Speaking in the Light – 9-1

Firing Up My Gift Giving
There was a lady who died in 1916 named Hetty Green. She was called America’s greatest miser. When she passed away, she left an estate valued at $100 million. But she was so miserly that she ate cold oatmeal in order to save the expense of heating the water.
When her son had a severe leg injury, she took so long trying to find a free clinic to treat him that his leg had to be amputated because of advanced infection. I am sure that she was so worried about losing her wealth that she didn’t even enjoy her life.
We can make the mistake of being so afraid of losing what we have that we never really learn that the secret of love is to know how to give it away freely. Some people are so afraid that something is going to go wrong, they never give it a chance to go very right.
Are you willing to fire up the gifts that God has put within you so that they can touch and impact those that are without you? In the New Testament, Paul says to his protégé Timothy in the second letter that bears his name, chapter one and verse six, “For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.”
The original Greek word used here for “fan” connotes an activity that is much stronger than a casual wave. It means to make sure you keep a fire that was never meant to go out, burning strong and rising bright. It actually implies that when you are using the gifts that God has given you properly by worshipping Him via serving others, then you will not have to worry about that “puppy” ever not being a “hot dog.”
How do you live extravagantly with the gifts that God has given you? How do you keep the embers stirred up for the Savior? How do you become the spark that gets the bonfire going? Let me give you a couple of thoughts to chew on that may help answer the above questions:
1. Accept and be confidently the you that God made you to be.
2. Use what you do well for God by allowing Him to spill your talents to fill the cups of others.
Like the Blues Brothers of old, you must live like you are on a mission from God. Every believer in Jesus has been given a gift by the Holy Spirit to be used to glorify the Father and to build up the body of Christ, which is His church. It does not matter if you are young or old, male or female, black or white, educated or uneducated, rich or poor, Baptist or Pentecostal, Methodist or Catholic; if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit has given you talents that are to be used freely and often so the world may see God’s creativity at work through you.
And you must understand that just because you don’t see certain people singing on the stage, or speaking from the front, or leading on a board, or teaching in a Bible study class does not mean that God does not gift the individual. That same person may be able to cook up a storm in a kitchen, fix broken things with no problems at all, draw up some beautiful pictures for you to see, open and operate a business, build houses, work with young people, coach or play sports, do secretarial work and so on.
You should never look down on other people who may not have the same gift that you may have. Whatever gift God has given you, it is for you to use, and whatever gift God has given to somebody else, it is for them to make sure that they are sharing it regularly.
Instead of fighting one another and being jealous of one another, we should work together with our God-given gifts for a common goal, and that common goal is to glorify Jesus Christ with whatever gift God has given us.
There are blessings in store for us if we use our gifts faithfully to glorify God. Proverbs 18:16 says, “A man’s gift makes room for him and brings him before great men.” If you use your gift faithfully to the glory of God, God will bless you and take you places that you never dreamed of.
Because of the flame, Timothy was determined to make a difference with his life. How about you? Will you fire up your gifts for God this fall? Will you allow Him to use you in ways that He will choose in the days ahead?
Will you make excuses when you should be making reservations? Before I close, I want to share with you the talents of a young 13-year-old girl named Sarah Krieg who willingly last Sunday passed on to me what she had been writing and I in turn am now excited to showcase it for all of you. Thanks Sarah for being willing to fire up your gift giving. Maybe more will follow your example.
The Life That’s Mine
By SARAH KRIEG
I dream it when I see it; I wish it wasn’t a dream.
I wish the dream was real; because it is not the same every day.
I think about how it was a shame; but when I woke up
I saw true life!
Angels passing by as I look left to right.
The sun rises and every one is happy!
I think to myself that it is my new life.
It is not a dream- it is reality!
I ask God how I died and He says,
“I can’t tell you the memories-You are with me now- Be happy!”
I look at Him and smile and He says with a grin,
“I have your soul and now you are mine-
and your new life is perfectly fine!”