ENDOWED

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“And now the Sovereign Lord has sent me, endowed with His Spirit.”

Isaiah 48:16b

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Do you ever consider yourself to be endowed?

It’s not a word we here every day, is it? And yet, the Lord endows everyone who would place their faith, hope, and trust in Him.

Before I go much further, I need to make sure we’re clear on the meaning of the word “endow”.

You may have heard it used in the sense of someone leaving an endowment to someone. In this case, a monetary gift is provided to some institution (such as a hospital or educational entity) in order to help it fulfill its purposes. More on this from a spiritual perspective in a moment but we need to look at a second definition of “endow” which we will see combines with the first when we consider the Lord in the equation. Simply put, it means:

“to freely or naturally provide (someone or something) with something”.

So why all the discussion about endowing or being endowed?

Because as we will see in today’s half verse from Isaiah 48, the principle takes center stage. Look again at these words:

“And now the Sovereign Lord has sent me, endowed with His Spirit.” Isaiah 48:16b

A dozen words uttered by the prophet Isaiah but it is a statement filled with wisdom and truth for all believers to receive and embrace.

First, the Lord sent Isaiah to do His work.

This is what the Lord does. He sends those who commit to carrying out His will and way to make a difference in His kingdom. They do not go into these endeavors unequipped but rather endowed by the Lord with all they need to carry out His purposes.

If one needs resources in the way of people or money, the Lord endows those things. If one needs wisdom and guidance, the Lord endows those things. If one needs strength and courage well beyond what they possess, the Lord endows those things upon them. If protection is needed, the Lord endows a covering over His chosen servants.

But the Lord doesn’t just endow us when He sends us to carry out His intentions. No, He always endows us through the imparting of His Holy Spirit upon us, a Spirit that is always there with us and for us as we live this thing called life.

The scriptures profess that the Lord endowed Isaiah with His Spirit just as He has to countless others because, you see, the Lord is in the endowment business. He freely provides His disciples what they need at all times, endowing us with His love, comfort, instruction, correction, peace, or anything else we need and always providing it at the perfect time.

I give thanks today and every day that the Lord has endowed me with the ability to discern His word through His Spirit and share it with those who read it every day. It’s such a rich blessing to me, one of so many, and I pray you will also give Him thanks today for anything He has endowed you with.

For when we take account for all He is given to us, how can we be anything else but grateful?

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com