Take The Challenge – Gentleness

Tags

fruits, gentleness, harsh, Jesus, take the challenge, weakness

Hi there,

This week we are challenging ourselves in the fruit of Gentleness.  Gentleness is one of those fruits that we don’t talk a lot about simply because we tend to think of it as a part of love but not so much as a fruit by itself.  So let’s look at gentleness.

According to Vine’s Expository Dictionary gentleness comes from two words epi, “unto” and eikos, “likely,” it denotes “seemly, fitting”; hence equitable, fair, moderate, forbearing not insisting on the letter of the law; it expresses that considerateness that looks humanely and reasonably at the facts of a case.  In other words, gentleness takes into consideration another’s inabilities and weaknesses.  Christ is gentle with us because He knows our inabilities and weaknesses.  Hebrews 2:17-18 says, “Wherefore in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.  For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succour them that are tempted.” 

While you may not be able to relate to a person on every level Christ can because He’s experienced it and conquered it.  And when we look at Christ we know that if it were not for His grace it could be and would be us.  For example, if you’ve never been an alcoholic it might be hard for you to relate to the struggles someone with an addictive habit might have it might be hard for you to sympathize and have that gentleness that looks humanely and reasonably at the facts of their case.  But when you look at them through the eyes of Christ you can consider humanely and reasonably the facts of their case and remember that you too are but flesh.  Psalms 78:39 says, “But He, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not; yea, many a time turned He His anger away, and did not stir up all His wrath.  For He remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.”

The Holy Spirit is always producing in us the fruit of gentleness we simply need to allow it to flow through us.  Our natural gentleness is not enough; it’s limited to our experiences whereas Christ has experienced everything man would ever experience and can relate to man’s weaknesses.

Paul says this in I Thessalonians 2:7-8, “But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children; so being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us.”  This kind of gentleness could only be from God.   This is what the Holy Spirit produces in us gentleness that looks beyond one another’s faults and meets the need.

I challenge you this week not to strive to be gentle in your own might but as a branch on the vine allow the Holy Spirit to flow through you unto others the gentleness of Jesus Christ.

Take The Challenge – Longsuffering

Tags

deborah chandler ministries, fruits of the Spirit, kindness, longsuffering, love, never give up, patience, take the challenge

Hi there,

So far we have covered three major fruits of the Spirit, Love, Joy and Peace.  Each of these fruits not only represents our hearts towards God but His heart towards us.  God loves us, joys over us and is at peace with us.  Being attached to the vine is being attached to His love, joy and peace.  He gives to us from Himself.  We in turn give to others what we receive from Him.  Therefore, the magnitude of our relationship with God is the magnitude of our relationship with other people or the more I receive His love, joy and peace , the more I’m able to give His love, joy and peace.

This week’s challenge is one that just might put a frown on your face because no one wants to suffer let alone suffer long.  But I encourage you to remember that fruits are produced in us by the Holy Spirit.  It’s not what we have to do it’s what we have to let flow through us.  So let’s look at longsuffering.

First, longsuffering doesn’t mean that you allow yourself to be a push over and let people walk all over you while you lay there and suffer.  No, that’s a person that’s insecure and lacking in confidence.  Neither does it mean that we suffer long with anything that the enemy does because we’ve been given victory over him through Christ.  The kind of longsuffering that the Holy Spirit produces in us comes out of love and love is power.   God was and is longsuffering with us because He loves us.   We in turn are longsuffering with other people because we know God’s love.    Whenever we’re ready to give up and cut people out of our lives it’s knowing the love of God that enables us to be longsuffering especially when people keep doing the same thing over and over again.  Paul in writing about love said, “love suffereth long and is kind…” (2 Cor. 13:4).  So we don’t suffer long with a bad attitude but with the heart of God which is love, joy and peace.

Maybe you’ve already come to the point where you’ve given up on someone and vowed never to deal with that person again.  Maybe it’s your son or daughter or husband or wife.  This week I challenge you to see how much God loves you.  How when you were a sinner Christ died for you and never gave up on you. How he suffers long with you because of His love for you and allow the Holy Spirit to flow through you that fruit of longsuffering.  The choice is yours.

Challenge to Peace

Tags

challenge, deborah chandler ministries, fruit of peace, fruits of the Spirit, Isisah 53, peace, Peace with God

Hi there,

Last week we took the challenged to challenge ourselves  in the fruit of joy.  Well, how’d you do?  It was a especially challenging for me because my mentor and dear pastor went home to be with the Lord.  I know that grieving is natural when someone dies and therefore I was and am.  But I did sign up for this challenge.  The word that kept coming up in my spirit was Isaiah 53:4, “Surely, he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows…”  Right there I knew I had a choice.  I could receive what Jesus had given me or I could keep what I had, my griefs and sorrows.  I wish I could say that through it all I remained stable trusting in God, but I can’t exactly.  What I can say is that when I yielded to the Holy Spirit I had an inward stability but when I didn’t I didn’t.  You see the Holy Spirit is in us producing the fruit that we need but we have to allow it to come forth.  The choice is ours.

This week we will challenge ourselves in the fruit of peace.  Peace and joy are related because it’s impossible to have an inward stability that God through Jesus Christ has already worked it out and not have peace.  Peace is wholeness. Nothing missing, nothing broken completeness.  Jesus said in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” Peace is more than a state of mind it’s Christ in us.

Peace is produced in us as we allow the Holy Spirit to reveal to us Jesus Christ, who He is, what He has done and all He has given us.  As we see this we see that we have nothing missing and nothing broken.  We see that there is no need for us to fear because God is not angry with us.  It was only after man sinned and the glory of God fell from him that he feared.  But thank God Jesus came and covered us in His righteousness and glory so that we no longer have to fear.  We have peace with God and therefore have nothing missing and nothing broken.

Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.  And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.  Throughout this week let’s ask the Holy Spirit to give us that revelation of Jesus, who He is, what He has done and all that He has given us so that no matter what things look like on the outside we know we have peace we know that we have nothing missing and nothing broken.

Challenge To Joy

Tags

challenge, deborah chandler ministries, fruit, happy, joy, joyous, take the challenge

Hey there!

Last week we challenged ourselves to challenge ourselves to grow in the fruits of the Spirit beginning with Love.  Well, how’d you do?  I hope you not only took the challenges that were presented to you but I hope you went a little further and stretched and challenged yourself in the area Love.  I know I hadn’t so much as finished writing before I was confronted with an opportunity to go beyond myself to Love.  I thank God for the Holy Spirit’s gentle nudge.  He’s always ready to give us what we need when we need it.  But as we talked about last week, the decision is ours whether to yield to His nudging or not.  As a matter of fact, growing in the fruits of the Spirit is really learning to yield to the Holy Spirit because fruits are produced in us by Him.

This week we’re challenging ourselves in Joy.   Now if you’re thinking this is an easy one think again.  Let’s look at what Joy is.  I like the definition given by the late Apostle Betty Peebles, “Joy is an inward stability that God through Jesus Christ has already work it out on our behalf.”   We can’t obtain this kind of joy it is developed or produced in us by the working of the Holy Spirit.  It’s important for us to know that nothing on the outside of us can give us joy. And that joy is not just an emotion but it is Christ in us.  Emotions can be turned on and off by things on the outside of us but joy is not affected by the things on the outside.  Yes, our emotions are affected by the presence of joy but joy itself is not just an emotion just as fear is not an emotion.  According to II Timothy 1:7 fear is a spirit yet our emotions are affected by the presence of fear.

Therefore, to challenge ourselves in joy is to challenge ourselves to allow the Holy Spirit no matter what situation or circumstance we’re going through to cause us to remain stable, trusting God that He has supplied all that we need through Christ.  Things don’t necessarily have to be all good, but in the midst of it we can have joy.  You could be down to your last dime financially but in the midst of it you can still have joy.  In the midst of everything and all things we can have an inward stability that God through Jesus Christ has already worked it out so we don’t have to freak out.

The most exciting part of this is that we don’t work to obtain joy.  It comes out of our relationship with Christ.  Jesus said in  John 15:4, “Abide in me and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.”  Therefore, the more that we are in fellowship with Jesus, listening, talking, giving, receiving, the more joy the Holy Spirit produces in us or the more inward stability and trust in God the Holy Spirit produces in us.

I challenge you this week to challenge yourself to allow the joy of the Lord to flow through you no matter what you’re faced with throughout this week.  Remember the choice is yours to yield or not.  However, yielding comes easy to someone you’re in relationship with.  Don’t forget I want to hear from you.  Let’s encourage each other in Joy!