Spirit-filled exercising of gifts

Romans 12:8 or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. Did any of those gifts relate to you? If so, then today’s live to love scripture encouragement is for you. When we exercise the grace gifts given us through Jesus, we are living to love with Him. We’ve been learning from Paul what makes our love acceptable to God. It’s acceptable when it is received by the Holy Spirit and given by faith. Exhorting, giving, leading, and showing mercy when driven by faith have a quality that exceeds the normal. The qualifier for all the gifts is that each is to exercise them according to the proportion of the faith allotted to them by God as Paul said in verse 7. One who exhorts is one who is called to walk with or walk beside someone. We all have Jesus as our exhorter, so when He exhorts you, pass it on. Encourage others with the encouragement you’ve received from Jesus. The giver who gives generously because Jesus has given to him or her generously offers an acceptable, living, holy sacrifice. So if you’re blessed by God’s generosity, be ready to give liberally. Leaders who lead in the flesh may do so with reluctance and complaint. But when they are empowered and led by the Spirit, they lead with diligence, joy, and love. Paul said that those who show mercy with cheerfulness exemplify how God shows mercy. Cheerful mercy glorifies the Lord. Can you think of some other additives to these gifts that you have experienced when you are exercising them by faith in the power of the Holy Spirit? Today as we live to love with Jesus, let’s not be satisfied with offering a natural offering to the body of Christ. Rather, let us exhort, give, lead, and show mercy with excellence for the glory of God. Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com