Thursday, May 8, 2014

Cultivating the Fruit: Day 3


Galatians 5:22-23 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law"

Love, Joy, Peace, Long-suffering, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self-Control

Day 3: Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self-Control

I could talk ALL day about faithfulness, especially God's faithfulness towards us. Faithfulness is your loyalty, dependablity, and trust. We all know that God is all of that to us; therefore, we must exercise those characteristics with others. God is so faithful that He wakes us up each morning, guides us safely to our destinations, and provides when He sees fit. Being faithful exhibits good character in that it shows your ability and willingness to follow through, your ability to keep your word, and your ability to be trusted. God desires your faithfulness...great is thy faithfulness.

Gentleness is humbleness. There is nothing more inviting than a humble spirit. Matthew 23:12 says " and whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted" Being humble is a requirement; therefore, if you don't do it yourself you'll force God to do it. To be exalted by yourself is nothing to be  humbled by God is everything. When you are humble people are drawn to you. I have not yet seen the full speech, but I've heard a lot of great things about how humble Kevin Durant was in his acceptance of the 2013-2014 NBA MVP award. He now has new fans because of his humbling speech. It pays to be humble and it speaks volumes in terms of character.

Self-control. Jesus is the best example I can give for self-control. He is the ONLY man known to walk this earth that did not fall into the temptation of the devil. That's some MAJOR self-control. This is difficult for us because the devil uses people we label friend, sister/brother, cousin, teacher, boyfriend/girlfriend, wife/husband, etc. Just as the God uses His people the devil will use his that's why we must be able to recognize who belongs to who and how they can potentially affect our lives and our walk with God. We are to still love them, be patient with them, be kind to them, and show goodness towards them; however, we must remain cautious (Proverbs 25:28). The enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy; therefore, we must gain self-control so that we don't fall victim to the devil and his tactics.

These fruits are essential for your Christian appetite. Unfortunately, you can not go to wholefoods, kroger, or walmart to buy them. This fruit is grown though seeds planted by the Holy Spirit who SHOULD be living in and through you.You shouldn't have to mention God for people to know that you belong to him. Instead your acts of love, joy, long-suffering, kindess, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control should speak for itself. As we continue on our journey as Christians our goal should be to become more like Christ and here are 9 ways to do so. Each day we should be evolving and growing in Christ. No one should ever look at me and say "same ole Kim" because I'm far from who I was last month and certainly last year. I'm not perfect nor do I pretend to be, but God still uses me and for that I'm grateful.

#FearlessFAITH


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