meditations for an everyday relationship with Jesus

Ezekiel and gifts of the Spirit?

Ezekiel 36:27-28 I will place My Spirit within you and cause you to follow My statutes and carefully observe My ordinances. Then you will live in the land that I gave your fathers; you will be My people, and I will be your God.

We often think of Ezekiel only in terms of the strange visions he had; but he also had very practical insight into the Holy Spirit long before the advent of Jesus or the Disciples’gifting of tongues at Pentecost.

The purpose of gifts is made clear in the Old Testament, and should be considered before we go out prophesying, speaking in tongues, and laying on of hands. Why? Because more often than not these acts are not glorifying God; they are furthering personal agenda and directing our attention away from following only God’s statutes and ordinances. Jesus says love God and your neighbor … that covers it!

the voice God gave me

Having just what we need?

1 Timothy 6:6-8 But godliness with contentment is a great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these.

It is possible to be content without material gain. Consider what Jesus had: He had what was in His heart and what was on His back. He reminded a scribe in the Gospel of Matthew that while the Son of Man had no place to lay His head, the foxes have dens and birds have nests. Our Lord was not complaining; He was providing perspective in a culture that equated material gain with blessing.

Are you content … that is to say … are you free, and not caught up in the bondage of materialism? If you are truly liberated it is because the Son has set you free! Do not equate material gain with blessing.