near me,
And whisper, “It is I.

 Prayers 

1.  Lord Jesus, empower me with all the gifts of the Holy Spirit to edify, exhort and comfort people.

2.  LORD God Almighty, empower me to deliver only your message and not my message in Jesus’ name. Amen.    

3.  Pray for others in this regard.