Hi, Friends.

I am sure that many of you are preaching a series over Advent – it is a great time for reflecting on Jesus, what He came to bring to us, and how He impacts our lives as we await His return.

As disciples of Jesus, rather than just believers in Him, we are seeking to imitate Him in His Words, His Ways, and His Works. However, we are not simply trying to do this in our own strength, but through the power of His Holy Spirit, living in us.

This is an amazing and supernatural process which takes place in our lives both through events where we encounter God in specific ways (for example, when we get baptized, when we are convicted of specific sins, when we have specific spiritual experiences that lead to greater freedom) and through a lifelong process of sanctification as we walk out obedience to His teachings in the Bible and the ongoing promptings and convictions of the Spirit.

One of the ways that the Holy Spirit helps us on this journey as disciples is through imparting gifts – an appropriate thing to talk about in the Advent season! I wanted to reflect on some of these gifts that are found in Scripture with you as we go through Advent this year.

I think it is worth saying that any of these gifts are things that God delights to give to us – Jesus made this clear in Matthew 7:11 where He said, “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”

I can never resist giving good gifts to my daughters when they ask me – and I know that our Heavenly Father cannot resist giving us good gifts either!

Week 1 – The gift of faith (1 Corinthians 12:9)

I wanted to start with the gift of faith because it is the gift that unwraps all the other gifts! The writer of Hebrews writes that without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6), and Paul writes that the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love (Galatians 5:6).

It seems to me that there are three main ways that the gift of faith is imparted to us – through reading, hearing, and seeing the promises of God.

1. Reading – John 20:31 says, "But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name." Hebrews 4:12 says, "For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." 
   
   As we read God’s Word, we can choose to enter into a process of listening to the conviction and teaching of the Holy Spirit. He will highlight passages, add weight to things we are reading, and apply scriptures to our own circumstances and situations. We can ask God for this gift each time we read the Bible – “Please speak to me as I read Your Word today, Lord.”
   
   I experienced this kind of faith when I became a Christian. I was a late teen and was on vacation with my grandmother, staying by a lake in rural Germany. I was bored and started to read the Bible as I had run out of other books to read. God had been pursuing me, but I had been resisting. I was reading Isaiah and really did not understand what I was reading, but as I read the sections on the Suffering Servant in Isaiah 53, it seemed to morph and change. It started to make sense, and I suddenly realized what Jesus had done for me. I was flooded with emotion and made the decision to follow Him.
    
2. Hearing – Romans 10:17 says, "Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ."
   
   When God’s promises are spoken out loud, He will often impart faith to those who hear. This is true when the Gospel is taught in a clear and systematic way, but also when we share a testimony of what He has done in our lives. It is as if when we give a testimony, we prophesy the same faith into the lives of others. Revelation 19:10 says, "For it is the Spirit of prophecy who bears testimony to Jesus.”
   
   Often we forget that Jesus told us that the harvest is plentiful (Matthew 9:37). If we are prepared to go and find people and share our testimony, we often find People of Peace who respond. At the church where I am on staff, last year we decided to cancel one meeting a month in the summer and go instead downtown in twos, looking for people to connect with and share testimonies with. Every time we did this, there were opportunities to pray for people, and some of the interactions resulted in people deciding to start coming to church.
    
3. Seeing – Hebrews 11:1 says, "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." When God wanted to give Jeremiah faith about what was to come in Jeremiah 1:11, He said, “Jeremiah, what do you see?”
   
   Sometimes, God shows us what He wants us to have faith about. This can be a vision of justice like the one given to Martin Luther King Jr in his "I’ve Been to the Mountaintop" speech or a vision of salvation of souls – things we do not yet see with our physical eyes but can see with eyes of faith. This kind of faith often comes with great assurance and boldness.
   
   In my home city of Fort Wayne Indiana, there is a new development in the old General Electric Factory buildings with an indoor market, multiple businesses, healthcare and education facilities, and many other amenities. Multiple companies have come together to fund this multi-million dollar project. My friend and pastor, Chris Norman, felt that the Lord gave him a clear vision of a 24-7 prayer room right in the heart of the new development, with 100 churches working together to keep prayer for the city going day and night. Initially, when he went to the board of the development, they were unreceptive, but he was able to persevere because God had shown him a clear picture of what would be. Today, PrayerWorks Fort Wayne has around 100 churches working together, both Protestant and Catholic, and is in the heart of the Electric Works development. We recently celebrated our first year of 24/7 prayer.

What kind of faith would you like God to give you this Advent? What are you looking for faith for? Personal breakthrough? An area of ministry? Family or friends? Difficult circumstances? Let’s ask God for the gift of faith so that we can face the challenges that our life is giving us His way, rather than our way.

Advent Blessings,

Paul Maconochie

Uptick Leader