Day 19

Take a moment to pause, be still, and prepare your heart and mind to receive God’s word. 

Today’s Scripture:

⁴ There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. ⁵ There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. ⁶ God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.

⁷ A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. ⁸ To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice^[a]; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge.^[b] 9 The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. ¹⁰ He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages,^[c] while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. ¹¹ It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.

1 Corinthians 12:4-11 NLT

I didn’t participate in any sports growing up. Not even pick up games or intramurals. I have always been the person who sits on the sidelines, never the one participating in the action! I’m more than content sitting in the bleachers with a soft pretzel and a diet coke, watching everyone else do the hard work. 

While this may be suitable for city league sports, this is not God’s intention for us in the kingdom of God. We aren’t merely observers of what God is doing on earth, he has called us to be active participants! He chooses to use us, every single day, to accomplish his will. One of the ways he does this is by gifting us through his Holy Spirit for the work of ministry. The Bible lists several spiritual gifts as examples. These lists aren’t exhaustive, but they are helpful tools in aiding us to discover ways the Spirit has uniquely gifted us to do God’s will in our city and for our city.

Reflect

Read over the passage again. Is there a specific gift listed here that stands out to you?

Pray

If you know your spiritual gifts, ask the Holy Spirit for opportunities to exercise them this week. If you don’t, ask the Holy Spirit to reveal and confirm the gifts he has given you.

Family Moment

Write out the different spiritual gifts listed here on separate slips of paper and distribute them to different members in your family. Take turns looking up that word in your Bible. What would that gift look like in someone today?