39 Spiritual Birthday Gifts, Part 5

Series: 39 Spiritual Gifts

Leslie Basham: Have you stopped lately and considered all God has given you? It's Friday, May 17; and you're listening to Revive Our Hearts with Nancy DeMoss. Birthdays are times for remembering. They mark the passage of another year in our lives and remind us of that very special day when we first said hello to the world.

Spiritual birthdays are a lot like that, too. On our spiritual birthday, we remember what our lives were like before we came to know Christ and give thanks for all the blessings we've known since we met Him. Let's join Nancy as she recalls a few of the spiritual gifts she's received since she decided to follow Christ over three decades ago.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: All this week we've been unwrapping some of the spiritual birthday gifts that God has given to us as His children. As I celebrate my 39th spiritual birthday, I'm thanking the Lord for each of these gifts and so many more that He has given to me. We're looking today at the last several of those gifts that should total 39. Let me just touch on what some of those gifts are. If you're a child of God, these are gifts that you have received as well.

There's the gift of God's promise of future rewards. There are so many things that God calls us to do and to be here on earth that we do not now experience the reward for. Some of the tasks that God gives to us are very unseen, unsung and unapplauded by others.

I see some mothers in this room. Some of you day in and day out are just being faithful to make a home for your children, to love your husband, to love your children. You're doing what God calls you to do and to be. No one is out there singing your praises. The promise is that if we are faithful here on earth, there will be a reward for faithful service, for the giving, the loving, the kindness, the obedience that we have done in the name of Jesus. There is the promise of future rewards.

Another gift that I so thank the Lord for--and that is His presence. Jesus said as He went back to heaven--and you can just imagine how the disciples were feeling as their Lord and Master and Friend and Teacher was being taken up from them into heaven. What were His parting words? "I am with you always." Even as His physical presence was leaving, He had promised to send His Holy Spirit to live in them to be with them. There is not any place that God asks me to go that He does not go with me.

All the way through the Scripture, you see this thread where God said, beginning with--Abraham was maybe the first one, through Isaac and Jacob and Joseph and all the way through the Scripture. God says, "I am with you." If I have God and His presence with me, what more do I need?

Here is another spiritual birthday gift, and that's the Word of God. Oh, how I love this Book! Thirty-nine years--it was just after I came to trust Christ that I learned to read. I'm so thankful that one of the first books I began to read as a little girl was the Bible.

Listen. I don't read this Book just because I have to or because I know I should. More than that, I read this Book because I love it. I love what it reveals to me of the heart and the ways of God. This Book has been a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. I can't tell you how many times over the years I've had a question mark, "What should I do? How does God want me to handle this? How should I deal with this situation?" I open this Book. As I read and study and meditate and memorize and wait on God in this Book, He reveals His ways to me.

David said, "This Book is more precious than gold. It's more precious than silver. It's more than our necessary food." What a gift we have in this Book! Jesus said, "Now you are clean through the word that I have spoken unto you." Day after day, as I open up this Book, it's God's detergent to wash, to cleanse, to renew my heart and my spirit. What a gift!

Then I have the gift of God's provision. All I have needed, Thy hand hath provided. There were moments when I thought--as perhaps you have--"It doesn't look like the provision is going to be there." But every single time, when you look back, wouldn't you agree that God's provision has been there? He has been faithful to provide everything that we have needed.

I talked this week with a woman whose husband has abandoned her. He is not providing financially. She was tempted to fret, to worry, to take matters into her own hands. With such confidence I could say to her on the phone, "You obey God; and God's Word says, 'I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his seed begging bread'"(Psalm 37:25).

I don't know how God will provide. Listen. I just believe that our God is big enough. If He has to, He'll send a raven through the window like He did with Elijah to bring you your food, if that's what it takes. You say, "Oh, God doesn't do those things today." Listen. God will do whatever He has to do to keep His Word. He has promised to provide all that you need.

Another blessing we have in Christ is guidance. "He leads me in paths of righteousness." How He has done that! As I look back over these years of walking with the Lord, when I did not know what was ahead--as we never do--I can look back and see that He has guided. He has steered my life. I mean, I'm talking choice of college, choice of major, choice of jobs, choice of friends, different experiences where I would not have known. I wouldn't have had a clue which fork in the road to take. But the Holy Spirit within me has worked in tandem with this Book to direct my steps and to lead me as He is still leading me and as He will lead you, if you will let Him, in those righteous paths.

Then in Christ, we have protection against our enemy. Protection against the enemy. Not just defensive protection, but actually we have been given victory over Satan in the name of Jesus. God has provided for us the armor of God to protect us in the battle. He has provided a shield for us from the darts of Satan. He has provided a sword for us in that battle, which is the Word of God. He has provided a helmet to keep our thoughts and our minds clear in troubled times. It's the helmet of salvation.

Psalm 121 says, "The Lord is my keeper. He will preserve me from all evil. He will preserve my soul. He will preserve my going out and my coming in from this time forth, and even forevermore." I'm safe! I'm protected! Not in my own strength. As Martin Luther said, Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing; Were not the right man on our side, the man of God's own choosing. But through Christ, I am protected against the enemy and in Him I have victory over Satan.

That's 38 blessings. I told you there are 39. Let me just share with you one other that is a huge box that I hope to spend the rest of eternity unpacking. I go back to the Book of Ephesians 1:3, where Paul says, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms--[get this]--with every spiritual blessing in Christ."

We've just unwrapped 38 birthday gifts--spiritual birthday gifts--from God, but the 39th one is the gift that keeps on giving. It's the gift that we have for all of eternity. I plan to spend the rest of my life here on this earth just getting better acquainted with the gifts that God has given. God is a giver, and He loves it when we love His gifts. He loves it when we receive the gifts He has given us, when we respond with thankful, worshipping hearts, saying, "O Lord, You are so good." That last blessing covers an infinite number of other blessings. He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

To look at the gifts of God, to unwrap them, to contemplate the wonder of what Christ has done for us gives us new perspective, doesn't it? You think about all that's going on in your life today; I bet for the last few minutes here you haven't thought about those problems at all. We've been focused on God and who He is and what He is doing in our lives.

So let God give you a new perspective, and then purpose in your heart to be a thankful recipient of God's gifts. Take those gifts and unwrap them and use them. That's what they're for! God intends for those to be gifts that don't just sit like some of those special decorative soaps do, but they're of no use. They're no good. You just sit them there and look at them. God intends for us to open up His gifts and to use them.

Could I just close this session by asking, "Do you have a spiritual birthday? If so, these gifts are yours. If not, they can be yours." You say, "Well, I can't remember exactly when it was that I trusted Christ as my Savior."

You may not remember the exact day, but if you know in your heart that you are trusting Christ as your Savior--not trusting anything good that you've done, not trusting the fact that you're a church member or you're religious or you're actively involved in church work but trusting only in Christ and His grace, what He has done for you on Calvary--then you can have assurance in your heart that you are a child of God and that these gifts are yours.

Leslie Basham: That's Nancy DeMoss considering the many gifts God has given her since she first walked with Him. She'll be right back in a moment to lead us in prayer.

Today's program wraps up a series called 39 Spiritual Birthday Gifts. If you missed any of it, you can get a copy on cassette. We're asking for a $5 suggested donation. To order, visit our Web site, ReviveOurHearts.com.While you're there, you can review a list of all 39 spiritual birthday gifts Nancy mentioned during this series. You can also order by phone: 1-800-569-5959.

Now one of the gifts God gives us is His promise of provision. He assures us that He'll meet our needs if only we'll ask Him. We've experienced His faithfulness in this area through your financial gifts to us. Thanks to all of you who followed His leading and have become regular supporters of Revive Our Hearts. If you haven't yet considered giving to this ministry, would you pray that the Lord would show you how you might contribute? You can send your donation to Revive Our Hearts.

Is contentment even a possibility in a world that is always asking for more, more, more? Find out next week when we'll be talking about cultivating a contented heart. Now here is Nancy to end our time in prayer.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: Father, I want to pray for anyone in this room who may never have had a spiritual birthday, who does not have a personal relationship with You. I pray that the things we've talked about, the gifts we've opened, would create a hunger and a longing for You in their hearts. And that before this day is over, they would say, "Yes, Lord. I receive You as my Savior."

Lord, for those of us who have walked with you maybe for a matter of months or years, we give You thanks. Thank You for the gifts that are ours in Christ, and may we never tire through all of eternity in giving You thanks, for You are great and greatly to be praised. We bless You, O Jesus, Our Redeemer. Amen.

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