“Are you really aware of those who are around you? When you are blessed, is it good for your community of believers or do you consume your blessings upon yourself? I place you in the midst of others so that they benefit from who you are and what you have to offer. Some need an attentive ear. Others need a service. Still others need My financial wealth, which I have entrusted to you. All of them need the Jesus that resides in you. Are you really aware of that? Is that your mode of thinking when you see them? Jesus saw the needs and died for them. You have been given the same eyes to see and a heart to love because He dwells in you. Are you using them, or have you closed them so that you can serve yourself?”

Rom. 8:5b-11 NIV

5b) …but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.

6) The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace;

7) the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.

8) Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.

9) You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.

10) But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.

11) And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.

Some time ago, I talked to an individual who stated that the Lord gave him a financial windfall. He was obviously excited and with good reason. After our conversation, I began to think about the things that he said. It was then I realized that nothing was said about what the Lord wanted to do with His blessing. Being familiar with where this man lives and understanding the needs all around him, it came to me that the blessing was not for him. It was to bless others.

The man had more than enough to live on and was wealthy already by almost any standards. In the spirit, I saw that the Lord was trying to make him a conduit of blessing, one through which mighty rivers of financial wealth could flow to those sent to him, not hindered by greed. We need not judge, for every one of us is guilty of the same sin as this man. Money is not the only conduit of blessing that is misused. However we are blessed, we are to use those blessings only how the Lord wants us to use them. They are not always only for us.

Make me a willing conduit, Lord,

Jim Corbett