God's Word for Me Today
Monday, October 1, 2001
Focus: Our Mission: One Person at a Time
A note about online study
Introduction to God's Word for Me Today
My Prayer Today
Heavenly Father, as I start a new week in the world, I commit it to You. I commit myself to You, my family to You, my friends to You, all that I have I commit to You. Use me this day to share Your love with one person at a time, that they may see You in me, and give glory to You. Thank You for Your written word. Use it to increase my wisdom and my ability to serve You boldly in the power of Your Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
This Week's Focus: One Person at a Time
In addition to considering how we can share the new life of Jesus Christ with the world—ONE person at a time, we will focus in on three specific chapters of the Apostle Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian Christians and we study God’s word each day this week. In order for us to share the new life of Jesus with the world, we must use every empowerment God makes available to us. In the three chapters we will study today through Friday, we will see that God gives each of us spiritual gifts that may be used for “building up the body of Christ.” We are the body of Jesus Christ in the world today. He is the “head” of that body, but we are Jesus’ eyes and ears, his gentle touch of comfort, his challenging, prophetic voice in the midst of all that is going on as we have stepped into the 21st century. Each day we will consider how we may receive God’s power for fulfilling his commission in our lives to see that every man, woman and child on the face of the earth has the opportunity to know Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior, in this generation!
God's Word for Me Today: 1 Corinthians 12:1-11
1And now, dear brothers and sisters, I will write about the special abilities the Holy Spirit gives to each of us, for I must correct your misunderstandings about them. 2You know that when you were still pagans you were led astray and swept along in worshiping speechless idols. 3So I want you to know how to discern what is truly from God: No one speaking by the Spirit of God can curse Jesus, and no one is able to say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.
4Now there are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but it is the same Holy Spirit who is the source of them all. 5There are different kinds of service in the church, but it is the same Lord we are serving. 6There are different ways God works in our lives, but it is the same God who does the work through all of us. 7A spiritual gift is given to each of us as a means of helping the entire church.
8To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another he gives the gift of special knowledge. 9The Spirit gives special faith to another, and to someone else he gives the power to heal the sick. 10He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and to another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to know whether it is really the Spirit of God or another spirit that is speaking. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, and another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. 11It is the one and only Holy Spirit who distributes these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.
Questions for Reflection
If you could have any of the Spiritual gifts, which one would it be? Why?
What would it look like if every Christian everywhere actually lived as if he or she was a member of a world-wide body of Jesus Christ?
What is the best gift any person has ever given you? What made it so special?
Questions for Exploration
What is the true test of whether a person has the Holy Spirit according to this text? (12:1-3)
While there are different gifts, services and works of God, what is true about each one? (12:4-7)
List each of the spiritual gifts Paul mentions in this text. (12:8-11)
Questions for Understanding
Why has God given us spiritual gifts?
Why didn’t God give each of us ALL of the spiritual gifts?
Questions for Application
Paul tells us that only those who have the Holy Spirit can say, “Jesus is Lord,” and that no one who has the Holy Spirit can curse Jesus. Given that reality, how can we insure that we are living in the power of the Holy Spirit each and every day?
What kinds of gifts, works and service, has God gift and given you the ability to carry out? How will you carry them out today?
Pray for the Holy Spirit to empower you to share the Good News with one person today—using the gifts and abilities He has already given you as the basis for that sharing.
Different Gifts, Service and Works!
God desires that human beings be DIFFERENT! He creates each one of us as a unique individual. No two of us look exactly the same, act exactly the same, or even receive the same gifts and abilities from God. God wants us to complement each other—in the sense of completing what’s missing in each other. That’s what gives the church such great potential to do infinitely more together, than the same number of us could do on our own. Paul told the Corinthian Christians that there are different gifts, but the SAME Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the SAME Lord who is served. God works in each of us in different ways, but it is the SAME God. God doesn’t change. Our love for God is to be the SAME, but beyond that each and everyone of us has been created uniquely by God to complement every other Christian to carry out God’s plan of salvation in the world. We NEED each other. We need to pray for each other. We need to worship with each other. We need to help each other to reach the world—one person at a time. Sometimes we so want to see someone know Jesus, but we can’t reach the person. Maybe God wants to use someone else—a friend in the church, a Christian co-worker. Let’s all work together, using the abundant gifts and abilities God has given to reach that ONE person who so needs Jesus. As a team, God’s work is accomplished so much more effectively—as a body, when every part does its part the result is health and growth!
To view the studies for other days, visit the God's Word for Me Today calendar.