Thursdays Child-Gifts of the Spirit

This week on Thursdays Child we'll take a look at the gifts of the Spirit. As we talked about last week, these are some of the things we've inherited by becoming children of God. They are listed in 1 Corinthians 12:4-11. Instead of quoting the scripture word for word I'll just list them. Wisdom, knowledge, special faith, power to heal, power to perform miracles, prophesy, ability to know whether a Spirit is of God or another spirit is speaking, speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues. Verse 11 says "It is the one and only Spirit who distributes these gifts, and He alone decides which gifts each person recieves." I know there is some debate whether these gifts are active today. I used to work with a lady who believed when the last of the apostles died, the gifts ceased. I personally believe, as I have said, that since we have been adopted by the Father, His gifts are available to us. We also have to remember the last part of verse 11. He decides who gets these gifts. I also wonder, once you have recognized your gift do you always have it like Benny Hinn and the other healers, or does He allow you gifts in certain situations, never to use it again? I know there have been times when my wife and I have prayed for people and they have been healed. Does that mean we could travel and make a ministry out of it? Maybe, but I don't think we have been given that "special faith" gift because we are much more comfortable with the security of jobs with steady paychecks. The previous question can possibly be answered in Hebrews 2:4. The last part of that verse says "He gives the gifts whenever He chooses." This section is actually talking about how our salvation is verified whenever He has chosen to give us these gifts. That doesn't mean we aren't saved if we never recieve a gift, but I do believe that the more we search for God and become closer to Him the more He will allow us to experience. So keep searching for Him, and keep searching for your gift. Thanks for searching with me, Paul

Unlikely Defender

Unlikely Defender

Alejandro was patiently, or not so patiently, waiting for his mother to come home from work. All summer he has spent his days with his grandmother. He is only six years old so he can't stay home by himself yet. Some of the other kids in the neighborhood do but he is happy to stay with abuela, grandma. Even though his teachers have made it clear he is to speak English at school his abuela prefers spanish at her house.Today is an exciting day. When his mom gets home they are going to pack up the car and go away for the weekend. They usually get to do this one time during the summer. They go to the beach on Sunday sometimes when his mom isn't too tired. His mom works two jobs and alot of time she gets overtime. So, she even has to work some Saturdays and some nights even past supper. On the nights when she gets home really late he knows those are the days she gets to save extra money for their weekend.

They don't ever drive too far because, even though she takes an exta day off she said she wants to have alot of time to have fun, not spend time driving. They always go somewhere away from Miami. They live in a part of Miami called "Little Havana". He doesn't remember living in Cuba because they came over here when he was just a baby, but from the stories he's heard he is glad to live here. Even though it's better here mom says she just needs to get away and forget about the city for awhile.

Fear, and sadness washed over him as he heard the phone ring. He just knew it was going to be his mother saying she was going to have to work late. Just then as his abuela was talking on the phone his mothers car pulled into the driveway.

"Mami!, Mami!, Abuela!,Abuela!,madre esta' aqui'!" Alejandro screamed as he ran around the house looking for his grandmother.
By the time his grandmother finished her phone call Alejandro's mother was already in the house. She was just as anxious to leave for their weekend as he was so they said goodbye to Abuela, grabbed Alejandro's stuff and hurried home. They threw their suitcases in the trunk, grabbed a sandwich, chips, and a drink, and were out the door again.

As they started driving Alejandro's mother asked him how his day was. It was pretty much the same as every other day in the summer. Play a board game or cards with abuela, watch some t.v while abuela rests after lunch, then just hang out and do whatever until mom comes to pick him up about supper time. Miami's rush hour traffic lasts longer than an hour so it seemed like it took them forever to get out of the city, but they still made it to Fort Lauderdale in a little over an hour.

They found their motel, and went up to their room. Alejandro liked for their room to be on the highest floor possible. This time they were on the eighth floor, and got to look out over the beach. After getting settled in, and checking out the room, they headed to the beach. Over the course of the weekend, they had drinks with umbrellas in them, seashell hunts, shopping in gift shops, playing games in arcades, eating whatever they wanted, late night T.V., and the sunrise over the ocean (which meant naps if necessary in the afternoon). It was such a fun time, both of them got sad, and quiet when it was time to pack up Sunday. It was also a quiet ride back to Miami. So, when they got close to home mom decided to get them each ice cream since she needed to stop and get gas anyway. They came out of the store and started toward the car when suddenly a car came out of nowhere, speeding between the store and the gas pumps. The driver had no other place to go, and Alejandro had no time to get out of the way. The next thing Alejandro knew he was waking up in the hospital. His mom told him he had been there four days. The doctors and nurses had done a bunch of tests on him and, even though he didn't understand everything, he understood it when they said his legs didn't work anymore from the waist down. Over the next few weeks the phone rang almost constantly, newspapers wanting an interview, amusement parks offering free days, and companies offering free stuff. The best thing was a brand new motorized wheelchair. The day it was delivered everyone was so excited. His whole family came over to check it out. They helped him figure it out and he took it for a test drive. He was really excited about it because, school had started and he wasn't able to be there for his first day of first grade, now he would be able to go to school. They lived close enough to the school so Abuela could walk him there in the morning, since his mother had to go to work so early. He was a little worried because he remembered last year in Kindergarten some of the bigger kids picking on the littler ones. When they got there he was surprised, everyone was happy to see him, and offered to help even with stuff he could do on his own.

One day as he and his grandma were leaving school it started to rain. They thought they could make it home before it got too bad, but just the opposite happened. It started lightning really bad and there was no place to get inside so they just had to keep going. One flash of lightning was so close it made his wheelchair shut off. Fortunately they were close enough by then, that it wasn't too hard for his grandma to push him the rest of the way. Grandma called for his uncle to come over to check out the wheelchair. When he got there there the chair started up like normal and seemed fine. He said it must have been too much electricity from the lightning, and that messed up the

That night after supper Alejandro was going to go outside. This was really the first chance he had to ride it since the storm, because his mom puts it in the car to go home. When he started it up, he thought it sounded different but decided it must have been his imagination. Well, when he pushed the lever to go forward, he did a wheely and almost crashed through the front door. He was so stunned that, when he finally landed back down on all four wheels he had a hard time catching his breath. After he settled down and thought about it for a few minutes he decided this was one secret noone was going to know about.

It took him a while to get used to his new turbo power. He really had to be careful not to forget about it at school or when other people were around. He didn't need anyone finding out and ratting on him. One day though at Abuela's house she let him go outside after his snack. He was cruising up and down the sidewalk, when he heard yelling. He went around the corner and found his friend Hector being picked on by two older boys. Hector had gotten a new hat and they were playing keep away with it. Alejandro decided he couldn't keep his chair a secret any longer. He shoved the lever all the way to the forward position, the motor screamed to life. What was once a low humming sound, was now a roar that definitely got noticed, especially by two bullies. Alejandro wheelied about ten feet, and when he came down he had one of the bullies on the run. He threw Hectors hat to him and turned up an alley as fast as he could go. Even though he had the speed Alejandro didn't exactly have the manuverability so he had to let him go. He spun around to see the other punk laughing at his friend being chased by a kid in a wheelchair. Well, his laughter turned to screams of fear when he saw Alejandro coming after him. Unfortunately for him Alejandro was between him and the alleys so Alejandro quickly caught up to him. As he got beside him he turned into him just enough that his front wheels bumped the bully's left leg into his right leg and he went rolling down the sidewalk, tearing his pants and scraping his knees and elbows. He got turned around just in time to see the second punk limping away, wailing on his way home.

He went back to make sure Hector was okay,and Hector was just standing there with his mouth hanging wide open.

"How did you do that?" he asked

"I don't know, after a thunder storm I had this burst of power,please don't tell anyone, I don't want them to take it away from me." Alejandro replied

"Oh, don't worry about that." Hector said "You keep guys like that away from everybody and we'll all keep your secret."

The two headed home, laughing all the way, remembering how those punks looked being chased by a little kid in a wheelchair.

Thursdays Child-John 1:12,13

This week on Thursdays Child we'll continue on with John 1: 12. It says "but to all who believed Him and accepted Him, He gave the right to become children of God." As I was reading this I remembered a sermon I heard a few years back. I don't remember the preacher, but he was actually talking about John 3:16 and the way the word "believe" is used. I remember thinking that anyone could say "Sure, I believe in Jesus I must be going to heaven." Well, if you put in that context Satan believes in Jesus. He actually talked to Him in the desert, and we know where he ends up. So, I looked up the word believe in my new favorite bible study tool, the Lexicon, on Crosswalk.com. I found that there are 3 Greek words for the word believe. The one used here in verse 12 is pisteuo. It is used 85 times in the book of John alone including John 3:16. It means "to place confidence in. To trust in Jesus or God" Now, looking at it in that way we can see that wouldn't apply to satan. Another way to define it would be "to have a relationship with. Maybe it should say "to everyone who has accepted Him and has a relationship with Him, He gave the right to be children of God." Do we really understand what the last part of that verse means? To be a child of God. To be a member of God's family. Usually to be a member of a family means you get all the benefits and the inheritance of that family. Especially if you are adopted into a family,as we are in God's family. To those who may not be familiar with adoption, if a child is adopted he or she is legally guaranteed a portion of the inheritance. Children born to a man and woman can be left out of the will, but adopted children have to be included. Verse 13 says "We are reborn, it is not a physical birth resulting from human passion but the rebirth comes from God." Just think about what we're inheriting by being reborn or adopted into God's family. Basically everything Jesus was capable of is available to us. We need to get past the limitations of our human mind and venture out and be available to let God use us. Since we know God can perform the supernatural, then we need to let Him do it through us, and don't be surprised when it happens. Amazed maybe but not surprised. Next week we'll look at the gifts of the Spirit, to see some of the things that are available to us. Thanks for searching with me, Paul

Thursdays Child-John 1:10,11

This week on Thursdays Child we're going to skip over verses 6-9 of John 1because they deal with John The Baptist, and we'll talk about him in more detail later. So, this week I would like to start with verse 10 which says, "although the world was made through Him the world did not recognize Him." 11) Even in His own land and among His own people He was not accepted. The key phrase here is "being accepted." Of course, they recognized Him in the literal since of the word. So how was it they didn't they recognize Him? As the Messiah. As their Savior. Now a big question would be, why didn't they? As I was thinking about this I applied it to my own life. I left Florida at 18 years old. If I had gone back at 30, and I came upon my cousin baptizing people in a lake, and he started saying "look, there is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" I don't think I would get such a warm welcome either. I could imagine being ignored at first then if I would have done the same things Jesus did I could imagine being treated the same way. Granted, Jesus grew up living a sinless life, and none of us can claim that. But still they knew Him as just a carpenter's son. Fortunately alot of people outside of His own town did believe. I think we need to remember that all through the Bible there are stories of God using the so called "lower class" of people to do the greatest things. So, never forget that even though we may not think we have what it takes to do great things God sometimes has a different plan. Thanks for searching with me, Paul

Thursdays Child- What's In A Name

This week on Thursdays Child I'd like to try to answer a question I've been having since we started in John. The question is, why is John calling Jesus "The Word?" I mean why couldn't he have just said "In the beginning Jesus already existed etc. etc." Well, on Crosswalk.com there are bible study tools you can go to. So, I went looking around and found a lexicon. I didn't know what that was but I checked it out anyway. I found that it translates English words to Greek and Hebrew. I also found that there are quite a few words used for the word, "word". Two that I was kind of familiar with were Logos, and Rhema. Rhema is used for the written word. Logos is used for the spoken word. There was also a note that said a philosopher named Heraclitus first used the term Logos to designate the divine plan which coordinates a changing universe. That is why John was using it here. Jesus spoke creation into existence, which changed the world, and He also came to earth as a human to change the world. If they would have written back then like we talk today it would be so much easier to understand, but I like being able to figure these things out. I just hope that you find it as interesting as I do, and that your questions are being answered as well. As I look over John 1:1-5 it looks like we've squeezed as much out of that as we possibly can, so we'll continue on next week. Thanks for searching with me, Paul

Sudden Revelation

One day back in March I was driving across Wyoming, coming back to Rapid City from Gillette. I was listening to a preaching cd. The preacher was was talking about God as Father and His love for us. He was saying that God is love. Now, that's a pretty common saying, but he went on to say something that really triggered something in me. He said, It's not like God has a pitcher of water that He distributes out love as we need it. He is love, He is the water, and the closer we get to Him we begin to experience that love more and more, and are able to share that love more and more. I've never been to Montana but Montana is called Big Sky Country. From what I have seen of Wyoming I think it could be called the same thing. Basically, I think that just means there is nothing to get in the way of seeing for miles,and miles. It's mostly prairie, and farm land. For me on this day that was an advantage. As this preacher was preaching I looked out of my windshield from left to right all along the horizon, and all I could see was blue sky as far as I could see. Not a cloud in the sky, just a round blue ceiling covering all of us, and it suddenly hit me that God literally is covering us with his love and all we need to do is just connect with Him and tap into that love. Could you imagine if we all did that how much better off this world would be? Shortly after my revelation I looked down noticed I was doing 82mph, noticed the flashing lights in my rear view mirror, pulled over, got my warning ticket, and continued on to Rapid City, but even that couldn't ruin my day. Thanks for searching with me, Paul

Thursdays Child-John 1:4,5

This week on Thursdays Child we'll continue with the gospel of John. Starting with verse 4. It says, "Life itself was in Him, and this life gives light to everyone. 5) This light shines through the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it. If we stop there for a moment and notice that just as we saw last week, verses 1-3 sent us back to Genesis. I think it's the same with verses 4 and 5. If we look back at Genesis 1:3, what was created on the first day? The very first thing created was the heavens and the earth, then on the first day God said let there be light, and there was light, and He separated the light from the darkness. As we also saw last week Jesus created everything that exists, so it's only natural that The Light (Jesus) created the light. Without getting off track too much let's just note that by the time this happened the angel Lucifer has already been kicked out of heaven, and now we have Satan (darkness) in the world as the opposing force to the Light. I think it's so cool that when we finally accept Jesus as our Savior we feel like the light bulb has finally come on and we realize that we were living in darkness all along, and this is how life was meant to be. We are actually living life like Adam and Eve knew it to be before they sinned, we just need to keep searching to be able to experience that one on one closeness with God. Thanks for searching with me Paul