Are you growing in faith, meekness, and temperance? Today’s blog entry is part 3 of the Fruit of The Spirit series that I’ve been blogging about.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”- Galatians 5:22-23
We are coming down the home stretch of this series dealing with the fruit of the Spirit, and today’s topics deal with three more aspects that are extremely important to the Christian walk.
Faith
Faith is a word that many of us hear on a regular basis. As it says in Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” One way to define faith is dependability. As humans it can be easy for us to depend on ourselves, and try to accomplish everything that we do in our own power; however, it’s it important for us to realize that God is the source of our strength. We should constantly be growing in our dependence on Jesus. This is not to say that we become lazy, but rather that we confidently trust in God believing that He will do what His word says He will do.
“He must increase, but I must decrease”. John 3:30
Meekness
Meekness can be defined as courtesy and consideration in one’s relations with others….Strength under control. When we’re in the midst of situations, we should also look at things from the perspective of others. Sometimes it can be very easy to jump to conclusions and write certain individuals off. For example, say a teacher has a certain student that has really been acting up in class (being disruptive, causing problems with other students, etc). This really upsets the teacher, so she removes the student from class and does some investigating. The teacher later finds out that the household the student lives in has been having some major problems, and the student has been getting abused. The teacher then gets the student some help, and notices a big change for the better. If the teacher would have just wrote the student off as a “bad kid”, the student’s life could have taken a turn for the worst.
If people act out against us it’s important that we keep our cool, and realize that there could be a number of reasons why (this doesn’t excuse their behavior, and it doesn’t mean that we should allow others to walk all over us, however being meek can give us insight on how to pray for them).
“Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.” – Matthew 5:5
Temperance
Temperance can be defined as self-control, the ability to harness and control one’s passions and lusts. Matthew 26:41 lets us know that we should “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” It’s important that we keep our flesh (our human nature) in control and submitted to God’s will. Following our human wants and desires outside of the will of God is a recipe for disaster. It’s important that we monitor what we allow to come into our lives. It’s also important that we pray for wisdom and guidance from God.
“I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” – Romans 12:1
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”- Galatians 5:22-23
We are coming down the home stretch of this series dealing with the fruit of the Spirit, and today’s topics deal with three more aspects that are extremely important to the Christian walk.
Faith
Faith is a word that many of us hear on a regular basis. As it says in Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” One way to define faith is dependability. As humans it can be easy for us to depend on ourselves, and try to accomplish everything that we do in our own power; however, it’s it important for us to realize that God is the source of our strength. We should constantly be growing in our dependence on Jesus. This is not to say that we become lazy, but rather that we confidently trust in God believing that He will do what His word says He will do.
“He must increase, but I must decrease”. John 3:30
Meekness
Meekness can be defined as courtesy and consideration in one’s relations with others….Strength under control. When we’re in the midst of situations, we should also look at things from the perspective of others. Sometimes it can be very easy to jump to conclusions and write certain individuals off. For example, say a teacher has a certain student that has really been acting up in class (being disruptive, causing problems with other students, etc). This really upsets the teacher, so she removes the student from class and does some investigating. The teacher later finds out that the household the student lives in has been having some major problems, and the student has been getting abused. The teacher then gets the student some help, and notices a big change for the better. If the teacher would have just wrote the student off as a “bad kid”, the student’s life could have taken a turn for the worst.
If people act out against us it’s important that we keep our cool, and realize that there could be a number of reasons why (this doesn’t excuse their behavior, and it doesn’t mean that we should allow others to walk all over us, however being meek can give us insight on how to pray for them).
“Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.” – Matthew 5:5
Temperance
Temperance can be defined as self-control, the ability to harness and control one’s passions and lusts. Matthew 26:41 lets us know that we should “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” It’s important that we keep our flesh (our human nature) in control and submitted to God’s will. Following our human wants and desires outside of the will of God is a recipe for disaster. It’s important that we monitor what we allow to come into our lives. It’s also important that we pray for wisdom and guidance from God.
“I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” – Romans 12:1