"Celebrating His Gifts"

DAY #54 - 'A Woman of Faith' Devotional
Verse: "Rejoice, and be exceeding glad; for great is your reward in Heaven..." Matthew 5:12 KJV
NKJV - "Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven..."
NIV - "Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven..."
MSG- "You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don't like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company..."
NLT - "Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven."

The devotional message from the book starts out with the sentences, "Do you celebrate the gifts God has given you? Do you pray without ceasing? Do you rejoice in the beauty of God's glorious creation?" Three great questions, and three integral parts of blessing. Now at first thought when 'gifts' is mentioned, one immediately thinks of talents or spiritual gifts. But we must remember also that God has gifted each of us with life, salvation, unconditional agape love, protection, healing, the right to be called 'children of God', our families, our homes, our jobs & workplace... and more! We need to truly celebrate 'being alive'. I rejoice in the truth that God IS. Whatever we need Him to be, our protector, our teacher, our banner, our healer, our provider... He does that, and MORE! In all those things we need to give thanks, and we need to be in prayer. Pray without ceasing. Ceasing means;
–verb (used without object)

1. to stop; discontinue: Not all medieval beliefs have ceased to exist.
2. to come to an end: At last the war has ceased.
3. Obsolete . to pass away; die out.
–verb (used with object)
4. to put a stop or end to; discontinue: He begged them to cease their quarreling.
Therefore, we should never stop praying, nor let our praying come to an end. We should be in constant prayer, or communication with the Father. Praying is not always a loud, long extended prayer with requests, or blessing those around the world, healing our friends & family, etc. It can be a simple 'thank you Lord' throughout the day. Not just calling on Him in tough times, or hard times, but also just talking to Him as you go about your day. Thanking Him for His forgiveness, so that we in turn can forgive others. Thanking Him for His provisions, so that we in turn can give to others. But remember the old saying remains true, if you don't use it, you just may lose it. (Parable of the Talents - found in Matthew 25:14-30 {click link to read} - it says of the man who didn't invest his talent, "So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.")



I truly celebrate the spiritual gifts and talents He has given to me, as I love to work with my hands. However, I know there are spiritual gifts that remain dormant, that I have yet to open, or that I have opened but not used very often. Something to pray about, and step out in faith about. What a blessing it is to be able to use what He has given to me to bless the world. Glorifying Him in all that is done, and not looking for worldly praise. Humbly working for the Lord, and not for man gives you some of the greatest blessings here on earth, -- but importantly, 'REJOICE & BE EXCEEDINGLY GLAD; FOR GREAT IS YOUR REWARD IN HEAVEN.'

The seeds we sow, plant, water, harvest and watch multiply here on earth will allow us to receive even greater blessings in Heaven. THANK YOU LORD for your PROMISES!!

BE BLESSED & BE A BLESSING!