A bold reassurance from the Lord
Matthew 6
25Therefore I tell you, stop being [1] perpetually uneasy (anxious and worried) about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink; or about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life greater [in quality] than food, and the body [far above and more excellent] than clothing?
26Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father keeps feeding them. Are you not worth much more than they?
27And who of you by worrying and being anxious can add one unit of measure (cubit) to his stature or to the [2] span of his life?(1)
28And why should you be anxious about clothes? Consider the lilies of the field and [3] learn thoroughly how they grow; they neither toil nor spin.
29Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his [4] magnificence (excellence, dignity, and grace) was not arrayed like one of these. [I Kings 10:4-7.]
30But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and green and tomorrow is tossed into the furnace, will He not much more surely clothe you, O you of little faith?
31Therefore do not worry and be anxious, saying, What are we going to have to eat? Or, What are we going to have to drink? or, What are we going to have to wear?
32For the Gentiles (heathen) wish for and crave and diligently seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows well that you need them all.
33But seek ([5] aim at and strive after) first of all His kingdom and His righteousness ([6] His way of doing and being right), and then all these things [7] taken together will be given you besides.
34So do not worry or be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will have worries and anxieties of its own. Sufficient for each day is its own trouble.
If this is true then why do I worry about shelter and food and clothing does this verse not say seek ye first the kindom of heaven and these things will be given to you? Have I been seeking His kindom first? At a point in my life where I long for the resources of a big city as opposed to the lack of Timmins. Guess it is make or break time for my faith in the Lord. I fully believe He will provide for all my needs, no but's about it, except am I living in His will? What will He have me do?
As I work through a ministry class at FCC with Pastor Mal I struggle with the differences between what my natural abilities are and my spiritual gifts, partly because I see no distinguishing between them and partly because my memory of when I first came to the Lord is repressed. Was it at Bible camp when I was 8? Was it when my cousin died at 18? Or was it when I had my children at 19?
As a kid I was shy and was tortured by my peers a lot due to my weight problem. But come junior high time things started to change I grew bigger and stronger then the bullies. I was still shy but I started to take out the bullies cause I was sick of their pathetic little games. It was also around that time I hit the bottle and started to smoke. But gifts started to show up like the ability to take anything that I learned and teach it in plain English instead of geek or nerd talk. Would that fall under the gift of teaching? I started getting visions of when things would go wrong. Is that the gift of prophecy or was that a haunting from my occult days? I lost my beautiful singing voice but gained an ability to paint would that be the gift of art? From a young age I was taught to be generous and to tip big even if I just went in to use a washroom of a restaurant. I was also taught to love and help those in need even if I couldn't afford it. Would this fall under the gift of sacrificial giving or under helps or would it be a gift at all or just a natural ability. Next as I reached adult hood and know definitely that I was saved I started getting knowledge and wisdom that I could not understand where it had come from. I was teaching my bosses better ways to do there jobs and having them ask me for advise, same with church leaders so would this be the gift of apostalizing or church planting?
One confused brother looking for answers if any one has advise or any idea bout this stuff let me know,
Your bro in the Lord Jesus Christ,
Eric
25Therefore I tell you, stop being [1] perpetually uneasy (anxious and worried) about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink; or about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life greater [in quality] than food, and the body [far above and more excellent] than clothing?
26Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father keeps feeding them. Are you not worth much more than they?
27And who of you by worrying and being anxious can add one unit of measure (cubit) to his stature or to the [2] span of his life?(1)
28And why should you be anxious about clothes? Consider the lilies of the field and [3] learn thoroughly how they grow; they neither toil nor spin.
29Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his [4] magnificence (excellence, dignity, and grace) was not arrayed like one of these. [I Kings 10:4-7.]
30But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and green and tomorrow is tossed into the furnace, will He not much more surely clothe you, O you of little faith?
31Therefore do not worry and be anxious, saying, What are we going to have to eat? Or, What are we going to have to drink? or, What are we going to have to wear?
32For the Gentiles (heathen) wish for and crave and diligently seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows well that you need them all.
33But seek ([5] aim at and strive after) first of all His kingdom and His righteousness ([6] His way of doing and being right), and then all these things [7] taken together will be given you besides.
34So do not worry or be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will have worries and anxieties of its own. Sufficient for each day is its own trouble.
If this is true then why do I worry about shelter and food and clothing does this verse not say seek ye first the kindom of heaven and these things will be given to you? Have I been seeking His kindom first? At a point in my life where I long for the resources of a big city as opposed to the lack of Timmins. Guess it is make or break time for my faith in the Lord. I fully believe He will provide for all my needs, no but's about it, except am I living in His will? What will He have me do?
As I work through a ministry class at FCC with Pastor Mal I struggle with the differences between what my natural abilities are and my spiritual gifts, partly because I see no distinguishing between them and partly because my memory of when I first came to the Lord is repressed. Was it at Bible camp when I was 8? Was it when my cousin died at 18? Or was it when I had my children at 19?
As a kid I was shy and was tortured by my peers a lot due to my weight problem. But come junior high time things started to change I grew bigger and stronger then the bullies. I was still shy but I started to take out the bullies cause I was sick of their pathetic little games. It was also around that time I hit the bottle and started to smoke. But gifts started to show up like the ability to take anything that I learned and teach it in plain English instead of geek or nerd talk. Would that fall under the gift of teaching? I started getting visions of when things would go wrong. Is that the gift of prophecy or was that a haunting from my occult days? I lost my beautiful singing voice but gained an ability to paint would that be the gift of art? From a young age I was taught to be generous and to tip big even if I just went in to use a washroom of a restaurant. I was also taught to love and help those in need even if I couldn't afford it. Would this fall under the gift of sacrificial giving or under helps or would it be a gift at all or just a natural ability. Next as I reached adult hood and know definitely that I was saved I started getting knowledge and wisdom that I could not understand where it had come from. I was teaching my bosses better ways to do there jobs and having them ask me for advise, same with church leaders so would this be the gift of apostalizing or church planting?
One confused brother looking for answers if any one has advise or any idea bout this stuff let me know,
Your bro in the Lord Jesus Christ,
Eric
2 Comments:
Eric, I's wondering if you could clarify for me why you are needing to find the distinction between spiritual gift and natural ability. I'm new to the whole spiritual gift realm really...from where I stand right now, I only see that both gifts and ability are from God, and meant to further His Kingdom, and thus the question I would be asking is not if this is a mere natural ability, but how is the Spirit guiding me to use it? Its not our own efforts that make the real difference, which I'm sure you are aware of and this is maybe why you want to make sure you aren't just relying on natural ability...what seems to be the crux of the issue to me is whether or not we are acting in the will of the Spirit, with our gifts and talents, and whether we proclaim that even the natural abilities we have are given by our Creator...perhaps I have misunderstood what you are struggling with. Just thought I'd share my thoughts re: your post. God bless, you are in my prayers regarding this matter in particular!
Well it all has to do with the ministry course that I am taking with pastor Mal. One part of the course is determinning our spiritual gifts, another part is determining our natural abitlies, and another part is our life experiences, yet another part is our heart's desires and it's purpose. All together these things determine where I fit in to the ministry and where I am best suited to help the cause of God.
Thanks for responding Ra as I was confused when I was asked to differentiate between the 2 myself because yeah they are all from God and to be used for His purpose, not only that but when I was going through what some people call spiritual gifts I came to realize that this person was in error because at least a third of them weren't spiritual gifts at all but orders from Jesus Himself, but I digress it could be me that's in error.
talk to you later
Eric
A bondservant of the Lord Jesus Christ
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