Day 26 – God’s Parcel Service – Julie Earl
Romans 12:6-12
Romans 12:6 says, “We have different gifts, according to the grace given us.” In my book No More No, I explain that you and I don’t own the gifts of the Spirit. We simply deliver them as God gives us grace. We are part of God’s Parcel Service (GPS). One day God’s Spirit may prompt you to share a nugget of information about someone to show that God knows them and cares about them (a word of knowledge). On another day He might prompt you to pray for someone for healing in their body or their heart. At another encounter, He might give you a picture in your mind’s eye of something coming up in their future to help confirm His work in their life (prophecy). All of these are simply God’s way of loving the world through you as you learn to tune in and listen to what He is speaking to your thoughts. Since you have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16) and God’s Spirit lives inside you, you can hear God’s thoughts and operate in the power of the Holy Spirit.
If all the gifts of the Spirit are available to all believers, what keeps us from stepping out and delivering those gifts?
Our lack of faith.
Our lack of faith that the gifts are still available as they were in the early church; and our lack of faith that God can really speak and work through each of His children – even us. The second half of Romans 12:6 says, “If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith.” It is our faith in God’s bigness and His ability to speak and work through us that allows Him to speak and work through us. If we don’t believe He can and will, we shut off the flow.
Jesus made this principle clear when two blind men came to Him to be healed. He asked them if they believed He could do it, and they said they did believe. Jesus then said, “According to your faith let it be done to you” (Matthew 9:29). God is a good Father and wants to work in and through us, but He can only work according to the amount of faith we have that He will work.
I don’t feel highly prophetic or gifted, but I believe God is the gift giver and I’m just the delivery person. All I have to do is trust He wants to work through me, and then step out of the “truck” by faith and go for it. Sometimes I get it right and sometimes I miss it, but the more I step out by faith, the more accurate I become. Even when I do miss it, people are still blessed, and God is honored that I love Him enough to step out of my comfort zone to express His heart of love and truth!
Romans 12:11 says, “Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.” If you want to increase your zeal and passion for Jesus, then you must serve Him. Just as a servant is constantly tuned in to what his master wants, we need to be tuned in to what our Master wants. When we listen and say yes to God’s promptings at school, work, the grocery store and everywhere we go, we are lovingly serving our Master.
I am at a conference this week, and God has given me words or prayers for people at the conference, a homeless lady in front of the hotel, the hotel janitor, and the cleaning people at the event. Some of them have seemed more profound than others, but I believe each person was profoundly touched because God connected with them through me. We truly get to be His hands, His voice and His feet on the earth – and it’s such a blast once we push past our fears and say yes!
You are a beloved servant of the King with the privilege of allowing Him to passionately love the world through you!
Many blessings and much love,
Julie Earl with Crazy About You Ministries (CAYM)
All Scripture taken from the New International Version 1984 edition unless otherwise noted.
[Oops. Just realized this blog didn’t post last week. Sorry!]