365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 124

We went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo yesterday to see the new 1.5 year old male lion. Although his mane will not be fully grown until he’s three, he was impressive. We watched him lick a block of ice he was given that had fish inside it that he would eventually get to. The lion is definitely called the king of the beasts for a reason. The sheer size of his paws and jaws is not something I would ever want to encounter in the wild. King Jesus is exponentionally more impressive. There isn’t a measuring device that could measure his power and his glory. It is beyond our scope of thinking. He is within the hearts of millions of us. His power is within us. Oh what the believers of this world could do if they really believed with all their heart, soul and spirit. This power from our King is around us all the time. Do you recognize it? Take that power within and conquer your fears, defeat your anger, harness love, peace and forgiveness and take that to the world. Our King asks us to love one another as he loves us. Are you loving others without thoughts of yourself? Keep working at it as I will.

Psalm 24: 7 Lift up your heads, O you gates, be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 123

The image of my family at the dinner table all raising their glasses of sparkling cider toasting Jesus our King came to my mind this morning. I will start this as a tradition on Easter Sunday to make a toast to our King. It made me think about other kings like you see on TV shows in which the people all bow down before the king with reverence, respect, ready to do what the king commands. Perhaps it is because we don’t have a visual on the King we are to be bowing down to that makes us apathetic in our service to our King. This Son of God made human died for me, for you, for all of us because of love for His Father in Heaven and for us. He did what his Father told him to do even though he didn’t deserve it in anyway. The Father could have at any time stopped it all and said, “No, let mankind lay in its bed that they made.” Jesus could have said “I am not going to do what my Father says, suffer on this cross and die for all mankind.” But their love was SO much that they did what needed to be done to save us from ourselves and evil. Would you be willing to die on a cross? Would you be willing to watch your child die on a cross? Love this great cannot be set aside because we are too busy dealing with our day to day lives. Worship! Pray! Sing! Bow down to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords everyday, every moment!!!

Revelations 19: 11-16 I saw heaven standing open and their before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no on knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron scepter. He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 122

My daughter got a Janome sewing machine for her birthday along with a pattern to make several stuffed animals. We went to the fabric store and she picked out the fabrics and got a couple more patterns since they were on sale. We spent the afternoon of her birthday working together to de-code the instructions, cut out the pattern and start the sewing. We got to the ear part and started having issues with the instructions and with the machine. I think I finally figured out how the ears were to go on with a little help from my objective husband but the machine kept getting stuck. I searched the troubleshooting section and tried re-threading, etc. but nothing was working. I finally had to cave into the frustration and told my daughter I would have to research the machine on-line and see what I could find out. I didn’t find out anything. Ugh. So, yesterday after work I took the machine back to the store I bought it at and asked the first lady who was going to help me but she didn’t know anything about the machine. She asked another lady who was cutting fabric for a man in a wheel chair and his wife but she didn’t know anything. The man in the wheel chair says “I have that same machine and it gave me 2 weeks of frustration when I first got it but I have had it for over a year and I love it.” I hurried over to him and he proceeded to show me some tips about the machine and told me the problem lies in the bobbin placement. He showed me how to do it and patiently let me do it myself afterwards just to make sure I got it right. The kindness of this stranger has stayed with me. It turns out another lady in the store over-heard us and said she had the same machine and put it aside because she couldn’t figure it out and hearing all the man said she would pull it back out and give it another try. This man’s kindness spread beyond just to me. Even the manager of the store was super thankful to this man because they were busy at this time and she didn’t have the time to help me. This man’s act of kindness to a total stranger was such a wonderful example of how we are to help and serve others. I will never forget this experience and will pray that God bless this man and his wife.

2Peter 1: 5-8 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, persevereance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 121

My heart was angry yesterday at the words of my co-workers who told me of what happened on Monday when I was out. Micro-managed doesn’t even fully describe it. Being managed in such a way, with only negative comments is very degrading to a person. They have no trust in us and our work. All of us are busting our butts doing the best we can with what we are given. They made it even worse by condemning our team lead saying she doesn’t even know what her team is doing. No, she trusts that we know our job and can see that we are working away all day long. I had to call on the Holy Spirit to hold my tongue and just respond with gentleness and kindness with what happened to my co-worker and team lead. Something went down last week with the same co-worker and team lead through an email. They responded saying they wished to discuss the issue. Our office manager didn’t respond so they are really upset about the so-called open door policy that is not showing. All I can do is encourage them to communicate with her without anger whether it is in an email or catching her in the hallway. You can’t put someone down and not let them defend themselves. I find this all very disconcerting because of the injustice of it. It is only with the Holy Spirit’s guidance I can navigate this in a way that will bring glory to God.

1Corinthians 2:14-16 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment: “For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 120

Food is definitely a weakness of mine. I love to eat and my body is geared towards being a snacker but the scale has gone up and up and it is time to make it go back down, down. Self-control is not easy but I do find that if I have something to focus on that it helps. After seeing Jesus forgo the temptations that Satan had put to him in the desert on the mini-series, The Bible, I started thinking about the scripture “man cannot live on bread alone”. It has helped me to stop and think about the food I desire to eat and make a better, wiser decision. The Holy Spirit is working in me to help me control my out-of-control eating one day at a time.

Matthew 4:4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 119

A conversation I had with the girls over the morning breakfast of rainbow pancakes was very interesting. Somehow we got to the topic of Heaven. So, the girls were sharing their thoughts about Heaven. One of them said it is kind of weird that we have 3 Gods in one, another mentioned going to purgatory first. My daughter’s image of Heaven was seeing 3 thrones with God who is big in the middle and Jesus on the one side and the Holy Spirit on the other side. We all see and perceive things in our own way but we do have to be careful to always shine the light of the truth of God’s word onto everything so that we can wisely discern what the truth is. There are differing denominations within the Christian church for this very reason. We read and interpret things in different ways. The truth can be found with prayer and study. You don’t solely follow the words of someone who sounds knowledgeable about the bible. Get in the Word yourself. Seek and you will find.

Hebrews 7:27 Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 117 & 118

The glow-in-the-dark party was a big hit. It reminds me of what Dr Arno said in my video class about how you can be in a dark room and light a candle and that one little candle can shine light throughout the room. Darkness aka evil doesn’t like the light of truth. All of the glow-in-the-dark stuff they created made the room come alive. The scariness of being in the dark was put aside because of the glow-in-the-dark things. The light of truth does the same thing within the darkness of our hearts. We become truly alive with the light within us glowing. My prayer is that the light burns brighter and brighter within which means it will shine all the more on the outside to others.

2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 116

Do things ever go as you plan? No, of course not. We are in the final prep stages for my daughter's 10th glow-in-the-dark slumber party. I have had to make the room as dark as possible covering the windows and other small light sources. We have 2 black lights set-up. The girls are going to paint glow-in-the-dark paint on black t-shirts, make glow-in-the-dark lava lamps, paint glow-in-the-dark jar lanterns, make glow-in-the-dark slime, paint their toes with yep, you guessed it, glow-in-the-dark nail polish. Not to mention paint their faces and finish the wall decor all of which will glow as well. There has been a lot of prep work and than I had to go and decide to make a homemade ice cream cake. Well, it is looking good and just needs the last minute decor put on it. I am old enough and wise enough to know that all our plans are not under our control. How everything happens will be determined by God? So we've made our plans and said our prayers that all will come out well now it's up to God. Say a prayer for us it all goes well!
Micah 4:12 But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord; they do not understand his plan.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 115

This is getting out late because of the time crunch this morning had with needing to leave by 6:30 for work today so I could leave early to be at the parent-teacher conference. Low and behold a crash on the highway prevented me from being able to be there at our appointed time. I had planned on getting in my bible and writing on my blog this morning but my daughter came down from her bedroom with a strange look on her face. She came up to me and we hugged like we always do. She was shaking with fear! What happened? Was it a scary dream? She was unable to speak. I led her upstairs to her room and with lots of hugs, caresses and soothing talk, I got her to finally calm down enough that she could tell me what was going on. Apparently, she had read a scary book at school about a wax museum and the wax man becomes headless. Yeah, that is a little bit too close to real for comfort for a child’s mind that is not capable yet of abstract thinking. We talked and shared ways we can combat this problem. 1. No reading scary books! 2. Use a white erase board in your dream and wipe away the scary stuff. 3. Pray to the Lord for conquering our fears. 4. Talk about your fears with Mom, Dad or brother. Our fears are part of who we are, of who God created. We were created this way so that we would look to God. When we fully trust in him, those fears will be conquered.

Psalm 91:4-5 He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of the night.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 114

Through my Bible concordance and the leading of the Holy Spirit, I came to read this scripture David wrote. He wrote this after he was confronted by the prophet Nathan for his sin of adultery with Bathsheba. Rather than excuse his sin or try to cover it up, he bared his soul and asked God for his help and mercy. Though are sins are cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ, we too must confess them to God and ask him to help us overcome and renew our spirits. The word in this scripture steadfast had me going, “huh?” I found steadfast to mean firmly fixed, unchanging, steady, resolute, established and unwavering. In our world, we are surrounded by sin and evil that can distract us and turn us away from God even if it is just a moment. Steadfastness is something we need to be praying for everyday. David’s Psalm gives the perfect words for this prayer. This is one to put to memory.

Psalm 51:10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 113

At work yesterday, I found myself contemplating the actions of some of my co-workers. Again, they talked negatively about another co-worker in the other part of our office. I had to admit that I have been guilty of this in the past but hearing it come from others on a regular basis has made me realize that this is a sin that I am to work on but also that I have to shine the light of the truth on this to those at my work who are doing it. I thought of something my mom had always said which probably many moms out there have said, If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” The sinful part of us will put down others. I remember as a teenager doing some people watching with friends at the mall and just giggling with our judgmental negative comments about the people we saw. Who are we do judge anything? I would like to say it is a young thing and people grow out of it but it is not going to go away because you age. It will only be conquered when you have shined the light of the truth of God upon it and keep shinning that light upon it. So, I need to let go of fear of what others will think if I say something and stand up for not talking bad about people. Fear of rejection is a weakness within my temperament that I have to overcome. All things are possible with God.

Ephesians 4:29 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.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 112

We all have weaknesses that are just part of who God created us to be. One of my weaknesses is that I internalize my anger and make it out to be “hurt feelings”. I struggled with this quite a bit in the early part of my marriage but after being truly saved by Jesus, with the help of the Holy Spirit I have learned to be better at expressing myself. I am far from perfect but the Holy Spirit is guiding my steps and leading me to being more like Jesus. What do you know of yourself that needs the help of our awesome God?

Romans 8:26-27 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 111

We were watching part 2 of The Bible mini series last night. One of the main sections was about Samson. It threw me and my daughter off with how it started and some of the details. We were just going by the children’s story version we were used to reading. So, this morning I read the chapters about Samson and found out the whole truth. The mini series is taking some liberties due to the time constraints I am sure but it was interesting to read the whole truth with the parts the mini series left out. It really just goes to show that anything you read or watch about the Bible has to be sifted through the real truth in the Bible to ascertain how true to the story they managed to stay. I know that the intent of this mini series is to give non-believers a taste of the truth enough that they will want to get into the Bible themselves and discover the truth and be led to salvation. I pray that this mini series will indeed do that even if just one more is saved, it would be worth it.

Judges 16:30  Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!”  Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 111

My mind is reeling from the test results of my APS report on my temperament that I received this morning. It is so accurate.  I can’t even express the value of having something like this. People struggle their whole lives with learning who they are and what God created them to be. This tool is a gift from God and I am so honored to be called to helping people discover who God created them to be. I feel compelled to re-read it and fully absorb who God created me to be and praise him for everything.

Romans 10:15 As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 110

Reality TV is popular for a reason. It is real and you see some real emotions. Usually, it is the heartfelt tears but this week’s Survivor had a man who was really mad. He was so mad he literally dumped out the rice and beans for the tribes food. That is a big bad on Survivor! His tribe had unanimously voted to forfeit the immunity challenge to the other tribe and go to tribal counsel which has never been done before on all the seasons of this show. This man was crazed with his anger and it was like a volcano going off to watch it. He was out of control. He is one of the fan favorites from a past season who from the past talked about his faith and God but not this season. He has strayed the path and it showed in his total loss of self-control and tantrum of anger that he displayed. He was proud to be voted off in the end because he wanted to control his destiny. He needs our prayers. This was a very real example of how our temperament weaknesses can be played out. Without God in his life, this weakness with anger was able to take reign over him. I pray that he will find his way back to God and get in the Word and ask the Holy Spirit to help him with his anger, give him self-control and especially understand and accept that God is the one in control. 

Proverbs 29:11 A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control. 

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 109

When I walked into my office yesterday, little did I know the drama that had just unfolded before I had arrived?  A long-standing, top-notch co-worker of mine had taken her stuff and walked out. I don’t know the details of what happened but was told that our operations manager threw her under the bus. Our operations manager has been out of the office due to family issues and healthy issues and put some of her work onto this other co-worker, leaving the co-worker with piles of her own work that cannot get done. It sounds as if the operations manager did not back her up when asked about her excessive workload. Thankfully, our assistant manager went and talked with her and convinced her to come back. It just made me think of how any one of us can experience this kind of betrayal and lack of support. God will always be on our side. He is our rock, the one whom we can lean on always and the one who will always be there. These kinds of things can happen to us so be prepared by asking the Holy Spirit for his fruits so that you will be able to persevere and know that God is on your side.

Isaiah 41:10 So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 108

During some of my wakeful hours during the night, the TV show The Amazing Race ran through my thoughts and I started to see the connections in the show to our lives. For those that may not have seen The Amazing Race, it is a traveling race around the world where pairs of people travel from one country to another and in between have road blocks and speed bumps that they must get through. These pairs of people are all mixed from spouses to best friends to brothers. Now some of these pairs work well together and have no trouble but for others the challenges they face bring out their worst. These road blocks and speed bumps often have to do with overcoming fears such as fear of heights but also have to do with working past something you don’t do well like swim. Some of them can be difficult and you need to have perseverance and patience. Some of these teams get into trouble because they are in too much of a hurry and will not read the clues carefully. Other teams will just make the wrong choices and end up lost or at a challenge they cannot conquer. We are living out our own amazing race. We aren’t necessarily traveling the world but the concept of going through change and seeing new things we do go through. We need to be partnering up with the Holy Spirit for our race. Without the help of the Holy Spirit, we will find ourselves lost, impatient and a whole host of other negatives. But with the Holy Spirit, we will be guided and given all that we need to overcome the challenges we all face in our lives. However, it is a partnership and like any relationship it takes two. We have to do our part in this partnership by praying, studying and reflecting. Take the time today to reflect on how well you are running the amazing race of your life.

Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 107

My dear daughter will be turning 10 in a couple of weeks. She is very precious to us but she is pushing our buttons right now. It seems that she is one of the quiet kids all day long at school but as soon as she is home, she talks non-stop. She wants to give you a play-by-play of everything. It is definitely wearing on our patience but we have tried to listen to her and respond to her questions. She has also developed this attitude that is bordering on disrespectful. No, it has crossed the border into disrespectful. So, I am trying to figure out how best to approach this issue so we can turn that attitude back into loving responses and the Lord lead me to this passage about being gentle. It is going to start by myself and my husband being gentle in the way we approach her. She has always been very sensitive to harsh words or yelling but much more responsive to simply and gently telling her what she needs to know and learn. We will be calling on the Holy Spirit for his help with patience and gentleness in the days ahead so we can guide our daughter towards being more like Christ.

Proverbs 15:1 A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 106

Unfortunately, my brain is not engaging. I read something but nothing wants to sink in. It is a time in my cycle that I feel the furthest from God. My brain just doesn’t want to focus. I know it is a temporary thing but it is pulling at my heart now because I want my brain to cooperate but I read scripture and I can’t engage. Well, no one is perfect, least of all, me. The sermon yesterday went in one ear and out the other. This is one of those monthly struggles that I am sure most women go through. My prayer is this no brain function issue will end soon.

James: 3:2 We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 105

The idea of self-control has been on my mind lately. It has been my typical pattern to go on a diet and lose some weight and keep it off for a while but than something triggers my lack of self-control and I go back to my old habits of eating like I did when I was 20. I can’t do that anymore! My mind and my body are not on the same page. So, yesterday after having an evening of feeling too full, which is so uncomfortable, I opened my bible and started reading some scriptures about self-control. I get the impression from the bible that people didn’t have a problem with self-control when it came to food back in those days. The bible talks more about controlling our speech and our in-take of alcohol. There are probably lots of various things that we can let control us like the television, email, computer games, Facebook, etc. How much of those things am I giving control of my life over to? Think on these things in the week ahead and start making a list of those things that seem to control you and your life. Put the control back into the hands of the Holy Spirit.

1Peter 15-16 But just as he who is called you is holy, so be holy in all  you do, for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 103

As I walked into my office building yesterday, I ran into our office manager who was waiting for the elevator. She greeted me and asked how I was feeling and than I asked her how her daughter was doing. I had heard thru the office grapevine that she had had a second seizure within a month. I decided to ride up the elevator with her instead of taking the stairs which is my normal routine. She said that her daughter who was a preemie has had this place in her brain that may not have gotten enough oxygen and now the doctors are saying that it is a degenerative thing and that symptoms will worsen, etc. She ended up in tears telling me how she just needed to stay home yesterday to just be with her daughter and how she started a diet program to lose her excess weight so she can be healthy and take care of her daughter as she grows older. The interaction I had with her has stayed with me. I don’t know our office manager outside of office stuff so this was on a personal level that I had not gone to with her before now. It is amazing to me how little we know about the hearts of others. I got a good look at her heart yesterday after working there for almost 4 years but God knows our hearts inside and out, through and through, completely. He knows what we need and how we are feeling and will answer those needs and comfort those feelings. Lord, I ask you to give comfort, peace and strength to this woman whose heart is breaking for her daughter and heal her daughter. With you all things are possible. Amen.

1 Samuel 16:7 But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 102

The fruits of the Holy Spirit won’t be within us without first having faith. Faith is the beginning point that we have to go back to over and over again. Faith can be on shaky ground or as is told in the bible seeds in rocky soil. We must be proclaiming our faith through our words and actions everyday and especially in our prayers. Abraham had so much faith in God that when God told him to move his family 800 miles to another country, he did it and when he told him to sacrifice his only son Isaac, he did it but thankfully God stopped him before Isaac was killed and gave him a lamb to sacrifice instead. Jesus displays faith and obedience on an unfathomable scale. He came from his home in heaven, from the very presence of God to become a man on earth.  Why did he seek his alone time with God? He missed him. He missed being in his very presence but he did what God asked of him. I have had a small glimpse of what it must have been like for Jesus to have left the presence of God to be in this world. When I was in the hospital back in 2003 for 4 ½ weeks hoping to keep Faith from being born to early. Those weeks were filled with Spring snow storm, one after another. The snow kept many of my friends from coming to visit me. I was mostly alone in my room day in and day out. Actually, I wasn’t alone. I was communing with God as I had never done before. Without being able to even get out of bed, I was in a situation where all I could do was pray to God, read the bible and think of Him. Many months after this experience, I realized I was suffering from grief from the loss of that extreme closeness I felt with God during my stay in the hospital. How Jesus must have grieved as well! It puts a different perspective on what Jesus did for us. He came from his home down here to be with us in our fallen world surrounded by sin. How willing would you be to leaving your home and everything you have there to follow God and do his will? Faith is a life-long pursuit. Keep at it so those fruits can ripen within.

Hebrews 11:8 By faith, Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 102

I have started a 30-day bible study based on the TV mini series that started this last Sunday on the History channel. The first day study is about the first Adam and the second Adam who is Jesus and a comparison of the two. It is complete opposite kind of comparison. Adam’s sin brought death for us all and Jesus’ obedience brought life to all who believe in him. The ‘experience the story’ part of the bible study says when you look in the mirror today, see the image of the “heavenly man” who came and saved us. This exercise is great to get you to see that the Holy Spirit is within you, and see you can reflect that image of Jesus who was sinless and obedient to his Father. I pray we can all look in our mirrors today and all the days to come and be reminded each time that the Holy Spirit is at work within us and can be reflected out to all those around us.

Romans 5:19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man they many will be made righteous.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 101

In order for the Holy Spirit to work within us, we have to guard ourselves from the evil in the world. Seemingly innocent things that may turn us away from God or lead us down a detour to the Devil are around us everyday. The more aware and in tune we are to God and his Word the more we can discern these innocent looking things and see them for what they are. Keep guard and know that the Devil is at work everyday trying to steer you away from God. Surround yourself with the Truth everyday.

Proverbs 22:5 In the paths of the wicked lie thorns and snares, but he who guards his soul stays far from them.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits-Challenge-Day 100

I woke up yesterday not feeling so great. A head cold had descended into the left side of my head. With now three of us, sniffling, sneezing and coughing, we chose to stay home and watch our church service on the internet. I had it planned to go to my friend’s house about 3pm to take my first test. I should have re-scheduled! I wasn’t thinking clearly. I had not reviewed a vital section of the course and after starting the test I knew I was in trouble. I missed about 11-12 out of 50. Ugh. I don’t know at this point if I will be required to re-take the test or not. My husband was the first to give me words of encouragement. It’s been 20+ years since I took a test so I have to give myself some grace and move on. I know the devil wants me to think I can’t do this but I know I can with God’s help and a little time to get back those study skills from my young college days. So, I will keep fighting the fight, be thoroughly prepared and will be victorious with the next test.

Philippians 1:6 …being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 99

As you may already know from previous writings, I have struggled with hormonal issues for many years. Thanks be to God, they have gone back to the more predictable monthly hormone issues that are not as severe. In studying about depression, I learned it is quite normal for both men and women to experience 5-7 days of blah’s.  These are going to be the days you will not be at your best, when the Evil one will really work on pulling you away from God. We have the Spirit who will give us all that we need but our focus has to be on Jesus. The fruits of the Spirit may not be ripening as well during these blah periods in life but we are to be persistent and keep at it. Keep in the word, keep praying, keep loving, keep doing good and never give up.

Galatians 6:9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 98

I am preparing to take my first exam for my class on Basic Christian counseling. I am finding it is always good to repeat viewing a dvd class as things said the first time may not have gone in because I was thinking about the previous thing said or writing something down. I love the “oh, I get it” feeling. One of the main points of Christian counseling is about salvation. Many people have a misguided perception of what it takes to have salvation. It is not something we earn. If I am a good person does not equal salvation. It is a gift from God that we willingly take into ourselves through the blood of Jesus Christ. Our choice to believe that Jesus is God’s one and only son and that this sinless son of God died on the cross and took the punishment for our sins and his blood covers our sins and makes us presentable to God is the only way we have salvation. The Holy Spirit is walking behind us all of our days and will cover the sins that we will do keeping us clean in the sight of God. Without this belief, you will find yourself drawn down a darkened path that only leads to destruction. God will never leave or forsake us. His goodness will follow us all the days of our lives and keep us cleansed of our sins.

Psalm 23:6 Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 97

Having the fruit of goodness in us starts by ensuring we are on the right path. This has to be given thought and prayer daily as the Evil one will do anything and everything to divert us off our path towards God. Almighty Father, my life is for you. Help me to take the steps on the path today towards You. With You all things are possible. Amen.

Jeremiah 6:16 Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.