PRAY WITH US for greater spiritual gifts: Father God, every good and perfect gift comes from You. You reign as Father of heavenly and Christmas lights. So we seek both the gifts and the Giver. And we seek most of all to give as we have been given, with Your love.
Therefore, show us how to love others as You have loved us. Help us to know Jesus Christ and Him crucified and base all other knowledge on that foundation. Build Your church on that foundation as expressed by Your apostles and Your prophets. And help us to recognize who Your apostles and prophets are in our times. So that they can equip Your whole body to be Your witnesses to all seven mountains of influence. And to the ends of the earth. In Jesus’ name, amen.
PRAYER ALERT: Greater Spiritual Gifts Needed for the New Year 2023
On Christmas Day a familiar chapter in the Bible surprised me. It begins this way: “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal” (1 Cor. 13:1-2). It struck me that if I say anything without love, I am just making noise.
So how much of my words would that eliminate? And how much of what I listen to on podcasts, or read in blogs and books, amounts to noise?” We should pay attention not only how right a message is, but how right is the heart of the message. And check our hearts before speaking or praying or sharing any messages.
Then another verse struck me like never before. “For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away” (1 Cor. 13:9-10). How much time do we spend gaining knowledge and prophesying over what quickly passes away? How much time do we spend on short-lived news and predictions? And doesn’t that time take away from the time we need to love God and love others?
Finally, a verse from the previous chapter drove those points home. “And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues” (1 Cor 12:28). We could also translate “administrations” as “governments.” We pay much attention to different governments as the sources and solutions of our problems.
But we must earnestly desire the greater gifts. Despite all the controversy and disrepute that apostles and prophets have fallen into, we must keep praying that the whole church recognizes the true apostles and prophets of our time. And we must earnestly desire and pray for their greater gifts to lead the whole church to overcome. Then the church can be a greater witness to the world of God’s love and His more lasting knowledge for our times.
Image by Kari Shea from Pixabay
BPN articles related to greater spiritual gifts:
Raising Standards in Belize- an Evangelical Manifesto
Underground Church Networking During Persecution
ETG articles related to greater spiritual gifts:
Wonders, Worship, Word: Revivals Past to Present—from 1st video
Spiritual Gifts & 5-Fold Ministry: Vineyard & Kansas City Prophets—from 2nd video
Revivals & 5-Fold Ministry: MorningStar & IHOP-Kansas City—from 3rd video’
How to Start & Sustain Revival Where You Live—from 4th video
NT Representative Government vs. Statism
Prophetic Standards Statement Replies to Trump Prophecies
Dividing Soul & Spirit to Find What is Really from God
The Spirit of Prophecy Testifies of Fullness in Christ