"The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekeness, temperance: against such there is no law" (Gal. 5:22-23)
Although this week's study is simple in exercise, it's been a blessing to meditate and focus on each attribute that's presented in this verse.
1. What BLESSED you most this lesson?
2. What CHALLENGED you most and how do you intend to apply it (with prayer and the help of the Holy Spirit)?
3. Prayer requests and other comments.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
1. What BLESSED you most this lesson?
I think I said this once before, but it really is a blessing to see that Christ is perfect. That I am nothing without Him. I do not have anything in me that is good, but Christ is the definition of good. I am defeated by sin daily, but triumphant in Christ’s grace. It is encouraging to know that while I fall short, Christ comes and fills that void so that I can “draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith” (Heb. 10:22).
2. What CHALLENGED you most and how do you intend to apply it (with prayer and the help of the Holy Spirit)?
I think seeing that I am very much swayed by my emotions. If I feel happy, then I’ll exhibit joy. Or if I feel patient I’ll be longsuffering. I show fruits of the emotions, not of the spirit. I should be constantly abiding in the spirit and therefore constantly showing these fruits. I am praying that I may become more spirit-filled instead of self-filled.
3. Prayer requests and other comments.
Please pray for a pure heart, one in which I question all I do and pray fully consider the Lord’s will over my emotions.
1. What BLESSED you most this lesson?
I am really appreciating the way Hunt has laid out these characteristics and the details he's provided of them both in the lesson and in the back. Considering the virtue with its counterpart and it's perversion is really thought-provoking!
2. What CHALLENGED you most and how do you intend to apply it (with prayer and the help of the Holy Spirit)?
I thought Estera's comment was challenging!: I show fruits of the emotions, not of the spirit. That can be so true! Our present emotions in present circumstances often bring out our true ugly fruit - kumquat instead of blossoming pear - ok, something like that! :-)
I also always loved the picture of the Gardener and the True Vine and the Gardener pruning me so that I may bear more fruit. I'm praying that He may continue pruning even if it hurts because He is the Master Gardener who knows exactly how to take care of me in order to make me into the beautiful fruit-bearing branch He intends me to be!
3. Prayer requests and other comments.
If you prayed for me, thank you. I felt much better by the time Anthony had to leave and we made it through the entire week! It's getting harder to be this pregnant but I'm just praying that the Lord will help me be patient and sustain me!
In light of eternity, Jules
1. What BLESSED you most this lesson?
I enjoyed learning about longsuffering. To be honest, before this lesson I wasn't even sure what longsuffering meant. I didn't mind knowing either because it sounded....painful. But I realized this was an amazing virtue that Christ exhibited and it's one that escapes me time and time again. It's about having patience, enduring with your present sufferings and most importantly, it's about TRUSTING that the future outcome is in the Lord's hands. No one showed this better than Jesus. He knew that He was going to DIE, but He didn't try to run away and escape, He submitted to His father and believed in the promise of His exaltation and glorification in Heaven. God has given us the same promise...can we follow in Christ's footsteps?
2. What CHALLENGED you most and how do you intend to apply it (with prayer and the help of the Holy Spirit)?
My challenge is trusting in the Lord daily, to have patience, and to only depend on Jesus Christ for my source of joy. Everything and everyone else is temporal, only Christ is forever.
3. Prayer requests and other comments.
Now that we have learned the 8 fruits of the Spirit and the 9 Godly virtues, what if all of us DID exhibit these traits? Would this world be a boring place with no diversity? Can we all be gentle, loving, patient, kind, etc, and still have unique enough personalities of our own? Or is that where being funny, quiet/loud, random/straight-forward, come in? Would it be these "neutral" traits that would distinguish us apart? Let me know what your thoughts are.
1. What BLESSED you most this lesson?
Like Jules, I was really blessed to go through the descriptions of each component of the fruit of the Spirit and also the opposites and perversions. It really helps to put the positives in contrast with the negatives in order that we don't fool ourselves into thinking that we're "doing all right" when, in reality, we're probably deceiving ourselves by going astray in our efforts to exhibit fruitfulness.
2. What CHALLENGED you most and how do you intend to apply it (with prayer and the help of the Holy Spirit)?
The last quality, temperance, really challenged me. As put in the study, "Temperance cannot be achieved by energy or training. Rather, temperance is a fruit of the Spirit. The spiritual Christian has this quality, not as a result of will power or effort, but as a result of the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Temperance grows as fruit grows." It was challenging, and yet refreshing, to learn that self-control should be understood in that we don't control ourselves, but our selves are controlled by God as we submit to the Spirit and allow Him to work in our lives, "cooperating with or working with God in the accomplishing of His aims."
3. Prayer requests and other comments.
In response to Eugene's comments: I think that the different ways and strengths in which God blesses and enables us to exhibit godly qualities makes us unique and "unboring." In fact, the first thing that I thought of when I read your thoughts was that we WILL exhibit fruit of the Spirit and Godly virtues perfectly when we get to heaven. In heaven, the point of being Godly and fruit-filled will be to worship and serve God, and find joy and peace in that. We'll all still be the same people in heaven: same humor, same disposition, same nature, yet without the affliction of sin. That leaves us with only the good and "neutral" traits with which to serve God and others. That's what we're trying to do now on earth: be unique members of the body, edifying and building up one another with our special gifts.
Eug,
I think that's an interesting question and Arthur addressed it well especially by bringing out the diversity we have in the body of Christ. Heaven will be a place where we exhibit all these characteristics because there we shall be like Him - and here, we are being transformed into His likeness as we walk in the Spirit. We are not going to be a bunch of Jesus clones or robots. His diversity is shown in so many ways, people, nature, the universe, colors, senses that to imagine a gray community of oozy nice people would be contrary to His character.
I think that one area we have many misconceptions is about heaven itself. We secretly wonder what we'll do there, if we'll be bored singing all day or just being and doing good. What do we have to look forward to REALLY? An EXCELLENT book that has helped me change my thinking (and really look forward to Christ's return) is Randy Alcorn's book, Heaven.
There is never any indication that having all the virtues that Christ manifests would ever result in us being exactly the same. It would truly be heaven when we think, act, and treat others with love, gentleness, kindness and purity as God intended. Those are fruits of the Spirit, not personality traits. Although, I do hope that God would tone down my nerdiness and give me a more refined sense of humor. :-)
Post a Comment