11-12-24-DAILY READING-ENG.

EXPERIENCING THE SPIRIT

                             MISSING OUT ON SEEING GOD 

When it comes to serving God, we tend to evaluate what we're good at and what we like to do, then serve according to our ability. We figure out what talents we have, assume that these are our spiritual gifts, then offer them to God. This, in fact, is what others usually encourage us to do—to recognize where we're proficient and what we like to do, then serve according to our abilities, all the while asking God to bless our efforts.

We never consider serving outside the areas of our strengths, and we can't imagine God asking us to do what we don't like to do. We look at our self to discover our assignment from God. How silly is that? The result of this approach is that we don't need or rely on the Holy Spirit, because we're confident in our abilities. We're under the delusion that we have everything under control. The world, therefore, looks at the church and sees good people doing good things for God, but they don't see the power of God working through His people to accomplish what only He can do.

Think about it. If we were to serve according to our talents, why did Jesus send us the Holy Spirit? Why did Jesus tell the disciples to wait until the Spirit had come upon them? It was because our best isn't good enough when it comes to kingdom work; we need the Holy Spirit in our lives if we're going to be of use to God.