“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” Galatians 5:22, 23
Dear Lord, help me to produce this fruit in my life today. There is a harvest of goodness and love, joy and gentleness, peace and longsuffering, faith, meekness, and temperance I desire my life to bring forth in abundance. I want my life to touch people beautifully with Your beautiful Spirit within me. In my shortness and frustrations, help me to remember the fruit that grows on Your tree. When I don’t understand everything, help me to remember to use the same grace and mercy You have shown me. Let my heart and my actions speak louder than my words today. I desire to live like You want me to live and produce in my life those things that put a smile on Your face. In Jesus’ name, I pray, AMEN!
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“Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith . . .” Hebrews 12:2
Lord, help me to keep my focus trained upon You all the days of my life. Through difficulties and times of joy, there is no sight more beautiful to behold than the Savior who loves me and is for me. In times of sadness, His strength, understanding, and compassion holds me and comfort me amid the troubles I see. In times of gladness, I can enjoy my day because Your Word says, “Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart” (Psalm 32:11).
No matter what disposition or state I may be in, help me always to see my Jesus. Help me to see the words He chose to speak and the actions He carried out before men.
Help me see how He cared and loved and how His total devotion to God marked the way before Him.
When I see Jesus, help me to really see the life You want to live out in me.
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Lord, I thank You for the day You shined Your light into my life. Perfection is far from where I was. I, too, was in a fit of rebellion, intent on getting to my Damascus to do what I was pleased to do. But one day, You interrupted all of that in a good way. You introduced me to Your Son, Jesus. Humbly, I had no choice but to hear that voice that called out to me and fall to the earth in worship and gratefulness that You took the time to step in the pathway progressing to more sin and spoke in me a life brand new.
Friends, if you are a Christian, then you have been in Saul’s position. While we may not stand guilty of persecuting the Church, we all once stood guilty before grace. We were all miscreants without the benefit of mercy. Transgressors while ignoring the truth. On our way to being up to no good, we were hell-bound until Jesus stepped in and saved us.
Romans 5:8 reminds us, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Who we were, does not compare with what He did for us. But isn’t that the point? Never would we have been able to pay the debt we owed. Never could we earn our way to heaven. Only by “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24) are we able to say today that we are saved, born-again believers, washed in the blood of the Lamb, welcomed as a member of His holy family, and given a new life with a new purpose.
Sometimes, we absolutely need to remember where we came from and how we got here. It is nothing we can take credit for. But thank God for the day a light from heaven shone in my heart, and He saved me.
“And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” Acts 9:3,4
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“From the first day of the seventh month began they to offer burnt offerings unto the LORD. But the foundation of the temple of the LORD was not yet laid.” Ezra 3:6
Our drive to have everything perfect often gets in the way of progress. Sometimes certain things just need to be left alone so that other, more important things can be done right now. Continuing to put it off will only be more of a hindrance. As they say, there is no time like the present. And this is how the returning captives from Babylon felt. They had been out of proper worship of God for quite some time. Things were not as they should be, but they were moving in the right direction. Offerings were being restored. People’s hearts were being moved to draw closer to God. The spiritual hunger was there and now was the time to do what needed to be done even if other things were not in their proper place yet.
Worship can’t wait. Drawing closer to God can’t wait. Getting hearts realigned with God can’t wait. Restoring fellowship and bringing back the service of the LORD could not wait for the foundation of the temple to be laid. It was vital for them to eventually get the building back in shape the way it needed to be, but it was even more important to deal with their hearts first. The foundation of the physical building can be laid later, but the foundation of the spiritual building needs to be laid immediately. The Apostle Paul taught us, “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16). This takes precedence over all else.
We all have a mountain of things to face each day and/or an extensive to-do list. And they are real things that need to be done – eventually. But what comes first? Or, should I say, who comes first? There is no substitute for showing God He has priority in your worship, in your life, and in your heart:
“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” – Matthew 6:33
“In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” – Proverbs 3:6
“Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.” – Hosea 10:12, emphasis added
“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.” – Hebrews 12:1, emphasis added
“Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.” – Psalm 46:10
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Sour thoughts. Ill feelings. Have you ever struggled with these? There are days when they seem to invade your thinking. Although you don’t want them there, they seem to come unannounced. Not asking for your permission to be there, they come and tread upon the courts of your mind, disrupting your beautiful day.
When they step into your territory, what do you do? Do you let them walk around freely, unhindered? Or do you dismiss them and show them the way out?
Meandering about means they have a chance to muddy up the places marked with their footprints. In their meandering, they can bring confusion, bitterness, hurt, and pain. They can bring wrong assumptions that leave much devastation in their wake. Continuing their journey in your space unleashed can quickly tear apart what took years of love and hard work to build.
But giving them the boot frees you from these radicals that just want to stir up strife in our homes and in our lives. And the process the Apostle Paul gave us to do just that in and of itself, is not that complicated.
His advice: “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things” (Philippians 4:8).
When it is peace that we want and not things that cause bitterness and strife, we have the choice to replace those sour thoughts with something lovely and beautiful. We can make the decision within ourselves to not settle for something that puts in us and draws out of us things we do not want.
Take up these things of virtue and praise, and clothe your day in them. Choose to be purposefully mindful of that which is good, making that which is bad and sour flee before you.
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“His lord said unto him, well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord,” Matthew 25:21
There is something to be said about a job well done. That oh-so-satisfying feeling when one has worked hard to see the fruition of a purpose being fulfilled and then steps back and announces, “Ah, it was hard but well worth it.” One of my pet peeves is asking someone to perform a task for me and the job ends up only halfway done, with half-way effort. It’s a very frustrating experience because I could have just done the job myself the right way but that defeats the purpose of delegating a duty in the first place.
With that realization, I wonder how God must feel about the duties He has delegated to us? In our daily walk have we dealt with our Christianity with that same half-way done effort or have we really gone for the gusto? Have we really expressed ourselves as being faithful, manifesting all God is or has done in our lives?
Through that short stint of questioning the reality of it all hits me. No! The truth is, many of us are like the seed in the parable of the sower. The cares of this world have encroached upon us, choking the spiritual vitality right out of us, leaving us with only half-hearted energy to do a halfway job for God. Each of our lives is destined with purpose. Each has been endowed with something wonderful and unique to contribute to this world. God has chosen us to stand as ambassadors, to show this lost world how to be found and how to live in this world while having a flourishing relationship with Him. Unfortunately, that cannot be accomplished if we are not as diligent in the care of the work of the Lord as He is to us.
How will that great thing God put in you ever develop as an outgrowth of your faith if you are not faithful to it; if you are not faithful to Him? For if one is faithful to Him, then are they faithful to all He has instilled in them. How many wouldn’t like to hear, “Well done,” coming from the mouth of our Lord? Sometimes we work hard in this life, doing all we know how to do to stay above water, then after all the heartache, sweat, and tears, a voice speaks and confirms that it was not in vain. “Well done.”
In order to receive that proclamation of good work, one has to be faithful. The word “faithful” was used twice in this one verse alone. First, it described the servant. Then it was used again to describe his work ethic. The servant was one who the master could count on because of his character, and also because of the way he handled the affairs of business. Does that word describe us in either or both of those ways? One without the other just won’t do. James 2:17 tells us, “Even so faith, if it has not works, is dead, being alone.” What goes on on the inside of the believer should show up on the outside. There should be some type of manifestation branching out of our faithfulness.
Everyone in Christ is called to a life of devotion to God, giving Him priority, as characterized by faithfulness, and having that reach out in our daily affairs. We are called to be that reliable, trustworthy person whom God doesn’t mind acknowledging as, “Well done,” and handing him or her more talents to care for.
A life of faithfulness will get you there. Take God off the back burner of your life and give Him precedence over all. Rewards will come, but devotion comes first. The harvest will come but only after the seeds have been planted. The position of fulfilling purpose and accomplishing good works will always start with a position of faithfulness.
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Questions, we all have them. But where do we go for the answers?
When Daniel went before King Nebuchadnezzar to interpret his dream, he admitted his own human frailty, that he didn’t have the answer within himself. He said, “This secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living,” (Daniel 2:30). He did not consider himself anything special just because he could interpret dreams, instead he gave glory to God, and said, “Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever” (Daniel 2:20a), and then directed those in attendance to where the answer is truly found: “for wisdom and might are his,” Daniel said, speaking of the one and only true living God (2:20b; emphasis added).
Friends, are you struggling to try and figure it out? The answer to anything we need is found in God. In the Bible and throughout this life, we have seen many that rely on multiple things to provide the answer to their life struggles or for direction. Some have turned to idols, other people, or even themselves for the solutions to the help they need.
All those attempts are futile when we consider Psalm 46:1 gives this promise to us that “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”
Proverbs also encourage us to “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6).
Job, through the hardest times of life, gives us this testimony: “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him. . .” (Job 13:15). In his foundation of faith, he may not have understood everything he was going through, but he understood that there was no greater help than the help that is found in God, who, “With him is wisdom and strength, he hath counsel and understanding” (Job 12:13). There is no other answer; there is no other trust for him and us to lean upon.
Where are you looking for answers today? I encourage you to look to God, for He is where your answers can be found. Keep coming to Him, and don’t stop!
Come to Him in prayer, and seek His face.
Come to Him through His Word, and learn what He has to say.
Come to Him with a heart opened and ready to receive His divine truths for your life.
Discouragement is a pit that we don’t have to waste time swimming in. As children of God, we are made for so much more! Sometimes it does get hard, but we must make a conscious decision to respond the way Jesus did and to not let it frustrate us from everything that God has for us, and everything He wants us to be and do.
Faith is not at all passive. Nor is it just about dreaming. It is also about doing. Today, we can believe for more. Hope for more. And, put faith into action because our God “is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us” Ephesians 3:20.
“So was ended all the work that king Solomon made for the house of the Lord. And Solomon brought in the things which David his father had dedicated; even the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, did he put among the treasures of the house of the Lord.” 1 Kings 7:51
As you read and study, you begin to realize the amount of lavished riches that went into constructing and furnishing the original temple that Solomon built for the house of the LORD (and, rightly so). Yet, as lavished and as wonderful a sight it must have been to behold and walk through, with silver and gold this and that everywhere, the grand temple in which God truly desires to live is in the simplicity of the human heart; a place where He can abide and guide by His Spirit.
It may not appear to the human eye to be as beautiful and as ornamentally decked out as that magnificent building, but to God, a heart that loves Him, and makes room for Him to dwell – there are no luxurious accommodations found on this earth that can compare.
Jesus taught, “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him” (John 14:23), showing it is the temple of our hearts where He desires to reside.
Paul taught in Corinthians: “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16), and “. . . for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (2 Corinthians 6:16).
A lot of people are living for a showy outside life, but it’s the treasury of your heart God values the most because it is in this place He wants to reign, rule, and abide through His Spirit. The lavished, ornamental details of a physical building cannot compare to a heart that has been made a ready place for God to dwell.
While we are still called to gather together to worship God, learn of His Word, and edify one another (Hebrews 10:35), everyone has the individual responsibility to prepare their hearts to be a place where God wants to be.
“Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.” Ephesians 2:19-22 (I suggest reading Ephesians 2 in its entirety)
“For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.” 2 Corinthians 4:6-7
“To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Colossians 1:27
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Word For Life Says... 