Daily Devotional

A Ministry of the Kerwin Baptist Church

August 16, 2019

by Pastor Hawtree

BIBLE READING: I Corinthians 12

4 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.
5 And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.
6 And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.
7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.

1. WE ALL HAVE DIFFERENT GIFTS, BUT THEY WERE GIVEN TO US BY THE SAME HOLY SPIRIT (4)
We discussed this not long ago in another devotional. God has given each of us gifts that come to fruition in our lives through the power of the Holy Spirit of God. In other words, God has given each of us gifts, but for those gifts to be the most useful and powerful, we must be filled with the Spirit of God and dependent upon Him.

2. GOD WILL USE THOSE GIFTS DIFFERENTLY IN EACH OF OUR LIVES (5)
Paul here uses the word “administrations”. This simply refers to the administering of the gifts we were given. That means that some of us might have the same spiritual gifts, but God will use that differently in each of us. My spiritual gift may be teaching and preaching, and another person might have that same gift, but it does not mean that God’s going to use those gifts the exact same way in both of our lives. Some preachers preach one-way, other preachers have a totally different style. Some pastors pastor large churches, some pastors pastor small churches. They might have the same spiritual gift, but God uses it differently in an individual’s life. And the reason for the difference is to fulfill God’s purposes and will.

3. THE GIFTS THAT GOD GAVE AND USES IN OUR LIVES WILL BE USED
DIFFERENTLY AT DIFFERENT TIMES (6)
This simply means that God will use your spiritual gifts differently each day of your life. Let me illustrate it with myself. My spiritual gift is teaching and preaching. There will be some services when I use this gift that it seems as if nothing happens. Then there will be some services that I use this gift, and it seems that God works greatly. But I have found many times where I thought God had worked mightily, He really did not. And then there are times where it felt like God did nothing, and I found out later that He used it mightily. You and I will never be able to see or know the affect or influence of our spiritual gift any given day. We simply must use our gifts for the Lord and let Him worry about the results. He’s the one that “operates” the use of our gifts.

4. THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL ONLY MANIFEST HIMSELF TO ACCOMPLISH GOD’S PURPOSES, OR TO GLORIFY GOD’S NAME (7)
The Holy Spirit does not magnify Himself so that people will talk about you and your gifts. Our gifts were not given for us to glorify ourselves, or to take the credit for what the Holy Spirit accomplishes. Our gifts were given for God to use for the profit of others, and to glorify His name.