Realm of the Gifting of God
2 Timothy 1:6-8
Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.
Here Paul speaks of the laying on of hands. Now by this, I am quite sure he does not mean discipline or as you would lay hands on someone that has wronged you. So too does John state that the knowledge and following of God would be marked by love unfeigned. Might well you have heard how that in Romans 6:23, "the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." It is the new 'I hate to break to you' or to even give away the surprise. God gave nothing more than himself as John 3:16 says for his great love for the world. Could it be one of the greatest stories of all time is about a love affair between God and man. So often in this life we tend to lose sight of even being given such a gift. How precious is the gift of God to his church. But what then should come of the laying on of hands.
Remember that at Pentecost the power fell upon them all as though it were the very gift of God himself. Herein is seen the promise of the sending even that of a certain comforter and with it the promise fulfilled. It seems this gifting then has the certain to make us witnesses to ought of himself. See, the Word of God came with great power and authority. It is he rather that forms in us the will and the doing of his good pleasure. Sure, it is done even for the purpose that the ages to come might ring with his praise. But what then of the all power given to life and godliness. It seems at the upper room that most of the disciples were assembled. Some were even fully present with both the will and the doing of God's good pleasure as time spent in prayer. Is it not just perfect conditions for a gift-giving ceremony.
Here the disciples with all their will and power had put themselves in direct alignment with God. How many know that when we come to do his will, he alone will bring about the all results needed. It is a gift that never ceases giving, my friends. Yet in your own self you get weary and awful tired sometimes. Remember back in Isaiah, how the youths are starting to faint and even to fall. But the waiting upon the Lord though causes his power to come upon us all the more so that we ourselves might enter in to the inner tabernacle of worship. So too might we execute the sacrifices of God upon the altar of our lives for a testimony. His power makes us witnesses my friends for it is in his eternal nature to do so.
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
See too the use that the gift engenders. It is awfully hard to work for God at times when we are so worried about our own power and way. Sure, as in Daniel's case, God has no trouble sending some of us on down to pursue it. So, it shall be then when we have come to the ways of the Lord that you shall hear a voice behind you saying to turn not neither to the right hand nor to the left. How often some of us love singing about the 'day that the Lord has made.' But how many of us really stop and consider the way of the Lord and if we indeed be found walking therein. Here Paul is saying as of 2 Corinthians 8:3-4 that the gift of God has made him ready to both receive and to be borne upon for all saints. How like the Lord is that way being found therein of himself. We speak of the ministry of God as though it is some light thing. All the while, has he not been ruling and reigning overall and serving too in ministerial capacity to the poor, the abandoned, the rejected, and the least.
Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;
To those that are without then has he come and with it his gift. That ministry is a mighty work of God my friends. Best to make sure it is his own power you're standing in and not of yours at all. So too does the ministry be found with the testimony at times. Sometimes the redeemed of the Lord should say so just a little more often to whom he has given this gift. See, what good is this gift if you keep it all to yourself and tell no one that they too might be blessed. Such a thing is not of God my friends for it is not in his nature to do so at all. Such would be the condition then of them that had left their first love as seen in the text.
They behaved as ones who had forgotten the Father and with it abandoned their gift. It is a frightful place to be. Indeed, it is the last thing seen before the prodigal son begins and with it the long slide down into the pigpen. But thanks be to God that the way down is often the way of coming back up. How hard it is to get to the Father but to the Son. So too is it his gift, being found of himself. How wonderful to receive the gifts given to men but the gift of God is far greater, my friends. Let us be found in him then bearing his name to all, most of all the unworthy and even the least. For it is his power that you are standing in.