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Walking in God’s Purpose… God’s purpose for us goes beyond our physical, temporary lives. God has put “eternity in their hearts” ( Ecclesiastes 3:11 ). He didn’t create us to burn like a candle for just a short time, but—if we will accept the incredible mission and purpose He has for us—to shine “like the stars forever and ever” ( Daniel 12:3 )! God’s essential characteristic is love. He created us and gives us purpose in life because He loves us. And He wants us to learn the eternal joys of this complete and perfect love! You can discover the many promises that God has given us in His Word. He has a purpose and a plan for each of our lives. Be Blessed and be a blessing!!!

Faith is Alive What is James telling us in this verse? Faith without works is like a dead body; it can do nothing. The body without the Spirit is the scriptural definition of death. The Spirit doesn't die; the body does. May we - because of the presence of the Holy Spirit within us - find that we can’t help but love the unlovely, feed the poor, pray for the sick, and forgive our enemies. What a powerful witness that would be for the world around us to see. Be Blessed and be a Blessing!

Live a Fruitful Life The Bible often uses the metaphor of fruit to describe the produce of our lives. Are we producing fruit? A fruitful Christian (Christ Follower) will produce better results: “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life” (Proverbs 11:30). Fruit is the direct result of whatever controls our hearts ( Matthew 15:19 ). The fruit of the Spirit of God is “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” ( Galatians 5:22–23 ). God the Father is the gardener and He desires for us to be fruitful. Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). As branches cling to the vine, we cling to Christ, drawing our very life from Him. The goal is “much fruit,” as Christ uses us to bring about blessed, celestial results in a broken, fallen world Fruit results from planted seeds. When seeds grow the bear frui...

Why is the final fruit of the Spirit, Self-Control, so important in governing our decisions, especially in relation to demonstrating the other fruit? For Christ-Followers self-control is not merely about temperament. It is about resisting the temptation to break God’s law (which includes losing our temper) and react to others without demonstrating the fruit of the Spirit in our thoughts and actions. The apostle Paul wrote about bringing “every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). Since thoughts lead to actions, this includes controlling ourselves completely, despite the pulls of temptations. Romans 7:23 describes it in this way: “But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.” Paul is describing this pull of human nature that makes us think it is “natural” to sin. We have to remember that the “natural” is part of this world, temp...

Gentleness: The Fruit of the Spirit In Matthew 11:29 , Christ said, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am  gentle  and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Christ is making a connection between gentleness and humility. This connection is also seen elsewhere in the Bible. The apostle Paul reinforced this idea in 2Corinthians 10:1 : “Now I, Paul, myself am pleading with you by the  meekness  and  gentleness  of Christ—who i n presence am  lowly  among you but being absent am bold toward you.” Paul included the words  meekness  and  lowly  in conjunction with gentleness. These words help show that gentleness requires humility, because along with pride and feelings of superiority come rough reactions and stubborn, know-it-all answers. What is gentleness? It is the humble and meek attitude of wanting to help other people instead of wanting to be superior to them. This attitud...

Is patience becoming extinct these days? What does this fruit of the Spirit tell us about ourselves and our Heavenly Father, who commands us to be longsuffering? What is long-suffering?  I’m sure you’ve heard the saying “Patience is a virtue.” If you’re like me, you may have even used the phrases “I’m running out of patience” and “I have no patience for the likes of you!” Few of us use the synonym of patience that the New King James Version uses in Galatians 5:22 in the list of the fruit of the Spirit: long-suffering . Fewer still would consider that a virtue! We don’t want to wait, and we certainly don’t want to suffer! From walking, to horse-drawn carriage, to automobile, to jet plane, technological progress reflects our desire for speed and our growing impatience. Long-suffering, or patience, is in short supply in this world, especially now that people get frustrated if their mobile devices take five seconds to load the Internet instead of thre...

Why is faithfulness such a needed fruit of the Spirit? Faithfulness to God in the list of the fruit of the Spirit in  Galatians 5:22  is loyalty to Him and to His teachings, which should shape how we think and act. “Faithfulness” is translated from the Greek word  pistis . In the King James Version this word is translated “faith.”  Pistis  includes both meanings (faith and faithfulness), but in Galatians 5:22 it seems to carry more of the meaning “trustworthiness or reliability” The Bible provides a fundamental description of  pistis  in Hebrews 11:1: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” We grow in faith as we use the power God gives us through His Spirit to obey Him and build a relationship with Him. Faith in God grows in us as it did in Abraham as we see that God will always do what He has promised (Romans 4:18-22). So, faithfulness would include being full of belief a...