But I Can’t Even Love Myself!
Do you love yourself? How about other people? God? Do you even know how to love? What is love, after all? In the list of the Fruit of the Spirit, love is the first one listed. Ever wonder why?
Do You Need a Tree Surgeon?
Cursing goes on all the time – we just don’t realize it. We hear negative things and even say them about ourselves and they become word curses. Our souls can agree with them so that we eventually become the thing that’s been said. Current cursing is bad enough, but we can also get stuck in…
“As the Twig is Bent, so Grows the Tree”
Iniquity – what a weird word. What could this Old Testament term possibly have to do with modern folks? Plenty! In simplest terms, iniquity means bent. Literally, it means crookedness, perverseness, or moral distortion. I’m sure you’ll agree we see plenty of that today! Whole families can suffer the effects of what becomes generational iniquity.…
Get Hold of Yourself!
SLAP! “Thanks, I needed that”. And the previously hysterical character gets hold of herself and is able to think clearly. Of course, in real life, she would have hit back or burst into tears! If we have all the other fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, longsuffering/patience, kindness, goodness/integrity, faithfulness, and gentleness/humility) but don’t…
An Honest Opinion of Yourself
It takes strength to be gentle. Our independent, hero-loving society often equates gentleness with being soft, A gentle person, especially a man, is often derided as being a milquetoast, a weak person. He could be harassed and even called “pussy-whipped”. The original meaning of gentleness
A Maytag Life
Remember the old Maytag commercials? The bored repairman complained about the washing machines being too dependable and he didn’t have anything to do. A more recent example could be Ford trucks. The announcer always touts their dependability. If either of these guys had been talking about a person, he might have said they were .…
Be Good, For Goodness’ Sake
Did your parents ever say to you, “Be good, now, or God won’t love you”? As an adult, you probably know that’s a lie. He loves you no matter what—even when you act “bad”. But He does highly recommend goodness. It’s the next fruit of the spirit. I looked up the Greek reference for “good”.…
Put on a Happy Face?
Does it irk you when someone puts on a happy face when you just want them to be honest with you? One Sunday morning I was in a group meeting for the prayer teams when the leader asked us to share our needs so the others could pray. Each group only had four or five…
Who Gets the Credit?
It’s often been said that there is no limit to what a person can do as long as he doesn’t care who gets the credit. I think acts of kindness can fit into that category. We can do all sorts of apparently kind things, but when a motive of wanting some credit or reward comes…
I Want Patience, and I Want it NOW
Wait a second . . . longsuffering, the fourth fruit, is a good thing? Ouch! Sounds pretty painful, doesn’t it? It can be, but not necessarily. And this word is often used interchangeably with patience, so let’s dispense with the King James English and just call this fruit “patience.” Have you ever prayed for more…