Give the Gift

Give the Gift

Have you ever felt the pain of being rejected by someone you love?

If a stranger doesn’t take my advice, or a prospect accept our offering I’m ok with it. After all they don’t know me enough to value it. But if someone knows me, and has travelled with me for a long time, knows my heart and my intent, my passion for them to have a great outcome, but then steps back or away then I find it hard to bear. Worse still if they don’t like the gift I want them to receive. It is like the sower, sowing seed on the ground. The greatest satisfaction for him must come from the growth of the seed, the greatest despair from the seed that does not sprout!

Matthew 13:3-9 And He told them many things in parables (stories by way of illustration and comparison), saying, A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell by the roadside, and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they had not much soil; and at once they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched, and because they had no root, they dried up and withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them out. Other seeds fell on good soil, and yielded grain—some a hundred times as much as was sown, some sixty times as much, and some thirty. He who has ears [to hear], let him be listening and let him consider and perceive and comprehend by hearing.

Jesus goes on to explain, how the soil is like the heart, and the seed is like the word of God spoken to them. Some receive it and it changes their world, others reject it and it has no impact.

I asked my father, why did the sower not just sow on the good fertile soil? If it was just isolated to this one spot then the seed would have been well received and none of the gift would have been wasted. His answer was that he wanted all to have the choice whether to grow or not, receive the word or not, receive the gift or not.

One of the most profound sermons I heard in the last 12 months was about giving the gift God has given you. He has given you gifts that are meant to be shared and passed on. The sermon was to a large group of leaders in the church and at the end of the sermon we were invited to come forward and give our gift. It was a time that I will never forget. There was much fertile soil around on that night, for God spoke through my mouth words that impacted all around as they dropped to the ground and were physically, emotionally and spritually impacted. Then if that was not enough God put a new song in my mouth as I worshipped Him as never before. My wife commented later that she thought she heard the voice of an angel and looked over to see where it was coming from. It was coming from my lips!

Praise be to God when the gift is well received.

But Oh how I wish this was always the case. When who I am or what I offer is not received but rejected my natural tendency is to withdraw. But then I can’t help myself I must give again. Over time if this pattern is repeated then the gift is no longer given and there is distance between the giver and the receiver. People say why take it personally? Why be so intense? Why not let it be like “water off a duck’s back”?

Here lies the challenge. Being a giver is part of who I am, I am a passionate giver. If the gift is not received my choice is to let the passion fade, or to persist and deal with the rejection. As you would have seen from the last post the flame of passion rises up within me and cannot be put out.

I’ve always been intense. I value intensity. There is substance to intensity.

There is a depth to intensity. Like a laser focusing on its target. The songs I like must be played loud.

Turn it up, make it louder more intense. Concentrate. Shout to the a Lord with the voice of triumph. Intensity disturbs, creates a disturbance.

The sniper aims with laser focus and intensity and it is praised. My challenge is that Gods gift to me amplifies and magnifies everything so the giving and receiving is even more intense. But now I choose to write with the Word and to use the weapon God has given me to win. To shoot the enemy of rejection between the eyes. This is what the Lord said in response…

Everything is amplified, magnified in my world. I see heaven before me. Overlaid.

I am the overlay. Seek me and you will find me. Open your eyes then you will see. Numbers 24:2-4 And Balaam lifted up his eyes and he saw Israel abiding in their tents according to their tribes. And the Spirit of God came upon him And he took up his discourse and said: Balaam son of Beor, the man whose eye is opened [at last, to see clearly the purposes and will of God], He [Balaam] who hears the words of God, who sees the vision of the Almighty, falling down, but having his eyes open and uncovered, he says: 2 Kings 6:15-17 When the servant of the man of God rose early and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was around the city. Elisha’s servant said to him, Alas, my master! What shall we do? [Elisha] answered, Fear not; for those with us are more than those with them. Then Elisha prayed, Lord, I pray You, open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened the young man’s eyes, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.

Under pressure that is when I shine.

When surrounded you must focus. What is it that you see? Weld my word like a sword. Everything slows down for around you, so that when you move the enemy is caught off guard. When I move the enemy does not see it coming! Keep the enemy outside the tent, do not invite him in. Establish a perimeter in your thinking. Reject, rejection, for I have set you apart. Why are you downcast. If I have given you a stage, why are you struggling with the distance, the separation from others? Is this not logical? Why consider the responses of others, why do you expect them to think like you? My thoughts are not like mans thoughts, are beyond your wildest imaginations. If I have given you this gift, value it for it is precious, it is my gift, I have given this to you. If I have valued you. Paid the highest price for you, then why allow yourself to be rejected by another, devalued by another. Whose opinion do you value the most, Mine? If I am for you, who can be against you? …Only that which you place between us. Bring me the closest. Let there be nothing between us. Remove the covering that is against your flesh. Expose yourself again. For I am your covering. Song of Songs 2:14 [So I went with him, and when we were climbing the rocky steps up the hillside, my beloved shepherd said to me] O my dove, [while you are here] in the seclusion of the clefts in the solid rock, in the sheltered and secret place of the cliff, let me see your face,let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.

Thanks be to our God who gives us the gift to give back to him, the words to say, the voice to speak, and always wants us to come away and see our face and spend time with us.

Lift up your gift, come away with him, connect with him. His love never fails.