Growing in the Lord & Walking in the Spirit

Wow, deep breath. Maybe this is not a conversation that the rest of you all needed to hear as much as I did, but this has been something that God has constantly been teaching me in my walk with Him. Namely, I need to let go of my plans and trust them in His hands. More than that, though, and what I want to focus on today is that we can trust the Lord with His timing. Even if He wants to work with our plans, He may not desire for us to run on our own timeline. Instead, He wants us to take a step back and trust that He has a plan, as He always does.  There are three key promises we need to remember to guide us through this journey of understanding His timeline: Trust, Patience, and Faithfulness.  TRUST:  I can trust the Lord. He is the Creator of the Universe, for Pete's sake! Trusting something small, such as my car, in the hands of someone trustworthy yet human, like my friend or parents, can be a challenge. However, trusting something that is not even mine (such as my li...

When you ask people what their favorite book of the Bible is, there are a variety of common answers. Over the past few years, one of the most popular answers I have heard is the book of Romans. The book of Romans contains so many good nuggets of truth, as do all books of the Bible. It is known for containing pieces that can be put together to explain the truth of the gospel to the Western World.  Many people have written sermons and devotionals on many of the verses and ideals that seem to pop off the page for every seasoned believer as they read the book. However, one of the more common verses talked about in this book is Romans 8:28.  Romans 8:28 reminds us believers that God is in Control and that He will work everything out for good. However, that is not all that can be learned from this one verse. In fact, that is not what should be the focus of this verse. In the ESV, the verse reads "For God works all things together for the good of those who love Him and are called acc...

It's impossible to show all of the Fruit of the Spirit at all times. I mean, maybe it is possible. But, I have found that no one can show all the Fruit of the Spirit at all times, to all people. We all have our bad days or hours. We all make mistakes. These are attributes we want to become a part of us. We should want the Fruit of the Spirit to come naturally to us as we grow in these areas. It will take time, and no one will ever have it all down. But, we always need to turn to God and ask for His leading for what He wants us to do or say in every situation He gives us.  I am no expert at all of these. Yes, I have some of the attributes that might come more naturally to me than others, but I also have a list of attributes I need to work on- seeds of the fruit if you would have it. We all have seeds that we need to add to the fruit, and some are already mature and ready to bear more fruit. It's always a process, and we need to be patient throughout as we follow what God tells u...

I feel like self-control kind of wraps up all of the attributes of the Fruit of the Spirit into one. Without self-control many of the above words are difficult. Like I mentioned when I was talking about love, we often find it difficult to love people we don't get along with. Sometimes it can get more extreme and we want to do the opposite. No matter what level, it takes self-control to love someone we don't want to. It takes self-control to have joy in tough situations. It takes self-control to be patient with those who aren't 'worthy' of being patient. It takes self-control to show the Fruit of the Spirit on a daily basis.  To be honest, I think this was one of the hardest ones for me to learn when I was younger. Don't get me wrong- I don't have it all perfect yet either, but I have been able to improve in this area with the Lord's help. But, I struggled with this one as a child because I wanted the immediate satisfaction of getting the 'prize' ...

Gentleness. Does this mean we need to not roughhouse? Everyone needs to be treated like a flower? When my siblings and I were younger, we were constantly told by our parents that we needed to be gentle with one another, because our siblings are like flowers. But is that what being gentle is like? Is it all physical?  When I first think of the word "gentle" I think of my childhood. Whenever my siblings and I would roughhouse, my mom would always remind us to be gentle- she would remind my brother that all girls are flowers. So, gentle meant soft, slow, careful. But, when we are commanded to be gentle towards others in our lives, does that only mean that physical carefulness? No, I think there is more to the meaning of the word gentle in this verse.  God called us to be gentle with others. While we should be careful with what we say or do around others already, it always gets harder when we are angered and feel wronged. We need to be careful with what words or actions pop out a...

What does it mean to be faithful? When I hear the word faithful, I immediately think of Pilgrim's Progress, in which one of the characters who helped Christian on his journey was named Faithful. Faithful was the truth-seeker who Christian first heard about when he began his expedition. Faithful made the choice to be faithful along the journey of the Christian walk until the end. In the book the Pilgrim's Progress, Faithful was killed by townspeople because he was a Christian and chose to follow God until the end.  As John Bunyon was, he did not make a mistake in choosing the name Faithful to go with the character and the storyline. Faithful was called to stay faithful to God and His promises no matter what it meant he had to sacrifice. In Faithful's case, this meant even death. This is not always the ending for us Christians, yet sometimes we become too afraid of what the world thinks to stay faithful to God and His promises. God calls Christians to stay faithful to Him, Hi...

Is there a difference between "good" and "goodness"? Can you identify it? Oftentimes when we do good things we are told we did a good job. But is that showing goodness? Is goodness all about following the rules? Goodness is probably the oddest part of the Fruit of the Spirit compared to how straightforward the rest of the attributes are.  According to Bible Study Tools, goodness means "the deliberate preference of right or wrong" (biblestudytools.com). Goodness is understanding a clear distinction between good and bad and choosing to do what is good or what is right. This an attribute in the Fruit of the Spirit because it ties together with many of the other attributes, and it is important when becoming exactly who God made you to be.  When we focus on what is good in our lives and chose to make the right choices, we are shining a light in the darkness that helps others see that we are different. As Christians, we are called to represent Christ, and goodne...

There is a memory I have in my head that I just cannot seem to shake away. I remember one summer my family went to San Diego for a conference for my dad. My mom, my siblings, and I were there simply for the vacation part of the trip. One day as my dad was in one of his meetings, mom decided to head out with us and get us some pizza for dinner. She walked into the store with the exact cash she believed was needed according to what dad told her and the standards we were used to back home. Yet, mom came out of the store in a hurry with the pizza, grabbed something real quick, and told us she would be right back again.  When she finally returned she explained to my siblings and me the situation. See, she was just a few cents off the amount needed for the purchase. We always kept spare change in the car so she knew that she had the amount needed in the vehicle. At this point, none of us kids had a way to communicate with her on our devices because there was no internet in the car. The s...

Patience. What a difficult word for me personally to deal with. This is also an attribute of love, as you would probably have noticed when we went over studying the Love Chapter a few days ago. The definition of patience according to dictionary.com is " the quality of being patient; the bearing of provocation, annoyance, misfortune, pain, etc." The dictionary goes on to define the word more clearly if that definition does not do it enough justice. We all have moments of annoyance, and I know we all deal with some kind of pain, whether physical, emotional, or spiritual, at some point in our lives. When we are patient, we bear through it. We don't grumble or complain but we take our time and just deal with it until it passes. Kind of like getting a shot. Once the needle is in you and the physical pain starts, there is no way to make it stop no matter how much you complain or shift your weight around. In fact, you can do more damage to yourself if you do move once the needle...

Many people know of the international peace sign- either holding up two fingers or the circle that has one line down the middle and two lines coming off of each side towards the bottom. But this is what I call "worldly peace". This is not the same as the peace that comes from knowing Christ. Worldly peace is often associated with peace amongst countries, or physical situations. But, we need peace for so much more. Many people feel like they do not have peace because of the emotional or spiritual struggles they are going through. We can have peace that comes from the Lord, instead. This peace, which passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7), is eternal peace. We can trust that the peace we get from the Lord will last, no matter what we are going through-just like joy.  So, we should share this peace with others. Sadly, we cannot literally give away a piece of our peace. But, we can show others where we got ours, and tell them that they can feel at peace with the Lord as well ...

What is joy? When most people think of the word joy, they often think of happiness or good times. Joy seems to come along when we are making great memories with people, or not in the middle of troubled times. But is that really joy? The definition of joy that I like to use goes something like this: Joy is keeping a positive attitude even when everything else seems to be going downhill because there is something better out there than all the struggles and difficulties going on. It is easy to have joy in the good times, but Christians are called to have joy in the bad times as well. "To live is Christ, to die is gain." (Philippians 1:21). This is a popular verse that I think of when I think of difficult situations. In everything, whatever is going on it seems that 'at least we are alive'. No matter what Satan or the forces of this world try to do to us- even if they do choose to kill us, we know that they cannot take away our salvation (Romans 8:38-39). But, we can reme...

  1 Corinthians 13:1-8:  This passage talks about Love. But what kind of love? Is it the love between a man and a woman? The love between two close friends? No, this is a love that everyone needs to show everyone- agape love. This love is shown towards people that the giver may think deserves it, or may think they do not deserve it. No matter who the person is, they need agape love. God is a great example of this kind of love. "God demonstrates His own love for us in this; while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8) God is the ultimate creator of agape love, and He is the expert in showing agape love to all people- even those who were His enemies at the time. We are called to love one another. The word "love" appears in the New Testament 203 times. But what does it mean to love one another? Again, there is a long list provided in 1 Corinthians 13. Often people find all the attributes of love difficult. For example, let's start at the beginning...

Galatians 5:22-23:  What is the first thing you notice when you hear that statement? While many others would brush it off and read the next sentence into the next chapter and book, I notice something that seems to not be grammatically correct. Why does it say the FRUIT of the Spirit and then lists many different fruits? In fact, if you grew up in the church, it may have rolled off your tongue as the "fruits" of the Spirit. But, was there a mistake- a misprint? No! When you have the Fruit of the Spirit, you truly only have one fruit. But, there are indeed many different PARTS to this one fruit. As a born-again believer who shows the Fruit of the Spirit, you do not gain one or a few but not the rest, like Spiritual Gifts. No, you should show them all. Of course, some might shine in you more than others, but you should hold all of the parts of the Fruit of the Spirit. As we continue learning more about the different attributes of the Fruit of the Spirit, keep in mind that these ...

 Welcome to a devotional series I am putting together! I had this idea for a while. I feel like most of what I put on my blog could totally be in a devotional lesson, but they are all my original thoughts in my own words. So, why not? Who says I can't write my own devotional? That is exactly what I chose to do! After asking some people (all with no response) I came up with starting a devotional series on the Fruit of the Spirit. I originally wanted it to be a seven-day course, but it will be a few days longer than that. I may post more than one devotional lesson on the same day, and I might skip a day or two before posting another devotional because of my off-balance schedule.  I chose the topic "Fruit of the Spirit" as you will see in my later devotional lessons because I can choose one "fruit" or part to make a daily lesson out of it. It helps to be able to break it down, so the reader knows what to expect.  I am sorry if my devotionals are on the shorter side...

*Here is the series all on one blog post.*  I have thought of this idea. I have asked my followers and friends on Instagram what they think I should write about: What biblical topic would make a good devotional lesson? I thought that I could be the creator. Who says you can't make a devotional- even if barely anyone reads it! I think that everyone learns differently, so everyone can make a devotional about things that stand out to them. I obviously will and have used outside sources, including the Bible, to make these devotionals. I have posted all of them here on one document, but I work on making them each a separate post if you would like me to. Some topics I felt I could write a devotional on are: biblical characters and the choices they made to make them who they were, specific biblical concepts that define Christians such as grace, faith, honesty, and so many more. I could also write a devotional on each of the parts of the fruit of the Spirit, or a separate devotional summ...