Gift Less

Gift Less
by Pastor Sam Livingston

As we approach the Christmas holiday, the child at heart will anxiously wake up on Christmas morning and race to the family gathering point looking for that special something. Women will look for diamonds and furs, men will look for power tools and children will stretch their eyes for the latest electronic gadget to fulfill wishes. Christmas is a very special time of the year for many reasons it is a time of rewards for those who have been nice. Most importantly, it is a time to celebrate Jesus birth or shall I say transformation from GLORY to earth.

Can you imagine what it must have been like for the shepherds who were abiding in the field when the angelic beings approached them with the good news. They were simply doing their job as always until “…the angel said unto them, fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto us is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord” (Lk 2:10-11). On that particular day in history every individual on Earth received the greatest gift ever to mankind. The shepherds were given a sign to identify the heavenly gift for he would be wrapped in swaddling clothing lying in a manger. In other words no one on earth would let their newborn lay in a manger for a minute but God so there would be no mistaking the gift.

My desire today is to talk to you about your gift or lack of. Before we go any further don’t even try it because you do have a gift from God. Each of us has a God given gift to do something special within the body of Christ. We may not all know exactly what that gift is but it is there and it has been there since conception, you were born with it. As we look back to my earlier statement, we all look under the tree or around something for a gift. The absence of a gift for anyone leaves us speechless, empty and the feeling of unloved.

Too many of us are operating within the body of Christ in a Gift less state of being. We are either afraid to pick up our spiritual tools or we are in the state of denial. The thing that I love about Elisha is the fact that he earnestly desired a double potion of the yoke destroying anointing and when his spiritual mentor was carried away in the whirlwind he immediately pick up the mantle and used it right away. He did not second guest it, he did not tarry and he was not concerned about what the other prophets thought of him. He simply wanted the mantle to activate his gifts.

It is a shame to walk around gift less or failing to activate our gift. Your gift may not be the same as mine but it is there embedded within the fibers of your soul waiting to be released by your faith. We cannot be overly concern about whether or not our gift will be accepted where we are. The Bible say in Proverbs that “A man’s gift maketh room for him and bringeth him before great men” (Prov. 18:16).

Please understand this verse because your primary purpose is to simply work your gift. Now, upon working your gift, the anointing squeezes you into places that you would not have been invited to. Then when you get there, you will be more than a guest like the others but you become a featured guest! You may start out watching the sheep but before long you will be over a kingdom.

Personally I don’t know how one could be Gift less within the body of Christ and be Guiltless. I would feel guilty not knowing what my gifting was if I called myself a Christian! Seek God today for the identity of your gift and stop walking around unopened.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Pastor Sam Livingston is a seasoned pastor, lecturer, teacher and Author of “The Essentials of Fellowship”. He is married to Meraldine Hicks Livingston and blessed to have two children, Sammy K Livingston Jr. and Candace I Livingston. Pastor Livingston is a graduate of NC A&T State University; B.S., Webster University; Business Administration, MA and he is a student at Luther Rice Seminary’s Master of Divinity program. Total Package Ministry airs via television bi-weekly throughout Coastal South Carolina. He thanks God for the opportunity to carry the healing ministry to a hurting nation.