Gentleness

Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.
Philippians 4:5

List three people that come to your mind when you think of the word gentleness.

Got it?

Now, when you think of those people, what other characteristics do you think of (besides general gentleness)??

I think of:
1. Softness of speech
2. Listening-- the people I think of are very good at genuinely listening to what is being said.
3. Patience -- They don't get upset quickly.

Out of the things I listed and any others that you thought of, pick one that you could work on this week. Out of my three, I think the one I need the most work on is patience..... especially with siblings. There are so many things they want to tell me or show me and I feel like I have so little time and need to get on to other things. Much too often I either don't listen at all, or half-listen while doing other things. I need to remember that my time is the Lord's and He gave me my siblings to nurture and love.

James 1:20b
Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.....

~M~

Faithfulness

Isn't it great when God brings someone into your life to teach you a lesson just when you needed to hear it? That's what happened to me when I learned the lesson of faithfulness. I don't remember the exact experience, but I don't think I'll ever forget the lesson.

One morning someone asked me to find out some information for them. I said yes, but then pushed it to the back of my mind. I know that nothing bad would happen if I didn't do it (except for the person having to do it them self and realizing that I was not trustworthy!).

That afternoon I heard a message about faithfulness -- doing what you say you will do. Right away I realized that I was not being faithful in the small job I had been given. I quickly found out what the person needed to know (it wasn't even a hard task) and gave them the information. "Thanks for finding that out, Marissa." "You're welcome."...... yikes. I learned that lesson quickly!

There are lots more things that I could talk about having to do with faithfulness (it's a pretty big topic!), but I'll just leave that for you to think about right now.

Lamentations 3:23b
.....great is Your faithfulness.

In faithfulness to Him,
Marissa

Goodness

"For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness..." 2 Peter 1:5a

Goodness is described in Webster's dictionary as excellence and virtue. As God's children, we are striving for excellence in everything we do. This means being a hard worker and striving for the best--rising above "average" (which is getting lower and lower). Colossians 3:23 says, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men." Let it be said about you that when you do something (or are asked to do something) it is going to be done quickly, efficiently, and to the best of your abilities.

Kindness

According to Webster's Dictionary, kindness goes hand-in-hand with sympathy. What does it mean to be sympathetic?

Sympathy: 1. A relationship between persons or things wherin whatever affects one similarly affects the others.

This means bearing one another's burdens and feeling the pain of our sisters and brothers in Christ.... being happy when they are happy and sad when they are sad. This is brotherly love.

In His love,
Marissa

Patience

Webster's definitions: 1. Bearing pain or trials without complaint. 2. Showing self-control, calm
Greek-Cheerful or hopeful endurance, constancy-enduring, waiting

Patience in Waiting
This goes with the first Webster definition: Bearing pain or trials without complaint. Greek: Enduring and waiting. Patience in trials is difficult. This is where we trust God to let His plan unfold. We all have our own trials that God is patiently waiting for us to be patient about. Often He won't resolve the problem or trial until we have learned to trust Him and be patient.

Patience in waiting also goes for our future spouses. That takes a lot of patience sometimes! Don't give up! Remember that he/she also has to be patient. The best thing you can do when you are getting impatient is to pray for him/her.

Now for the second Webster definition (showing self-control-calm), which goes with the first Greek definition (cheerful endurance). What mainly comes to mind for me is siblings. Being patient with them can definitely be a struggle sometimes! Normally when I am having trouble being patient with one of my younger siblings, it is helpful to me to *try* to look at them from God's eyes. Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from Him (Psalm 127:3). They are a blessing straight from God! He put each of them in my life for a purpose. Listening to them, helping them, etc. is a diligence exercise and assignment from the Lord.

Patience is another fruit that can help easily define a Christian. Make sure the world sees your patience in everything.

♪ Be patient, be patient,
don't be in such a hurry.
If you are impatient,
you'll only start to worry.
Remember, remember, that God is patient too,
remember all the times that others had to wait for you! ♫

Haha... a song we learned when we were little. :D

In Christ,
Marissa

Peace

Webster's definitions: To be, become, or keep silent or quiet.

Okay, so maybe when it's loud or chaotic you mom might say "I need some peace!" Or something like that, and that's is true, we need to keep peace and order. This verse, I think, symbolizes that:

"May the Lord bless you...and give you peace" - Numbers 6:24


"A child has been born...and he is named...Prince of Peace"- Isaiah 9:6

Jesus was an example of peace and therefore was called 'The Prince of Peace'. God also commands:

"Return no one evil for evil...live at peace with everyone" -Romans 12:17

That’s a hard one to live out. We’re not perfect, and of course we’re going to make mistakes. We are going to get into a fight with someone and we’re not going to live at peace with everyone! But that’s definitely not the way to think, even if it is true. We need to think “Well, God commanded it, so I’m going to do the best I can with His help.” God can do anything and he can definitely help you to live at peace with others.

The other part of peace is this:

‘Living at peace with what is in your life.’ God has everything under control. It is wrong to say: “Well if God would….” , “If only God could….” , “Why won’t God….” .

No! God has it under control! He know how to fix it and can! Don’t ever say, “If only God could…” Of course He can! Whether He chooses to or not is His decision and whether or not you’re going to live with His decision is your decision.

Peace, brothers and sisters in Christ!

-Andrea

Joy

Webster's definitions: A state of happiness, A source or cause of delight

Nehemiah 8:10b
.... Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

This is one of my favorite verses. Whenever I am feeling less-than-joyful, I think of this verse and it never fails to help me remember where my true joy comes from.

Joy is being glad in the Lord even when things aren't going your way. When something bad happens, we can still have inner joy because of the Lord.

There's not much else that I can think of to write about the fruit, but joy is such an important fruit of the Spirit. It is one of my very favorite qualities in people. Often you can tell by a person's joy whether they love the Lord or not. When someone has true joy, it's obvious. Non-believers sometimes will have a false joy that they can fake when they are with people, but their real character will come our sooner or later. Let's show the world true joy that can only come from Christ!

Serving Him,
Marissa

Two kinds of LOVE

Webster definitions of love:
1. Unselfish, loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another
2. As the fatherly concern of God for the human kind
3. Brotherly concern for others

We are going to talk about two kinds of love:
Love for God and love for others
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.... Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these."
Mark 12:30-31

Love for God
But may those who love you be like the sun when it rises in its strength.-Judges 5:31b
I love you, O Lord, my strength.-Psalm 18:1
If you love me, you will obey what I command.-John 14:15

Q. How do we love God?
A. With all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. We love God by obeying His commands. We love God by caring for His people (helping those in need and spreading the gospel). We love God by loving others. Just as a parent wants others to be kind, gentle and loving toward their children, so does God want us to love His children. Which leads us to our next question...

Love for others
A friend loves at all times....-Proverbs 17:17a
Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.-Romans 12:10
Love.... always protects, always trust, always hopes, always perseveres.-1 Corinthians 13:7

Q. How do we love others?
A. Let's take a look at 1 Corinthians 13
Selected parts:
Love is patient- Our time is all God's anyway
Love is not proud- Everything we have-all of our gifts, abilities, talents, skills- come from God. We couldn't do anything on our own anyway. Being proud does not show others that we love them.
Love is not self-seeking- This means putting the needs of others before our own.
Love always perseveres- Here is an example for this: If someone asks us to do something, we need to do it right away (if possible), diligently, and wholeheartedly.

1 Corinthians 13:8
Love never fails.

Fruits of the Spirit

Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

For the next couple of weeks we are going to be sharing with you a study on the fruits of the Spirit. We probably won't do one every day, but we would like to get this done in two weeks.
We hope it challenges, edifies, and encourages you!
In Christ,
Marissa and Andrea