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.