<3 Bonnie
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
A gift of great value
After only a week of studying spiritual gifts, I am increasingly disheartened yet amazingly optimistic. Yes, I know that is a great paradox, but bear with me. I have spent all my life in church, and heard very little on the topic of spiritual gifts. In fact I was grossly ignorant of their value and meaning. During lunch today, many of my friends asked my what my bracelet meant. I began explaining that it was a symbol of my spiritual gift, but my audience replied with puzzled looks. No one had heard of spiritual gifts! This is quite audacious considering that these were Christian girls in a Christian school. I was very thankful that God used me as an instrument to share even a small bit about the amazing gifts he has bestowed upon all believers. It is a disconcerting reality that many Christians are unaware of their spiritual gifts or even the idea of spiritual gifts. Now couple this with what we learned Tuesday, that these gifts are for the maturing of the church, and it becomes blatantly obvious why the modern American church is at such a stalemate. This is where great optimism comes into play because a great harvest awaits in this study! What a beautiful sight it shall be when the Women of Wilcrest take their place in service. How much more efficiently will our church run? How many more will be reached? Growth and maturity await those who dedicate themselves to use these various gifts of grace. I cannot wait to see how all of your gifts manifest according to God's will. Truly, this is the proper time for this study.
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Thanks Bonnie! This is so true ... we're commanded to be the body of Christ, but it's hard for us to do that when individually we don't understand how we fit into the body. What an exciting opportunity for Christ to move!
ReplyDeleteI am so happy that we are taking this step at Wilcrest. Growing up in the church I played around with spiritual gifts, meaning I have taken close to a million spiritual gifts tests but every time I take one I am left wondering, "What's next? What do I do with this?" So I am excited that we are going to explore spiritual gifts and really go deep. One of my favorite songs is "You're Beautiful" by Phil Wickham. The final verse is talking of heaven and when we will be there with Jesus and we will sing he is beautiful. It says "we'll enter in as the wedding bells ring, your bride will come together and we'll sing, you're beautiful." Whenever I get to this part in the song I cry. But my point is that as Kori was talking about how the major purpose of knowing and using our spiritual gifts is that we will grow into the fullness of Christ, this song came to mind and I thought, how beautiful it will be when we are in the fullness of Christ and how beautiful for us to join together on this journey. I can't wait until as the body of Christ we are a bride fit for our Groom Christ. And we will be able to join together and sing that he is so beautiful. Just think we don't have to wait until heaven to join together as the body of Christ and enjoy his presence we can start now. I am excited for the community and the growth that will come from the gathering this semester and this year of the harvest! Much love, Destiny
ReplyDeleteBonnie you are so awesome for taking the time to pour out your genuine heart and reflective thoughts in this blog. I am so proud of you for being such a bold soldier in Christ army.
ReplyDeleteI was in the sound booth on Tuesday night and it was a priviledge to have witnesed the gentle caress of the Spirit among the body of sisters gathered. The sancutary was drenched in love and it was beautiful. It is my prayer that our passion to discover and understand our God given gifts lead to an explosion of Christ glorifying workers for the harvest of the kingdom. In Christ service, Mary Ayala
I too have been a Christian all of my life but can't remember a time (other than the moment of my salvation) that I have been so literally excited to see not only just where God will take but also what God will do next. I believe that with every season of life we enter into we are given different gifs and look forward to gaining a more holistic understanding of the grace gifts. The pattern that I've noticed in my own walk with the Lord is that a stagnancy sets in whenever I'm not serving. Maybe it's just me...in any case I’m looking forward to learning how to harness all of the purpose packed power that will allow me to serve alongside all of you most effectively for the kingdom. And can I just say that I LOVE TOOLS!!! This was such a great idea. Keep them coming. ~ Hertha
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