Six Weeks of Prayer: Monday, October 23, 2017

| Posted By Charles Gaston

Paul writes with the conviction that God has given all Christians gifts and that they are to be used. The giftedness is not in question, but whether they are used or not is.

But note first that the gifts are a result of the “grace given to us.” God, in his mercy, has shown you grace in and through Jesus Christ. Part of God’s grace to his people is that he has given them gifts in order that the gospel might go out. This is done in a variety of ways, but primarily through the verbal proclamation of the gospel. We all feel the reticence to exercise our gifts for the glory of God; in fact, we are much more comfortable exercising them for our own glory. We delight in telling of our own accomplishments, but too often hesitate to talk about what Christ accomplished on the cross.

Gifts are meant to be used to glorify the Lord Jesus. And we do that by proclaiming the gospel.

Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them. (Romans 12:6)

PRAYER

Sovereign God, thy cause, not my own, engages my heart, and I appeal to thee with greatest freedom to set up thy kingdom in every place where Satan reigns; glorify thyself and I shall rejoice, for to bring honor to they name is my sole desire. I adore thee that thou art God, and long that others should know it, feel it, and rejoice in it. O that all men might love and praise thee, that thou mightiest have all the glory from the intelligent world! Amen. (prayer of Arthur Barnett, in The Valley of Vision)