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Peace be with you!

As the Father has sent me,

I am sending you.”

~Jesus, John 20:21

 

Good morning dear sister!

The Lord has a word of encouragement for us today!

As we avail ourselves to Him, through church services, Bible study, prayer and fellowship, He is building us up; equipping us for His work and sending us out to accomplish His will!

How can we know this? The best way to know God’s plan for us is to read His Word. Little clues like 1Peter 4:10, ‘As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the multifaceted grace of God.’ 

Just think of it, God not only gives us gifts, they are special gifts! The perfect gift we need for the perfect moment! For example, have you ever been trying to pray for or counsel someone and while your brain is frantically casting about for the perfect response, God’s Holy Spirit speaks out of your mouth words of wisdom, hope and confidence? (Sometimes I look around me, thinking, wow, where did that come from??)

In Ephesians 2:10 we are assured that we are made to do the special work that He has ordained for us! “For WE are God’s handiwork, CREATED in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God PREPARED in advance for US to do!”

Special gifts! Special work! Special YOU! We are God’s handiwork, and He doesn’t make mistakes!   

God’s gifts are not only special, they are given with a purpose. They are given to each of us according to our ministries of serving one another in love. Romans 12:6-8 lists some of the gifts such as prophecy, service, teaching, encouragement, giving, leading and showing mercy. Look them up!

Now that we’ve warmed up with practicing on each other, let’s consider Jesus’ words in the verse above, ‘As the father has sent Me, I am sending you.’  

Are we willing to go wherever He sends us?

A word to the wise: don’t ever say to the Lord, “I will do anything You want except …….”. You’ll surely find yourself doing that very thing! Why? Because the Lord wants to show you that He is bigger than your biggest fear! He is stronger than your strongest obstacle! He wants to prove that He will remove mountains in your life that you can’t even begin to scale! 

If the Lord wants someone to be encouraged, He can do it far more effectively than we can, but He has sent us, with His special gifts, even as He sent His own Son! Think of how much He must love us, to entrust us and equip us, to share His love for others who haven’t even met Him yet! (OK, I’m starting to look around and think ‘where did that come from’?)

Since God has created, prepared and equipped us, we are ever ready to answer His call. 

Whatever we’re doing, we need only listen for His Spirit to guide us into what He has put before us. We can be ministers and witnesses wherever we are! Because He has already planned it! Because He is sending us!

God’s family working together, from the least to the greatest, is a powerful force! Our teens ministered to us a couple of weeks ago in a powerful way that is still encouraging my spirit today! 

The spirit of the men who visited and ministered to us last Sunday was drenched in the passion God has for the human race! Such powerful testimonies! Such amazing love!

Every child of God has a powerful testimony of His goodness, His saving grace, His love and His ability to turn our lives around! (remember those mountains?) Even if we feel we have no other gift, we each have our special story of how God rescued us from the grip of sin! That, just by itself, can break up a hardened heart, allowing another to plant a seed, and another to water that seed and, by the grace and mercy of God, allow one to celebrate the harvest!

We are privileged to serve such a truly awesome, magnificent, loving God! So lean into Him, dear sister! Your testimony could be the beginning of the softening of a person’s heart! And, that would be growth for you too, because I’m pretty sure that God occasions those encounters! He has already prepared you to show mercy, teach, encourage and lead. Hmmmm…. Those sound like four of those gifts mentioned earlier! 

Isn’t God wonderful?

May we all continue to grow in grace and knowledge of Him as we keep loving Jesus and moving forward!

Much love, your sister, Celeste