In this issue:
i)    Waiting on God - IT Devotional
ii)   Spiritual Gifts - Part 5 - C.E. Wigg

 
Waiting on God
In Touch Devotional
 
Psalm 130:1-8 
 
"No one is available to answer your call. Please hold; someone will be with you shortly." What is your usual reaction when you hear words like these? Irritation? Impatience? Anger? Waiting is one of our least favorite activities, yet the Lord blesses those who do (Proverbs 8:34). So how are we to wait?
 
We are to act calmly and patiently, which means we are to forgo complaining and inner grumbling. The transforming work of God's Spirit makes this possible (Galatians 5:22). An attitude of trust - which conveys that we know God is good, His purposes are valuable, and His plan is worth the cost of a delay - is to permeate our stillness. The Lord also looks favorably on those who are steadfast in seeking Him. All of life is to be lived out before Him according to His plan and purposes.
 
An attitude of expectancy that the Lord will do what He has promised is another part of waiting. We will find it easier to be still when we remember He always keeps His word.
 
Then, if the time of delay is extended, we are to stand firm and not move. Even when a deadline looms before us, an opportunity is about to pass us by, or the pressure to respond seems almost too great, we are still not to budge. Our God has not told us to move ahead, and we have committed ourselves to obey. If we are to pursue a lifestyle of stillness before the Lord, courage is required - many people will not understand such a choice, and they may add to the pressure by urging you to act.
 
What is the quality of your waiting? Ask the Holy Spirit to help you in any areas of weakness. 
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Spiritual Gifts - Part 5
Charles E. Wigg
 
The second gift that is mentioned is that of wisdom. This relates to the knowledge of God in the gospel. We are told that “He that winneth souls is wise”, (Proverbs 11:30). This gift is widely dispersed, and the Holy Spirit gives this gift abundantly, The person that witnesses for Christ to the perishing, and as a result leads them to Christ, is indeed wise.
 
In an Email recently a person who is now an evangelistic worker told how that when he was a boy, his mother who was then a Hindu, and was married to a Hindu who was an alcoholic, had suffered so much because of her husbands habit, decided that the only hope for her in this life was to kill her children, and then to commit suicide by throwing them first under a train and then throwing herself under a train. She went to the railway platform with this avowed intention. Her distress must have been obvious, and a sister of ours was present at that very time. She witnessed to her and led her to the Lord. The result was that the poor woman took her children home again, and in time both they and the hopeless husband were saved, and the son who his mother was going to kill, is serving the Lord in an Assembly. Surely that sister was indeed wise, and only when we reach the glory will the whole story be known. This wisdom is a gift that we should all covet, and which God gives liberally and for which we should all pray. (James 1:15-16)
 
The next mentioned is the gift of knowledge, it makes me think of the men of Issachar who are referred to in the Old Testament, they had a special knowledge , and understood the times, and knew what Israel ought to do. (1Chronicles 12:32). That seems to describe (in a measure), what is meant by this special gift of knowledge, it is something supernatural, and was specially needed before the cannon of Scripture was completed. It is still needed today, except that we now have the complete Bible in our hands, bur the knowledge of how to apply the scriptures in any difficult situation, is what we need. There are many bright ideas being floated around today, but the results of those ideas being implemented is ruinous of most things spiritual. We surely need that Biblically based knowledge, Lord give us more of it we pray!
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[Reproduced by permission of the author] 



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