Spiritual Gifts - How to Grow Them

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

Gal.5:22,23

As we spoke about this last Sunday, I thought it expedient to write about it for this article, as well as the fact that it is a time of the year that we are considering gifts to each other and other people that we know. Spiritual gifts are gifts of yourself, which God’s Spirit has brought about in you and your heart.  Gifts like this require us to dig deep within our hearts and cultivate the right atmosphere for them to grow.  When there are no roots, or in shallow soil, it may initially sprout and look good, but it doesn't last. The plants wither quickly because they don’t have roots. This is readily seen in Jesus’ statement regarding the parable of the sower.

“The seeds that fell on rocky ground are the people who gladly hear the message and accept it. But they don’t have deep roots, and they believe only for a little while. As soon as life gets hard, they give up”

 Luke 8:13

Many times we hear God’s Word and may even get excited about it, but we don’t allow it to change us. But we don’t take the time to let it sink in. How do you develop spiritual roots? There are two ways that I am aware of 

1. Taking daily time with God and His Word 
2. A weekly (or even more often) small group time with other believers.

These are the only ways that the roots can reach your spirit and at the same time find the nurturing food required to produce the fruits that the Spirit can bring forth.

If you’re not spending time with God on a daily basis, you’re going to dry up and blow away when Satan comes around and applies pressure. Satan knows your weak points and targets them with stealth - you won’t be able to handle it. You've got to make a daily time with God to listen for Him and His voice. Whatever it takes to keep the focus on God, do it! Crucial to this is spending time with people who Love God! Nobody has a complete perspective on life. Every one of us has blinders on. The people in your weekly gathering can see things in your life you can’t see. That’s why we need each other! You learn from the people God’s family as you encourage each other and your roots go deeper. You want to be a person with deep spiritual roots so that when a spiritual recession comes and lasts several years, you’re able to keep bearing fruit and people will find in you a reason for hope.  

So, some questions to ask yourself may be:

• How does your schedule need to change so that you can spend more time with God?
• What things do you need to follow through with that will help you not only grow deeper but grow richer in God’s Spirit?

Jim

Missional Small Groups: Becoming a Community That Makes a Difference…

Missional Small Groups: Becoming a Community That Makes a Difference…

M.Scott Boren

BakerBooks

My story behind reading this book is interesting. I came across it reviewing my blogs one day and though eh...I'll order it. It wasn't that expensive and I've read other books like this one before. Like the author, I've been looking for ways to engage people more into being what God wants them to be. I had just gotten the book the day previous, and had skimmed through it. What I found peaked my interest even more. I intended giving the book a good reading more later in the day, but first I had a breakfast meeting to go to. When I got to the meeting, one of the guys couldn't make it, so it was just two of us. Low and behold, during the conversation, we began to speak about teaching those we were in contact with. Ah-ha, I thought. My chance to see if what I had learned so far would pay off. Wow - was I surprised. The discussion centered on the subject of this book. The more we talked, the more I thought, I wonder if he has read this book. I pulled the book out and he had not. So... I let him take the book.

A couple of days later, I was messaging with him, and asked him had he read it. He said not only that he had read it but that it was like he had always been reading it. It was affirming everything that he was thinking, and you could hear the excitement in his voice. So - I told him he could have it, and promptly ordered me another copy.

The book is well worth the money and time to read it! It will definitely enlighten you if you're into building small Christian groups and helping people better their lives. But be prepared to heat a different drum beat in this book.