Joy

Joy - the second fruit of the spirit in Galatians 5:22.  John 15:11 Jesus says "I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy.  Yes, your joy will overflow."

If you are thankful for something, it will bring you joy even when things aren't going well.  We need to rejoice, even in our trials, which I'm sure is easier said than done at times, but if we try hard enough - even in times of troubles - we can find something to be grateful for which will bring us joy.

One of my favorite readings is Romans 5:3-5.  I go there whenever I'm stressed or there is something going on that I need to give to God.

"We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance.  And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.  And this hope will not lead to disappointment.  For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love."

Galatians 5:22-23 The Love Lesson

Galatians 5:22-23  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.

Having gone through the fruits of the Spirit in my Tuesday night class last term, I thought I'd share some of our lessons.  Our first lesson was on Love.  The verse we learned for that week was John 15:12-13  "My command is this:  Love each other as I have loved you.  Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."

We discussed loving others, of course, and how other people who don't know God can learn about Him through us when we show fruits of the Spirit.  

One of the verses in our lesson was Matthew 5:44 "But I say, love your enemies!  Pray for those who persecute you!" One of the hardest lessons, I think, but the girls in the class talked about how to apply this to their lives, especially at school - it was pretty much decided that the little brothers had to be excluded from this :)  - and one in particular did a great job of dealing with a boy in school that had been bothering her.  I was proud of all of them.

Galatians

Our 5 minute reading started in Galatians.  A letter written by the apostle Paul.  This letter has been dated back to anywhere between 48 and 53 AD.   If Christ died in 30 or 33 AD, that would be within the lifetime of eyewitnesses to Jesus' death.  Think about that.  Paul was not only an eyewitness after the fact, he saw had contact with Jesus after His death - but he also knew others that were eyewitnesses to Jesus' life and teachings.  He knew Peter, he knew James.. he knew people that had traveled with Jesus.  I think that is extremely cool.

In the first three chapters of Galatians, Paul is trying to convince this fledgling church that the original teachings they had heard were the true teachings and not to be deceived by what they were hearing currently.  The old laws were not the way to the Truth, only Jesus is.  "For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus."  Galatians 3:26

Hebrews..one more time

I thought my last posting on Hebrews would be the only posting I did, but after having a children's ministry mini-conference and re-reading Hebrews 13 this afternoon, I felt the need to add something.

I was reading Hebrews 13:7 "Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you.  Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith."   Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.  Who is considering the outcome of your way of life?  Who is imitating you?  That is a big responsibility and for those leading anyone, be it a single person, a small group or a church, that is an incredibly important responsibility.

This weekend I saw the movie Facing the Giants.  A phrase in that movie stuck with me.  "Your actions will follow your beliefs."  I had to consider that comment and still am.  Do my actions follow my beliefs?  Am I comfortable with someone looking at my way of life and imitating my faith?

I think the answer to both those questions is not all the time.  But I pray that God will lead me and guide me to be a better example of His work so that I can one day answer both those questions with a resounding Yes!

Hebrews

I've learned something new reading Hebrews.  It's like when you have read things a few times and it then all of a sudden something clicks?  From the Old Testament we know that the high priests were from Aaron's line, the line of Levi.  Jesus, the highest of High Priests, came from the line of Judah.  "Jesus became a priest, not by meeting the physical requirement of belonging to the tribe of Levi, but by the power of a life that cannot be destroyed."  Hebrews 7:16

One of my favorite verses in Hebrews is 10:14 "For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy."  We are the "those who are being made holy".  That is awesome.  I know He has his work cut out for him, but to know that we are being made holy is, quite frankly, hard to get your mind around.  At least it is for me.   I know myself and it would defintely take an act of God to make me holy, and that's what we are getting - an act of God.  No one can do that by themselves.

Another verse that I found inspiring was "And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near."  Hebrews 10:25   I, like many, used to think that I could pray to God anywhere and didn't really need to be in Church to do it.  While this is true, God calls us to join together on a regular basis.  I only became aware a few years ago how special that could be if you found the right "church home".  I was never sure I wanted to be in a church where people would actually notice your comings and goings.  But what really bothered me, I've since figured out, was that accountability.   Who wants that?   It's not a matter of want, though, it's a matter of need.  I need that.  And I have to say that I love having a "church family".  I NEVER understood that concept before.  I do now and I am very appreciative of my church family.  I love them all.