The Indwelling Spiritual Gifts
Before God moves through us mightily, He must know that you are willing to be used in any way He desires. We must be Holy (walk in the Spirit) and acceptable to God (in His Son). When we are doing things of the world (walking after the flesh), we can forget our gifting being manifested within us by the Lord. God will not use His precious gifting to better the world. He only uses His gifting to better the Kingdom of God through advancing His Son's indwelling Life. Of course, that leaves us with a modest problem: what if the mind is worldly? Then it is time for renewal. Our lives are transformed into the image of Christ through the process of having our minds renewed. There is nothing you can do to renew your mind; reading, praying, talking, listening, or having hands laid on you will renew you. This renewal process is Spirit work. As we set our minds on heavenly things, we then allow the Holy Spirit (who lives within us - if we are saved) to renew our minds. When we set our mind on worldly things, we act worldly. When we set our mind on the Spirit within us, we then experience being Spiritually minded, having Spiritual thoughts, then Spiritual words (1 Corinthians 2:13). When we lay our lives down as a living sacrifice and then allow the Holy Spirit to renew our worldly minds, then we can prove to the world (and fellow indwelt Christians) what is good, truly acceptable, and what the perfect will of God is. This is accomplished by and through God using His gifts within His children. THE BODY OF CHRIST IS LIKE A TOOLBOX The Word says that we are the very Body of Christ. We also are to understand that we are all individual parts that make up this Body (Romans 12:4). Christ is the head over the body just as your head oversees your body. Your body does what the head decides to do – that is why your mind needs daily renewal. Your thoughts need to be yielded to the Holy Spirit. Let us look at Romans 12:4-8; “For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. And since we have Gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let each exercise them accordingly…” Picture the Body of Christ as a toolbox, and the tools within the toolbox are the members of the Body of Christ. God is the Owner of the Fix and Repair Shop, Jesus is the manager, and the Holy Spirit is the mechanic. Individual members of the Body of Christ are the tools the Holy Spirit uses. The Owner determines the project, and all those who work for the Owner - should use their life to conduct the commands and desires of the One who owns all things. I would think that it would be critical for the Holy Spirit to know everything there is to know about the tools within the toolbox. The Holy Spirit does know the design and function of each tool in order to conduct the will of the Owner (Heavenly Father). Therefore, it now becomes quite important for the tools to be who they are and not attempt to be anything other than themselves. Imagine one or more of the tools trying to be another tool instead of being who they are – you know, a screwdriver tries to do the job of a pair of pliers. Sounds silly. Not really! This is exactly what the Body of Christ has the tendency to do – “tools” trying to be like tools they admire. Tools want to be like tools that have greater importance and rewards. Tools want to be in the hands of the mechanic more than not. If I were a tool, I certainly would not want to be in the hands of the mechanic as much as possible. In fact, it would be fun to be the mechanic’s favorite tool! Also, imagine that these tools having legs, arms, mouths, and minds of their own. Now we have some potential problems. When the mechanic reaches into the toolbox to get the right tool to do the Owner’s will, one or more of these tools are running around the shop doing their own thing, it makes it A challenge to get anything done. What is the mechanic to do? Well, He will use the tools that are willing and waiting, for the waiting tools are secure in their design. They will wait on the mechanic as long as it takes to do the part of the job they were designed to do. Think of the work the mechanic could get done if every tool accepted who they were, understood their purpose, and was willing and ready to be used by the mechanic. Wow! We could have the world “fixed” in no time. I certainly hope you are seeing the parallel. God has many members of His Son’s Body. Within each of these members, God has carefully and methodically placed His Gifts to accomplish the work assigned to His Son and the Holy Spirit. Having each member exercise their gifting when the Holy Spirit calls upon them, would pull the Body of Christ together and unify the Church in such a way that the world, flesh, and the devil would be in serious trouble. Do not get me wrong, God is in control, and He is accomplishing all of what needs to be done, fully knowing He doesn’t have full cooperation with His Son’s own Body. However, God certainly is calling us to join Him where He is at work. The Body members joining Him where He is at work will add to the proving of the will of the Father to the world, all of the flesh and even to the enemy, Satan. WHO GETS THE GIFTS? The Lord has not given everybody a gift(s), only those who have accepted the Lord into their lives. Once a person has accepted Christ, the Holy Spirit delivers the gift. 1 Peter 4:10 tells us, “As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” The Holy Spirit also gives a manifestation. Let’s look at 1 Corinthians 12:7; “But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” It is for the good of building up the Body of Christ. Note: The Church’s growth is dependent upon God causing the growth (1 Corinthians 3:6). However, the Lord is also clear that we are to plant and water. The planting and watering are done through the very gifting He has placed within each Body member.
Until next time: -Stephen | 
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