The Inner Gifts

UV 914/10,000 The Inner Gifts Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. James 1 v 17 The logic of this uni-verse is simple but profound and powerful. Since God is good and perfect, the gifts He gives are also good and perfect. The nearest Hebrew word for good is ‘ Shalom’ that means wholesome or holistic goodness. It is a consistent and wholly baked goodness not an admixture of the perfect and imperfect, good and evil. For God is the Father of lights. He gave us the perfect gift of salvation in and through His Son. The Lamb became our Lamp forever. The light of this Lamp or His love, faith and hope fill our hearts with joy and our eyes with universal truth. An universal truth is something that applies to all without exception. Every day I attempt to draw out these universal truths by a study of scripture from Genesis to Revelation and with the help of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit who is Himself a giver of perfect spiritual gifts is a Gift to us. He is the indwelling spirit of God in us. Pharaoh asked Joseph who had just interpreted his dreams, “ where can I find a man in whom is the spirit of God?” The Holy Spirit had led him to ask the question and then led him to find the answer in Joseph. The Holy Spirit flashed the torchlight on Joseph’s face and prompted Pharaoh to say, “ Since God has shown you all this, there is none so wise and discreet as you.” The Lord had taken the captivity of Joseph captive and given him inner gifts like the ability to discern the meaning of spiritually gifted dreams. This led Pharaoh to bestow external gifts of new clothing, a signet ring of authority, a chariot, palace and a bride to boot from among the Egyptian nobility. It is not the external gifts that we should covet for these fade or lose their value over time. They are only a shadow of the eternal gifts of God and outward manifestations of an inner gift. We need to distinguish and value the real thing over the shadow. The Lord rejoices when we desire and ask for the inner gifts and grants it to us without hesitation, regret or measure. These are referred to as the gifts of the Spirit : the gift of word of wisdom, word of knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, diverse kinds of tongues and interpretation of tongues. These are gifts from above that reside in us. Their origin is supernatural and they are meant to serve or build the body of Christ-the church. Since there is no variation or turning with God, He never takes back these gifts once these are given to us. Another spiritual gift is the wisdom from above which is pure, gentle and peaceful. This list is not exhaustive for the uni-verse says “ every good and perfect gift..” For what have we that we did not receive from the Lord! We can do an exercise of mentally listing out what we consider every good and perfect gift in our lives and then thank and praise the Lord for each of it: it could be an ability to speak, write, teach, lead, sing, encourage… People of the world gloat over their gifts and giftedness. In a modern day version of blasphemy, some are exalted as demi-gods or icons just because of something so narrow as the ability to play cricket, music or act. But we are called to glory in the Lord. Prateep V Philip