The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness , gentleness, and self control.
If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. ____Galatians 5:22-23a, 25
Today I slow down and do not feel guilty about " wasting time " I know it is best when I take time in each day to remember, reflect , and pray. Today I pray that the fruits of the spirit may be seen in the way that I live.
Love is expressed as I take time to laugh with my friends.
Peace is mine when I live each day, one at a time.
Patience is within me when I wait in hope and expectation, knowing all will be well.
Kindness is present as I give the benefit of the doubt to another.
Generosity is known when I give my time to help a co-worker.
Faithfulness is lived as I continue to struggle with others for consensus and understanding.
Gentleness is a keystone of my life when I take the effort to walk in another's shoes.
Self-control is displayed when I make decisions which are helpful to my life and my community.
This day I choose to take time to contemplate the fruits of the Spirit in prayer.
* Re: 365 Affirmations for Hopeful Living by Patricia D. Brown
From: Shenna Cherry
Love is an indefinite thing to most of us; we don't know what we mean when we talk about love. Love is the loftiest preference of one person for another, and spiritually Jesus demands that this sovereign preference be for Himself (see Luke 14:26). Initially, when "the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit" (Romans 5:5), it is easy to put Jesus first. But then we must practice the things mentioned in 2 Peter 1 to see them worked out in our lives.
The first thing God does is forcibly remove any insincerity, pride, and vanity from my life. And the Holy Spirit reveals to me that God loved me not because I was lovable, but because it was His nature to do so. Now He commands me to show the same love to others by saying, ". . . love one another as I have loved you" (John 15:12). He is saying, "I will bring a number of people around you whom you cannot respect, but you must exhibit My love to them, just as I have exhibited it to you." This kind of love is not a patronizing love for the unlovable---it is His love, and it will not be evidenced in us overnight. Some of us may have tried to force it, but we were soon tired and frustrated.
"The Lord . . . is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish . . ." (2 Peter 3:9). I should look within and remember how wonderfully He has dealt with me. The knowledge that God has loved me beyond all limits will compel me to go into the world to love others in the same way. I may get irritated because I have to live with an unusually difficult person. But just think how disagreeable I have been with God! Am I prepared to be identified so closely with the Lord Jesus that His life and His sweetness will be continually poured out through Me? Neither natural love not God's divine love will remain and grow in me unless it is nurtured. Love is spontaneous, but it has to be maintained through discipline.
From: Shenna Cherry
Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. Proverbs 16: 24 NASB
It takes just as much energy to say a positive word as it does a negative one. In fact, it may take even less. Research has shown that when we speak positive words even in difficult circumstances or troubling situations--- our bodies relax. As we relax, blood flow increases, including the blood flow to the brain. A well oxygenated brain is much more likely to think creatively, make wise decisions, find reasonable solutions, and generate answers to questions.
Positive words ease relationships and create an atmosphere of peace that is conducive to rest, relaxation, rejuvination, and sleep--- all of which are necessary for good health. On the other hand, contrary to popular thought, negative words do not release tension.... they keep the body in a state of tension, constriction muscles and blodd vessels.
Irrational, uncreative, unreasonable behavior is a secondary effect. A continual flow of negative words causes relationships to suffer, which creates an atmosphere of disharmony and makes for fitful sleep and frayed nerves--- none of which are healthy!
One of the best things we can do for our overall health is to transform our speech !
From: God's Little Devotional For Women
Advice is like snow;
the softer it falls,
the
longer it dwells upon,
and the deeper it sinks
into the mind.
-Samuel Taylor Coleridge
From: Shenna Cherry
Add means that we have to do something. We are in danger of forgetting that we cannot do what God does, and that God will not do what we can do. We cannot save nor sanctify ourselves---God does that. But God will not give us good habits or character, and He will not force us to walk correctly before Him. We have to do all that ourselves. We must "work out" our "own salvation" which God has worked in us (Philippians 2:12). Add means that we must get into the habit of doing things, and in the initial stages that is difficult. To take the initiative is to make a beginning---to instruct yourself in the way you must go.
Beware of the tendency to ask the way when you know it perfectly well. Take the initiative---stop hesitating---take the first step. Be determined to act immediately in faith on what God says to you when He speaks, and never reconsider or change your initial decisions. If you hesitate when God tells you to do something, you are being careless, spurning the grace in which you stand. Take the initiative yourself, make a decision of your will right now, and make it impossible to go back. Burn your bridges behind you, saying, "I will write that letter," or "I will pay that debt"' and then do it! Make it irrevocable.
We have to get into the habit of carefully listening to God about everything, forming the habit of finding out what He says and heeding it. If, when a crisis comes, we instinctively turn to God, we will know that the habit has been formed in us. We have to take the initiative where we are, not where we have not yet been
John R. Morrison
There is a difference between holding on to a principle and having a vision. A principle does not come from normal inspiration, but a vision does. People who are totally consumed with idealistic principles rarely do anything. A person's own idea of God and His attributes may actually be used to justify and rationalize his deliberate neglect of his duty. Jonah tried to excuse his disobedience by saying to God, ". . . I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm" (Jonah 4:2). I too may have the right idea of God and His attributes, but that may be the very reason why I do not do my duty. But wherever there is vision, there is also a life of honesty and integrity, because the vision gives me the moral incentive.
Our own idealistic principles may actually lull us into run. Examine yourself spiritually to see if you have vision, or only principles.
Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or what's a heaven for?
"Where there is no revelation [or prophetic vision] . . . ." Once we lose sight of God, we begin to be reckless. We cast off certain restraints from activities we know are wrong. We set prayer aside as well and cease having God's vision in the little things of life. We simply begin to act on our own initiative. If we are eating only out of our own hand, and doing things solely on our own initiative without expecting God to come in, we are on a downward path. We have lost the vision. Is our attitude today an attitude that flows from our vision of God? Are we expecting God to do greater things than He has ever done before? Is there a freshness and a vitality in our spiritual outlook?
John R. Morrison
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