Money is pretty tight when you are 15 and I made $97 a week working part time as a stock boy so needless to say this was a slow going project. Piece by piece I put the car back together until all I needed was a custom length drive shaft. In short, I never got the drive shaft made and the car just sat there until my dad got rid of it.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12:4-11:

4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6 There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.
 7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.

The day we become a Christian; our birthday present is a gift from the Holy Spirit. Now this is no ordinary gift you see. It was never designed to be used by just the receiver. The gift is intended to be used by the body (Church) as a whole in the same way my car needed several parts before it could be used the way it was intended. I had an engine, I had a transmission I even had a car but without the drive shaft, I was just sitting in the drive way. In the same way, God blesses us with gifts of the spirit so that we may bless others. Combine all the gifts under one name (Jesus) and one church and God empowers a few lowly broken people like us to be bold, united yet diverse amazing parts of a powerful movement that changes lives, helps the needy, gives hope to the hopeless and reflects a sparkle of the Glory of Christ in the lives around us.

I know some of you reading this didn’t have a clue what a Turbo 400 is or why I needed a custom drive shaft but others of you know that the tail shaft on the tranny is longer so I needed a shorter drive shaft. You may not know what your gift is or how you could be used in the church. I implore you to read the instruction manual. I didn’t know how to work on cars until I read a few books; asked a little advice and most importantly started working on cars. Sure I messed up a few times but before long I was blue printing engines.

Reading the bible daily, seeking Godly advice and sincere praying will guide you to the answer of what your gift is and how to use it. Once you know, or even before… put it to use. Once the parts are all together, allow God’s nitro methane racing fuel to propel the whole car to victory in Christ!

 16 So I tell you: Live by following the Spirit. Then you will not do what your sinful selves want.17 Our sinful selves want what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit wants what is against our sinful selves. The two are against each other, so you cannot do just what you please.18 But if the Spirit is leading you, you are not under the law.

 19 The wrong things the sinful self does are clear: being sexually unfaithful, not being pure, taking part in sexual sins,20 worshiping gods, doing witchcraft, hating, making trouble, being jealous, being angry, being selfish, making people angry with each other, causing divisions among people,21 feeling envy, being drunk, having wild and wasteful parties, and doing other things like these. I warn you now as I warned you before: Those who do these things will not inherit God’s kingdom.22 But the Spirit produces the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,23 gentleness, self-control. There is no law that says these things are wrong.24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their own sinful selves. They have given up their old selfish feelings and the evil things they wanted to do.25 We get our new life from the Spirit, so we should follow the Spirit.26 We must not be proud or make trouble with each other or be jealous of each other.

After reading this maybe a thousand times in my life, I finally realized it was talking to me and about me. I had to look in the mirror. Am I really living the way I should? I was a bit shocked when the reflection was not what I expected. For example: I have an almost teenage daughter. I get to the point where I am frustrated with her rebellious attitude towards me and her mom and I often let my anger come out with a loud GO TO YOUR ROOM!!! Looking at the message above, where do I fall? The sinful self reflects anger. Now I am not saying that Christians are not allowed to be angry. What I am saying is that if I use the scripture above to handle the situation, things will be much better. Instead of lashing out to my daughter when I got angry, I should have shown patience and love followed by calm discipline. A simple; Amanda, if you are going to keep this up; you’re going to your room would have been the correct way according to the scripture above. Hold on, I know what you are thinking… Yes, she more than likely would have blew me off and ignored me BUT who’s fault is it that it got this way? Should I expect her to listen to me on the first instruction when her whole life she has learned that she can push me a little further and further until I get angry and discipline her? I don’t think so. I am not going to expect a magic POOF everything is fine now but I will do my best to reflect a fruit of the spirit in everyday life and watch God do his thing in hearts of me and the people I care about.

These precious verses above apply to every aspect of our lives, even… no especially at work. The next time you feel a little tug on the spirit, look in the mirror using the scripture above and reflect on what God has to say about how we are to act.

In Christ,

Scott

As usual, God is good ALL the time! I have learned that God does not change Malachi 3:6; it is me who changes my perspective at times. When I keep my focus on the Lord; all is better than well. God has blessed me in so many occasions I cannot begin to list them. Most recently, I was about to lose my house which would also put me in 40 to 60 thousand dollars of debt that would be garnished from my pay check. We prayed for God to help and also open our eyes to our mishandling of money and he answered in a big way.  

We received a little over the amount needed to repay the mortgage that was in foreclosure as well as pay all the current bills. We also made a very good budget that projects savings each month instead of a negative number… Oh, yea! My boss gave me a substantial raise! Praise God!

I am learning that to calculate without God Psalm 37:5 will always yield the wrong answer no matter how stubborn to do it our own way we are! I have also finally learned that prayer especially when others are praying with you is the only true answer to all and I mean ALL of life’s journeys. When we go to God first and put Him first in our lives He will take care of us and the Holy Spirit will guide us in those decisions that need to be made.

I have also learned that we can pray for even the smallest of things. I like to praise God all through the day Colossians 1:3 but I also like to ask him for guidance and help in the minutest matters Philippians 4:6 as small as helping me have a good day at work.

I have always heard it preached but after decades of doing it my way by “being a man” and just handling things I now know we must submit to God’s prompting to do it his way Hebrews 12. I have been through tough times as I know all of you have but I know that God will hold our hand and see us through it a better person on the other side with blessings waiting for us Matthew 11:28-30 if we put Him before all and submit to his word and his will for our lives. ]]> http://blog.htmlinc.com/2006/10/god-is-good/feed/ 0