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Peace is a Person
In ourselves there’s no way we can naturally live in peace each and every day. Yet it is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) and something as believers we are to strive to obtain. The Apostle Paul locked in a horrific prison in Rome wrote in Philippians 4:11, “I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.” Can we say the same about our lives? Let us look at the different kinds of peace we can have when we are filled with the Holy Spirit. Peace with God First, to even attain peace, we must accept Jesus Christ’s free gift. Once we put our faith in…
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Living in Joy
Life is a crazy up and down ride, and the joy we are supposed to exhibit as a fruit of the Spirit may seem impossible. In fact, when I wrote about love – the first fruit of the Spirit – it seemed pretty impossible too. It is impossible to do on our own, and that is why it is a fruit OF THE SPIRIT. We need the help of the Holy Spirit who indwells us as believers to follow this command. However, I believe when we love others as Jesus Christ commands, then joy promptly and easily follows. Sometimes people get confused about the difference between joy and happiness. Happiness…
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Love One to Another
Loving Like Jesus Recently, I began a series on the fruit of the Spirit entitled “Cultivating Fruit” and am continuing the series with the first fruit in the list, love. I have been taught and strongly believe every word in Scripture is there in its place for a specific reason. Therefore, when Paul listed “love” as the first fruit, he meant it needed to be first place. Showing our love to others is an undeniable fundamental in the Christian faith. Jesus was adamant His disciples were to show love to others. He taught unbelievers would know the disciples were His followers by the love they showed (John 13:35). In fact…
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Seasons of Turmoil
How to Face Trials If you have lived very long on this earth, then you recognize the fact that life has seasons just like the change in weather patterns we experience throughout each year. And just as we do not have the ability to alter the continual cycle of the weather seasons, we often have little control over the events causing us to enter a new season whether it’s a sunshiny, happy time or dark, dismal one. A friend or family member diagnosed with cancer – Will they make it through this?The death of a loved one – How will I face tomorrow without them in my life?The loss of…
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United We Stand
“Working Together as a Local Church” Sometimes a particular idea or word will continue to pop up in your life whether it’s podcasts you listen to, sermons, your Bible reading, or whatever. A word that has been repeatedly turning up in my life has been “unity.” It’s something I have been praying for a lot lately in regards to the leaders of our church. Unity can be good or bad. Groups in our culture today unify against common goals that as Christians is against our moral and religious beliefs. Everywhere you turn it seems people are putting themselves in groups whether it’s things such as denomination or political party or…
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Carbon Copy of Christ
Today’s post takes us back to the mid 1990s so I thought the title went along well since if you were born after 1995, you probably have no clue what carbon paper is… Almost twenty-three years ago (May 25, 1996), my new husband, Wade, and I left for our honeymoon. Our first night was in Nashville before heading the next morning toward Branson, Missouri. See, I had searched and found a bed and breakfast online…in 1996. For those of you who are old enough to know, the “world wide web” was still in its baby stages. Basically newborn stages. Statistics report there were only 100,000 websites in January 1996, yet…
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Abiding in Him
John 15:5 “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” Background: This verse is from a parable that Jesus gave to His disciples regarding the nation of Israel. (A parable in the Bible is a story that illustrates a spiritual truth.) Israel was a rebellious people who forsake God and His ways. They did not respond to the “Master Gardener,” so He sent Jesus Christ to restore the vine and make it healthy. Jesus Christ tells us He is the True Vine, and we are the branches. The…
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The Golden Calf
Over the years I have had the opportunity to visit several countries in which I learned a bit about the various people groups and their religions. I have visited Hindu temples in England and India as well as a mosque and Buddhist temple and catholic churches in Chile, Mexico, and Costa Rica. My glimpse into the way other religions worship and endeavor to get to heaven was revealed in their worship by offering burning candles and incense, rice, fruit, and other things to various gods, saints, and prophets. It saddens me when we have the Truth, so returning home to America which was founded on the Christian faith brings me…
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The Blame Game
The Devil Made Me Do It? My recent Bible reading has had me in Job. The trials (attacks) Job experienced are beyond anything we can imagine. He even says the things he “greatly feared” in life came to pass (Job 3:25). He was heartbroken, he was in distress, and he was physically in pain, but he did not blame God. Through it all he did not sin, and most importantly, he did not lose his faith in God. He continued to trust and praise Him through it. Compare that to the first man and woman in Genesis, Adam and Eve. When they were tempted with sin and then committed the…