Day Eight: FAITHFULNESS

Day Eight ~ FAITHFULNESS

Key Bible Verse- 

Lamentations 3:22-23

The Lord's loving kindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning. Great is Your faithfulness.

Thoughts to ponder- 

God demonstrates His faithfulness to us in the fact that He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. He is unchanging which means He can be counted on at ALL times. In our human nature, we do not always measure up to this standard. We do change and we do fail. That is why I am so thankful for today's scripture verse that lets us know that every day we have a new opportunity to live a Spirit led life and develop faithfulness.  

It is not easy by any means other than the empowerment of the Holy Spirit and can only be measured in the light of God's example, not man's standards.  It is of utmost importance that we strive to be faithful to God for His purposes and not our own.  Trying to prove to others that we are faithful does not result in good fruit because our focus is in the wrong place.

God has given each one of us gifts and talents and created us each for specific purposes.  Our energy should be directed at being faithful to what God has for us to do. We can only discern what that is by being consistent in prayer and pursuing our relationship with Christ. And then we must be obedient in what He reveals to us. If we do not use the skills and resources He has given us in service to His purposes, we lose them.  Our goal should be to live a life of faithfulness that honors God so that at the end of it all, we will hear Him say "Well done good and faithful servant" Matthew 25:21a.

Challenge/Action Step- 

Think about people you would consider to be faithful. What has the impact of their faithfulness to God been on those around them?  What do you think the impact could be on those around you if you were to be more persistent in cultivating faithfulness in your own life?

Prayer for today-

Lord God, you are faithful all the time! Thank you for your mercy and grace when we miss the mark and new opportunities to begin again.  I pray that you would give each of us a clear picture of what it means to be faithful to you and your purposes in our lives.  Reveal to us the next step for developing this character in our lives today.

Thanks for joining me today as we continue this 

journey to understand and further develop the

fruit of the Spirit in our lives.  Please take a minute to leave a 

comment here or join Cherry Fargo of Being ReMade on Facebook

for further discussion on Living The Fruitful Life.

Day Five: PATIENCE

Day Five ~ Patience

Key Bible Verse- 

Ephesians 4:1c - 3 

Walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 

Thoughts to ponder- 

If love is the embodiment of all of the other fruit of the Spirit as we discussed on day two, then patience is the backbone of the entire group. It is what enables us to be effective in all of these.  It is essential to our character development and yet, it takes time and divine trust to cultivate in our lives.

Patience means to have long suffering and to be slow to become angry. This requires the discipline and determination to put our immediate feelings and desires aside.  Practicing patience is about extending grace to our own circumstances and to the people around us.  In relationships, it means valuing what God wants to do in someone else more than you value what you want to have happen and it involves being tolerant, in love, of where the other person is in their walk with Christ.

Most importantly, patience depends upon trusting that God's timing is is perfect and agreeing in humility with Jesus statement "Father...yet not as I will, but as You will". (Matthew 26:39)

Challenge/Action Step- 

Think about the things that most often cause you to become impatient.  Ask God to help you discern the reasons for it.  What is one thing you can do today to develop greater patience?

Prayer for today-

Father we thank you that you are a patient God and slow to anger. I pray today that You would shine a light on our hearts and help us to discern the reasons we become so impatient at times.  I pray that You would empower us with the discipline and determination to develop the character of patience in our life. ~ Amen

Thanks for joining me today as we continue this 

journey to understand and further develop the

fruit of the Spirit in our lives.  Please take a minute to leave a 

comment here or join Cherry Fargo of Being ReMade on Facebook

for further discussion on Living The Fruitful Life.

The Middle of Nowhere?

I recently had the privilege of visiting with a dear friend who lives in a Chicago suburb.  Like most large metropolitan areas, all the cities run right into each other.  While driving to the art store, we were having the discussion about how convenient it can be to live in an area where there is a well known coffee shop on every corner and anything you might truly have a need for is within 10 minutes. 

Having become accustomed to small town living, which is only 20 to 30 minutes from all of the amenities I usually have need of, I commented that I didn’t really mind living away from the hustle and bustle of city life.  She surprised me when she said “Oh, I would live in the middle of nowhere if it were closer to somewhere.”  I had a nice little chuckle over that as she tried to explain her seemingly contradictory statement.  I understood what she meant though, sometimes we long for solitude but we want to have the ability to just jump right back into the middle of the action whenever our hearts desire, whenever we get bored or lonely, whenever we feel we have to have something right now.

That conversation has really been stuck in my thoughts though, and it keeps jumping out at me.  We had been discussing geographical locals but I wonder how many of us find ourselves wishing the same thing about where we are in our spiritual lives. 

I have found myself “in the middle of nowhere” for a while now in where I am operating in my walk with God.  It’s not that I am not walking with Him, it’s that my walk with Him is a bit removed from all those around me during this season of my life.  And I must admit that there are days when I find my self thinking, I wouldn’t mind being out here if only it were closer to where I want to be, where I think I should be, where I think this path God has me on is leading.  I want to be in the center of the action, to be doing something I think is more productive and meaningful that sitting out in the wilderness, just God and me.  I want to be a light and an encouragement to others, I want to shine shine shine so others can see the hope and joy there is in living for God.  And truthfully, sometimes I want to whine whine whine to my friends so they can remind me of the hope and joy found in God.

Have you ever found yourself in a similar place? The temptation is to pack up camp and go be in that place we think we ought to be.  I think it’s because when we are in the middle of the hustle and bustle we can distract ourselves from the difficult things we need to deal with in our own lives.  We can postpone the hard work we should be doing by allowing our friends to be our sole comfort and guidance.  We think that if we are surrounded by other people and other things it would be so much easier.  And while there is benefit in being able to share our burdens with others, I am learning that if God has us out in the middle of nowhere, He has a plan and a purpose for it.  He wants to be our “go to guy” and if He has to take us out far away from everyone and everything else so we can learn that, He will.

It would behoove us all to embrace the place God has us in, to learn in it, to trust and rely on God fully.  I think that the more we wish & strive to be closer to somewhere instead of being fully present where we are, the longer God will keep us in the middle of nowhere.