Written by Joel Deacon - Lead Pastor of City on a Hill Wollongong

PRESENCE - PART 2

SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND PRESENCE

In the last devotion we learnt that the church is called to pursue and display the presence of God. We are commanded to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to be a City on a Hill. And when we are filled with the Spirit, we worship, love one another, pray, prophesy and proclaim the gospel in ways that reveal the presence of God to the world around us.

Spiritual gifts are given by the Holy Spirit to the church to help us pursue and display the presence of God for the sake of the mission of God. For example:

• The gift of tongues helps people experience the presence of God in prayer and praise.
• The gift of interpretation helps people recognise and understand what God is saying.
• The gift of prophecy helps people encounter the presence of God through timely encouragement, comfort and conviction.
• The gift of intercession helps people press into the presence of God with faith, endurance and spiritual authority.
• The gift of leading worship helps people turn their eyes toward Jesus and enter his presence with joy and reverence.
• The gift of preaching or exhortation helps people hear God’s voice through his Word and respond with faith, repentance and obedience.

Now to be clear, all believers are called to love and worship God with all their heart, mind and soul. But the Holy Spirit empowers some believers with unique gifts so they can lead, train and model to the church how to worship and pursue God's presence. For example:

• Someone with the gift of prophecy helps others listen for God’s voice and respond to it.
• Someone with the gift of intercession helps others learn how to pray with faith and persistence.
• Someone with the gift of leading worship helps others encounter Jesus through songs, Scripture and praise.

If you have one of these gifts, we encourage you to steward it well. Persevere even when others do not share your passion for this ministry. And ask the Holy Spirit for more power, more wisdom and more Christlike character so that your ministry will bear fruit.

QUESTIONS:

1. "Pursue love and earnestly desire spiritual gifts". Which of these gifts do you desire?

2. Who in your life has one of these gifts and how can you learn from them to pursue and demonstrate the presence of God to the church and your community?

CHALLENGE::

On your way to church, ask the Holy Spirit to reveal God's presence to you in a tangible and personal way. A. W. Tozer once said this when talking about the presence of God, “God waits to be wanted”