Take The Challenge – Temperance

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discipline, exercise, fruits, fruits of the Spirit, self-control, take the challenge, temperance

Hi there,

Congratulations! You’ve made it to the final week of our fruit challenge.  I pray you’ve journeyed with us throughout this challenge as we challenged ourselves to allow the Holy Spirit to work through us all the fruits of the Spirit.   As always the choice is ours, whether to yield to the leading of the Holy Spirit and get fruit or continue in our own efforts and get works.  Let’s yield to the Holy Spirit for the fruits of the Spirit.

This week we will challenge ourselves in the fruit of Temperance.  Temperance is self-control or discipline.  It’s important for every believer to have self-control because it builds character in us, without it we are all out of control.  Temperance takes into consideration the sacrifice each of must pay to fulfill our God given destinies.  Here what Paul says in I Corinthians 9:25, “Now every athlete who goes into training conducts himself temperately and restricts himself in all things.  They do it to win a wreath that will soon wither, but we [do it to receive a crown of eternal blessedness] that cannot wither.”  Notice Paul says “restricts himself in all things.”  This denotes a lifestyle not a once in awhile thing.  If we are to fulfill our God given destinies we must live a life of discipline and self-control in all things if not, the things we don’t control will ultimately control us.   Romans 8:13 says, “For if you live according to [the dictates of] the flesh, you will surely die.  But if through the power of the [Holy] Spirit you are [habitually] putting to death (making extinct, deadening) the [evil] deeds prompted by the body, you shall [really and genuinely] live forever.”   God has given us His Spirit to control our flesh all we have to do is use what God has given us.

Jesus told satan in the wilderness “…It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4).  He also said in John 6:63, “It is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing, the words that I speak unto you they are Spirit and they are life.”  Therefore, we can use the word of God to control the dictates of the flesh because the flesh is control by the Spirit.   It’s through the Spirit that we put to death the evil deeds prompted by the body and it’s through the Spirit that we live a life that’s full of discipline and self-control in all things.

However, no discipline feels good at the time it’s being exercised.  It might not feel good to wake up an hour earlier  to pray or to put down those extra cookies but if we allow it we will reap the fruit of what it brings.  We will fulfill our destinies and receive a crown of eternal blessedness that cannot wither.

Therefore, I challenge you this week to allow the Holy Spirit to search out those areas in your life that you need to exercise discipline and self-control in and then let Him work through you to bring all things under His control.

Take The Challenge – Meekness

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fruits, fruits of the Spirit, gentle, meekness, mild, power, strong, take the challenge

Hi there!

Well here we are on the eighth fruit in our challenge.  I hope you’re hanging in there with me because we’re almost through this challenge.

As always I have to remind you that we have a choice in this challenge.  We can yield to the leading of the Holy Spirit or we can continue in our own efforts.  Remember the branch has to give way for the fruit to come forth.

Okay are you ready?  This week we will challenge ourselves in the fruit of meekness.

Many times when we think of someone being meek we think of someone who is weak and passive but that’s not how Jesus refers to Himself in Matthew 11:29 when He says, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”   Jesus was referring to Himself as someone who is all power and someone who knows the power of his strength. He is gentle and mild because He knows that we are fragile in His hands.   For example, you wouldn’t squeeze an egg in your hands unless you wanted to crush it.  You are restrained in how tight you hold it because you know its frailty.   Likewise, Christ is meek and lowly with us because of His love for us.  It’s not just what He does but it’s who He is, He’s love and He knows we are but dust.

Matthew 5:5 says, “Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth.” It is those that fear and reference God that will inherit the earth.  It’s impossible to be meek or lowly without the fear of God.  It’s our knowledge of who Christ is and who we are in Christ that empowers us to be meek, gentle and mild to the poor, weak, and the fragile.  Meekness is not something that we can do it’s what the Holy Spirit does through us as we give way to His leading.

Therefore, I encourage you to ask the Holy Spirit to give you a fresh reference and fear of God this week which will enable you to see how frail you are and how strong He is in you.

Take The Challenge – Faith

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believe, deborah chandler ministries, faith, fruits, fruits of the Spirit, take the challenge, Trust

Hey there!

I missed you guys last week and I’m glad to be back here on the blog! You all are greatly loved.

Well, we have two more weeks to go before we’re done with our challenge.  How have you been during? I pray that you’ve been allowing the Holy Spirit to work in your life. As I’ve mentioned before, the choice is ours whether to yield to leading of the Holy Spirit or to continue in our own efforts.  Fruits are produced by the vine but the branch has to give way for the fruit to come forth.  So let’s continue to yield to the Spirit of God within us.

Okay, let’s talk about this week challenge.  This week we are going to challenge ourselves in the fruit of Faith.   The first thing that catches my eye is that faith is a fruit, which means faith is not something that we earn but it’s what’s produced in us by the Holy Spirit.  All of the fruits of the Spirit represent the life of Christ in us.  So faith is Christ is us.  Romans 1:17 says, “For there in is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, The just shall live by faith.”  In other words we live by Christ in us.  Not by our efforts, but by totally relying on His life in us.  Just hanging on the vine and allowing the fruit of faith to come forth.

Now, I know some of you might be thinking, “I thought I had to get faith.” No, as long as you think you have to get faith you’ll never use the faith that’s been given to you.  Romans 10:17 says, “So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.”  Notice the word cometh, that means it’s given not earned.  When Paul was writing this he was talking about salvation.  Paul was saying that when we hear the gospel faith enters in and all we have to do is use the faith that’s been given.  It’s not faith that we need it’s an understanding or revelation of what faith can do.   Jesus told His disciples in Mark 11:22, “…Have faith in God” or have the faith of God; i.e. the faith which God gives.  The faith that God gives is Jesus Christ.  It’s with His faith that we can speak to mountains and command them to be cast into the sea (Mk 11:23).  And let’s not forget what Paul says in Galatians 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”  We live by the faith of Christ, His faith in us.

Therefore, all you need to do is use His faith, allow His faith to come forth in you.  Here’s a little something I like to do to help me when it comes to faith.  Whenever I’m reading a scripture where it says faith I say Christ.  This helps me to remember that faith is Christ in me and not something I have to obtain outside of Him.

Throughout this week let’s ask the Holy Spirit to give us a deeper revelation of what faith or Christ can do and let’s rest in Him to do it in our lives.  Faith is easy because faith is Christ in us.

Take The Challenge – Goodness

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deborah chandler ministries, fruits, fruits of the Spirit, Goodness, help, salt and light, take the challenge

Congratulations! We are halfway through our fruit challenge.  I hope this challenge is helping you to focus more on the work of the Holy Spirit in you and less on your own works.  Last week we talked about gentleness.  We learned that the kind of gentleness the Holy Spirit produces in us takes into consideration another’s inabilities and weaknesses.  How’d you do?  In places where you would have been harsh did you allow the fruit of gentleness to flow through?  I do hope so.

This week our challenge is in the fruit of Goodness.  The kind of goodness that Paul is talking about in Galatians 5:22 is not only goodness in character but also beneficial in its effect.   This kind of goodness is seen in Jesus in Acts  10:38 which says, “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power; who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.”  This is the kind of goodness that the Holy Spirit produces in us.   It’s the ability to benefit and make a difference in someone’s life.   The scripture says that “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power.”  Jesus used that anointing and power to make a difference in the world.  Well, we too have been anointed with the same Holy Ghost and power to do the same things that Jesus did.  We are anointed to go about in this world and do good.  We are anointed to be salt and light in the world.  All we have to do is locate a need.  As we go about our day and daily routine we are confronted with opportunities to do good all we have to do is do it.  Remember, you are anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power, in other words you were re-created to do good.

Therefore, throughout this week let’s yield to the Holy Spirit as we go about our day and use the power that’s given to us to do good.  II Corinthians 9:8 says, And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.”  God will always supply us with what we need to do good and no act of love is too small.

Take The Challenge – Gentleness

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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

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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

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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

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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!

Take The Challenge!

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challenge, criticize, deborah chandler ministries, fruits of the Spirit, love, walk in love

Every day we are faced with challenges.  Some of them we are ready to take and others we’re not so ready.  Ready or not challenge is coming and how we face them will reveal to us our level of growth or where we need to grow.  So challenge is good because it causes us to grow. And if you are serious about your development you won’t necessarily wait for the challenge to come to you, you will challenge yourself.

Paul said in Philippians 3:11-12 “If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.  Not as through I had already attained, either were already perfect; but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.”  Paul wasn’t going to sit back passively and wait for the challenge to come to him he said “but I follow after” or I will pursue.  What was Paul going to pursue? He was going to pursue the life that Jesus died for him to have.

Pursing the God life is pursuing the person of Jesus Christ.  His love, His joy, His peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance or the fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23).  The fruits of the Spirit is the character and life of Christ produced in us by the Holy Spirit.  And as long as we live in this world we will be challenged in these areas because we were created with free will.  We can either allow the Holy Spirit to flow Christ’s life through us or we can hold back and continue to live our own natural life.  The choice is ours.

Deuteronomy 29:29 says, “The secret things belong unto the Lord our God; but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.” In other words, whatever God reveals to us we have the responsibility to do something about it.  So if you know God has been talking to you about walking in love, than it’s your responsibility to pursue Christ’s life for that area of your life.

One of the areas I’ve been challenged with is not being critical.  To be critical is to find fault with or point out the faults of others.   To find fault with something or someone means that there is a standard that you are measuring that person or thing by.  Trust me this is not an easy thing to overcome, it definitely takes the Holy Spirit because most of the time we confuse being critical with giving good advice.  Especially when no one has asked us for our so-called “good advice.”  Being critical also means that you think you’re better than the person you’re criticizing.  I told you it wasn’t easy (Ouch!). For example, let’s say you fancy yourself a good cook and you’re husband takes you out to eat at one of the finest restaurant in town but instead of enjoying the evening out and the meal you began to criticize the food.  You might say something like “the steak is good but they could have added more seasoning.”  Or you see a woman walking on the street and you say “her outfit is nice but I wouldn’t have worn those shoes.” It all seems innocent enough but powerfully poisonous to our peace and joy.   Being critical is a challenge to walk in love.

Jesus left us this commandment, “This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you” (John 15:12).  Jesus loved us so much that he died for us.  Even on the cross instead of criticizing and judging He said, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do” (Lk. 23:34).  The love of God sees no faults and knows nothing against.  The love of God sees the old self as being dead.  Therefore, if I know that I’m dead than the only standard that I can use against another is Christ because I’m dead to self and alive to Christ.  His life, His love sees no faults or knows nothing against.  So now if I see a woman on the street it’s no longer “I wouldn’t wear those shoes with that dress” it’s “what a lovely dress and shoes” because Christ sees no faults.  But this only happens as I continuously pursue His life and allow the Holy Spirit to flow through me.  Am I tempted to criticize? Yes.  But remember the choice is ours whether to yield or not.  I can chose to yield to the temptation or yield to the Holy Spirit.

I want us to challenge ourselves to challenge ourselves to grow.  For nine weeks we will look at the fruits of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23 and challenge ourselves in each of these areas.  I know it won’t be easy but the Holy Spirit is in us to help us.   Our first fruit challenge, you guessed it, is Love.   Maybe the Lord has revealed something to you related to walking in love or you just want to develop in your love walk.  This week I challenge you to pursue the love of Christ.  Whether it’s in showing love to others or in your relationship with God.   Maybe it’s doing a study or reading a book on the love of Christ.  Whatever it takes for you to grow in love, I challenge you to do it.

For these challenges  I’ve created a new category called ‘Take The Challenge’ this way you’ll have easy access to each challenge. And don’t forget  I want to hear from you.  Let me know how God has challenged you or how you’ve challenged yourself in your love walk.   Okay, that’s it.  Get set, ready, grow in Love!