Word of the Day (9-15-11)

Good Morning Everyone

Today is Thursday September 15, 2011

The word of the day comes from Proverbs 18:16 NKJV

¹⁶ A man’s gift makes room for him,
      And brings him before great men.

My Interpretation

When this scripture came to me I thought of my class that I took on the Holy Spirit. One of the things realized is the difference in talent and gift. According to http://www.gotquestions.org/difference-talent-spiritual-gift.html, the differences between spiritual gifts and talents are as followed: 1) A talent is the result of genetics and/or training, while a spiritual gift is the result of the power of the Holy Spirit. 2) A talent can be possessed by anyone, Christian or non-Christian, while spiritual gifts are only possessed by Christians. 3) While both talents and spiritual gifts should be used for God’s glory and to minister to others, spiritual gifts are focused on these tasks, while talents can be used entirely for non-spiritual purposes.

A person (regardless of his belief in God or in Christ) is given a natural talent as a result of a combination of genetics (some have natural ability in music, art, or mathematics) and surroundings (growing up in a musical family will aid one in developing a talent for music), or because God desired to endow certain individuals with certain talents (for example, Bazeleel in Exodus 31:1-6). Spiritual gifts are given to all believers by the Holy Spirit (Romans 12:3, 6) at the time they place their faith in Christ for the forgiveness of their sins. At that moment, the Holy Spirit gives to the new believer the spiritual gift(s) He desires the believer to have (1 Corinthians 12:11).

Notice the scripture today didn’t say a man’s talent it said a man’s gift. So based on the distinction that we just read, we can gather that Solomon is probably talking about a man of faith in God, a Christian, a saved man. So the gift that is making room for him isn’t about him, it is about blessing people through the gift God has given him. This scripture is a perfect example of the phrase that we say: God will open doors no man can close and close doors no man can open.

As you walk in obedience to the will of God for your life, you will begin to see how God opens up doors for you and brings before you people and situations to put you in places you could never imagine. I look at my life and see how God has opened doors for me and is making room for my gifts. It hasn’t/isn’t happening over night. I have had to put in many nights in His Word, in prayer, in fasting just trying to know Him (the preparation stage or if this was the Tabernacle this would be The Outer Court). After all the time I have spent preparing, I finally entered the

Holy Place

(this is where I am able to see what I am about to embark in, the gold within the room, the smell of incense, etc.) I can see how some of the things I did in the

Outer Court

are going to be used beautifully in this section. In the

Holy Place

, this is where I am now utilizing what I prepared in the

Outer Court

. What do I mean? In this stage I am now teaching others that which I spent so much time learning and teaching myself. In this section I am to preaching to others what I have spent so much time trying to preach to myself. In this section, I am exercising the gifts that God has given me. And I do this with the anticipation that one day I will make it beyond the veil (as a believer in Jesus Christ, the veil for relationship has been torn down but I am talking about being able to see God face to face in glory!) In the Most Holy of Holies I am in the manifested presence of God. Everything that I did in the

Outer Court

and The Holy Place is to be able to reach this moment. All the things that we do (work wholeheartedly unto the Lord and not unto men knowing that from the Lord you will receive your reward…Colossians 3:23).

God will make a way for His people. The Holy Spirit who is the giver of gifts will bring you and your gift before great men that you may be a blessing in helping to edify the body of Christ.

Have a wonderful, blessed, productive, stress free day!