Ephesians 4:8 NKJV
“Therefore He says: “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men.”
Beloved,
We have established giving as a kingdom protocol. God, our heavenly father gives glorious gifts, including the gift of His only Son. Recently, we celebrated the resurrection of our Lord and Savior. When Christ ascended, He gave us some precious gifts, including the gift us His Spirit and the right to fellowship with Him and in Him. Apostle Paul helped us to understand what this means in the book of Ephesians:
Ephesians 2:13-14, NLT
“But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ. For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us.”
That peace can be translated as “nothing missing, nothing broken..” There is a oneness with Him that cancels everything that might have separated us before- race, backgrounds, sin and so on. His ascension gave us His Spirit. There is no distance in the Holy Ghost, only the ability to fellowship with one another as we become His church- that is one body, in fellowship with Christ with Him as our head.
He also gave us who are His church the gift of men: pastors, evangelists, prophets and teachers (Ephesians 4:11).
Beloved, if you will master this principle of giving, it will start with honoring the gifts God has made available to us- from life to eternal life, including the gift of men. There are some gifts God will give us directly and some He will give us through men. If you miss these, it will limit you in the place of giving, especially to the body of Christ and this will limit you in your portion. We will talk more on this next time.
I commend you to God and the Word of His Grace. I call you blessed and nations.
