But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. (1Co 12:7 KJB)
But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. (1Co 12:11 KJB)
For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. (1Co 12:12 KJB)
For the body is not one member, but many. (1Co 12:14 KJB)
But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. (1Co 12:18 KJB)
That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. (1Co 12:25-27 KJB)
Good morning Christian friend. I hope and pray all is well with you. Friendly reminder about the purpose behind the will of God for your life when He dispensed unto you spiritual gifts at your conversion. According to the scriptures here in 1 Corinthians 12, the Spirit of God wasn’t just given you and I simply for regeneration (a.k.a to be born again/new creature); He wasn’t just given us simply to teach us the commands of Christ; He wasn’t just given us simply to enlighten our spiritual eyes to grow in spiritual discernment for the things of God doctrinally speaking etc. According to 1 Corinthians 12, He was provided us so that we might benefit others from His presence inside of us. Read it carefully, ‘manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.’ I have a question for you brother or sister. Does every member at your church profit from the Holy Spirit inside your life? Is there a benefit that you provide others around you in your assembly with the presence of the living God dwelling inside of you, or no? I’d like to challenge our traditional mindset when considering the purpose for which the gift of the Spirit was provided saved sinners. I propose that we where given the given the gift of His presence to dwell inside us so that we could be used to profit those around us with all the love, knowledge, God’s presence provided us at conversion. Look at how God illustrated this point to us by comparing the spiritual body of Christ to our natural physical bodies. According the Bible, God was pleased to create your hands, your feet, your ears, your toes just the way they are. Each member of your physical body was designed to serve a purpose for the benefit of the whole attached, not detached. In other words, once the whole becomes detached from a part, the whole body cannot function according to the original design it was intended to serve for. Likewise for us spiritually speaking; after our conversion we eventually joined a church near us locally, and God’s design for the body of Christ was for all His parts (members) to come together for connection, so the whole could benefit according to the desgin. And once all the members join together physically (corporately) at your assembly, the whole is therefore perfect (complete), how? Because God’s presence in each part can be manifested to help profit the other, in ministration one toward another in love through charity. Consider the last part of 1 Corinthians 12. ‘That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.’. Do you find yourself having problems with other members in your church? Do you find yourself lacking in care for those around you in your local church; or perhaps other saved members of the Body of Christ in another assembly? If so, can I tell you what the real issue is with you love? It’s not them, its you. When there’s a hinderance to the manifestation of the Spirit through us, it’s generally due to the face that you and I are hindering the Spirit from manifesting through our lives so that He could profit others through us, not ourselves. When we choose to walk after the flesh, versus walking in the Spirit (Galatians 5), God taught us that we will not be able to serve another by love because in those moments we are too busy biting each other and attempting to devour one another in hatred. Brother and sister, you are gifted, that’s what the Bible says. But, your gift is only profitable when you and I yield to the Spirit in obedience to the word of God; because the virtue whereby it’s all motivated by and will operate through, is love.
By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. (1Jo 5:2 KJB). Love for the children of God, without love for God and His commandments first, is carnal love that will last until your personal commandments are broken. Love for God first and His commandments, will help produce endless love for the children of God because the Spirit will be empowering you to do so. Lastly, consider one more virtue of God whereby the Spirit will manifest Himself through you unto those around you.
But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way. (1Co 12:31 KJB)
Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, (1Co 13:4 KJB)
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. (1Co 13:13 KJB)
We don’t often think about faith, hope and charity as gifts of the Spirit, but that’s what the Book teaches. Since these are gifts could be coveted after; That is the ability for believers to pray unto God that He would dispense more of these virtues into their loves, the best and greatest of these is charity. Regardless of what you think your personal spiritual gifts might be currently; and how you’re serving in various roles at your church or within some ministry position etc; without charity, it will be unprofitable. Charity is a gift from God whereby the fulness of the Spirit’s presence within your life could be perfectly made manifest, to profit every man withal around you. How? Because when others are more important than self, forgiveness and forbearance for others are exercised by you; charity will motivate you to let God operate through you so you can continue to profit others around you. I hope I was able to be a help to you on this topic after I did some musing on the scriptures on this topic. Prayer for today? Ask God the Father through His Son the Lord Jesus Christ to dispense more charity in your heart so the Holy Spirit could be made more manifest through your life to profit others around you by. In love- Brother Carlos.
