OPEN BEFORE CHRISTMAS!

"I Saw Many Gifts Being Earmarked - OPEN BEFORE CHRISTMAS!"
By Bill Yount
Dec 19, 2008

"Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant...(the word of wisdom, word of knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, working of miracles, discerning of spirits, divers kinds of tongues and interpretation of tongues)." 1 Corinthians 12:1, 8-10

"A man's gift makes room for him." Proverbs 18:16

I Saw Many Gifts that Even Christmas Couldn't Wait For to Be Opened!
Are you noticing lately that you are being set up to be in the right place at the right time with the right person to minister to them? In everyday life and traveling, I will just happen to sit down beside someone who is either sick or starts talking about their troubles that are overwhelming them. I sense that our "spiritual" gifts are being activated by the great needs of people this hour all around us. I believe that our gifts are now making room for us to influence many people who, up until now, we would not have reached. But now people are so much in need that they are being drawn to us, and their great need for the Lord is actually activating the gifts that God has put within us to minister to them.

Don't Let the Size of Your Gift or What it is Wrapped in Fool You!
I remember as a child growing up that I just couldn't wait until Christmas to open at least one of my gifts under the tree. I remember our mother would say, "Go ask your father first!" We children would keep asking Dad until he would finally give in; and as years went by, it became a family tradition at our home that we could open one gift of our choice before Christmas!
I sense our Heavenly Father saying, "Yes, you may open some of your gifts before Christmas!"
"And Samuel said (to Saul), 'When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the LORD anointed thee king over Israel?'" 1 Samuel 15:17 (emphasis added).

When I knew that I could open that one gift before Christmas, I would take my time and study the size of the gift, and even the wrapping paper it was wrapped in. Sometimes I was fooled by the size, for some of my most treasured gifts often came in a smaller box with just "plain" wrapping paper.

Many times when ministering to people, I am first challenged by my own size, spiritually speaking. I sense so often my unworthiness and inability, and so many times the enemy still says, "Who do you think you are?" I know God has given me certain gifts to bless others with, but there have been times that my own "wrapping paper" (the earthen vessel), which surrounds my gift, gets in the way and hinders God's gift from getting outside of me to others.
I sense the Lord saying to many of us, "Don't let the size of your gift or the wrapping paper, which surrounds My gift inside of you, fool you. Don't let it stop you anymore. Get past the wrapping paper of your lives and let your gifts out. Remember, "...we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of ourselves!" (2 Corinthians 4:7).

We also need to get past the wrapping paper that others are wrapped in to see the treasure God has placed within each of their lives. Many times we are called to dig for that treasure in others, which is often hidden like diamonds in the rough.

The Gift of "Helps" May be the Most "Powerful" Gift on Earth Needed Right Now!
"And God hath set some in the Church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues" 1 Corinthians 12:28 (emphasis added).

It's interesting that the gift of "helps" is placed by the Holy Spirit in the same category of importance as the apostles, prophets, teachers, miracles, healings, diversities of tongues, HELPS, and governments. The governments of the world are now crying out, "Help!" Often we get the cart before the horse when it comes to spiritual giftings and callings. Sometimes it's possible to want to show off a gift or a calling God has given us without a real burden or compassion for people. I sense the more desire I have to just help someone, the more the other spiritual gifts begin to be activated, and God takes over from there!

Like a "Salt Shaker," God's House is Being Shaken to Get Us Out Where Our Gifts are Truly Needed..."To Be the Salt of the World!"
I sense the greater the need for our gifts, the easier it will be to open them. Be sensitive as you walk into the marketplace, the hospitals, the rescue missions, the prisons, the streets - from the guttermost to the highest society places on earth. The needs inside of people will begin to untie that pretty bow on your gift and begin to tear and rip that colorful wrapping paper off of you to get to the "gift" God has placed within you for their hour of crises!
Some might just tear a hole in the roof of your nice house or knock your front door down or ring your phone off the hook to get an answer of the hope that is within you! I sense God's house is being shaken in this hour like a "salt shaker" to get us out where our gifts are truly needed - "to be the salt of the world!"

Go ahead, open up your gifts now! Don't wait until Christmas. Christmas can't wait! What the world needs "now" is something that money cannot buy...give them Jesus!

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