To Whom Credit Is Due

"Whoever confesses that Jesus is the son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him." 1 John 4:15,16

As many of you know, we have seen some cool things happening in the community where I live lately. There has been true healing, there has been true deliverance, there has been prophetic words that have been revealed by God and shown to be true.
When the kingdom of God begins to manifest in this way, it is really easy to want to take credit for it. The temptation begins in a very subtle way: "I prayed and God moved." While this may be true, I have to say this statement comes from a place of humility. If there is any ounce of pride in my heart than this statement actually means, "Look God has honored my greatness." I'll be honest, I have fallen to this temptation before. And the Lord has convicted me of it.

It's exciting to be apart of the things of God. I am constantly blown away by the fact that God chooses to use we who are imperfect, messy and immature to show His power-- "the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength." (1 Corinthians 1:25)--it is His way of bringing glory to Himself and to usher us into a strong, dependent relationship between us an Him. While God responds to our prayers and hears our cries, it is His Spirit that performs the works --not anything that is within me. This is the reality of Galations 2:20, "I no longer live but Christ lives in me.." I must come to the revelation that I am the vessel of the life of Christ and from that reality all things natural and supernatural will flow.

Something hit me the other day as I was reading about different spiritual gifts in Romans 12:
I am not gifted. I am made a giver.
Paul describes different types of gifts: prophecy, service, teaching, ect. All are capable of functioning in these things. Somewhere along the road, I think we have been taught that God gives the gift of prophecy to an individual and they become 'gifted.' They become this thing that we believe is unattainable to us who are not 'as gifted.' Prophecy is a gift, but it is a gift that is given to the individual receiving the prophecy, not the one who is receives the revelation. If I give a prophetic word, I am giving a gift. I have the Spirit of Christ within me. He dwells with me and I dwell in Him. It is Him who is the prophet, and it is Him who chooses to manifest prophetically through me. He does choose some who will minister different ways more consistently than others, but this is not because we are more unique or gifted than others-- this is destiny; spiritual authority is given according to our obedience and the assignments which God gives us to. In my experience, faith is like a muscle. We have to work it out and the more we do so, the more capable we are in ministering and co-operating with the Spirit of God.

Now if I live in this reality, that it is not by anything of me but by all that is of Him, I am safe in humility. It is when I fall into the thinking that I accomplish the things of God by my own means and my own giftedness that I fall into the temptation of pride and begin a painful journey of the flesh where I must learn that "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." (Proverbs 3:34)
The safest place is the humble place. It is when we are in humility we receive the grace of the Lord. This is the lesson I continually learn, and my prayer is this: "Lord, keep me in humility that I may forever receive your amazing, freeing grace!"

It is God to whom credit it due. Give Him the glory, give Him the praise!