Gifts in the Body

“When you know that everything matters—that every move counts as much as any other—you will begin living a life of permanent purpose.”
― Andy Andrews

     When I was young, I was always jealous of those kids who had a passion for something so deep they wanted to know everything they could about it.  There was the kid who was so into baseball he knew all the statistics and had all the cards.  It was all he talked about.  There was the person in the band who taught themselves the theme to M*A*S*H on the saxophone, because they were so into playing.  When Dad left, I had to sell my horse and with it went my passion for it.  I never had a drive for anything, but writing and I even stopped doing that too.  What God showed me today is that I have found my passion.  The one thing I want to know everything there is to know, I can't learn enough about, is God.  He pointed out that it has resurrected my passion for writing.  Hmm, was that planned?  I want to know all the history, everything about what He is doing now, and all there is to know about the future.  I have always liked a good story and this one goes on and on and on.
     I seriously think that God gets a kick out of showing me the simplest things.  He makes them so interesting.  Not just the way He shows me, but the way it all comes together.  For instance this morning He kept bringing up the "church body"  We are each a piece to that puzzle.  Some of us are the hands that lift others up and some of us are the feet and lead others.  We have prophets who hear and preachers who speak.  We all have a place, we all have a purpose.  Some are the arms of comfort and some are the strong backs that carry the weak. 
     He then pointed out to me, and I'm still not sure why, but when Jesus was crucified the nails were driven through His hands and feet.  There is something to that, but I haven't seen it yet.  While I was thinking about this He brought a movie to mind.  A movie where the "bad guys" cut off people's ears or fingers and sent them to the families of the victim, to say either "We have him" or "We killed him".  They also tortured people this way to get them to talk. 
     I can see the enemy at work here.  He fooled those "bad guys" (mafia, gangs, etc.) into thinking they were good, because they had things like family loyalty and would do anything to protect those families.  The enemy used the truth to deceive.  The head of the family was usually a very intelligent person.  In fact in the third part of the Godfather Michael Corleone says to his nephew, "Never hate your enemies, it affects your judgment."  How true is that?  Wisdom.
     The speaker I have been listening to the last few days said today, "The only difference between Adolf Hitler and you is that he was deceived."  The more I thought about it the more sickening it was.  We all know the truth, our truth, but Hitler had his beliefs and he was just as sure of those beliefs as I am that God is real.  He was deceived and I have to admit, I have a little compassion for the guy.  The enemy must have started on him before he left his mother's womb.
     Another thing the man talked about this morning was our free will and that God's gifts and His call on our lives are irrevocable.  (Romans 11:29)  So, what if God's call on Hitler's life was to be a speaker of the Gospel.  He had a gift for speaking.  He had Biblical knowledge, but he also had free will.  I have heard so many times that the enemy comes against us in a big way when we have a big calling.  What if God had an amazing plan for Hitler.  What if all those people who listened and followed him were hearing God's word instead of the enemy.  What if the enemy knew the anointing Hitler had on his life and worked over time to get him working against God and God's people.  Two years ago I spent a lot of time reading and watching everything I could get my hands on about WWII.  Hitler had a lot of mental turmoil.  Looking back at all that I learned about him this makes perfect sense.  It's one thing for the enemy to convince us not to do God's will, but if he can actually get us deceived into working against God, look at all the damage that can be done.  If I remember right, Hitler thought he was working for God at one time, but I think a little pride and greed and ego got fed to him.
     I guess what God was showing me, was how the enemy whacked off a hand?  Maybe a foot?  Maybe it was just a finger? of the church body and sent it to God wrapped in striped pajama's and Nazi uniforms.  It happens every day on a much smaller scale and it's still happening on a big level.  Look at sex trafficking and other kinds of slavery, gifted people are running those operations.  We choose to use our God given gifts and anointing for the enemy or ourselves, instead of for God like He intended.  It makes you wonder where those psychics on the hot lines came from.  This world has some amazingly gifted people on the wrong side.  We all have irrevocable God given gifts.  What...Who are we using them for?

Any fool can count the seeds in an apple. Only God can count all the apples in one seed. ~Robert H. Schuller