Daily Devotion

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River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english 1 Corinthians 12:11   All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.      Paul says that the gifts are given to each individual by the Holy Spirit, in other words, to you and to me. Each person is redeemed by the precious blood of Christ and we receive His grace to become children of God. The will of God is not for us to waste our time on earth. The Lord gave us talents and gifts. He wants to mould us into vessels He can use. As such, do not underestimate yourself and do not think that you have no gifts. May the Spirit of God help us recognize our gifts so that we can co-labor with the Holy Spirit. The truth is the gifts and the Holy Spirit always work together. Gifts are like the vessel and the Holy Spirit like the water. The water needs to flow through the vessel in order for people to receive the blessings. The gifts must work with the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit, the gifts cannot function. Without gifts, the blessings of the Holy Spirit cannot reach others.   You and I need to understand that the Holy Spirit and the gifts have a very close relationship. Many people do not understand this. Someone asked, "Why doesn't the healing evangelist go to the hospital to pray for all the sick? Won't the sick at the hospital be well then?" In fact, gifts and abilities are two different things. Although the one may have the gift of the Holy Spirit, if the Holy Spirit chooses not to work at that moment, having just the vessel of the gift is useless. If the vessel of the gift is not around, although the Holy Spirit may want to bless, people do not receive the blessings. Both must be present. If the Holy Spirit chooses not to work in the hospital, the healing evangelist will not be able to do anything in the hospital. If the Holy Spirit chooses to work in the hospital, but we do not visit the hospital, the sick will not be healed either. Both must work together. When we understand this, we will not misunderstand the work of the Holy Spirit. You and I are only the vessel following the Holy Spirit in order to bring about signs and wonders, so that people may benefit from the gifts.   Pray that God will give us a proper understanding of the Holy Spirit and the gifts, and obey the Holy Spirit in exercising our own gifts. In this way, the people around you and the people you serve may receive the benefits of the gifts. May the Lord encourage us once again.     Pray with Pastor Tong Liu          Lord, we thank you because you were willing to give us gifts and have already given us gifts. We ask that you help us know how to exercise our gifts and work with the Holy Spirit so that your blessings may flow to the people around us and your heart may be satisfied. We thank you and pray in the victorious name of Jesus, Amen!

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Daily Devotion

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River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english 1 Corinthians 12:8-10   To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.      Paul referred to the nine gifts, which can be divided into three categories:   The first category is the "word" gifts, including first, the word of knowledge. This is when we pray for others, God shows us things that have occurred in their past, or what is happening in their lives now. Second is the word of wisdom. This is when in prayer, God shows us what He has in the mind for that person or a particular situation. Third is the gift of prophecy. Corinthians 14:3 says, "But everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort". Sometimes God will speak to us through the images in our head, sometimes with thoughts, ideas or a particular Scripture, in order to reveal His will to us.   The second category is the "power" gifts, including first, faith. This is the Spirit of God moving us to speak forth commands that God's Spirit will then fulfill, that brings about signs and wonders. The second is the gift of healing. When we lay hands on the sick, the sick are healed, spiritually and physically, immediately or over the longer term. Those who receive this gift will at the same time receive compassion from the Holy Spirit. The third is the gift of miracles, which is different from verbally issuing a command to make things happen. The gift of miraculous powers comes by physically doing something. For example, Elisha lay upon the dead boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands, and the boy came back to life. This is the gift of miraculous powers.     The third category is the "revelatory" gifts, including the gift of tongues. Tongues are the prayer language that God gives. 1 Corinthians 14:2 says, "For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries with his spirit". The second is the gift of interpretation, especially in public, when you speak in tongues, to be able to interpret so as to avoid chaos. The third is to distinguish between spirits, to be able to identify whether something is from God or from evil spirits when something occurs. These gifts require the revelation of the Holy Spirit. May the Lord help us to study and exercise these gifts so that the name of the Lord may be glorified and the heart of God be satisfied.     Pray with Pastor Tong Liu          Lord, we thank you because you gave us all sorts of gifts in our lives so that the church may be built up, and your heart may be satisfied. May you manifest all kinds of gifts in our lives. We thank you and pray in the victorious name of Jesus, Amen!

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Daily Devotion

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River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english 1 Corinthians 12:7   Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.      The various gifts are for the benefit of people. The purpose of gifts is not for the benefit of oneself. Those with gifts are not to use the gift on themselves, but to serve one another. The gift of the Holy Spirit is not to exalt oneself above others, not to build one's own kingdom, but to build up the body of Christ, to build up others. Only when the gifts are exercised, can the church and believers be benefitted. We need to desire for gifts. The Bible talks about all kinds of spiritual gifts, especially in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10.   One of the first reasons people oppose to gifts is mentioned in 1 Corinthians 13:8, "Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away". However, if you look closely at this passage, it refers to when Jesus comes back again, not now. The second reason is that we do not belong to the same era as the apostles, thinking that the times of the apostles are different from today's church and that the apostles have different rights and gifts that no longer exist in today's church. The Chinese church has long been influenced by wrong theological teachings. The truth is there is only one church era. You and I belong to the same church era as the apostles. It is one church, one body, sharing the same grace and same rights. Who can say that we now belong to a different church from the early church? Read the New Testament. Who can say that this part is not for you, or this promise is not for you? No one can stop us from having the privileges of the New Testament, the promises and teachings of the New Testament. May the Lord help us to understand the rights we have in Christ.   There is a third reason, many people opposed to gifts of the Holy Spirit because of the bad witness. Indeed, in the history of the church, there are many people who have abused the gift. But how can we fully negate God's grace because of some bad examples? Should we deny the 12 apostles because Judas was part of them? Should we deny Paul because he worked with Demas who loved the world? Just as it is recorded in the Bible, Jesus did many miracles in Nazareth because the locals do not believe. Pray for open hearts to welcome the Holy Spirit so that different gifts may be exercised to the benefit of all.     Pray with Pastor Tong Liu          Lord, we praise you because you give gifts to us so that we may be benefitted. Let us have the correct understanding of your gifts, and therefore build up the whole church so we may be effective in helping people around us. We thank you and pray in the victorious name of Jesus, Amen!

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Daily Devotion

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River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english 1 Corinthians 12:4-6   There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.      Paul mentions here that gifts are closely related to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Gifts are not only associated with the Holy Spirit, but with Jesus and our Heavenly Father as well. Firstly, verse 4 talks about the relationship between the Holy Spirit and gifts. There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. In other words, a variety of gifts are being distributed by the same Holy Spirit. Pray that God will help us not to be divided, or to look down on those who are weak. The church today has this phenomenon. We like to compare ourselves with others and think we are better than others. God gives us different gifts not to cause division, but to complement one another in ministry. God is bigger than what we have experienced, so we need to make every effort to keep united the gifts of the Holy Spirit.   The next is the relationship between gifts and Jesus Christ referred to in verse 5. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord, who is Christ Jesus. There are different forms of ministry. There are those who serve on stage and those who serve off the stage. There are those who serve externally and those who serve internally. No matter what form, our ministry is for the same Lord. Since we serve the same God, there is no big or small ministry. Just like in the city, is the mayor or a garbage collector more important? If the garbage collectors go on strike even for only two weeks, the stench and the garbage will pile up. At this time, the garbage collector will seem so much more important than the mayor. There are many different ministries and they take on different forms. But ultimately, we serve the same Lord.   The third is the relationship between gift and God the Father. There are different kinds of gifts, but it is to glorify the same Father God. Different gift bring about different effects: When we see signs and wonders, some people are moved, some are benefited, some have the joy of harvesting. This is all for the glory of God the Father. So when we see the results of our gifts, we need to give God the glory because all gifts and power come from God.   People are often very weak. They like to go by appearance, and also like to follow people. When they see people who have the gift of miracles, they want to follow these people. The truth is, the Bible says "signs and wonders will follow those who believe". May the Lord help us, not to focus on the person or the gift itself, but to focus on God.     Pray with Pastor Tong Liu          Lord, once again we give thanks and praise, because you give us gifts so that we may work together to bring glory to you. May the Lord open our to recognize our own gifts and have a humble heart to learn from one another, so that your will may be satisfied. We thank you and pray in the victorious name of Jesus, Amen!

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Daily Devotion

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River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english 1 Corinthians 12:3   Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus be cursed," and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit.          Paul goes on to say that the third reason for the loss of gifts in the church is because we neglect the work of the Holy Spirit. Paul mentioned here that no one can say "Jesus is Lord", except by the Holy Spirit. Believers have too little an understanding of the work of the Holy Spirit, and the work of the Holy Spirit is rarely taught in the church. Even when it is taught, it often comes with warnings of danger, causing people to misunderstand the Holy Spirit.   Today when people think of the Holy Spirit, they think about evil spirits. The unbelievers stay away from spirits and gods, and unfortunately the believers in church also shy away from the Holy Spirit. In reality the relationship of the Holy Spirit with us is the most intimate among the trinity. The Father and the Son live within our hearts through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin and unrighteousness. The Holy Spirit also leads us into all truth. He never stops helping us to be and is the Comforter of our lives.   Many times when the Holy Spirit is mentioned in the church, there is often a debate. It is important for children to establish a warm and loving relationship with their parents, instead of merely studying about their parents. In the same way, although we need to know who the Holy Spirit is, more importantly we need to encounter Him and experience Him. May the Lord help us not to underestimate the work of the Holy Spirit, and not to reject the work of the Holy Spirit.   I still remember that in the past, it is hard for me to imagine how someone can laugh for half an hour in the Holy Spirit? I had doubts until I started the ministry of River of Life Christian Church. That was an incredibly difficult time as many people did not understand why I wanted to start a church. We had trouble finding a place to meet, there was a lot of pressure. At that time, I first experienced the laughter in the Spirit. After that experience, I was certain that we would be able to find a place to meet. Sure enough, God quickly prepared a meeting place for us. We all desperately need this type of laughter and joy in the Holy Spirit to be free and released. May the Lord help us not to reject the work of the Holy Spirit, so that we may experience more of His grace.     Pray with Pastor Tong Liu          Lord, we thank you because the Holy Spirit is indeed willing to give us all kinds of grace so that we may experience God's riches. May the Spirit of God open our hearts, so that we will not reject or underestimate the work of the Holy Spirit. May the work of the Holy Spirit be manifested in our lives and God's name be glorified. We thank you and pray in the victorious name of Jesus, Amen!

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Daily Devotion

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River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english 1 Corinthians 12:2    You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols.    The second reason for losing the spiritual gifts, according to Paul in this passage, is that we are using our natural life to assess spiritual matters. When we talk about spiritual life, we often confuse it with personality; a person is considered spiritual if he or she has good personality. The two, however, are not necessarily related. A spiritual person could have bad personality, and vice versa, because personality is in our nature, but spirituality is in our spirit. What is spirituality? It's the ability for one to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. In other word, if a person with good personality but cannot hear the voice of the Spirit, the person is still not spiritual, but if a person has bad personality but can hear the voice of the Spirit and is willing follow it, then this person is truly spiritual.    Whenever we talk about spiritual gifts in the church today, people immediately think of talents. The fact is that gifts and talents are completely different things. We are born with our talents or we may acquire them throughout our life, but gifts are how we serve God through the prompting of the Holy Spirit. You might have acquired a gift through learning, but your gift is definitely a talent. We in general understand this truth, but in practice we get rather nervous, because we want to use our natural life to control spiritual matters. Therefore, many in the church don't serve according to their gifts, because they either don't know what gifts God gave them, or the church never provided a good environment the practice the gifts, and they end up serving according to their specialties and interests. It is important to offer our talents for God to use, but besides talents we also need to exercise our spiritual gifts.    May God help us to have a humble heart and let the Holy Spirit guide us; help us to understand our spiritual gifts so that we can serve God in the church with both talents and gifts. When spiritual gifts are exercised, the power of the Holy Spirit will be released and the name of Christ will be lifted high, and thousands upon thousands will be drawn to the Lord. Today, the church is not witnessing signs and wonders because we have neglected teaching and practice the truth about spiritual gifts, so may God restore the truth and let the church enjoy the benefit of spiritual gifts.     Pray with Pastor Tong Liu          Lord, we ask that you once again open our hearts to see that the Holy Spirit loves to give us all kinds of blessings. May the Lord restore the spiritual gifts in the church, so that we may benefit from the gifts and people of the world will turn back to you. We thank you and we pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!

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