THE LORD’S JOY
Suggested Reading: Matthew 25
"Mr. and Mrs. goat" on the West hillside of the Galilee.
Key Verse: Matthew 25:21
“His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.'”
God has given you at least one gift and perhaps many more. With His gifts come responsibilities. Never hide a gift. With investment in others you will grow what God has given you. What has God given you? Think about it. God has given you at least one gift. Talk to your Pastor and and a trusted friend about it. Call the Crossroads toll free prayer line and pray with someone (1-866-273-4444). Of course, pray fervently about it yourself. Make decisions and move on those decisions. Ask God to stop you if you are moving in the wrong direction. God is Faithful. He’ll guide you. Move forward with your decisions.
PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Dear Lord God, Give me the grace to invest in my family, my community, my church, my friends and aquaintances, and even in far off places. Keep me faithful over the “few things” You’ve given me. In Jesus Name I pray. Amen!
100 PERSONAL WORDS:
I remember well the first time I preached. I was 16. I had given my life fully to Christ about 2 months earlier. The youth leader, Greta O’Brien, asked me to bring the message at a Friday night youth service. At the time, I was reading in the book of Acts where Paul was shipwrecked on an island. I decided I would preach from that story. As I spoke, they said my face got red, and I lasted all of 5 minutes. Several months later, I was baptized with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:4). The next time I preached was two years later. I studied the Word on the subject of “Hell.” I prayed for a long time, making sure I was filled to overflowing with the Holy Spirit. That night 5 people came forward to the altar to be saved. The words flowed from my mouth. There was no struggle or embarrassment. God is faithful!
Thanking God for His gifts,
David
REMINDER: If you are reading the email version and wish to post a comment on my blog, go to www.100words.ca and “Leave a Reply.”
I called the prayer line and spoke to an amazing prayer warrior, I am almost 67 and have been praying for a very long time for the Father to show me the gift HE has given me, I have asked many times for HIM to show me how I can make HIS light shine and yet I still feel so lost, empty and inadequate. I pray that the Father will bless your intercessors, you and your family,and I enjoy reading your blog.Thank you. Claudette
I’ve hidden my gifts for years … mostly fear, stepping out, being seen differently ; then you get older and live with the guilt of ‘what could have been’ ‘if only I had.’ For those of you who harbour these resentments, please take them to the Lord and find peace. Today is a new day in Christ, we can make new commitments, as long as you have breath it’s not to late to use those gifts in your life. Pray!
2 Corinthians 5:17 – Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
I am one of those christians who balttes with the command GO. I have so many ideas that would help my church grow tremendously, but my church is very small and there are not many youth advocates that would help bring my ideas to fruition. So, I choose to stay where I am due to the lack of help and motivaiton within my church. I am just stuck between a rock and a hard place and I don’t know what to do.
I want to thank God for you and your faithfulness. The message today has touched my heart in a strange way, possibly because God is answering some of the questions that I have about the direction my life is going as an older person.
Thank you for your faithfulness to the Word of God!
Thank you David for your words today. These last two weeks I have been using my gift of hospitality! It has been a great honour to host my “Chinese” daughter’s parents who came to visit from China!! (I have been her Canadian mom!) Is giving also a gift? I sent them back to China with a Chinese Bible . . . the best book of all!
David, I am so glad I subscribed to your blog. I read it every day! This post really speaks to my heart. I need clarification from God on how to proceed in His direction for me and my husband. I had never thought to pray for God to ‘stop’ me from going in the wrong direction…I only prayed that He direct my path. This is a new way to think of it because I know from past experience that He does block the wrong path! So true! Thank you for making this more clear for me. I don’t believe we are to sit idle, waiting on Him, doing nothing. We must still take decisive action and move forward in faith that He ‘is’ directing us!
I used to play my flute and whistles along time ago and liked to be creative with my hands in art. I don’t know why but something in me stops me from doing what I loved.
I emailed my prayer request and pray that God will give me the desire to do use them again.
Lianne
Love is the gift that is omnipotent and comes from God. It is beyond imagination and experiencing.. Focus on Love, angels of heaven gather to assist. Love brings the kind of peace incomparable to anything else. It is such a great gift showing us what we are, and showing us who we are. Love is definitely all powerful, truly a priceless, precious gift.
God has blessed me with the ability to understand and use communications technologies. Over the years, I have been able to share my knowledge with others who went on to serve Christ with that knowledge. I have also been blessed to be able to serve Christ directly with that gift in my Church, in overseas missions for many years and for a time, at Crossroads. Even working in secular media, a Christian has the opportunity to influence what is seen and heard on the airwaves, as well as those involved in the industry.
Recently, I discovered that a church I used to visit in Ukraine, which was very anti-television, now has a vibrant television ministry. I believe I was their first exposure to the possibility. I say this not to draw praise to myself, but to my heavenly Father who blessed me with these abilities and opened doors that I was willing to walk through. God can use whatever gifts you have to expand his kingdom, often in ways you can
Hello Mr. David,
I just wanted to let you know that I am here reading with you.
Somedays, I miss a reading since I do not have a computer at my home. But, I go back a day and read what I missed. I find myself reading the whole of the suggested scripture reading. I pray to God to ask Him to quiet my mind from distractions, so that I may enjoy only His voice.
I feel so blessed when I read what you are writing…and especially what God has wriiten.
Thank you, Mr Mainse!
Thank you, GOD!!!
I love this one! May Holy Spirit become our most trusted, intimate friend, so that the whole world is blasted with blessing! Woohoo!!! Gonna keep on praying, keep on singing, keep on being desperate for His ways…yay!