Promise for Today - For Your Good

As the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him.

2 Corinthians 3:18 (TLB)

There’s nothing in your life that you can’t learn from if you’ll just respond with the right attitude.  Instead of saying, “God, why is this happening to me?’ learn to say, “God, what do you want me to learn from this?” Every situation in life will either make you bitter or better. It’s your choice because you CAN choose how you respond to it.

Every problem has a purpose, and the purpose is to help you grow up spiritually and become more like Jesus Christ. Philippians 2:5 says, “In your lives you must think and act like Christ Jesus” (ICB). If one of God’s purposes for your life is to grow up spiritually and to become like Jesus, then what is Jesus like?

The Bible calls Jesus’ character the fruit of the Spirit, which is “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23 GW). These are the qualities God wants to build in your life. He wants your life to overflow with love, joy, peace, and all of these attributes.

God often produces these qualities in your life by putting you in the exact opposite situation. 

He teaches you how to love by putting you around unlovely people. It’s easy to love people who are cool, people who are like you, people you get along with. But God will put you around seemingly unlovable people to show you what his unconditional love looks like.

He’ll teach you joy not by giving you everything you want but by showing you in adversity and grief that he is still enough.

He doesn’t teach you peace when you’re out fishing by the lake or wherever you choose to rest and relax. God teaches you real peace in the middle of chaos, when everything in your life is falling apart and you learn to trust him more.

God teaches us patience in traffic jams and waiting rooms and the thousand different ways we have to wait in life.

Becoming like Christ is a lifelong journey. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 3:18 in The Living Bible paraphrase, “As the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him.” God’s Spirit will be working on you the rest of your life to help you grow up spiritually.

When he uses ways to help you grow up that seem uncomfortable or inconvenient, remember that they are producing in you God’s best fruit.

Talk It Over

Think about a recent situation or circumstance that was difficult or stressful. How might God have intended to use it for your spiritual growth?

Why does adversity often teach us better than prosperity?

What do you think God wants you to do when you’re faced with adversity and you can’t see how God is using it for good in your life?

- by Pastor Rick

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Prayer:

Father, 

          Holy Spirit, we come before You with humble hearts, asking You to cultivate Your fruit in us. Let Your love flow through us, touching everyone we meet. Fill us with joy that overflows, peace that surpasses understanding, and patience that endures through trials.
           Lord, we ask for kindness and goodness to define our interactions, faithfulness to guide our commitments, and gentleness to reflect Your tender care. Grant us self-control to walk in righteousness and to resist temptations that seek to lead us astray.
          May love permeate our actions and words, joy radiate even in trials, and peace reign even amidst storms. Foster in us patience towards others, kindness in our dealings, goodness in our actions, faithfulness in our commitments, gentleness in our responses, and self-control in our desires.
         As we abide in You, we will bear much fruit, glorifying Your name and being a blessing to others.
We trust You, Father, to change us into the image of Your dear Son, and it's in His Name we pray. Amen

Happy Days

For the Scriptures say, [ref. Psalm 34:12-16]
“If you want to enjoy life and see many happy days, keep your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from telling lies. Turn away from evil and do good. Search for peace, and work to maintain it.

"The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right, and his ears are open to their prayers. But the Lord turns his face against those who do evil.”

1 Peter 3:10-12 NLT

There are many people who don't realize happy days are a matter of choosing self-discipline. It's not a simple matter of kicking back and letting things be, it takes decisive action on our part. Making choices to:

    - not speak evil

    - not tell lies

    - turn away from evil

    - do good

    - search for peace

    - work to maintain it

It's as simple - or as difficult as we choose to make it be.

Prayer:

Father,

           Forgive us for our bad choices. Happy days are what we'd like to have, according to Your Word. Give us Your strength and Your wisdom to be able to walk fully in the fruit of Your Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

Walls

A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.
Proverbs 25:28 ESV

These days when we talk about walls or no walls, it usually has to do with emotional walls that people use to keep other people at arm's length and to protect themselves. The basic function of walled cities is the same.

Walls around cities for defense go back as far as the 8th millennium B.C., Some historians believe even back to the 10th millennium B.C. Cities that had no walls had no hope of holding off an enemy attack. Walls were effective only as long as they were not broken down or breached by the invaders. 

One of the most well-known was the impenetrable wall of Jericho, about 12 feet high and almost 6 feet thick. There was no way for the Israelites to get in, but God! And it was accomplished by obedience and high praise (both are spiritual disciplines). Man did not bring down the wall - it was a miraculous victory credited only to the power of God. 

And so our lives are a miraculous victory over sin credited only to the power of God! Galatians 5:22-23 tells of the 9 fruits of the Holy Spirit evidenced in our lives of which self-control is one. When we walk in the fruit of the Spirit, we are strengthened and fortified to overcome the enemy. 

Prayer:

Father,

         Thank You for being our Protector and Provider, our Healer and our Peace. Thank You for loving us so much to give us the means and the power to overcome all the fiery darts of the wicked. Remind us to daily walk completely full in the fruit of the Holy Spirit - love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. In Jesus' Name we pray.

Amen

At Our Fingertips

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Ephesians 4:29-32 NIV

I never cease to be amazed at the vitriolic diatribe attached to most any posting on the Internet these days. What might begin with a simple news report is often open to public comments that quickly turn judgmental and vile. And how easy it can become to get sucked into reading them.

However, 2nd Corinthians 10:3-6 in The Message reads, The world is unprincipled. It’s dog-eat-dog out there! The world doesn’t fight fair. But we don’t live or fight our battles that way—never have and never will. The tools of our trade aren’t for marketing or manipulation, but they are for demolishing that entire massively corrupt culture. We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ. Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground of every obstruction and building lives of obedience into maturity.

Throughout Scripture, we are cautioned to guard our hearts, control our tongues, to bring every thought into obedience to Christ, and to walk in self-control. The self-control to NOT read, write, copy, or forward ugly, judgmental words. The self-control to stop clicking on that which is not edifying to God, ourselves and others. The self-control that extends to our fingertips at the keyboard. 

Prayer:

Father,

           Forgive us for the times we have chosen to respond in our flesh rather than walk in the Spirit. Help us to quickly recognize when it is happening and to exercise self-control. We want to live and walk in the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Help us to grow in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

Get a Grip

But God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness.
Hebrews 12:10b NLT

According to the dictionary, discipline is both a noun and a verb, defined as: 'the practice of training people or to train someone to obey rules or a code of behavior' and 'the controlled behavior resulting from such training.'

I know there are those who are very passionate about what forms of discipline are or are not acceptable. My intent is not to upset anyone. I think, though, we can all agree that if training of any kind is to occur, be it athletic or raising children, it requires some sort of self-control and discipline. 

Discipline is tiresome. It's difficult to endure. It is not fun. Discipline can wear you out - literally. (Actually, that is a common colloquialism in the southern US. If a mother promises to "wear you out," someone's going to get a spanking.) The Word of God confirms that as we read on in verse 11, No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.

When I read vvs. 12 & 13, I just keep thinking, "Get a grip..." So take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your weak knees. Mark out a straight path for your feet so that those who are weak and lame will not fall but become strong. In other words, embrace the training, endure the discipline, the end result will be worth it.

Prayer:

Father,

           Thank You for loving us enough to correct us so that we might share in Your holiness. Help us to endure the discipline and learn from it. We are looking forward to the peaceful harvest of right living. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

Fix Your Mind

For the rest, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of reverence and is honorable and seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and lovable, whatever is kind and winsome and gracious, if there is any virtue and excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on and weigh and take account of these things [fix your minds on them].
Practice what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and model your way of living on it, and the God of peace (of untroubled, undisturbed well-being) will be with you.
Philippians 4:8-9 The Amplified Bible

We're a nation of worriers by our human nature. Talk radio and reality TV - all designed to get us lathered up and worried, and then to get us talking about what's worrying us, and what YOU should be worried about if you really understood what's going on in the world. 

I know what's going on in the world. Let me break it down for you...

2nd Timothy 3: beginning with verse 1,  You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred.  They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that! 

Sound familiar? We get sucked into the world's philosophy and its way of dealing with life and its challenges, and we forget that the Word clearly tells us we live in this world, but we are not of it. We are citizens of a kingdom whose Builder and Maker is God! We are not to be governed in our spirit by what is not of God. So fix your mind on the things of God ...whatever is true, whatever is worthy of reverence and is honorable and seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and lovable, whatever is kind and winsome and gracious, if there is any virtue and excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on and weigh and take account of these things - and it will fix your mind.

Prayer:

Father,
           Thank You for renewing our minds in You. Keep us ever focused on those things which are important to our life with You. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen