1 Corinthians 12:7-11 lists the gifts of the Spirit. These are given by the will of the Holy Spirit for specific occasions, “But one and the same Spirit works all these things distributing to each one individually as He wills” (1 Cor 12:11; NKJV). The reason the spiritual gifts are given is for “the common good” (1 Cor 12:7; CSB); not for personal blessings but to bless the body of Christ. There are nine gifts of the Spirit but for the purpose of this devotion I want to focus on 3 of them; the gift of faith, the gift of healings and the gift of miracles; they all work very closely together. How we need to see these gifts in operation in the church right now, if we did it would surely bring in an influx of the lost. The gift of faith (1 Cor 12:9) is over and above normal faith, it is more than “the measure of faith” that we have all been given (Rom 12:3). Hebrews chapter 11 lists many people from the Bible who operated in the spiritual gift of faith. Closely tied with the gift of faith is the spiritual gift of healings (1 Cor 12:9b). One example (and there are many) of this in operation in the Bible is when Peter and John healed the lame man at the Temple Gate (Acts 3:1-10). Thirdly the gift of miracles refers to wonder-working power to do something totally supernatural and the Bible is full of examples, such as feeding the 5,000. Jesus, of course, was constantly operating in all the spiritual gifts. If we are to see these gifts operating in our churches, we need to do what 1 Cor 14:1 says to do, “Pursue love and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts” (ESV). That’s my heart cry, how about you?

This was King Davids’ prayer: “One thing I have desired of the Lord, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life” (Ps 27:4; NKJV). In the Old Testament God assured His people, Israel, that he would never abandon them (Deut 31:6). He promised he would be with them and protect them as they passed through waters, rivers and fire (Isa 43:2). God promised David that He would be with him everywhere he could go, in the sea, heaven or hell, night or day (Ps 139:7-12). God is our shield (Ps 18:30b), our strength (Ps 73:26) and His love and peace will never leave us (Isa 54:10).

In the New Testament The apostle Matthew quoted from Isa 7:14, “Behold the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel” (Matt 1:23; NKJV). “Immanuel” is another name for Jesus and the word means, “God with us.” In Hebrews 13:5 Deuteronomy 31:6 is quoted, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Therefore, that promise is still for us today. But as Christians we have an intimate relationship with God: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock, if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in” (Rev 3:20; NKJV). When we acknowledge our need for Jesus and open the door of our lives to Him, He comes to live in us as the Holy Spirit (Gal 2:20, 1 Cor 3:16) to give us an abundant new life (John 10:10) and fellowship with God (1 Cor 1:9). This is a gift of God’s grace that we receive by faith (Eph 2:8) and nothing can separate us from His love (Rom 8:38-39).

“Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised” (Ps 48:1; AMPC). Praise and worship are an important part of our Christian lives. According to what we read in Psalms there are several different ways we can and should praise the Lord. Psalm 47:1 tells us 3 things to do; clap our hands, shout and sing. Psalm 134:2 tells us to lift up our hands and Psalm 149:4 encourages us to praise with dancing and instruments (see also Ps 150:3,4). Why are we to praise and worship God? We find an answer in Psalm 150:2; here we are told that we praise God because of all the great things He has done for us and also because of who He is, “Praise Him for His mighty acts; praise Him according to the abundance of His greatness” (AMPC). Praise is a natural result of thanksgiving to God for all He has done, “Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise” (Ps 100:4; CSB). We may not always feel like praising God; our bodies may be tired, our minds busy or our emotions may be unsettled but Hebrews 13:15 encourages us to, “continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God” (NKJV). In other words, we praise God even when we don’t feel like it. Jesus said that we will worship, “in Spirit and truth” (John 4:23,24). When we worship God from the heart (like David did) it helps to get the focus off our problems and onto God who is the solution for our problems. As David said, “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise will continually be in my mouth. O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together” (Ps 34:1,2; AMPC).

King David in Psalm 103:3 (NKJV) stated that God, “heals all your diseases.” The apostle Matthew in his gospel quoted the prophet Isaiah who foretold the healing ministry of Jesus, “He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sickness” (Matt 8:17; NKJV). Jesus was anointed to heal by the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 3:21-22; Acts 10:38). There are many examples of Jesus healing, for example: a blind man (Mark 10:46-52), a man paralyzed, (Matt 9:1-8) and a woman with chronic bleeding (Luke 8:43-48). Often crowds of people came to Jesus and he, “healed all who were sick” (Matt 8:16b; NKJV) and “healed every sickness and every disease among the people” (Matt 9:35b NKJV). Jesus never changes (Heb 13:8.) Jesus gave His disciples power and sent them out to heal sickness and disease, first the 12 disciples (Matt 10:1-8) and later 70 disciples (Luke 10:1-9). In Jesus’ final words to His disciples, He exhorted them to preach the gospel and that as they prayed for the sick, they would be healed (Mark 16:15-20). In the early church many healings were seen, for example a lame man (Acts 3:1-10), a paralyzed man (Acts 9:34) and everyone on the Island of Malta (Acts 28:1-9). As disciples of Jesus, we are all part of His church and filled with the same Holy Spirit Jesus was, so we too can pray for the sick and see them healed. The apostle Peter wrote that, “By His stripes you have been healed.” Jesus bore chastisement on His body so we personally can receive healing. Healing is surely ours today and we receive it by faith (Mark 9:23).

“Even so consider yourselves also dead to sin and your relation to it broken, but alive to God (living in unbroken fellowship with him) in Christ Jesus” (Rom 6:11; AMPC). Powerful words! Unbroken fellowship with God, not just in the “sweet by and by” but now, today! Romans chapter 6, verses 1-11 are talking about baptism. When we are baptized, we symbolically share the death of Jesus, we die to sin and we also share the resurrection of Jesus, living a new life with Him. Another aspect of unbroken fellowship with God is “abiding.” 1 John 3:6 tells us that, “No one who abides in Him (who lives and remains in communion with and in obedience to Him – deliberately, knowingly and habitually) commits (practices) sin” (AMPC). In other words, if we are truly abiding in God, we will not deliberately sin, and when we do slip up, we can immediately confess our sins, knowing that God will forgive us right away and restore fellowship with Him (1 John 1:9). God is always with us, He never leaves us (Heb 13:5) but we need to stay connected to him through prayer, Bible reading and worship. As you know, if we want to have unbroken fellowship with God it’s not just a Sunday morning thing but constant communion throughout the day. I understand we have jobs to go to and stuff to do but we can still be conscious of God as we do these things. Increasing our fellowship with God doesn’t happen overnight, it develops over a lifetime. I’m reminded of Enoch who, “walked with God” (Gen5:22). That’s what I want, how about you?