Growing in the Gifts of the Spirit - Stir Up, Don’t Neglect (Daily Devotional)

Welcome to Living Supernaturally, we're so glad that we could do this together, we could study God's word and also apply it daily in our lives. This week, we've been studying about growing in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. God gives us and God expresses Himself through these gifts, but it's up to us to grow in these gifts, to progressively grow more in the expression and be effective in the expression and facilitate the expression of the gifts of the Spirit in and through us. And so, today we are looking at one aspect which helps us to grow that is to earnestly desire. There are several scriptures which talk about desiring which means that we have a keen interest in and the word used there is ‘zeal’ or ‘to be zealous for’ which means it's like a fire that's burning and to keep that fire going all throughout our lives each and every day. Let's look at a few verses that talk about that. 1 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 31, Paul writes and he says, ‘earnestly desire the best gifts.’ 1 Corinthians chapter 14 and verse 1, a very familiar verse, ‘pursue love and desire spiritual gifts.’ If we go down to verse 12, it says, ‘since you are zealous for spiritual gifts let it be for the edification of the church.’ Ww go down to verse 39 of the same chapter, it says, ‘desire earnestly to prophesy.’ We see that over and over again this exhortation and this instruction earnestly desire. It's applicable for us today to earnestly desire what scripture exhorts us to go after. What are we to earnestly desire? We are to earnestly desire the gifts of the Spirit. We are to earnestly desire the best gifts. So, we need to understand that the gifts of the Spirit are not just for a Sunday morning or a Sunday service. The manifestation of the gifts of the Spirit, the expression of the Holy Spirit is throughout the week, 24/7 and wherever we go. Maybe we are commuting to work, maybe we are traveling from place to place, maybe we are going on vacation, maybe we are going to shop for some groceries, maybe we are at the mall, maybe we are at work or and in our campus, wherever we are, that's an opportunity for God to have an encounter with his people. So, the expression or the manifestation of the Holy Spirit through the gifts of the Holy Spirit is not just for a place or an event on a day. It is throughout and in the most routine or so-called mundane of things or routines of life, that those very things are opportunities for the Spirit of God to manifest Himself. If we would be sensitive, if we would have His heart for the people, then we would know that God wants to show Himself strong on behalf of the people. And so, it need not be restricted to a time and place or an event. It can be anywhere and because of that we need to earnestly desire. We could be at office and we can earnestly desire for the gifts of the Spirit. Well definitely not during our time of work where we are paid to do that particular work and carry on that role and responsibility, but it could be a time of leisure, maybe during a break, maybe during a lunchtime or so when we are interacting with colleagues and during those conversations, those are opportunities to manifest the gifts of the Spirit. And so, we have several examples of that even in scripture. We see the Holy Spirit talking to people, instructing people and Philip was one such person. He was instructed by the Holy Spirit to move from Samaria and to go to Gaza and there have this conversation with this Ethiopian official, this Ethiopian eunuch who's coming there and have a Christ conversation there and there he comes to know the Lord gets baptized and goes to his country taking the gospel with him. So, we see that he was on a journey, he was traveling and there was Philip and he was instructed and he manifested the word of knowledge and he could hear the voice of the Spirit and he moved there and he obeyed the voice of the Spirit right there. So, we see that we need to earnestly desire and so today, even as we pray, you pray in your heart and let's pray and say Lord, let this desire grow, let this zeal grow. Let it not be quenched by sin or let it not be quenched by the laziness, let it just grow like a roaring fire. Let's pray, Father, we thank you that this is your desire for us to earnestly desire the gifts of the Spirit. And so, God, since you are willing, may we come to that place of knowing your will, may we come to that place of understanding and acting and being obedient. I pray that you would pour out your Spirit on us, release your gifts in and through us, Lord, in all of life's situations, in all of life's seasons and in all of every day occurrences, we thank you, in Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
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