365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 342

Self-control over what comes out of your mouth is SUPER challenging for me. It is most especially difficult when in a stressful situation. The other day I actually prepared myself for the frustrations that would occur at work by focused praying and yet I found myself later that day in a surprise I need this now situation. So, I scrambled to get together a couple of spreadsheets that could be used for a test import meeting that was starting as I spoke. Really?! You couldn’t have thought of this in the morning so I could have some time to prepare them. So, off I went rushing to get these spreadsheets done and sent when in comes what we like to call the “pit bull” co-manager because she is on top of things to get them done. My frustration was coming out of my mouth but I explained that I just got the call that this was needed which she didn’t realize so she leaves me be for about another minute and comes back. I tell her I am working it and have almost got it ready and then in SO my temperament way I said, “I can’t magically pull these out of my butt”. Well, she thought it was funny, which is what I intended for it to be to get her to back off. Unfortunately, she goes into the other manager’s office where the meeting is going to take place and tells those that are in there. They all were laughing about it but the co-worker on speaker phone in our Texas office was offended by it. So, I got a talking to about my language. Ugh. I felt so wounded and defeated and honestly was feeling like God didn’t help me. So, I was cranky and depressed for the rest of the day. The good news is I got over it and had to realize that with my forgiveness from God I had to forgive myself. I ended up reading from The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth by John Maxwell and was just awed by how God works. He gave me some wisdom on this whole self-control over my mouth thing and gave me what to do. Here is an expert on the Law of Consistency chapter:

You will never change your life until you change something you do daily. That means developing great habits. Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishments, and that bridge must be crossed every day. Over time that daily crossing becomes a habit. And ultimately, people do not decide their future; they decide their habits and their habits decide their future. As author and speaker Brian Tracy says, “From the time you get up in the morning to the time you go to sleep at night, your habits largely control the words you say, the things you do, and the ways you react and respond.”

So, I thought to myself how can I make my responses to people become loving, gentle and kind even in the midst of impatience, frustration and stress? I already had memorized this scripture but realized it was something I had to use constantly for every action, words I say and responses and reactions I make. Scripture is the sword of the spirit. It can overcome my weakness in my self-control over my mouth but it will take patience and persistence. Growth doesn’t happen instantaneously which is where my down on God attitude came from the other day. God is patiently persisting in working on and refining me. So, I thank him for this wisdom and will work on using his word as my daily defense against the weakness within me to turn it into a strength that glorifies God.

Psalm 19:14 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 341

I found this analogy of the trinity a while back. What a great reminder as the sun out there every day. You could go further with the analogy in saying that the clouds are our sins blocking our view of God. That's probably why I love it when I see rays of sunshine shining through a break in the clouds. Jesus brings us hope like those rays of sunshine bring us hope that the clouds will pass and we will be warmed by the sun again.

One way Bible students have tried to explain the relationship between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is to compare the Triune God to the sun in the sky. They say that God the Father is like the sun, Jesus, the Second Person of the Trinity, is like the light streaming from the sun because he made the Father known to us. And then they say that the Holy Spirit is like the unseen heat generated by the sun and its light. It’s not a perfect illustration for it may give the impression that the Son and Holy Spirit are not as great as the Father (and they are), but it does a good job of emphasizing that the Father is not the Son, and the Son is not the Holy Spirit yet they are all somehow connected, in fact are one God, not three gods.

http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/the-holy-spirit-is-our-holy-helper-daniel-habben-sermon-on-holy-spirit-attributes-107244.asp

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits-Day ??? Maybe 340?

Definition of Patience: the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset; the quality of being patient, as the bearing of provocation, annoyance, misfortune or pain, without complaint, loss of temper or irritation or the like.

As I sat praying this morning in the quiet of my basement, I gave thanks and praise to God, prayed for specific things for my husband and children and ended by praying for myself and being patient, kind, gentle and loving within the circumstances I find myself today. I small light bulb lite up in my head and I thought I can’t be these things without the Lord so I adjusted my prayer to ask for help to put on the filter of Jesus that would guide my responses to any challenging situations. I have always had a reactionary response especially to things that frustrate or make me angry but with the Lord’s help I can choose to take the filter of Jesus and use Him and his perfection to guide my responses. Stop, pray and breathe before responding. Stop, pray and breathe. Stop, pray and breathe. Stop, pray and breathe.

Romans 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-I have lost count of the day!

I went to my church website and listened to the sermon from last Sunday again. We had a guest pastor preaching and there were some things said that were spoken too quickly or in such a way that I didn’t understand. But those things I did understand were so enriching that I had to listen to it again to see if I could hear the other parts. He mentioned that the bible said many are the afflictions of the righteous and the Lord delivers him from them all. The book I am reading on Expository Listening explained that discerning what we are listening to is a part of growth. If we hear someone preaching on something that he says is in the bible, we should be verifying it to be truth. So, I did my research and found the verse the pastor was referring to: Psalm 34:19. In looking over this verse and highlighting it in my bible, I underlined the words “the Lord delivers him”. I can’t think of how many health/medical issues have come up over the past decade of my life. The Lord has delivered me from them all. I wasn’t instantly healed but rather God was refining me in the process of the healing with having more patience, gaining peace in the circumstance, being kind, gentle and loving despite the hurts and pain and so many other aspects. The whole point of the sermon was the truth of our hope in Christ and how we need to focus on the blessing of Heaven awaiting us.

Psalm 34:19 A righteous man may have troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 338

I wrote the prayer below on Day 8 last year. I said this was something we needed to pray for every day. So, I prayed it once the day I wrote it and proceeded to forget about it. I know there are other prayers I wrote that have been saved on my computer but left to collect cyber dust. I decided to make a prayer wall down in my basement where I can sit on the floor and pray and have some visuals to use to spur my prayer on. It is a creative venture so it won’t happen overnight but I am looking forward to adding to this wall as often as I get a chance. Like a song says, “whatever your will, Lord,  whatever your will, help me find it”.

 

 Father God, you are the ultimate authority figure for us.  Forgive me for not listening to your command, for not discerning what you want for me to do, for not loving you and others as I should. I do not have it within me to do it so I ask the Holy Spirit to open my heart today to see you and hear you, to know what your will for me is and to love you and others like there’s no tomorrow. With you all things are possible. Amen.  

 

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 337

I am starting a review of the last year's blog entries to remind myself of what I said and find out how well I am doing with it. It is important to go back over your experiences in the past year and review the insights you were given. Most importantly, it is a chance to gage how well you are taking those insights and applying them to your life. This is an excerpt from day 3 when I wrote about love. I have my scrapbook page created called "like a seed" in my slideshow that is a great visual reminder of this concept of being a unique creation of God and how we need to see each of us as unique not just in terms of how we look, what we say or do but how we feel or don't feel. Think of yourself as a plant. Come on!! Use your imagination. I would like to think of myself as my favorite flower, the gardenia. I started as a gardenia seed planted in my mother's womb by God. Do I look like a gardenia bush today? How has the environment affected me? Am I full of flowers creating a beautiful scent for those around me? What can I do to trim the gardenia bush so I can flower more? See how it goes.... Give it a try.... I would love to get some responses on this one telling me what plant you have chosen and what questions you come up with about your plant.

Our uniqueness creates a lot of the complexity in regards to love but if we can start to really see each person as a unique creation of God, we may be able to understand and forgive when we are not feeling the love.

Psalm 143:10 Teach me to do thy will; for you are my God. Your Spirit is good: lead me in the land of uprightness.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 336

I have been pondering the word rely since Monday when I got through my day without calling on God for help. I resorted to doing it my way and I was frustrated, angry and even said something that offended someone. To make matters worse, I knew I was not being a very good example of Christian love and the fruits of the Spirit had turned sour. I was a mess and instead of taking my stress to God and dealing with it in godly ways I went home had a glass and a half of wine (that is a lot for me these days) and then proceeded to let go of self-control and ate too many chocolate almonds. I woke up the next morning feeling very sorry for my pathetic display and asked God for forgiveness and help on being better prepared to handle my day at work that is extremely challenging right now. That word “rely” popped in my head so I tried looking it up in the concordance of my bible but it wasn’t there so I did a search on line for scripture about relying on God and was led to what I needed. I gave me a good visual and for me a visual works so well. God led me to another visual too of a father walking with his daughter holding her hand and as they go down the path they encounter a big pile of sticks in the way so the daughter looks up to her father and asks what they should do. My pile of sticks is my current workplace and the challenge of dealing with another culture and a communication barrier in the middle of 5 butt-loads of work that keeps piling up. Prayerful preparation with my Daddy and the visual tools helped me get through my day with patience and gentleness and my self-control was focused on what would glorify God.  The visual brought me instant peace and a smile to my face every time. If you have encountered a pile of sticks in your path, look to our Daddy and let him help you decide the course you should take.

Jeremiah 17:5-9 Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord. He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.