Today's Passage - Romans 12:6-7

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Romans 12:6-7   "We have different gifts, according to the grace given us.  If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith.  If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach..."   In this passage, Paul talked about collaboration of various spiritual gifts in Christ.  God has given every believer different spiritual gifts, and it is His will for us to serve according to these gifts.  Spiritual gifts are the talents and strengths that the Holy Spirit gave to each believer in order to serve God.  Paul brought up several examples here: there are those who prophesy, serve as deacon, teach, encourage, contribute to the needs of others, lead and show mercy.  While there are seven examples here, there are actually at least twenty spiritual gifts in the Bible.  These gifts are granted by the Holy Spirit according to His will, and we need to come before God and ask God to reveal to us what our own gifts are.  Besides pleading God in prayer, we should also try out different roles in ministry, because through trial and error we will really know which areas of ministry are we most effective and which ones are not.  If we don't ever try, it's difficult to know what special gifts we have    Some Christians have the wrong concept that if we cannot be the best at what we do, then we shouldn't even do it.  This is completely wrong and it leads to people afraid of trying or developing their own gifts, thus robbing the Holy Spirit opportunity to use us.  On the other hand, spiritual gifts need to be confirmed; not only do should you feel joyful while serving in such capacity, others should also notice the effectiveness of what you've done.  It is a problem if you are the only one who think you have the gift while everyone else are just tolerating you.   The discovery and application of gifts should be carried according to our faith too.  Don't be afraid to fail, because no one can do things perfectly the first time.  That's why Paul said that we ought of think ourselves with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given us.  It doesn't mean that the bigger our faith is and greater our gifts are, and vice versa, because every gift needs to be used with different levels of faith.  God has given us the faith to discover and apply our gifts, and all we need to do is to be who God wants us to be by faith.  May God give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation, let us become more effective in serving God.      Pray with Pastor Tong           Lord, please put the spirit of wisdom in our heart and let us see the gifts that you have place inside us, so that we may exercise and apply these gifts by faith in our daily life.  May your Holy Spirit guide us and let us become more effective in serving you.  I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!