Four Ways to Use Your Spiritual Gifts - Pastor Rick's Daily Hope

 Give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God.”

Romans 6:13 (NLT)

God has given spiritual gifts to every single follower of Jesus. How do you start using the spiritual gifts God put inside of you? Here are four ways to get started:

1. Discover your gifts.
You’ve got to know what your gifts are before you can use them. Stop ignoring the fact that inside of you are some dormant gifts that you’re not even using, and figure out what God has put in you. The Bible says in 1 Timothy 4:14, “Do not neglect the spiritual gift that is in you” (GNT).

2. Dedicate your gifts to God.
The Bible says in Romans 6:13, “Give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God” (NLT).

Maybe you already know what you’re good at, but you’re just not using it for the Lord. You’re using it for yourself. You need to humble yourself and dedicate to the Lord every gift you have. Push all of your excuses out of the way and say, “God, I dedicate back to you what you gave to me.”

3. Develop your gifts.
Gifts are like muscles: The more you use them, the bigger they get. You can strengthen and develop and grow what God has given you. Any gift that God gives you can and should be developed. You’ll get better at it by practicing, studying, and by learning from other people who have the same gift.

I’ve learned that when God gives you something, he will give you even more of it if you use it well—more talent, money, influence, relationships, or responsibility. He says, “I can trust that person. I’m going to give that person more and more and more.”

4. Deploy your spiritual gifts.
“Deploy” means to put into service. You get out on the field, and you start doing something. Romans 12:6 says this: “We are to use our different gifts in accordance with the grace that God has given us. If our gift is to speak God’s message, we should do it according to the faith that we have” (GNT).

What’s the best way to discover and dedicate and develop and deploy your spiritual gifts? In a small group. It’s a testing ground! If you are not in a small group, I encourage you to get connected to one this week so that you can test and develop your spiritual gifts in the safe and supportive environment of friends who will encourage you.

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What’s holding you back?

As we work at building up our faith and our personal connection to Christmas, we need a better understanding of our calling to give birth to Christ in partnership with Mary and the Holy Spirit. We need to get more in touch with how and why we can succeed at spreading the Good News more fully into the world, which so desperately needs him. For this purpose, we can use today’s first reading to uncover what’s still holding us back:

1. How is your life like a desert, dry and lifeless except for a few prickly cactuses? 

2.Are you thirsty for more of God? In what area of your life do you feel parched?

3. Are you feeble in your attempts to become a better evangelizer? 

4.Are your knees weak as your travel the difficult road of holy living?

5. Are you controlled and paralyzed by fear? Any fear — even the smallest one — paralyzes us from moving ahead into the success that awaits us. 6.How are you blind? Are you unable to recognize the talents, knowledge and wisdom you have that God wants you to use for taking Christ to others? 

7.What has God been telling you that you can’t hear? Maybe it’s his guidance? Or his love song that he sings to you? Or his dreams for you? 8.What part of giving Christ to others is too difficult for you? What lame excuses are you using to sit down and do nothing? 

9.How has fear kept your tongue silent when you could be sharing a story about your faith life? Or what have you been saying that’s so unlike Jesus that you give a bad impression of who Jesus really is? 

10.In what areas of your life are the jackals who tempt you still lurking, keeping you from being a good witness of what Jesus is really like? 

11.In what ways do you act foolishly? What the world considers wise the Lord knows to be foolish. What worldly wisdom is holding you back from imitating Jesus? 

12.How are you like a lion? Is there anyone you’ve been devouring with unkind words or impatience or contempt or bullying instead of giving them the unconditional love of Jesus? 

Well, the Good News is, as Isaiah points out: The Lord has ransomed us! Today’s Gospel reading reveals that Jesus was overflowing with God’s power so that he could minister to people. He wants to minister to you, too. We all need this help to fulfill our calling as evangelizers. It’s Jesus who strengthens the hands that are feeble and the knees that are weak. We are like the paralytic who allowed his friends to lower him to Jesus for a healing. By humbling ourselves and allowing Christian friends to help us, we reach the power of Christ. And then he says to us, “My friend, your sins are forgiven.” With that Word, we are healed. With that Word, all the good things that Isaiah prophesied are becoming true for us.

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Seven Characteristics of Mercy

“The wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy.” James 3:17 (NLT) Mercy is like a diamond; it is multifaceted. Today we’re going to look at seven facets of mercy. And I guarantee that learning how to be an agent of mercy will transform your relationships. 1. Mercy means being patient with people’s quirks. The Bible says in James 3:17, “The wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy” (NLT). The wiser you become, the more patient and merciful you become. 2. Mercy means helping anyone around you who is hurting. You cannot love your neighbor as yourself without being merciful. Proverbs 3:27 says, “Whenever you possibly can, do good to those who need it” (GNT). 3. Mercy means giving people a second chance. When somebody hurts you, you normally want to get even or write that person off. But the Bible says, “Stop being bitter and angry and mad at others . . . Instead, be kind and merciful, and forgive others, just as God forgave you because of Christ” (Ephesians 4:31-32 CEV). 4. Mercy means doing good to those who hurt you. Mercy is giving people what they need, not what they deserve. Why should you do that? Because that’s what God does with you: “Love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back . . . Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:35-36 NIV). 5. Mercy means being kind to those who offend you. You need to be more interested in winning people to Christ than in winning an argument. Jude 1:23 says, “Show mercy to others, even though you are afraid that you might be stained by their sinful lives” (GW). 6. Mercy means building bridges of love to the unpopular. This is what I call premeditated mercy, because you intentionally build friendships with people who don’t have friends or who are not accepted at work or in society. When the Pharisees questioned why Jesus ate with tax collectors and other unpopular people, Jesus said, “‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’ For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners” (Matthew 9:13 NLT). 7. Mercy means valuing relationships over rules. Romans 13:10 says, “Love fulfills the requirements of God’s law” (NLT). If you want to show mercy, put people before policies. Put their needs before procedures. Put relationships before regulations. Choose love over law.

New Growth in Faith

Name your stump. Today’s first reading contains that often-quoted, sometimes sung prophecy in Isaiah about the coming of the Messiah, a new branch growing from the dead stump of the tree of Jesse. Jesse was the great King David’s father. Out of this family tree, Jesus was born. The tree of Jesse was a healthy, fruitful family because of their faith in God, which inspired them to be good servants of his kingdom. David became a servant-king 1,100 years before the human birth of Jesus. His reign was strong and branched out into the whole nation of Israel. During much of his son Solomon’s reign, the tree continued to flourish, but then it became diseased. Israel cracked in two, divided and weakened by a civil war after Solomon’s death. Foreign enemies came and cut down the tree, taking the Israelites into captivity. The Jews never again had a king as great as David. Through the prophet Isaiah, God promised that the tree of Jesse would spring back to life. In the midst of suffering and loss, God was offering a reason for hope based on faith in him. Think of a chopped-down tree in your own life. What relationship has been cut off? What ministry has died? Has a job been axed? Has a dream withered? Name your stump. The Jews thought that when the new shoot finally grew from the stump of Jesse’s tree, it would be a new king like David and he would rescue them from their human enemies. Of course, we know that Jesus was the Messiah that Isaiah had prophesied, and he was quite a different sort of king. The branch of Christ grew into Christianity and its many branches of Christ-rooted ministries. Jesus rescued us from the spiritual enemy and its weapons of sin. Faith-filled followers serve God’s kingdom, producing many good fruits. Now think of your own tree stump. If we watch for our stumps to come back to life and grow the same old tree, we will fail to see our Messiah. A cut-off relationship cannot be restored unless Christ becomes the center of it and each person’s heart is converted and healed from the cut. A dead ministry will take new shape only when Jesus resurrects it; the roots will be the same, but the new growth will be surprisingly different. Christ’s life is springing forth from the axed job as he points the way down a path that will glorify God. The withered dream will pass through the cross of Christ to be resurrected into a glorified new goal that will be empowered by a Pentecost of the Holy Spirit. When we allow Isaiah’s prophecy to come true for us in our current situations, we hear Jesus say, as we read in today’s Gospel passage, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see!” Do you have faith to see? Fertilize your tree stump by increasing your prayer time, scripture reading, other spiritual reading, and participation in parish programs. Jesus himself is the new growth that will be born in you, but you have to nurture your soil. For more on this, use our video, “3 Keys in Turbulent Times to Grow Closer to Christ” @ gnm-media.org/3-keys-in-turbulent-times-to-grow-closer-to-christ/. © 2022 by Terry A. Modica

Making the most of divine opportunities

 Mark 10:46-52

bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/102421.cfm

After Jesus touches our lives -- answers a prayer, gives us a healing, provides a life-changing insight, or makes any other kind of difference -- what do we do next? Our life has been changed by divine grace. Do we make the most of this new opportunity?

God never forces us to take a new direction or follow a certain path, not even if we've made a bargain with him, such as: "Lord, if you heal me, I will go to Mass every day."

Jesus says to us what he said to Bartimaeus, the man he healed in this Sunday's Gospel reading: "Go your way; your faith has saved you." Go where?

Sometimes his instructions are a little more informative than that. When he cures someone from sin, he adds: "Go and sin no more". Okay, but go where?

Every step we take is important. Where we go and what we do next makes a difference that ripples off into the future with ramifications (blessings and/or woes) that are impossible for us to predict. Jesus isn't down-playing the significance of this. Rather, what happens next is so important that he wants us to have full control over it.

Jesus told Bartimaeus "Go your way." And what did Bartimaeus do with that freedom? He "followed him on the way." He opted for the best possible direction. His life changed dramatically, not only because he had been blind and now he had good eyesight, but because he wanted to learn from Jesus and become one of his followers.

How many times have we returned to an old familiar path after an encounter with Christ? If following him means taking a new direction, getting involved in a new ministry, or changing careers or friends, we too often settle back into old routines. Comfort zones are hard to leave. But following Jesus is a life-changing adventure if we're sincere about our faith.

Following Jesus and learning from him should be our highest priority. Every encounter with Christ should change us -- even at Mass when we reunite ourselves to him in the Eucharist.

Questions for Personal Reflection:
Think of the last time Jesus responded to your need for help. What changed afterward? How long did the change last?

Questions for Community Faith Sharing:
Describe a time when you changed directions in your life because of an encounter with Christ. What did Jesus do for you? How did you figure out which way to go afterward?

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God Provides on the Way to the Miracle

 “My God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 4:19 (NIV)

Waiting for a miracle can be hard. Sometimes the road is cold, dark, and lonely; you may even find yourself stuck in a rut. You may not know where you’re going or how long the journey will take.

No matter where you are on the way to your miracle, here are some things you need to remember:

God is all you need.
You don’t need a big bank account, a full refrigerator, or even a job. If God wants to, he can have ravens drop food on you as his way of providing. That’s how he provided for the prophet Elijah, who was exhausted and burned-out in the desert; you can read about it in 1 Kings 17. When God turns off one source of provision, he can turn on another just as easily. You can trust him for all you need.

Where God guides, God provides.
After sending the ravens to feed Elijah, God told him to make a dangerous trip to Zarephath. There was a drought in Zarephath and very little food. Yet God provided for Elijah through a poor widow with a generous heart. When God tells you to go somewhere, go immediately. When God tells you to do something, do it right away. When God gives you direction, he will provide what you need to get there.

You must trust him one day at a time.
Why? Because some of your problems persist day after day. For instance, if you have financial problems, you’ll have to deal with them every day. And so we must trust God one day at a time to provide. The Bible says, “My God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19 NIV).

God’s promises work when you’re obedient.
God often lays out his plan just one step at a time. He wants you to take the first step in obedience, and then he’ll show you the next step. Each step along the way may not seem logical, but you can obey in faith and confidence, knowing God’s way is always best.

Have you taken the first step of faith?
The first step of faith is asking Jesus to save you and take control of your life. If you’ve never done that, then I invite you to pray this prayer right now:

“Dear God, thank you for loving me and wanting me to depend on you. for loving me and wanting me to depend on you.Forgive me for when I’ve depended on my job, other people, and my own plans instead of you. I want to learn to trust you one day at a time. I want to go your way, not my way. I confess my sin, and I believe you are my Savior. I want to follow you, and I ask you to save me and come into my life. I claim your promise that if I trust you, I will be saved and you’ll meet my needs. When you tell me what to do, I will obey. Help me to remember you’re all I need and where you guide, you’ll provide. I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

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Five Ways to Relax in God’s Grace

 Be careful that no one fails to receive God’s grace.”

Hebrews 12:15 (NCV)

How do you learn to “R.E.L.A.X.” in the liberating grace of God?

R—Realize nobody’s perfect.
Psalm 119:96 is a verse directed toward God, and it declares, “Nothing is perfect except your words” (TLB). What society tells you isn’t perfect. What popular opinion tells you isn’t perfect. What you learned growing up isn’t perfect. But God’s Word is perfect. When you get in the Bible and build your life on it, you will have a perfect foundation.

E—Enjoy God’s unconditional love.
The Bible says, “See how very much our heavenly Father loves us, for he allows us to be called his children—think of it—and we really are!” (1 John 3:1 TLB). When you become a follower of Christ, you take on a role of service to him—but you’re more than a servant! The Bible says you become a child of the King. A servant is accepted on the basis of what he does; a child is accepted on the basis of who he is. A servant starts the day anxious and worried that her work will please her master; a child rests in the secure love of her family. A servant is accepted because of his workmanship; a child is accepted because of his relationship.

L—Let God handle things.
What do you do about the uncontrollable things in life? “Cast all your anxiety on [God] because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7 NIV). When you’re fishing and you cast a line, there comes a point where you have to take your finger off the button and let it go. Just like the essence of casting is letting go, to overcome perfectionism you have to let go and let God do his work.

A—Act in faith, not fear.
Remember how you got into God’s family in the first place. Ephesians 2:8 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith” (NIV). Grace is the only way to get into heaven. You’ll never be good enough, and you can’t buy your way in. It’s a free gift from God.

X—Exchange your perfectionism for God’s peace.
Perfectionism destroys peace. Jesus says in Matthew 11:28-29, “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest . . . Learn the unforced rhythms of grace” (The Message). What a deal!

You’re going to fail a lot in life. But you don’t have to worry about it if you’ve received God’s grace. In fact, there’s only one failure you ever need to worry about: “Be careful that no one fails to receive God’s grace” (Hebrews 12:15 NCV). Receive it right now, and then relax!

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