As each one has received a gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 1 Peter 4:10.
Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. Hebrews 13:20-21.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
I equip you for every good thing, every good work, in your life. And I equip you by grace, by gifts of grace (charisma) that give you skills and abilities. And each one of you has received a gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of My manifold grace. 1 Peter 4:10.
My manifold grace. Manifold means many and varied, in the Greek language in which this passage was originally written, it is the word “ποικίλης,” which is pronounced “poikilos,” and means many colored, of various kinds, diversified, manifold. And as we continue the series on the surpassing riches of grace, today is Life Lesson No. 2: “Stewards of God’s Manifold Grace,” for that is who you are. I have given gifts to you. And the word I use for “gifts” there is “charisma,” which means a gift of grace, a free gift. Chárisma is from the word “charis” which means “grace,” so it is a grace-endowment which divinely empowers a believer to share My work with others, i.e. Spirit-empowered service to carry out My plan for My people and build up the Church on earth.
What kind of gifts am I talking about? They are diverse and varied. I use the same word, charisma, for the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit. So I also include those here as well but there are others as varied and diverse as the assignments I give you. And when I have a Kingdom project for doing on earth I equip you for that to which I have called you. But there are even those who volunteer before called, like Isaiah, “Here I am, send me.”
So how do you know your gift and how do use it? You can tell by the place and time in which I have placed you. You see this in the Kingdom project of building My dwelling place, the tabernacle, I gave to Moses to be constructed by My people that I redeemed out of Egypt. I tell you that I called people by name to work on this project and endowed them with the skill needed by My Spirit. It is always by My Spirit I endow you with grace gifts and equip you for the work I have called you to do. Remember, Jesus told you that in the synagogue in Nazareth, “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, He has anointed Me . . . “ and then one by one He read the work to which I had called Him to do. And I repeat this by My servant Peter in the house of Cornelius, “You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.” Acts 10:38. Grace gifts come through My Spirit of grace. I call Him the Spirit of Grace, Hebrews 10:29, even in the prophecy I gave through My prophet Zechariah: “I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.” Zechariah 12:10,
And considering again, the plans for the tabernacle I gave Moses, I planned and had supplied all the materials by which it was to be constructed—from precious gems and metals to kinds of cloth, wood, spices, and oil. And I gave this to My people when leaving Egypt by giving them favor with the Egyptians. And for the acacia wood, these were groves planted by Abraham. I told Abraham about the sojourn and slavery of his descendants in Egypt and My providing riches for them when I brought them out to come back to the land I had promised him and his descendants long before even Joseph was born, let alone Moses. Genesis 15:13-14.
And with Moses were those born for just such a time as then. I called a man named Bezalel (and his name means “in the shadow of God), the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and filled him with My Spirit in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all kinds of craftsmanship, to make artistic designs for work in gold, in silver, and in bronze, and in the cutting of stones for settings, and in the carving of wood, that he could work in all kinds of craftsmanship. And I appointed with him Oholiab (meaning “the tent of my Father”), the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, as well as putting skill in the hearts of all who were desirous to work in such manner in order make all the plans that I had given Moses. And do you remember what I equipped them to make? The tent of meeting, and the ark of testimony, and the mercy seat upon it, and all the furniture of the tent, the table also and its utensils, and the pure gold lampstand with all its utensils, and the altar of incense, the altar of burnt offering also with all its utensils, and the laver and its stand, the woven garments as well, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, with which to carry on their priesthood; the anointing oil also, and the fragrant incense for the holy place. These were precious and holy things that taught lessons about Me to the people making them and those who later experienced them as I journeyed across the desert with them to the land I had promised them.
And there are many more building projects such as the temple that Solomon and the people of Israel built that was funded by David and his mighty men and constructed according to the plans I gave David. And later they had to rebuild the temple and the walls of Jerusalem, but I provided the funds from a pagan king and nation. But, if you recall, there was a building project assigned by Me way before these—the building of the ark by Noah.
And there have been so many other grace assignments and projects, which are still unfolding as new ones are being assigned to those called to this very hour, including your assignment in these times.
Over the ages, there were military strategies, prophets called to the writing of My Word and sharing My Words and warnings with My people, judges to govern My people, kings anointed to rule My people, projects in foreign nations, such as Joseph, Daniel, Esther, Ezra, and Nehemiah, then in the New Testament, assignments given to Zachariah, Elizabeth, John the Baptist, Mary and Joseph, the calling of the twelve disciples and their assignments, the calling of Paul, Barnabas, Silas, Mark, Luke, Lydia, Priscilla and Aquila, and so many more. And the skills and abilities of all these were diverse and varied.
Moses was the first one to write a song that is recorded in the Bible, Exodus 15:1, and his parting gift to the Israelites was another song, Deuteronomy 31:22, and in Heaven they are singing the song of Moses and of the Lamb, Revelation 15:3. The next person to write a song was Deborah, the judge of Israel, Judges 5, and after that David composed many wonderful songs (psalms), and his son Solomon spoke 3,000 proverbs, and his songs were 1,005, 1 Kings 4:32, including the Song of Songs.
Some completed and did valiantly with their grace gifts for their assignment. My Spirit rushed on David from the day Samuel anointed him and never left him. He used his gifts well to further My Kingdom. I called him a man after My own heart that would do My every wish. And consider Joseph and Daniel, both had foreign heads of state recognize that My Spirit was upon them and find them trustworthy and true, good stewards of My manifold grace.
Solomon started well but did not finish well. Some failed their assignments like King Saul and Judas. And there were many kings of Israel and Judah that totally forsook and denied Me, serving other gods, but they lost their rewards and cut their lives short. Samson cut his life short as well but he finished back in faith with Me.
And now I assure you that each one of you has received a gift that you are to employ it in serving one another as good stewards of My manifold grace. 1 Peter 4:10. Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances from Me; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which I supply; so that in all things I may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. 1 Peter 4:11.
When Jesus ascended on High, He gave gifts to you, He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ. Ephesians 4:11-12. These are grace gifts to help you grow and equip you for service so that each of you can then do your own grace assignments– for you who believe are all members of the Body of My Son. And just as the different parts of the body have differing jobs, so too all of you do as members of His Body, the church upon earth.
And never regard your gift as insignificant. Ruth simply thought she was going to take care of her mother-in-law in an impoverished condition for the rest of her life, she thought of her life as insignificant, but no call or grace assignment is insignificant, it is a necessary part of the body so that functioning is at the optimum. And her assignment brought about the line of David and of Jesus according to the flesh.
Esther thought of herself as insignificant, but her faithfulness saved the Hebrew people and preserved the line of the Messiah.
The twelve disciples did not know that their witnessing about Jesus would now have people all over the world believing in Him and loving Him! And they certainly never thought of that the first day they saw Him by the Sea of Galilee them.
It is the little things that make you great in My eyes. I made everything of very tiny particles but they fill the universe.
I love you. Be good stewards of My manifold grace. And I want to make clear, you do not just have one gift and it stops there. No, it is My manifold grace, for each area of your life, whether it be your job, your studies, your family, raising children, composing songs, writing blogs or books, witnessing to Jesus, or any other varieties of tasks or seasons in your life, there is a grace gift that I endow you with and equip you with for that. Wholeness in every area of your life.