I spent last week in graduate class discussing the Theology of the Charismata. One thing definately can be said, "How needful it is for every person to experience the fullness of the Holy Spirit as we journey through this life." As I was reading this morning from Ephesians 3, in preparation for leading a discussion group of twenty and thirty something young adults this Friday, I was captured by these words of Paul:
Ephesians 3:7-8 THE MESSAGE
[7] This is my life work: helping people understand and respond to this Message. It came as a sheer gift to me, a real surprise, God handling all the details. [8] When it came to presenting the Message to people who had no background in God's way, I was the least qualified of any of the available Christians. God saw to it that I was equipped, but you can be sure that it had nothing to do with my natural abilities.
As smart and educated as Paul was, he recognized that he needed a greater source of wisdom and knowledge than he had if he was to be an effective minister of the gospel. He realized that his past upbringing as a Pharisee, studying under the great religious teachers of his day, and being a Jew of Jews, born into the the tribe of Benjamin was not enough. Something more was needed if he was going to be be an apostle (a sent one) to the Gentiles. That something else was "charismata." Without the presence of God actively at work in Paul's life, he would not have been equipped for the mission God had given him.
You and I must allow the fullness of Holy Spirit to rule our lives if we are to be effective ministers of the gospel today.
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