Discern Your Gift (Part 3)!

INSPIRE Devotionals With Emmanuel Afiawari Friday, December 27, 2024 Topic: DISCERN YOUR GIFT (Part 3)! Bible Text: John 4:10 NKJV 10. Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” INSPIRATION: One of the most desired needs of humans, yet the least accredited with its importance, is the gift of men. We all need people to stand with us either as a show of solidarity, as allies, as partners, or as our biggest support system. Scriptures say, "There's a friend that sticks closer than a brother" (Prov. 18: 24). May we not ever lack such people; people who form strategic bridges to our next level; people, who take up arms and bear armours for us! Winning with people as against winning as a lone ranger makes the victory of the former smoother and easier to execute. But winning with people comes at a price, the biggest, being to discern those who are with you and are for you. Life would teach us in very hard terms that it's not always all who are with you that are for you. A quick example is Judas Iscariot. At times, there are betrayers are saboteurs masquerading as angels to undo us. Satan also disguised as an angel of light (2 Cor. 11: 14)! There're Greek gifts with sinister motives, as there're people with ulterior and very dark intentions. Your inability to discern makes you an easy prey at the verge of your biggest victories. Discern your friends and choose your partners discretely, not just for any outwardly displayed feature, else you may miss you Ruth and settle for a Jezebel. Proverbs 31: 30 says, "Charm and grace are deceptive, and beauty is vain [because it is not lasting], but a woman who reverently and worshipfully fears the Lord, she shall be praised! Discern people for strategic partnerships. Forge alliances with people not for their attractiveness but what they can attract to better your lot. Be purpose-driven or you may end up partnering dream killers while neglecting dream fertilisers who didn't look the part when you first met. If you get swayed by first impression, you could get slayed with no hope of redemption. The six other men lacked what the Samaritan woman needed. Meeting Jesus, she hastily categorised Him with them. But there she was with her Saviour, looking so ordinary, she could have missed Him for lack of discernment! TODAY'S TAKE HOME: Unwrap Christ this season; get revelational insights to His divinity, love, power and all that comes with it. Don't be a deprived, second class Christian by your ignorance! PRAYER: Oh Lord, please help me to fully know the gift of Christ, to embrace in its entirety all that God has reserved for me in Christ. Help me to recognise the gift of men and to utilise same for my advantage and to Your glory, in Jesus name, Amen.