It's Just Too Hard!
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law." (Gal. 5: 22-23)
I should just leave those verses there and hope that a passerby reader might stop and ponder those words for a few moments.
Recently, I was pondering Colossians 1:11 where it says in the middle of a long prayer, "Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness." I had just failed again getting frustrated at a situation that was going on, and went to pray about it when this verse came to mind. One phrase reverberated in my mind: "Patience...with joyfulness." God was telling me, When your patience is being stretched, you're supposed to be joyful about it...
What? How is that even possible? I'm sorry, but having your patience being stretched out beyond what you are used to is just too hard! Ever thought that way? Ever told God, "this is way to hard! Why are You making me go through this?"
I mean, think about it, when something pushes your button -maybe someone cut you off while driving, maybe someone called you a mean name or criticized you for the way you did something, or maybe you're just being made to wait on someone, or on God's perfect timing for something- what is your first response? Not joy! (Unless you're some kind of superhuman.)
So, as I was meditating on that simple little phrase, "Patience... with joyfulness," it suddenly hit me that those are two aspects of the fruit of the Spirit! You can't have patience, and you definitely can't have joy in your patience, without walking in the Spirit. He produces that patience and joyfulness that we need for those situations when we are under His control, walking in complete surrender to Him.
Do you live under His control? Walking in the Spirit should be like breathing. You really won't be able to live your Christian life to the fullest without the Spirit being in control moment by moment, just like you really can't live physically without air. Don't expect to be able to produce that fruit without every moment depending on Him!
Just one more thought that hit me... Why would those things be the fruit that comes from the Spirit? Because those are characteristics of who He is! God would not tell us to let Him influence us to have love, joy, peace, patience, etc. pouring out of our lives unless the influence is from One that does those exact same things.
Get to know Him, dear Christian and let Him impact your life to make you that patient, loving, joyful, etc. Christian that you are meant to be. :)
I should just leave those verses there and hope that a passerby reader might stop and ponder those words for a few moments.
Recently, I was pondering Colossians 1:11 where it says in the middle of a long prayer, "Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness." I had just failed again getting frustrated at a situation that was going on, and went to pray about it when this verse came to mind. One phrase reverberated in my mind: "Patience...with joyfulness." God was telling me, When your patience is being stretched, you're supposed to be joyful about it...
What? How is that even possible? I'm sorry, but having your patience being stretched out beyond what you are used to is just too hard! Ever thought that way? Ever told God, "this is way to hard! Why are You making me go through this?"
I mean, think about it, when something pushes your button -maybe someone cut you off while driving, maybe someone called you a mean name or criticized you for the way you did something, or maybe you're just being made to wait on someone, or on God's perfect timing for something- what is your first response? Not joy! (Unless you're some kind of superhuman.)
So, as I was meditating on that simple little phrase, "Patience... with joyfulness," it suddenly hit me that those are two aspects of the fruit of the Spirit! You can't have patience, and you definitely can't have joy in your patience, without walking in the Spirit. He produces that patience and joyfulness that we need for those situations when we are under His control, walking in complete surrender to Him.
Do you live under His control? Walking in the Spirit should be like breathing. You really won't be able to live your Christian life to the fullest without the Spirit being in control moment by moment, just like you really can't live physically without air. Don't expect to be able to produce that fruit without every moment depending on Him!
Just one more thought that hit me... Why would those things be the fruit that comes from the Spirit? Because those are characteristics of who He is! God would not tell us to let Him influence us to have love, joy, peace, patience, etc. pouring out of our lives unless the influence is from One that does those exact same things.
Get to know Him, dear Christian and let Him impact your life to make you that patient, loving, joyful, etc. Christian that you are meant to be. :)
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