Gifts

 Happy Sunday!

James 1:17-18 says, "So, my very dear friends, don’t get thrown off course. Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light. There is nothing deceitful in God, nothing two-faced, nothing fickle. He brought us to life using the true Word, showing us off as the crown of all his creatures."(Message).

God loves us, and He loves giving us gifts!  Don't we all just love getting gifts?  I do! God told Abraham, "I will bless you with incredible blessings and multiply your descendants into countless thousands and millions, like the stars above you in the sky, and like the sands along the seashore. They will conquer their enemies,"(Living Bible).  Jesus reinforced this in Luke 11:13, "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much MORE shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?"(KJV). 

What gifts has he given us? Great question!  I'm so glad you asked!

The Gift of His Son - "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."(John 3:16 KJV).

The Gift of The Holy Ghost - "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."(Acts 2:38 KJV).

The Gift of Righteousness - "After Adam sinned once, he was judged guilty. But the gift of God is different. His free gift came after many sins, and it makes people RIGHT with him."(Romans 5:16 Easy-to-Read Version).  "The sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to be king over all, but all who will take God’s gift of forgiveness and acquittal are kings of life because of this one man, Jesus Christ."(Romans 5:17 Living Bible).

The Gift of Purpose - "But that doesn’t mean you should all look and speak and act the same. Out of the generosity of Christ, each of us is given his OWN gift."(Ephesians 4:7 Message).  "He handed out gifts above and below, filled heaven with his gifts, filled earth with his gifts. He handed out gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, and pastor-teacher to train Christ’s followers in skilled servant work, working within Christ’s body, the church, until we’re all moving rhythmically and easily with each other, efficient and graceful in response to God’s Son, fully mature adults, fully developed within and without, fully alive like Christ."(Ephesians 4:11-13 Message).

The Gift of Peace  "Peace I leave with you; My [own] peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. [Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed; and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled.](John 14:27 Amplified).

The Gift of Healing & Deliverance - "As you go proclaim that the kingdom of Heaven has arrived. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cure the lepers, drive out devils—give, as you have received, without any charge whatever."(Matthew 10:7-8 Phillips).

The Gift of Mercy - "Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the throne of grace (the throne of God’s unmerited favor to us sinners), that we may receive MERCY [for our failures] and find grace to help in good time for every need [appropriate help and well-timed help, coming just when we need it]."(Hebrews 4:16 Amplified).

The Gift of Divine Protection - "Jesus said to them, “I saw Satan falling like lightning from the sky. He is the enemy, but know that I have given you more power than he has. I have given you power to crush his snakes and scorpions under your feet. NOTHING will hurt you. Yes, even the spirits obey you. And you can be happy, not because you have this power, but because your names are written in heaven.”(Luke 10:18-20 Easy-to-Read Version).

I will stop here BUT I'm sure you know there are more gifts to name, and God is still giving us Gifts each and everyday!

Love and prayers, Cynthia