Duty and Results

“Duty is ours.  Results are God’s.”
– President John Quincy Adams

Bolder for Christ

I feel that I am becoming bolder in the name of Christ.  In a response on Facebook, I told someone that just recently got in touch with me that I have re-committed my life to Christ and how that has been so impactful to my life.  It feels a little unsure at this point – fear of persecution – but it also feels right.

Spiritual Gifts Revealed

After praying in thankfulness this afternoon and asking for health for [my wife] and the baby, revelation regarding my project (including conveying that I am completely accepting of whatever purpose the Lord has in the work that’s been done so far, whether that means it will come to pass or whether He intends for me to abandon it at some point and that it had some other purpose), and other requests, I purposefully opened myself up to hear from Him in whatever way He wanted to speak to me.

An image came to mind of being hugged from behind in the chair that I sat.  I got the impression that Jesus was hugging me.  Then I saw the image of standing face to face with Him, in what seemed to be completely empty space (nothing around us) and He began to respond.

The response was unexpected and was centered upon the revelation of my spiritual gifts.  First of all, the topic was totally unexpected, which in relation to my talking with my mom and [my sister] last night, I realized that that can be a sign that the message is from God rather than my own thoughts.  Second, the nature of the message was also unexpected.  I expected a spiritual gift, and I felt that God impressed upon me that my gift “is threefold”.  Also, I expected that the gift was going to sound mystical (healing, tongues, etc), but they aren’t.  However, they are extremely powerful.

They are:

1. I make those around me stronger;
2. I see things that others don’t see;
3. I am not afraid to do what’s right.

It was interesting too because throughout the prayer, I kept getting the feeling that my mind was starting to take over (becoming proactive), rather than staying receptive.  When that happened, I knew it was happening and the feeling of hearing from God become absent.  The feeling was really a matter of something being revealed that I did not expect to come to mind, rather than a logical progression of thought.

Also, as the gifts were being revealed, I knew there were going to be three, because the “threefold” revelation preceded the explanation of the gifts.  So then, I knew more was coming after the first two.  When I asked for the third, I felt that God said that it will be revealed in time.  I immediately thanked Him for the first two and expressed faith (“as you wish, Lord”).  Then the third gift came to mind – the timing was unexpected again because I thought it would be revealed another time rather than immediately.

Upon completion of understanding the third gift, it was as if someone lifted my head from being bowed and opened my eyes for me.  I was very ‘awake’ or ‘aware’, and got the impression that I was now to “do what is right”.