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Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues,and to still another the interpretation of tongues.All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines. (I Corinthians 12:7-11).
From an early age, we learn that each of us possess specific gifts and talents given to us by God. Some of us can sing, some can dance, some can teach; the list is endless and the beauty is that no single gift is the same. God has specifically woven these unique gifts into each of us and trusts us to develop and use those talents for His glory.
The world of prepping is not immune to these gifts from God. As we spend time preparing for our future, we may have identified we have specific gifts within this realm. Some of us excel in the art of food preparation and storage, others in the skills of building things to sustain our families, still others in a variety of ways. Whatever your gift in the world of the survivalist, as Christians, we are called to develop those talents and use them to the best of our abilities. We are also taught to use these gifts as an act of service to others, our families, or our neighbors. In fact, in his first letter, Simon Peter reminds us we are to, “use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms,” (1 Peter 4:10). When you feel the pressure from the surrounding world asking why you are wasting your time preparing for something they believe may not ever happen, your answer is simple: you are developing and using your God-given gifts and talents to use for His grace and His glory, just as He instructed.
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Today In Christian History
On April 30, 1822, Hannibal Goodwin, the Episcopal priest of House of Prayer in Newark, New Jersey, was born in Taughannock, New York. He wanted to find a non-breakable, clear substance on which he could place the images he utilized in his biblical teachings. While he invented over 20 items (and received the patents for 15 of them), we remember him today as the inventor of a method for making transparent, flexible roll film out of nitrocellulose film base. This film was used in Thomas Edison‘s Kinetoscope, an early machine for viewing animation.
