Gifts from within and above

God ‘s gifts are precious and are from within
Pro 17:8 A gift is as a precious stone in the eyes of him that hath it: whithersoever it turneth, it prospereth.

The best that men can do is to give gifts that are finite and physical but God’s gifts are from within. The wise men brought Jesus gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. The gold would have been useful to finance the family for a period of time. The frankincense and myrrh would have been useful in their worship and sacrifice. But, in due course all they would have run out of these gifts.

But , the gift that the Lord gives us is from within. It endures. He gives the gift of love from within. The gift of faith is from within. The gift of wisdom is, too. He gives strength to endure from within. He gives talents and abilities from within. The talent to speak or write or sing or act or dance. Memory is a natural gift. He gives the ability to lead and to inspire, to plan and execute great projects. He gives the gifts of the Holy Spirit from within: to administer, to minister and to manifest. He gives the gift of prophecy. The internal gifts can be intellectual, emotional or spiritual. Samson was given strength as a gift from within. There are natural and supernatural giftings. These gifts apparently are far greater than the gifts that are external and physical. The God-given gifts causes us to prosper whichever way we turn.


Gifts from within need to be handled with care, diligence and responsibility. We need to hone these gifts to their logical and ultimate potential. We need the grace and humility to handle such great gifts so that they do not destroy us. Sometimes people loose sight of the preciousness of the gift and instead it becomes a millstone around their neck to drag them down. Many of the icons of the modern era are gifted beyond their ability to handle it wisely and effectively. Michael Jackson and Tiger Woods are two such examples. They become in due course ‘legends with leg-ends or feet of clay’ that crumble under pressure of fame or temptation or trouble and destroy the rest of the edifice they built on a shaky foundation. We, as believers must earnestly seek and receive gifts for ourselves and our children from within but with the gift seek wisdom and grace to use it appropriately. We need to be thankful to the Lord for these and know that nothing we did or can do, could have got us these gifts but it came as a grace. A certain member of my family was one day taking pride over the way he looked as a young man. I reminded him, “ What did you do to achieve it?”



Prateep V Philip

The Process of Fruiting

Uni-verse 270/10,000 For better through verse Luke 8 v 8

Luk 8:8 And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear

In order to be able to bear good fruit in our lives, we need to first hear the gospel at first and then, the Word thereafter. Hearing it, we must receive it with faith that it is true. Having received it, we must understand it by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Having understood it, we must keep it or retain it in our hearts and minds. Having kept it, we must claim it and obey it. Then, we are enabled by God’s grace to bear fruit a hundred-fold by faith and patience.

Conditioning by the world’s thought systems and human traditions makes our hearts hardened over time. Traditions rob the Word of God of its inherent power. We loose our ability or sensitivity to hear, receive, believe, understand and apply. It is easier to doubt, question, reject and to be deceived. It requires a lot of ploughing to find a furrow to plant a seed. Hence, a person needs to hear the Word in a variety of ways and very often in order to break the hard ground.

The seed is powerful and effective. Even a fragment of a verse is sufficient to convict or redeem a person in the right frame of mind. I have met people who were convicted by a biblical phrase like “ a half-baked loaf” or “ kicking against the thorns.” Both sensitivity at the time of receiving the Word and diligence in the period of growing spiritually precede hundred-fold fruitfulness. We are called like Isaac to plant the seed in every realm- the physical, the financial, the emotional, the spiritual, the social, the professional and receive back a hundred-fold. The result is contingent upon our response. Genesis, the ‘book of beginnings’ reports that Isaac sowed in that land and received in the same year a hundred-fold: and the Lord blessed him. It does not say that the Lord blessed him and therefore, he received a hundred-fold. But, he received a hundred-fold and the Lord blessed him. Likewise, may we be fruitful and be so blessed.
A blessing for fruitfulness:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbGtB5geSLI
Prateep V Philip