Day Four: PEACE

Day Four ~ PEACE

Key Bible Verse-

John 14:27  Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you.  Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.

Thoughts to ponder-

We live in a world filled with hustle and bustle, comings and goings, people to meet, things to do, life to schedule, organize and control. Many people try to live at the speed of light, to do more, see more and be more. No wonder we find ourselves overcome by worry and anxiety; lacking tranquility and serenity. God left us an answer for all of that through Jesus Christ. He was the embodiment of peace.

In the Bible, we almost always see Jesus portrayed as taking things in stride, very little ruffled his feathers.  Even when He turned over the tables in the temple, we know it wasn't just that He lost His cool  because the Bible says He took time to make a whip. What happened in the temple was peace and strength under control.  The only other time I know of that we see Jesus under strain is in the garden before His crucifixion when He is praying not His will but the Father's.  He submits Himself to the peace of His Heavenly Father.  When everyone else around Him was anxious, He had the ability to quiet their fears and doubts quickly.  When I read Mark 4:39 where it states "and He said to the sea, peace, be still" I often wonder if that wasn't a command intended for the disciples as well.

Peace is quiet tranquility, mental calm and serenity. But most importantly it is a gift of spending time with God and learning to trust Him.  The more we put our confidence in the Lord for every detail in our life and the more we relinquish control of our life to Christ, the more we purposely shift our focus to the things of God,  the more peace is available to us.

Challenge/Action Step- 

Busyness can often interfere with our rest and therefore our peace.  Take an inventory of the areas of your life that are the most stressful. Would more resting in the Lord bring about a greater connectedness to God's peace? Are you able to refocus on Christ in the midst of a chaotic life? Ask God in prayer today to reveal to you His peace and specific ways you can embrace it in your own life.  

Prayer for today-

Thank you Father for sending us your peace in the form of your son Jesus.  May the activity of life fade away enough for us to be able to rest in your peace. Teach us how to bring our thoughts into submission of your will where peace reigns.  Reveal to us your heart for our lives and enable us to trust you with every part of who we are and what we do.  ~ Amen

Thanks for joining me today as we begin 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 Three: JOY

Day Three - JOY

Key Bible Verse- 

Hebrews 12:2  "fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." NASB

Thoughts to ponder- 

In scripture, joy is an inner result of our outward expression of our relationship with God in service to those around us.  Jesus went to the cross for "the joy set before Him".  It was His outward expression of the Father's love for us.  Our reconciliation to a personal relationship with God was the joy Christ was willing to die for in service to us while we were still undeserving.

In like manner, we are to be in such a close relationship with the Father and Christ that we experience joy in serving others and revealing God's glory to them.  Joy is all about what God has done and is continuing to do in our lives and the lives of those we love.  (Which if you remember from yesterday, loving others is a choice.) Joy differs from happiness in the sense that happiness is often rooted in our circumstances, our personal desires and hopes. To truly experience the calm delight of  joy, we must look beyond our selves and our hardships and walk closely with God for the sake of His purposes.  

Challenge/Action Step- 

Since God puts people in our live for a reason take a minute to think about the people you know that are the most joyful, how are they different from other people you know and what can you learn from them?  Ask God to reveal to you way you can practice joy and make a list of the things He shows you.  Please share one of those things with us in the comments below.

Prayer for today-

Jesus, Lord of all,  thank you for dying on the cross for us.  I pray today that you would give us a deep understanding of your great love for us .  Help us to know the joy of making a difference in the lives of others for your glory. ~ 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.

Day Two: LOVE

Day Two: Love

Key Bible Verse-

1 Corinthians 13:4-8a

Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.

Thoughts to ponder-

Love is listed as the first fruit of the Spirit. As we read the verses listed above, we can see that love embodies most if not all of the other eight virtues included in the fruit of the Spirit.  Many of the others listed could technically be practiced on their own without love.  However, it is impossible to remove all of the other virtues and have love remain.  

The love of God in us and extended through us is vital to a Spirit led life because it is what should identify us as Christ followers.  The ability to love one another, not just our brothers and sisters in Christ but EVERYONE, is central to revealing God's love to those around us.  Jesus puts it to us this way in John 13: 34-35 ~ “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."

I have a refrigerator magnet that reminds me "Love is a daily decision". That means even when I don't feel like it, even when people are difficult, it is my responsibility to CHOOSE to love.  By cultivating my relationship with God regularly, I can submit my view of things to Him and allow Him to love through me.  His power to do this is available to all who are willing to receive it.

Challenge/Action Step- 

Identify someone in your life that is difficult for you to love and ask God for the ability to see them as God sees them.  Does this change your willingness to love them? Now think of a very practical way of showing that person God's love and commit to doing that by the end of this challenge. 

Prayer for today-

Dear Lord,  as your children, give us the willingness and desire to follow the examples of love that you have given us.  Empower us with your strength to choose to do as you do and help us to see as you do. May we be a compassionate people and may other be drawn to you because of your great love in us.  ~ Amen.

Thanks for joining me today as we continue this 

journey in developing 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 One: Living The Fruitful Life

Day One - Introduction

Key Bible Verse-

Galatians 5: 22-23:  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against these there is no law.  (NASB)

Thoughts to ponder-

There is a process to cultivating, growing and harvesting the fruit of the Spirit. These virtues don't just automatically show up in our life.  They are a product of a heart dedicated to following after the Lord. The Spirit does empower us to do the work it takes to ripen beautiful, sweet, aromatic fruit that can be a blessing in our own life and a meaningful witness to God's grace and power to those around us. 

Some of these fruits are easier for us to cultivate, they just come more naturally.  Others are more challenging, they require more attention and care.  I know in my life, I often have to "pull weeds" or take inventory of my thoughts and actions and bring them back into alignment with God's word. If I don't, those virtues get choked out and my walk with God is not as effective as it should be.  Fortunately, God is a God of wisdom and grace.  When we find weeds the gardens of our life, the Lord is there for us to seek guidance and direction from. He will reveal to us what we need to do when we ask.

Challenge/Action Step- 

Look at all nine of the fruits mentioned in the scripture above.  Determine which one is easiest for you to cultivate and which one do you often find yourself pulling weeds from? Spend some time in prayer asking God to reveal to you the source of those weeds and what He wants you to do to remove them.  

Prayer for today-

Father,  we come to you today and lay our strengths and our weaknesses at your feet.  We ask you to lead us with your Spirit, reveal to us how to operate in your power and how to cultivate a fruitful life that honors you.  ~ Amen

Thanks for joining me today as we begin 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.

Living The Fruitful Life

Hello! I am so excited about this ten day journey to a closer walk with God! Romans 8:14 states "For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God." I don't know about you, but sometimes I need to be a little more focused to grow in my relationship with God and allow myself to be led by the Spirit. Life gets busy and in the way so often, but I decided that I would do a challenge for myself. Then I thought I might really get more from it if I shared it with others. So I hope you will join me on this journey! As Christians it should be our earnest desire to be led by the Spirit. God's word tells us that the act of living a spirit led life is living a fruitful life. There will be virtues developed in the process and it is our job to cultivate those fruits. Beginning on Monday June 30th, I will share a brief daily devotional covering The Fruits of The Spirit as well as a "challenge" for cultivating that virtue in your daily life. I will do this here on my blog. Each day I will also post the link to the devotional and challenge here to my Facebook page, as well as inspirational quotes, Bible verses and thoughts about the daily topic. It is my hope and prayer that you will join in the discussions about Living The Fruitful Life on my Facebook page or in the comments below. Your insights might just be exactly what someone else participating in this challenge needs to hear. Answers to questions you may have: Do I need anything to participate? A: You may want to grab a notebook to record what God is revealing to you throughout the challenge. What is the time frame for the challenge? A: It begins June 30, 2014 and ends July 11, 2014. There will be no devotionals over the weekend of July 5 & 6. Can I share the challenge with others? A: Absolutely!! Please share the links to the blog and Facebook page with anyone you think could benefit from this challenge.  If you quote or repost any of it, please be sure to mention me as the source. Is there a fee to participate? A: Nope, it's free. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or suggestions you might have. It is my desire that you would be uplifted and encouraged by this experience. You can also sign up to have the daily devotionals delivered straight to your inbox by clicking here. Be sure to click the box labeled challenge.  If would like news on upcoming products and services, you may also click the box labeled updates. Many Blessings, Cherry Fargo Being ReMade

Yesterday, Today & Forever

forever

Yesterday, today and forever is a long long time.  Have you ever thought about it?  That the days

since time began are like the stars in the sky themselves.  More than we can fathom.  And yet God's 

forgiveness spans them all.  When we surrender to Christ, when we repent, forgiveness is extended to 

us, not just for yesterday, and not only for today but forever because God knows the beginning from 

the end.  He sees our future failures and forgives them for all time.  Yes we may still need to come to 

Him and repent, we may still need to make amends, we may even still be subjected to the earthly 

consequences of our sin but the gift of forgiveness is unending.  

In Matthew, Jesus shares a story about how we are to handle forgiveness of those who sin against us: 

21Then Peter came and said to Him, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?" 22Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.

Now the notes that I have read and the sermons I have heard, suggest that this meant 490 times PER DAY and PER OFFENSE . So if someone hurts your feelings 490 times today, God calls you to forgive them 490 times and if they steal from you 490 times in the same day, God wants you to forgive all those offenses as well.  I know this seems a bit irrational in the natural and I believe that God wants us to use wisdom, just because we forgive someone doesn't mean that we are giving them permission to continue in their bad behavior.  God will show us appropriate boundaries we can exercise when we seek him.  But I wanted to share this with you today because sometimes God places people in our life that seem to abuse our grace and mercy and we find it difficult to forgive them over and over again.  

I encourage you to ask God for two things if you are dealing with someone like this in your own life.  The first is to ask God to allow you to see them as He sees them: what wound, what addiction, what temptation enables them to offend you again and again?  Then genuinely pray for their healing and victory over those things.  The second thing to request from God is the ability to settle it in your heart that you forgive them yesterday, today & tomorrow just as He has.  It is a choice to forgive, a choice based on the infinite forgiveness God extends to each one of us.  If you do this, I am pretty sure that the next time that person offends you, you will find a peace in knowing that you've already rejected hanging on to bitterness and wounding by having decided that yesterday, today and forever, you have forgiven like God has forgiven you. 

Is there a difficult person in your life that you can apply this to today?

Many Blessings,

Cherry Fargo

Being ReMade (formerly Cherry's Creations)

Life Is Not A Cake Walk?

A lot of people who come to Christ think that their new life with Jesus is going to be a cake walk: you might not always win the prize but at least it’s always fun and easy right? NOT right at all.  God doesn’t promise us a happy go lucky life just because we choose to follow Him.  He does offer us peace for the storms, hope for the trials, grace for the mistakes, and strength for the battles. And there WILL be storms, trials, mistakes and battles a plenty because the enemy wants to steal from you and try to destroy your life. He can NOT steal your salvation, so he will do everything he can to try to steal your hope, your peace and your strength in order to distract you and keep you from the overcoming, powerful, victorious life God intends you to walk in.  Be prepared so that when the enemy attacks and life gets hard, you don’t throw in the towel, don’t quit, don’t get distracted, don’t surrender!  These are the only way the enemy can win, but no matter how difficult the battle, fighting for all that God has for you – IT IS WORTH IT!

Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive a crown of life  which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. – James 1:12