What Fruit Does Your Life Reveal?

You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?

Matthew 7:16 

If someone were to look at your life, with all its moments of caring, rebellion, joy, anger, empathy, compassion, frustration, lashing out...what fruit would they see?  You see, the way we live, the things we say, the way we interact with others all reveal the truth about us.  Are we encouraging or demeaning.  Are we grapes or thorns? Jesus reminds us that you can tell a lot about people by the "fruit" they bear.  

When I was growing up, I was told the fruit my life represented was a persimmon, (guess who told me that), and my birth stone was granite, and my birth flower was ragweed. At the time, I just chuckled along with that person on the outside while on the inside I found those statements rather hurtful.  I have gotten older (stop chuckling), and grown thicker skin, but I admit that I still struggle with being the best I can be.  I know that I mess up a lot, and hurt others.  I admit that I have been hurt by others that I once trusted.  But part of our fruit of life comes in how we handle life when the hiccups happen to us.

Let me ask you, is God ever surprised by us?  Is He surprised by the things we do?  Nope!  Not only are we unable to hide anything (and I do mean ANYTHING) from God, but He has already had a plan in place to deal with our situations since before time began.  And when we are able to rely on Him regardless what's happening in our lives, we will find His peace and contentment.  

Together We Are Stronger!

No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

Philippians 3:13-14

 

When I was in the Military, we had to run every single day.  We were either marching or running wherever we had to go.  Now, let me state for the record, I do not like running.  I don't mind marching, but running is not even among my top 1 billion ideas of fun.  However, the thing about the Military is they teach TEAMWORK!  They teach reliance on your squad, your platoon, the soldier to your right and to your left.  And they were taught to rely on you.

 

Part of reinforcing that teamwork concept was the way we have to move from point A to point B.  Whenever we moved, our Sergeant would sing cadence which helped us all going in the same direction, at the same pace, and we moved as a single unit.  Those in the front would shout encouragement to those behind them.  We left as a single unit and we arrived as a single unit.

 

So do we do that with each other now?  Do we encourage one another in as we run with Christ?  Do we come alongside when someone needs some help or encouragement or a hand or do we wait for someone else to do that?  Are we going toward the same goal?  If so, how then are we running?  Together or "hope you make it by and by"?

 

We are so much stronger when we are able to put aside our petty issues and run together!  We are stronger when we complement one another!  We are stronger when we are part of one another!  Let's be STRONG and join together in this race, forgetting what has passed and focus on getting us to the goal of the calling of Christ!

 

 

 

Thankful For God's Provisions

And my God will supply your every need according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. 

Philippians 4:19 

 

Have you ever stopped to think about the fact that God provides exactly what we need at exactly the right time in exactly the right amount?  Consider that thought for a moment....I'll wait......no, seriously this is important, so please take your time.....

 

Remember the Lord's Prayer where ask God to give us our "daily bread"?  We are asking for God to provide us ONLY what we need for that day.  We don't need what God has for us tomorrow, because tomorrow is not here yet.  We don't need what God provided for us yesterday, because we can't go back to yesterday.  What we need is God's provision for TODAY!

 

Now while God has promised to "supply your every NEED" that means just that...God provides for our needs....not our wants or desires or cravings or greediness. We have this habit of taking what we WANT and convincing ourselves that we cannot function without it and then we TELL God that it is our need when it is in actuality our greed!  God does not feed our greed!  If God knows you need an automobile then be happy with His provision (because He didn't HAVE to give it to you.  He could have supplied you with a bicycle instead.), yet some insist that they NEED an expensive SUV with all the whistles and bells that cost more than most people's homes, when God may provide them with a used puddle jumper that conveys them from point A to point B.

 

You see, we must be careful about taking OUR "needs" list before God.  God supplies our NEEDS.  Again, think about this: God provides food the birds need, but He doesn't drop it in their nests.  If your need is for employment, God has provided for that need, but chances are He's not going to drop it in your lap.  If God gave everything to us on a silver platter with a velvet pillow, we would become spoiled and not appreciate His provision.

  

Let's take time to thank God for His continuing supplying of our needs.  Let us be grateful for all He has already given us and for what He has in store for us.

 

#dailythankfulchallenge

Happy Thanksgiving

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!
    Serve the Lord with gladness!
    Come into his presence with singing!

Know that the Lord, he is God!
    It is he who made us, and we are his;
    we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
    and his courts with praise!
    Give thanks to him; bless his name!

For the Lord is good;
    his steadfast love endures forever,
    and his faithfulness to all generations.

Psalm 100

Happy Thanksgiving!  May God remind us of all we have to be Thankful!

#dailythankfulchallenge

Thankful For Encouragers So Much You Want To Be One?

But encourage each other every day while it is “today.” Help each other so none of you will become hardened because sin has tricked you. 

Hebrews 3:13

Have you ever had someone who had your back and was always there to encourage you?  How did that make you feel?  If you are like me, I thrive on positive encouragement!  But encouragers, believe it or not, are taken for granted sometimes.  They encourage us and we feel good, so we seek them out to get more encouragement, and we keep going back for more encouragement not realizing that we are using them has become an addiction.

We have MORE than enough critics in our lives already.  They can lead you to believe that there is nothing you can say or do that will meet their standard.  How do we deal with critics?  Critics are discouragers!  Critics are relentless in their criticisms.  Critics don't really care if they crush your spirit, as long as they can use you to make themselves feel better.  We should handle critics like this: 1) Is the criticism true?  2. If so, make adjustments.  3. If not let them have their moment and then take time to encourage yourself and others.

The best encouragement?  We are God's children!  God LOVES us far deeper than our minds can ever comprehend.  God is always with us and we are always welcome in His heart!  Take time to be thankful to God for being the ultimate encourager! 

#dailythankfulchallenge 

Be Thankful For The Small Things

And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

Colossians 3:17 

Think about life for a moment.  Not the broad vision of LIFE, rather the small parts of life we often take for granted.  Like what?  How about breathing?  If you think breathing is no big thing, try not breathing and see how long before your mind is screaming "You're Right!"

You see, life is not made up of grand gestures.  Life is made up of small actions of gratitude and love.  Think about it: someone holds the door for you (they didn't HAVE to, but chose to do that small act for you), how about someone smiling and saying "hello" to you (Again, they didn't HAVE to, but chose to do that small act for you), someone lets you in line ahead of them (Again, they didn't HAVE to, but chose to do that small act for you), someone reminds you that you are appreciated (Again, they didn't HAVE to, but chose to do that small act for you).

It is the small acts of love and caring that make the biggest impacts.  Why?  A grand gesture is a "One And Done" event  (Take your certificate, medal, watch, check, and have a nice life).  Small acts build upon each other over time, and become ingrained in us to the point that we begin to share them with others whether we realize it or not.

If we are grateful for the small things in life, we will live a life of gratitude and contentment.

"Whatever you do in word or deed, do ALL for the glory of God!"

Thankful for Thinking

 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

Philippians 4:8 

Did you know that everything we say and do is preceded by a thought?  Every breath and other automatic responses of our body is regulated by a thought from the limbic portion of the brain.  Then we have the part of the brain that determines what we think about and what we say and some of the more manual motor skills.  And guess from where all these thoughts are being issued?  That's right, our brain.

So, let me ask you....what do you fill your brain with?  The brain is just one of God's amazing gifts and, if used properly, can benefit all those around us.  The brain...that old grey goop that keeps our ears from slapping together.  That incredible information sponge that soaks up a lot more than we think.  Yet, what do we put into this sponge?

Look at what Paul reminds us to fill our minds with: things that are true and honorable; things that are right and pure; things that are lovely and admirable; things that are excellent and worthy of praise.  Did you find anything about gossip?  How about anything about how you can get ahead in your career?  Did you see anything about lust or adultery or anything negative?  Why?  Because our thoughts are controlled by the things we fill our brains with.  Fill your mind with the positive and the things for which we should be thankful, then you will see positive people.  Fill your mind with rubbish and you will see negative people.

Thankful for such an incredible gift as a mind!  Fill it carefully!

#dailythankfulchallenge