Talk About Love - Seventh chapter "God's Spiritual Gifts"

“TALK ABOUT LOVE" All original ideas are Copyright of Richard R Sjaardema, 7/21/2010. (I, Richard R Sjaardema invite you to share and copy this material with Copyright notatation and without charge.)


(Pending table of contents)

1. WHY BOTHER TALKING

A. What Is Man

B. Thou Art Holy

C. Preparing For Celebration

2. KNOWING YOUR BELIEF

A. His Story Positioning

B. Word of God

C. What is Truth

3. UNDERSTANDING GOD’S LOVE

A. God’s Spiritual Gifts

B. God’s Greatest Gift

C. Beginning The Transformation


GOD’S SPIRITUAL GIFTS


To introduce us to this section, I would like to share a few verses about the God of the Bible and share a few gifts that Paul claims are available for those of us who choose to accept His offer of His Spirit. Again, I am writing under the assumption that we are all seeking a relationship with our common Creator, God the Father. If you do not feel you are receiving the following gifts from this God of Love; if the beauty of our God that you read here does not touch your heart, or you feel the God you serve is not reflected in these words, perhaps my assumption is wrong. Perhaps you are in need of a much greater gift, making your connection with God possible. We will open His greatest divine gift a bit later.

That which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you may have fellowship with us; and our fellowship is with the Father (because of His gift). And we are writing this that your (and our) joy may be complete. This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him is no darkness at all.” I John 1:3-5. (I have used the words “because of His gift” to replace the words of this text as I do not feel we are all ready at this time to open that gift. I know some would find it offensive without a proper explanation. At this time we are discussing the love of the Father. As mentioned, we will open the greatest gift a bit later – keep reading)

Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God; for God is love. I John 4:7-8

For God so loved the world, that He gave (a gift) that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent (the gift) not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him! John 3:16-17. (Again, forgive me for leaving this gift unwrapped, this is not the appropriate time)

Let your emotions flow with this writing from the book of Isaiah chapter 17:11-16 It depicts life as it is and portrays two ways to live. You decide which is more comfortable for you.

“In the streets they cry out for wine; all joy turns to gloom, all gaiety is banished from the earth. The city is left in ruins; its gate is battered to pieces. So will it be on the earth and among the nations, as when an olive tree is beaten, or as when gleanings are left after the grape harvest.

They raise their voices, they shout for joy; from the west they acclaim the Lord’s majesty. Therefore in the east give glory to the Lord; exalt the name of the Lord, the God of Israel (if anybody reading believes the God of Israel is different than your God, consider that Israel is representative of all men as we wrestle with this concept of God - consider this reference as to God, the one and only - the God through whom we all ultimately have received our existence), in the islands of the sea. From the ends of the earth we hear singing: ‘Glory to the Righteous One.’

But I said, “I waste away, I waste away! Woe is me! The treacherous betray! With treachery the treacherous betray!”

I too have walked in darkness. Every day I see friends and loved ones who are having trouble seeing the light of day. Life has not been easy! Everybody seems ready to blame someone else for the troubles of the day! But be of good cheer! The night is almost over! Behold, I see the beauty of the sunrise! Daddy, can we start opening our gifts now? I’m anxious, how about you!

Righteously Changing Everything

“Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people;” Luke 2:10. Today is a Holiday! Let’s open those gifts. I’ve helped him wrap each one for you, so let me hand them out. Today He has asked me to distribute them and I’m going to wait for the biggest package until last, perhaps that’s a mistake. However, if the first ones don’t make sense to you, just wait, the big one might make all the difference, and help you appreciate the others as you live the rest of your life.

The first gift God wishes to give you through His Spirit is Love! We mentioned earlier that in the context of the invitation to the party three things stand out, faith, hope, and love and the greatest of these is Love! The first thing He wishes to share with you is the fact that He Loves You! Therefore, He offers you His Love. He claims that He is Love and in Him there is no hatred at all. He calls us to righteousness, for in righteousness, we will find Him and all these other gifts will become ours as well. So, please, before preaching righteousness, remember to accept His gift of Love! He loves you today, while you are yet a sinner! He desires a relationship with you! Take it! Pass along this gift that God loves a sinner such as you. He loves you enough to call you His son or daughter. Do you believe that God loves you? If not stay tuned, we will spend an entire section on this later.

In John 13:34 He gives us a new commandment to love one another just as He has loved us. If your search for God has led you to a message of I’m right and you’re wrong, may I suggest that you re-acquaint yourself with Him and give Him back His throne. He’s bigger than you or I can ever imagine. If you love your fellow man enough that when you hear that they wish to seek God and you can say: “Praise God from whom all blessings flow! Would you mind if we sought Him together?” perhaps you will have that opportunity to share His love with one another. He offers these next gifts to help us to love one another because He knows it will feel so good!

The second gift God offers to you through His Spirit is Joy! Allow His Joy within you to be your strength as He walks with you through your valleys and offers you His support. Truly, I have found that in seeking God where He may be found, the joy of the Lord has become my strength. By making Him my top priority, I have been able to remain positive and find hope through fear, financial trials, relational difficulties, failure, and success! Although my life has remained full of trials, He has made all things bearable. The most difficult thing I have found is that in the midst of joy, I must still muster the courage and stamina to remain motivated to work through those trials in order to support those who remain dependant upon me. However, as anger affects all those with whom I come in contact, so does joy! I trust that you can share similar inspirations. Capture His free gift of joy and pass it on! If you cannot find that joy, bear with me, there’s more to come!

His third gift offered through His Spirit is Peace. I share this gift with you through tears. My heart breaks with all those who have lost loved ones through blood shed in the supposed name of God. I truly believe we share God’s tears as He too weeps with us and through us. Although war and destruction seem to carry such weight as part of our books of scripture and our histories, it seems obvious that our Creator God is a God of Love and Peace. Read those scriptures again through the eyes, faith, emotions, and the mortal understanding of those men through whom they were first uttered, then repeated, then written down. Consider the hearts of those men who grappled with the same emotions and questions you have of “how could a God of Love allow, much less cause such things to happen!” Accept His gift of peace! As I listen to my son who served his country in Iraq and to men and women returning from war, the common theme has been - God is not in violence and death! This has gone against every grain of their understanding of this God we love and who loves us.

Unfortunately, too often, war has appeared to become necessary to combat d’evil, pride, destruction, and individualism both in America and around the world. As so many of us consider ourselves people of God, I call on each of you to fall on your knees and humble yourselves and call unto God and He will heal our lands. Our weapons, power, and might pale in comparison to His all encompassing power. Peace in our world is His gift and it can be ours for the asking. Let me offer a word of hope and healing; As a child processes his fear of death through his little toy soldiers, he keeps them in his care to bring him pleasure again. So God can allow d’evil to cleanse the world of itself, yet His people remain safe with Him. In this may your heart find Peace with God. The fact this war thing seems to interrupt the Love and Joy we were feeling forces us to go back to the beginning and reconnect with God, doesn’t it. Go ahead, we’ll wait. May God give you peace. If you find you are unable to accept this gift at this time, read on, the remaining gifts may allow you to find the comfort this one can bring.

If you are ready, go ahead and open God’s next Spiritual gift. It is patience. It helps here to confess your sins to Him. He is ready and willing to forgive your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Until you have taken this step, you may find you are unwilling to forgive your fellow man. Indeed, you may not even be able to understand the concept. However, in realizing that God loves you and has forgiven your shortcomings even before you asked, you will find you are able to forgive the shortcomings of others. What parent has not found that the best way to understand the frustrations that come with being a parent is the realization that we too have been the child and dealt with similar circumstances from the other side? So, too, as we deal with our spiritual identities, we may remember a time when we were children, being carried along, tossed to and fro by every new idea, perhaps by men of evil intent, or perhaps by their own misunderstanding of God. At this point of our journey, we may even be able to admit our awareness that He is not fully known to us and we can therefore speak what we believe to be the truth in love. In this way, perhaps, we can all grow up in every way until we all attain unto the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of Him who is the head, and is our Father, God.  One thing I feel quite sure of, this growing process never ends in this life - there will always be more to know and to understand as we seek Him - and one another - with all our hearts, with all our souls, and yes, with all our minds.

I am going to force you to lay these gifts to the side to be experienced throughout your life as it is time for you to open your next gift from the Spirit of our Almighty God. Go ahead and open up the next two as they are wrapped together. As you tear off the paper, you will find these gifts to be kindness and goodness. Now, some of you may have peaked earlier and you knew these gifts were coming, but that’s ok, they are still yours. As you wrap yourself in the cloak of God’s love, you will find you experience His gift of kindness and goodness in your own life. You will experience His kindness and goodness within the trials of your life and you will find you are able to share these gifts with the people you come into contact with. In fact, you will find you desire to live a life of kindness with your fellow man. Kindness and goodness will flow from an overwhelming sense of Joy, Peace, and Patience which seem to emanate from within you. Truly, enmity and strife will seem so contrary to your nature that you will wonder how they could have ever even been part of your life. Your strong desire to help your fellow man through the trials of life, through the sharing of your own personal experiences and abilities will supercharge your earthly existence and bring you a pleasure and a confidence in your own self worth that you never knew you could experience before. Thanks be unto God through whom all blessings flow. It only took a spark to get your fire burning, didn’t it? And now all those around can warm up to your glowing! That’s how it is with God’s love! You want to sing! It’s fresh like spring! You want to pass it on!

I know, this all seems too good to be true, but there’s more. The world is in great need of this next gift, so please accept this gift from God the Father through His Holy Spirit which He offers you in a new and meaningful way today. This gift is faithfulness. Accept it, cherish it! It is yours and He wishes it for you as He knows that it will change your life and that of everyone with whom you come in contact. Be faithful to Him. Promise this day to serve Him with the rest of your life. Promise Him you will tell the world of His love for them. Regardless of your difficulties, promise Him you will love those special people He has put in your life. If they are called family, love them unconditionally. That may mean tough love, but it absolutely does not mean abandonment. That may require a time of separation, but it does not mean cancellation. If you are fortunate, be faithful to the less fortunate, for through them you will find the Kingdom of God. If you are less fortunate, be faithful to society in that you will do everything in your power to work hard and be responsible. If you are a ruler, be faithful unto God and to his people on earth, especially be aware of the poor and needy. If you are one of those people, be faithful to your ruler and call on God to bless Him and offer His guidance. Make it a priority to see the good in other people before the bad. Not only when they agree with you, but more importantly when they don’t. This is most important when you experience frustration in another’s behavior as it is then that you must seek peace. If you are not able, ask that the Lord would open your eyes to see Him at work in the situation. Don’t talk about finding the one who would make peace in our world – Be the one who would make peace in our world. You can make all the difference in your world if you will just accept this gift of God - faithfulness. Use it back to Him in praise, honor, and thanks for his gifts to you and use it toward all of your responsibilities in life, no exclusions - no excuses. In every way, with praise and thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.

Wow, the rest of the gifts felt pretty good, but that one is fairly heavy. It appears like armor, doesn’t it? Try it on through Paul’s words from Ephesians 6:14-18. “Therefore take the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, (I so wanted to use d’evil’s day, in your personal situation, today might be that day!) and having done all to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the equipment of the gospel of peace; besides all these, taking the shield of faith, with which you can quench all the flaming darts of the evil one: (there d’evil is again). And take the helmet of salvation (sounds like something more than head knowledge), and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints” (that those who seek after God might find Him?). Wear this armor proudly and use your Sword and Shield to battle all those things that would tear you or those you love down – your soul, your family, your neighbor, your village, your country, your world not only physically, but intellectually, emotionally, and most importantly, spiritually. Understand that ours is not a battle against flesh and blood, but against our own demons and ideologies. We have not said much about d’evil in our world, but we have mentioned three demons “lust of the flesh,” “lust of the eyes,” and “pride of life.” These three generals in the army of d’evil command a host of lesser sins that would rob you of all the blessings you have. This gift of faithfulness will help you in combat – Protect all that is yours.

With the understanding that others have been placed in your care, please set down your weapons and open your next gift as you will need it in dealing with humanity. Do you recognize it? God through His Spirit has given you gentleness. Yes, you are a warrior within the Spiritual Realm – battle fiercely. But at home, you must use your gifts of kindness and compassion with gentleness. You are called to love. Children, obey your Fathers and Mothers realizing they too are battling the trials of life, sometimes losing - yet striving to provide you and them with hope and a future. Help them in your development by committing your way to the Lord and honoring them through these gifts. Fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath. Communicate with your wives as an act of service and love. Do everything in your power to build them up – they need your consistent love and support. Parents, spend time with your family, teach them, care for them, feed them, cherish them. Provide for your families the gifts of faith, hope, love, and purpose. Consider their needs from a heart of compassion. Spouses allow space when space is required for a season and use that time to re-commit yourself to the Lord, making Him your #1 priority. He will honor your efforts. Wives honor your husbands and remember that although they strive to do their best as warrior, protector, and provider, they still envision themselves as that Prince Charming that desires you, princess, to be his Queen! Through forgiveness and compassion, which will grow through our understanding of our own experiences in life – in light of our relationship with our Father, let us have no self-conceit, nor provoking of one another, but let’s restore one another through this gift from God, gentleness.

These last two gifts came with a lot of responsibility! Are you willing open another? I found one hiding that is like unto some you already have, but this grants you endurance in your battle. God wishes to offer you the gift of meekness. You may find it feels much like the gifts of patience and gentleness as this gift takes those two and builds upon them. You have been given the armor of faithfulness with which you are able to withstand the hounds of hell! But, now, you are being given the gift of courage to allow pain in your life without holding resentment or feeling the need to retaliate. This gift is one of total submission and vulnerability to another person. This is not about boxing the bag, but being the bag. It does not come with pride, but relies heavily on compassion and forgiveness. This means not waiting for someone to ask for forgiveness before giving it, for that remains your responsibility alone and cannot be forced upon another. It requires understanding of the pain and frustration that led to the situation in the first place. It provides love for the offender through that knowledge. Faithfulness in our earthly relationships on earth will be much easier if you will accept this gift. God understands. Although He has given all of these gifts to improve your relationship with Him, this one will truly help you to understand His heart as you realize it resembles His relationship with you. This gift will provide true intimacy and forbearance in all of our relationships. Although it is not associated with pride, it is given in respect of an awesome strength. Wear it with dignity.

Don’t give up hope; the big gift in the back will be opened in time. For now, there is one gift left to open in preparation. Let’s open these gifts through our understanding of this next chapter.

A Personal Confession

Can you feel the excitement and anticipation? I can only hope that I relate this massive gift to you in such a way that you can accept it. If I stand in the way, I could ruin your experience. Before I present this gift to you, I must open one with my name on it. This gift is self control – and it forces me to let you know several things about myself.

I feel a tremendous pressure in writing this book. I am bound to offend many friends, family, brothers, and sisters and even you who share my faith in God. It breaks my heart. I confess that I do not know all the answers. My hope and prayer is that by exercising this form of talking about God, as has been passed down through the ages of man, we might be able to find out more about Him together. Through the written word, He has promised that if we seek Him individually, He will become known to us and will provide us the means of re-connecting to Him in spite of our sin. Just like every pope, pastor, priest, minister, sheik, rabbi, teacher, philosopher, monk, holy man, or fellow human, I can only tell you what I believe, but I cannot lead you back to God. Even the gifts we just opened came through Paul’s writing in Galatians 5:22-23 and Colossians 3:12-14. Through my own effort, I chose to share the smaller gifts with you before God’s Greatest Gift; however, you may not have been able to appreciate them without that Great Gift which makes the rest possible.

Regarding knowledge, I was going to share a verse from the Bible with you that is quoted by many Christians: “Be ye in the world, but not of the World!” Unfortunately, that verse does not exist. Let me quote, therefore, from Galatians 5:19-21 as Paul contrasts the fruit of the Spirit we mentioned with the works of the flesh from Galatians 5:19. “Now the works of the flesh are plain: fornication, impurity, licentious-ness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” May I be so bold as to tell you the truth? As with you, I am guilty. All my vain attempts towards righteousness eventually meet with failure. Even if I should separate myself from the rest of the world while I live in this body, I would experience cravings and I would automatically be breaking God’s command to serve and to love my fellow man. I could live out my life through an attempt of attaining re-unification with God through my own effort and ability, Lord forbid through multiple lives as some believe, only to die a failure. Unfortunately, God’s call to righteousness is constantly with me chastening me to a better life, a life spent with Him. Listen to David’s Psalm 139:

“O Lord, thou has searched me and known me! Thou knowest when I sit down and when I rise up; thou discernest my thoughts from afar. Thou searchest out my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou dost beset me behind and before, and layest thy hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it.

Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend to heaven, thou art there! If I make my bed in Sheol, thou art there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there thy hand shall lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Let only darkness cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to thee, the night is bright as the day; for darkness is as light with thee.”

We can attempt to shut God out of our lives and some of us have gotten pretty good at ignoring His presence. However, in the darkest times in our lives, we know once again that He is with us. Although this may become extremely frustrating as He is consistently challenging us to be better, isn’t His persistence wonderful? Apparently, He truly does care. Listen to Paul’s frustration with attempting to live the righteous life in Romans 7:21: “So, I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin which dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through (God’s Greatest Gift)

Perhaps you struggle as I do with the demons of sin still active within me. Let me share this gift of self-control with you. Perhaps we can find strength together as we tackle this enormous package before us. I’m perplexed that the wrapping is stamped all over with the words free and freedom! Let’s check it out!

The Greeting Card

Before we open this greatest gift, let’s share a story as told by well known Radio personality, Paul Harvey:

The Man and the Birds by Paul Harvey

"The man to whom I'm going to introduce you was not a scrooge, he was a kind decent, mostly good man. Generous to his family, upright in his dealings with other men. But he just didn't believe all that incarnation stuff which the churches proclaim at Christmas Time. It just didn't make sense and he was too honest to pretend otherwise. He just couldn't swallow the Jesus Story, about God coming to Earth as a man.

"I'm truly sorry to distress you," he told his wife, "but I'm not going with you to church this Christmas Eve." He said he'd feel like a hypocrite. That he'd much rather just stay at home, but that he would wait up for them. And so he stayed and they went to the midnight service.

Shortly after the family drove away in the car, snow began to fall. He went to the window to watch the flurries getting heavier and heavier and then went back to his fireside chair and began to read his newspaper. Minutes later he was startled by a thudding sound...Then another, and then another. Sort of a thump or a thud...At first he thought someone must be throwing snowballs against his living room window. But when he went to the front door to investigate he found a flock of birds huddled miserably in the snow. They'd been caught in the storm and, in a desperate search for shelter, had tried to fly through his large landscape window.

Well, he couldn't let the poor creatures lie there and freeze, so he remembered the barn where his children stabled their pony. That would provide a warm shelter, if he could direct the birds to it. Quickly he put on a coat, galoshes, tramped through the deepening snow to the barn. He opened the doors wide and turned on a light, but the birds did not come in. He figured food would entice them in. So he hurried back to the house, fetched bread crumbs, sprinkled them on the snow, making a trail to the yellow-lighted wide open doorway of the stable. But to his dismay, the birds ignored the bread crumbs, and continued to flap around helplessly in the snow. He tried catching them...He tried shooing them into the barn by walking around them waving his arms...Instead, they scattered in every direction, except into the warm, lighted barn.

And then, he realized that they were afraid of him. To them, he reasoned, I am a strange and terrifying creature. If only I could think of some way to let them know that they can trust me...That I am not trying to hurt them, but to help them. But how? Because any move he made tended to frighten them, confuse them. They just would not follow. They would not be led or shooed because they feared him.

"If only I could be a bird," he thought to himself, "and mingle with them and speak their language. Then I could tell them not to be afraid. Then I could show them the way to safe, warm...to the safe warm barn. But I would have to be one of them so they could see, and hear and understand." At that moment the church bells began to ring. The sound reached his ears above the sounds of the wind. And he stood there listening to the bells - Adeste Fidelis - listening to the bells pealing the glad tidings of Christmas. And he sank to his knees in the snow."

If you would like your own copy of this story, this reading was taken from; http://www.tyny.com/christmasstory.html

Ok, time is up! Pray with me that the words I believe God has asked me to use in sharing His Greatest Gift with you might bring Him glory and honor through your understanding. Please clear your mind of any pre-conceived notions you may have about the man, Jesus Christ, and hear this message again for the first time.

my apologies to those of you who are reading this the week of November 7, 2010; you'll have to wait for the rest of the story - or at least the next chapter till next week...

In the meantime, you might appreciate a preview by listening to 'Adeste Fidelis' as sung by 'Enya' with video production by youtube subscriber 'myzig' Please consider purchase of Enya music this holiday season.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xqJ1pBD98c