Question: Answer

I had a question! Yippee :-) Thanks Brenda!


"Did you ever decide what your gift is and do you want to share what it is?"

At the time I was concerned about my gift possibly being prophecy. Not in the "Old Testament prophet" sense, but in the "Spirit-prompted, Spirit-sustained, revelation-rooted, but mixed with human imperfection and fallibility and therefore in need of sifting." (definition by John Piper).
My main reasons for this:
1. I just know--
2. Twice in the last 2-3 years, I knew what the picture was before the puzzle was put together. I prayed about it and knew the answer. One was something quite large in relation to escatology, and the other was the identity of the "restrainer." Both answers I was given, then in the following teachings and study the rest of the puzzle was put together (over the time frame of months and minutes, respectively). These occurences were startling to me because neither topic was something that I had studied before, nor should have been able to understand without further study.

What now? I pray and study and grow. I still feel like such a young Christian, but the positive aspect is that I feel I can trust more what the Spirit tells me instead of thinking of not. I need to learn more so that I am able to compare my revelations to the authority of Scripture. I view this as something God will develop in me over the course of my life :-)

Another gifting? Exhortation/Encouragement. I tend to see things in black and white, so I can cut through alot of "worldly views" and get right to the heart of the matter which needs addressing. (the main definition I identified with - or can remember from two Sundays ago...)

The problem? I am human, and therefore more fallible than not :-) My words and thoughts mess up everything... But at least I am coming to greater understanding that even though I screw up, God still has a purpose for me and His gifts are to be used, not laid on the shelf.