my offering.

I lay it all down, my dreams and my crowns
Lord, I surrender
I lay it all down, my fear and my doubts
Lord I surrender, Lord I surrender

My heart like never before
My heart like never before
Lord, I wanna give You everything
I wanna give You everything
This is my offering

Give me the strength, enough for today
Lord, I surrender
Show me Your way, give me the grace
Lord to surrender, Lord I surrender

My heart like never before
My heart like never before
Lord, I wanna give You everything
I wanna give You everything
This is my offering

All I have, I bring to You
All I have, I bring to You, Lord
To You, Lord

All of me
This is my offering

don't let envy in the church.

Romans 12:6-16

What a shame when there is a spirit of envy among
the members of the Body of Christ. Instead, there
should be praise for the way God is using each
one. One translator paraphrases Romans 12:3: "Now
I have a warning for you, prompted by the divine
grace bestowed on me--and I address it to all who
are among you:--do not be uplifted with
unjustifiable notions of your importance. Let
your thoughts tend to sober views, proportioned
to the measure of faith which God has allotted to
each man" (Way).

When we become lifted up with feelings of
importance because of the particular gift we
have, we should remember that it is a gift. The
Holy Spirit sovereignly bestows gifts on
believers as He chooses (1 Cor. 12:11), not
according to what the individual wishes. So when
we criticize a person who is exercising another
gift, we are actually criticizing the Lord who
gave that gift to the person. The other Christian
is also part of the Body of Christ, and we need
him just as he needs us. All of us who have
accepted Jesus Christ as personal Saviour are
members of the Body of Christ (v. 27).

A person should not aspire to be something that
is not in the will of God for him, because God
has made him what he is and has a particular
place for him in the Body. Frequently people are
dissatisfied with the gift, or gifts, they have.
They wish they had another gift or wish they were
like someone else. But each gift, no matter how
insignificant we may think it is, is useful and
worthy in the Body of Christ. That's why God has
given each particular gift to someone. We need to
realize that God knows what He is doing when it
comes to the distribution of gifts.

"Be kindly affectioned one to another with
brotherly love in honour preferring one another"
(Rom. 12:10).

-Woodrow Kroll

God's choices are right choices.

Scripture References:
Psalm 135-136
1 Corinthians 12

Have you ever wanted to be someone else? Have you
wanted to handle a basketball like Michael Jordan
or hit a baseball like Mark McGuire? Do you feel
like you got the short end of the stick when it
comes to gifts and talents? If so, cheer up. God
has good news for you.

The Corinthian congregation was made up of very
diverse people. In addition, God gave each of
these Christians special gifts—spiritual gifts.
These gifts were to be used to help others in the
church develop to full maturity in Christ.
Instead, the Corinthians argued over whose
spiritual gift was the greatest. God gave each
member exactly He wanted them to have, but they
failed to use that gift while they dreamed about
being someone else.

Sometimes that happens in the church today. We
forget that what God gives us to do is the most
important task we can do. If we do someone else’s
job in church and neglect our own, we fail twice.


Has God gifted you in a certain way? The only way
you can be happy is to allow God to get out of
you what He has put in you. He has tailor-made a
gift for you. It’s His choice for you, and God’s
choices are always right choices. Don’t fail
twice by salivating after someone else’s gift;
savor your own.

“Help me, Father, to recognize that You have
given me gifts to use for others. Don’t let me be
jealous of others. Instead, let me be zealous in
serving You with my gift.”

-Woodrow Kroll, Back to the Bible.