“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:6-7
(This photo was taken in August of 2014 on a lake in central Minnesota)
Two very important aspects of faith are patience and persistence. Patience to know that God is working in our lives according to His plan not our own ideas. Persistence to seek guidance from God to understand His plan so that we work together for His glory and our salvation. The verses below do not say you will get what ever you want or you will get the answers you desire or that every opportunity you want will come your way. One of the hardest part of transformation is to read the verses of God’s Word from a God centered perspective and not a self-centered perspective. May God’s peace be with you.
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”
Matthew 7:7-8
(This photo was taken in June of 2012 while driving through northwestern Wisconsin)
“Hear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. Guard my life, for I am devoted to you. You are my God; save your servant who trusts in you. Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I call to you all day long. Bring joy to your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call to you. Hear my prayer, O Lord; listen to my cry for mercy. In the day of my trouble I will call to you, for you will answer me.
Among the gods there is none like you, O Lord; no deeds can compare with yours. All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, O Lord; they will bring glory to your name. For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God. Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever. For great is your love toward me; you have delivered me from the depths of the grave.”
Psalm 86:1-13
(This photo was taken in June of 2013 and is a view from Pike’s Peak in southern Colorado)
We tend to get off course pretty easily in our everyday life…there is so much demanding our attention. Spending time daily in the Word with our Lord is the best way to get instructions about life and our purpose.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”
Proverbs 3:5-6
(This photo was taken in June of 2013 while traveling through Nebraska)
Having Gentleness in life is all about finding a balance. Most of the world is about being tough, determined and pushing your way through this or that. You must be strong to achieve…while all of these traits have value and can definitely be beneficial there are also times in life when tenderness and Gentleness are needed and very helpful. They are typically more difficult times and these traits are not as common for some people. The goal should be to have a balance of all of these traits…most of us are stronger in one type of trait or another and we feel more comfortable expressing and using that dominant trait, however, this does not mean we are incapable of learning and growing into the ability to possess a less dominant trait.
Learning and growing are hard and we need help often to recognize when to be Gentle and when to be tough. The amazing part of a relationship with Jesus is that he can help us with whatever we need…if we let him!
“As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love”.
Ephesians 4:1-2
This message is much different than the one we receive from our world. In order to find the balance we strive for we need to have the messages in the Bible to offset the powerful messages we receive in everyday life.
Don’t go it alone today…seek out a relationship with Jesus…you can start by finding a quiet moment in your day and let him know you want to accept him into your heart today and pray for strength to speak to him again tomorrow and when you don’t know what to say to him…let him know you are listening for him to speak to you.
Tomorrow I will discuss the last of the Fruits of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23…Self-Control.
Peace.
What does it mean to be Patient? Often this word makes people roll their eyes and give a sigh…we all struggle to find Patience in this world. As I have stated, the world keeps telling us to hurry up, get here, get there, buy this…save time by doing this or buying that…enough! I think it’s time to get out of the rat race that encourages us always to look for more or something better…time to find contentment with what we have received and where we are in the world. Am I saying give up? Absolutely not…my point is more about surrendering your life to Christ instead of surrendering your life to this world.
Patience is all about slowing down the pace of life. Those who trust in God know who is in control of their life…everyone still makes decisions and lives life each day, there is just a greater sense of calm because they start and/or end everyday committing all they do to God. They strive to be more positive and look for the good in what has happened…does that mean everything is happy, happy, joy, joy? No not at all…no matter what you choose to believe in this world we all have to face the same negative forces and evil that affects everyone because the human race has free will. In the Bible Psalm 27 is a great resource for Patience and waiting for the Lord…
“I am confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord”
Psalm 27:13-14
May we all find Patience starting this new week and change our perspective on facing our daily challenges.
Tomorrow I will discuss Kindness.
Peace.
Peace is a choice. It is all about your attitude no matter the circumstances. There are people that live what is considered a good life…they go to worship, they pray, they treat others well and they go about their daily business and life in a respectful manner. This is just a small taste of living what could be a Godly life! I know this because the above describes me for several years…I have read that this type of living can be described as living on the surface of the ocean. There are many days when things are calm and peaceful but sooner or later storms will come and the surface can be very turbulent during those times. Deep below the surface no matter what is occurring above there is serenity and Peace.
This is a calm that is known by some that have decided they are going to go diving in…this true sense of Peace that can be found in the most difficult circumstances of life is available to anyone willing to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord.
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present our requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:6-7
I pray we all will seek a faith deeper than the surface in this life and choose the sense of Peace that comes from knowing and having a relationship with Jesus. Amen.
I will be back tomorrow to continue the Fruit of the Spirit series to discuss…wait for it…Patience.
What is true Joy? What does it look like? How does it feel? For me Joy is something that results from a sense of hope and peace. As a simple example think of a the Joy a parent feels when an infant or toddler settles down and falls asleep…before that moment the home was busy with the child eating and having play time. Depending on the age, the child may have been moving around from place to place in the home finding many things it should not be getting into…so when the moment comes at the end of a day and a child has fallen asleep there is a sense of peace. As you look at the child sleeping peacefully you may begin to think about the future and what may come…that would be hope…hope for a better tomorrow, hope for what they will become. The combination of this hope and peace result in Joy.
I use this example because in my experience there usually is more Joy in the world when little children are around…why? Because there is hope for the future and often, not always, the adults nearby are less concerned about other things and they may be more at peace. Now I understand that this is not always the case around young children and when there is not Joy it is on the adults to choose the attitude that creates Joy or they can choose the attitude that creates stress.
So how do we find hope and peace to create more Joy? Let’s start with hope…hope is about goals and dreams. What are your goals? What are your dreams? If you are not sure or you haven’t thought about it much, take some time to identify them. Author John C Maxwell writes in his book “Developing the Leaders Around You” to fill in the blanks on 2 statements to help identify your dream…
If I had _________________, I would ________________.
The idea is if you had unlimited resources (such as time, money, etc) that you would pursue your dream. After you figure out what your dream is pray about it. If you know your dreams then offer them up to God and be open to God telling you he has a different goal or dream in mind for you…don’t worry it won’t be something you don’t enjoy…he made you, specifically for his plan for your life so you will like it if you let him lead you.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”
Proverbs 3:5-6
The peace that leads to Joy comes directly from trusting that God is in control and no matter what happens in the end he his holding you and if you let him, he will lead you to places you never thought possible. For me 2-3 years ago a thought about writing a blog about my faith…huh yeah right…yet here I am. It is not perfect and it doesn’t have thousands of followers but if every post can impact just one person then I have done something he wants me to do. I pray more of us will choose hope and peace and that we all will choose to experience more Joy. Amen.
Why is Love one of the first fruits? Because all that we are and all that we have been given is because of God’s Love.
His grace comes from Love
His mercy comes from Love
His forgiveness comes from Love and
His peace comes from Love.
The apostle Paul understood this and wrote about it extensively in 1 Corinthians 13. Many people know of these verses because they have heard it read at a wedding or maybe you had it read at your own wedding. Hearing it and even knowing what it says is different than striving to live it in your everyday life.
Love is doing things for other people, not because you have to…because you want to. All of the writing in 1 Corinthians 13 is about the behaviors of Love…having patience, kindness, not being rude, not self-seeking, not easily angered, not keeping record of wrongs…behaviors of Love…it always protects, always trusts, always hopes and always perseveres. These behaviors and ways of living are all choices that we all have. God gave us free will because he Loves us…it is up to us to choose Love.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”
John 3:16
People say what a terrible world, why does this evil happen, how can God let this happen…God doesn’t do bad things to people…people choose bad things and yet through it all God still Loves us. So when I start thinking this way in my life I try hard to remember the only way I can make any difference in this world is by changing myself and my behaviors towards others…that is Love.
Tomorrow I will explore Joy.
Peace.
In the coming days I will explore what I think it means to live by the Spirit. In the Book of Galatians the apostle Paul is writing to the people in Galatia about how to live a Spirit filled life. Because God has blessed each of us with free will, we all have a choice regarding how we are going to live our life. What attitude are we going to have? What perspective are we going to take, a positive one or a negative one? Nobody else can decide these things for us unless we allow them too…that happens to be a struggle for many of us. We let the words and actions of others dictate how we feel and act. When we meet with God daily and begin to seek life in a new way and let the Holy Spirit flow through us the results can be transforming. In the picture above what would life be like if you decided to go through that opening…….?
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
Galatians 5:22-23
I will be back tomorrow to discuss the first fruit…Love.
Peace.
Take Your Faith With You 