A Reprise On Gifts

SUN., MAY 2, 1993, 5:54 AM
FARM, STUDY

There was both a sense of frustration and of security that came from your Friday evening retreat… the first time for the new Session to gather. You felt frustration that you didn’t have the opportunity to tell of your strong gifts… or was it just lack of courage to testify even to your fellow Session members? The security feeling, on the other hand, came from the realization that this congregation is a diverse lot, which you see as a strength. There are a few somewhat like you, but others whose view of life and of the church is more like that in which you grew up. Your ideal would be a congregation that accepts what We do together as real, legitimate, and helpful. You have to settle for one that has a few such people… and none of them were in groups with you on Friday.

You were pleased with the gifts that the inventory identified. I explained the “prophesy” matter in a previous Teaching, so just understand that, while you answered the items accurately, I do not use you, primarily, to bring messages to individual people as to what they should do… or how the future will be. Yet while I teach you about how present actions are going to affect the future of the earth and its diverse life you are close to having prophesy as a gift.

You have a gift of faith. There is little in your religious, personal, and professional lives that would encourage you to continue this “meditation” in the way I have structured it. You have to have faith that what you write is what I am telling you… I, the Holy Spirit of the Lord God, Who also is One with Jesus, the Son… (a holy commercial)… rather than just the words and thoughts of your own mind. This faith I have given you in sufficient measure to both continue the process and enjoy and profit from the “products”. When others don’t have that faith then there is skepticism about both the process and the content. You are not responsible for that lack of faith. I am. Just do your part.

So… I have given you the gift of regular Teachings from Me. Teachings that help guide your life. As you have finally sent out the last of Our “winter” Ruminations you realize, again, the diversity in those to whom you send them. You know, for sure, that only a few really read them, but when you have put them together and sent them out… you have done your part. The rest is up to Me.

You are reasonably comfortable with most of the content of this gift. The main trouble that you have… or think you have… is in the ways that what I say to you doesn’t seem to mesh with some Scriptural passages. I still recommend Scripture… you know I do… but just as there are differences in Scripture… comparing Scripture with Scripture… so there is some divergence of the Teachings from Scripture. It is all by design. I am free to speak in this time and in the way I choose. I respect Scripture, but I can never be bound by particular passages, or by interpretations thereof.

It was gratifying to hear that some in the retreat recognized and appreciated your gift of joy and appreciation for others. Your assignment in nurture and fellowship can be energized by their gift. You’ll find ways to express it, I’m sure.