The Gift - David Mitts
One of the power tools of the kingdom of God is the ability to activate within our specific gifting. Gifting and purpose are inextricably linked.
“As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the multifaceted grace of God.” (1Pe 4:10)
We see from this verse that the gifts we walk in are a testimony of the manifold, multifaceted grace of God. Grace, as we remember, is the Hebrew word “chen”. Chen is the word picture of a fence which guards or surrounds the seed of God’s word, plan, and destiny. Keep that in mind as we develop the understanding and application of the gift of God.
Peter tells the congregation that there is an interconnectedness of our giftings and that we are stewards which tells us there is an accountability for how we live out our giftings.
The Apostle Paul in speaking about the relationship between the Gentile church and native Israel, declares:
“For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” (Rom 11:29) or in other translations: “for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” (Rom 11:29)
The idea here is that regardless of how we treat the gift of God, it supersedes our actions and thoughts about God or about the gift.
This explains why so many “gifted” people can be in such darkness.
James also describes the gift of God in this way:
“Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.” (Jas 1:17)
The gift of God is perfect and good. It comes from the Father of lights. If He is the Father of lights, then who are the lights? We are of course. Yeshua told us:
““You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. “Your light must shine before people in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” (Mat 5:14-16)
There is a connection between the gift of God and being the light in the world. In this way we are connected to Yeshua who was both a gift to mankind and the light of the world.
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom 6:23)
“Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; the one who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”” (Joh 8:12)
Since He is both the giver of gifts and the giver of light, we know that our gifting to be fully manifested must be manifested in the light. This is what Yeshua alluded to not putting our light under a bushel.
Light is “or” in Hebrew and means order. Our gifting is to be brining God’s order to our world, His kingdom, His will. The root for “or” IS ALEPH and Reysh, which means strength or power of the head, who is God, through Messiah. Order comes when we yield our lives to His mind or His thoughts about some area of life even when we do not understand or maybe even agree. Yet light comes with trust, what we call faith, bringing the yes to what God thinks about a situation.
OK. Now let’s turn to the word “gift” in ancient Hebrew. Gift is the word natan. This word begins and ends with the same letter, the nun, which as we probably remember is the word symbol for seed. Embedded in the middle of the word is the tav, which is the picture of the cross. So, we have a seed, the cross and the seed. If we think of Yeshua as the ultimate gift, this becomes clear.
He is the seed, the Son of God, who went to the cross and died, to then become the seed of eternal life, forever.
John 3:16 that we love to quote, tells us:
““For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” (Joh 3:16)
We see in this verse the seed nature of the gift of the Son, who was given as an expression of love. That love expression was about death. If we believe in Him, we pass from death into eternal life. What stands between the seed and eternal life is death, death on a cross, the tav.
This is actually the seed process that produces the one new man.
“by abolishing in His flesh the hostility, which is the Law composed of commandments expressed in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two one new person, in this way establishing peace; and that He might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the hostility. And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near; for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.” (Eph 2:15-18)
His flesh dying was the blueprint for reconciliation of both Jew and Gentile to God bringing eternal life and eternal peace. He was the seed who died at the cross and then was resurrected as the seed that each of us can receive to become sons and daughters of the eternal kingdom.
In this way the one seed through death becomes the seed to all.This is the nature of the gift.
“But Jesus *answered them by saying, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. “Truly, truly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” (Joh 12:23-24)
This is the nature of the gift of God.
If we next shift our focus to our being the gifts of God, then we must follow the same pattern.
We are all born as Yeshua was, as a gift-seed of God and that without repentance or irrevocably. Yet to truly become a life giving seed, we have to likewise embrace the power of the death on the cross.
““The one who loves his life loses it, and the one who hates his life in this world will keep it to eternal life. “If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.” (Joh 12:25-26)
We follow Him by allowing our natural gifts to die. By dying, I mean to be consecrated to God. We see the picture of this with Abraham and His Son Isaac. Isaac was the son of promise. Abraham was asked by God to bring Isaac to the cross, to sacrifice Him.
“By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and the one who had received the promises was offering up his only son; it was he to whom it was said, “THROUGH ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS SHALL BE NAMED.” He consider that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type.” (Heb 11:17-19)
Abraham, called the father of faith brough His seed to the point of death, trusting that God would work eternal life into His seed.
Think about that for a moment. Abraham had already been gifted Isaac by God, miraculously. Yet God required a death for Isaac to transform the seed into a source of eternal life. In Isaac’s case this would produce covenant outcomes. God would name Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
“And He said, “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.” (Exo 3:6)
This becomes the pattern for the gift of God to produce. God gives the seed, we plant it through death, embodied by the cross but evident in every seed ever planted. All seeds must go into the ground, die and be reborn to yield the seeds and the fruit of destiny.
You seed the cross was embedded into creation.
“All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” (Rev 13:8)
This is key to all that we do and think in life. You see at our core we are control freaks. We want to be in charge. There is a true authority of the Believer, but it is not through control but through sacrifice and death.
Our gift makes a way for us.
“A man's gift makes room for him and brings him before great men.” (Pro 18:16)
Yet the room or the path created must be sacrificed to be refined into productive seed. Otherwise, our motive will be to be accepted and rewarded by man.
“Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.” (Mat 6:2)
You see the seed that is our gift must go through the death of the cross, be surrendered to go beyond the rewards of this world and bring eternal glory to the Father who gives us the gift.
This is very evident in our giving. When we can release our offerings and let them be dead to us then they will produce resurrection life. If we stay in control, then the very thing we thought to set us free enslaves us.
Activation: Releasing seed. Really all of this is about consecration. We die to ourselves, and live resurrection lives. Ask the Lord what have you been trying to control that needs to be released so that the gift can manifest with resurrection power.
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