Zechariah 14:9 English Standard Version (ESV) And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day the Lord will be one and his name one.

Here is BibleGateway’s verse of the day for June 29th.

Suddenly I thought “I’m ready. Do it!”

Sadly God’s purpose and plans are not subject to my wishes.

There are prophecies that have not been completed. That is speculative. How this church age plays out in relationship to this day in Zechariah is beyond me. That doesn’t influence my desire to see an end to all the injustices I see in this world. My sudden thought is full of judgment and desire for justice.

When we trust God we should not substitute His plans and purposes with our desires. We can pray about it and should, but we have to end those prayers with “Thy will be done.”

God will never give up His will because He is perfect in purpose and design. If He were not perfect in design, then it could be possible that I am not saved and I know with all my heart that I am saved.

I don’t blame others that get insecure about their salvation. It takes an enormous amount of trust and I have trust issues. That is me in my personal life and experiences. It isn’t spiritual, it is emotional. My desire for it all to be over is emotional.

When we study God’s Word we will see a number of emotional conditions that He wants us to give up in favor of our love for Him. Sadly loving God does not stop us from being emotional. It comes down to a matter of recognizing the source of our emotions, godly or worldly. God created us to be emotional people. God is love and being created in His image, we love.

But we didn’t begin loving perfectly as God loves. We always came up short. Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross showed us what God’s love can do. His love could take up residence within us in His abiding presence.

John 15:9-11 English Standard Version

9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

Is joy an emotion or something more?

Ephesians 4:7-8 English Standard Version

7 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.”

I have received a gift, one gift. I have not received all the gifts. I know what it is and I know how to use it and I dare not abuse it.

We are all subject to Christ and if at any time the Holy Spirit chooses to manifest Himself in a manner that reaches out to the needy via another gift in a moment, that does not mean they have received another gift. It only means that opportunity dictates need and not gifting.

Can a Christian receive more than one gift? That is not for me to say. I am not the giver of gifts.

What can be observed is that when the Holy Spirit chooses to use us in the appearance of another gift, to those who possess those gifts, it might appear that they stepped out of their lane and crossed over into another’s arena.

This is where grace is required to realize what God is doing at that moment. Each and every one of us can be used by God in any manner He deems necessary at any particular moment if for no other reason than no one else was available to perform His will.

An example in my life was being asked to take over a bible study in a life group that met once a week. Our leader with the gift of a teacher needed a break. I do not have the gift of teaching. I used my gift to lead the group and the study of Ephesians took a year under my leadership. A  teaching gift would have completed the study in a month to six weeks.

The application of gifts is important and must stay in its own lane to be effective.

Time and training is needed to perfect and utilize our gifts properly. That is not something we should be impatient about developing and using.

Another example from my past was being pushed into a position simply because there was a vacancy that needed to be filled.

The absence of a particular gift in our churches does not mean we should push those who do not have that gift into a position of performance. They will only fail, and that is not fair to anyone.