If you are given a gift, who owns the gift? Does the one who gave you the gift own the gift? Hopefully they owned it prior to giving it to you. But who owns it after you receive it? Let’s make it a little more detailed. If the owner of the company where you work gives you a bonus check, is it yours or does it belong to you immediate supervisor? Are you obligated to have your supervisor order you on how or when to use the bonus? Let’s try it another way. The king of a country gives you a gift, but instead of handing it to you himself has a servant bring it to you. Who owns the gift, you or the servant?

Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:6-7). Is Paul telling Timothy that Paul owns the gift, and as such it is Paul’s job to stir up the gift? Obviously the gift was given through earthly hands. Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership (1 Timothy 4:14). Was Paul saying that the elders owned the gift in Timothy, and as such the elders had to stir it up? Was Paul saying the elders or he had to command the gift that was in Timothy?

Where does the concept come from that one man gifted with a gift should have control over all the gifts? If someone gives you a gift and someone else takes control of it, doesn’t that constitute stealing? If I gave you a watch and someone else took control of the watch, wouldn’t that be stealing? Is Jesus a thief? Jesus said, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers (Ephesians 4:11). Jesus did not give us gifts so we could fear using them, but He also gave us POWER, LOVE, and a SOUND MIND. Who is the thief that comes to steal?

God did not give us a spirit of fear concerning the gift which is in within! Jesus gave us gifts for ministry and He came, not to steal, but to give us life more abundantly. He gave us a sprit of power. Paul did not say to Timothy, “Stir up the gift within you because I have the power.” Paul told Timothy to stir up the gift because God has given “us” the power. And He gave us a spirit of love, so we could all grow up in Christ Jesus. Speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— (Ephesians 4:15). God also gave us a sound mind (self-control / discipline). God did not give one gift control over the others, but gave the one with the gift has control of the gift.

God is our King, and He has given gifts. The gift belongs to the one that has the gift. But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him (1 John 2:27). The anointing is the endowment of the Holy Spirit, which God has offered to us each individually, who abides in us individually. The same Holy Spirit teaches us concerning all things, and is not a lie, but has taught us to abide in Christ. Confusion does not come with the anointing of God, but from another attempting to control the anointing God has placed in you to teach you to abide in Him. Who owns the gift God has given to you?

© 2009, Tim D. Coulter Sr.