BE YE FILLED
The truth is that I am so flawed and obnoxious that at times I get on my own nerves.
Does it make me special that God continues to open my eyes to all the ugly parts of my makeup??
NO
Does it make me special that because he continues to allow me to see all my ugliness for what it really is......the truth keeps me in a constant state of Dependency on Christ?
YES.....because I belong to Him and that is just one of the benefits of being a child of God!
So I have no great word from God today. Just needing to write out what He has been teaching me all summer long. I have no idea if this makes sense or if anyone will understand but I must purge it from my soul all the same.
Does it make me special that God continues to open my eyes to all the ugly parts of my makeup??
NO
Does it make me special that because he continues to allow me to see all my ugliness for what it really is......the truth keeps me in a constant state of Dependency on Christ?
YES.....because I belong to Him and that is just one of the benefits of being a child of God!
So I have no great word from God today. Just needing to write out what He has been teaching me all summer long. I have no idea if this makes sense or if anyone will understand but I must purge it from my soul all the same.
JOY
FRAGRANCE
JOY
FRAGRANCE
LOVE
FRAGRANCE
PEACE
FRAGRANCE...
FRAGRANCE
JOY
FRAGRANCE
LOVE
FRAGRANCE
PEACE
FRAGRANCE...
Mid-summer I had a spiritual check-up/wake-up call. Some of my deepest, ugliest strongholds of sin, that had been healed for many years, began to grow as I began to change my focus off them onto other things during my prayer time.
And before I knew it.....I was staring at 2 major issues inches away from my face just waiting for me to bite into the temptation.
Depravity of Spirit became my theme and was once again humbled by God to make sure I was extremely clear on the fact that ABOVE ALL I serve HIM and will not give my praise to another.
And I became desperate for Him. Desperate not to return to my former life and desperate for a life of holiness that honor's Christ.
This check-up was good. Great actually because even a small reminder of life without obeying Father will send you to your knees so fast you won't even remember the journey down.
And in the midst of my own time of renewed hunger, renewed fear of God, and renewed sense of dependence on Him.......I was dealing with a million other personalities around me.
Through all the conversations with negative, lifeless, joyless, thankless, and critical people I was reminded that believers, that are not walking in the Spirit or yielding to God, can bring just as much heartache and pain.......if not more ....than an unbeliever that is not a child of God.
Like Beth Moore says..."Nothing uglier that a mean woman"........and I would like to add man to that statement as well.
You see, my nature is not to complain, moan and groan about life. My nature is not to say or do mean things to the ones I love or to strangers. My nature is not to use my personality to make everyone miserable in a 20 mile radius. That is just not me.....
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.......
And when I treat others with respect and they continue to be ugly, my personality is to DEAL WITH IT RIGHT THEN AND THERE!
Why.....because I want the cards on the table, I want the "under the breath digs" out in the open, I want the evil dealt with in the name of Jesus and I want to keep my heart clean and pure even if yours is not.
This summer I kept coming into contact with person after person that seemed to want to steal my joy or make me believe it was a bad thing to want to boast in the Lord.
Do you know what I mean? Anybody got a person like that in your life?
I mean, I would want to share with another believer something about the things of God or what He was teaching me and they cut my feet off every time.
And my heart would feel crushed that at times my only safe place to share the depths of my heart was with God alone or on my blog.
Why couldn't they have shared in conversations with me? Why couldn't they just be open with me or provided a safe place to share?
And the word "Fragrance" became the word on my heart day after day.....
To be a fragrance-
to be covered completely by God that His spirit oozes out of you and even the people that can't stand you CAN'T HELP but be drawn to you by the fragrance of Almighty God.
And that, my friends, is what I want.
To be a fragrance for Christ.
To be filled with the Joy of Christ.
Have you ever noticed that the words "Joy" or "filled with Joy" are hardly ever used to describe a non-believer. I find that interesting and not surprising all at the same time because the word joy means to be able to GLORY IN, TO BOAST IN, TO REJOICE IN.
All the words that describe a life that belongs to God really. Yes, I understand that this world is made up of a million personalities with a million different life experiences.....not everyone is sanguine like me and openly expresses joy.
BUT....even the "quiet somewhat laid back believer" can ooze joy and the "task oriented somewhat OCD" believer can ooze joy.
Our joy is what makes us different and if we steal others joy, don't have joy, or get annoyed at other believer's joy then.....WE DON'T LOOK ANY DIFFERENT THAN THE REST OF THE WORLD THAT HAS ZERO HOPE ABOUT ETERNITY!
Joy also comes from a spirit that is continuously cleansed of sin and a spirit that understands we are nothing without a Savior.
And because we understand that, we are able to yield to God's will and He begins to produce a Holy Fragrance in and through us.
"But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphant procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing". 2 Cor 2:14-16
You see, what I kept encountering these last few months are
And before I knew it.....I was staring at 2 major issues inches away from my face just waiting for me to bite into the temptation.
Depravity of Spirit became my theme and was once again humbled by God to make sure I was extremely clear on the fact that ABOVE ALL I serve HIM and will not give my praise to another.
And I became desperate for Him. Desperate not to return to my former life and desperate for a life of holiness that honor's Christ.
This check-up was good. Great actually because even a small reminder of life without obeying Father will send you to your knees so fast you won't even remember the journey down.
And in the midst of my own time of renewed hunger, renewed fear of God, and renewed sense of dependence on Him.......I was dealing with a million other personalities around me.
Through all the conversations with negative, lifeless, joyless, thankless, and critical people I was reminded that believers, that are not walking in the Spirit or yielding to God, can bring just as much heartache and pain.......if not more ....than an unbeliever that is not a child of God.
Like Beth Moore says..."Nothing uglier that a mean woman"........and I would like to add man to that statement as well.
You see, my nature is not to complain, moan and groan about life. My nature is not to say or do mean things to the ones I love or to strangers. My nature is not to use my personality to make everyone miserable in a 20 mile radius. That is just not me.....
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.......
And when I treat others with respect and they continue to be ugly, my personality is to DEAL WITH IT RIGHT THEN AND THERE!
Why.....because I want the cards on the table, I want the "under the breath digs" out in the open, I want the evil dealt with in the name of Jesus and I want to keep my heart clean and pure even if yours is not.
This summer I kept coming into contact with person after person that seemed to want to steal my joy or make me believe it was a bad thing to want to boast in the Lord.
Do you know what I mean? Anybody got a person like that in your life?
I mean, I would want to share with another believer something about the things of God or what He was teaching me and they cut my feet off every time.
And my heart would feel crushed that at times my only safe place to share the depths of my heart was with God alone or on my blog.
Why couldn't they have shared in conversations with me? Why couldn't they just be open with me or provided a safe place to share?
And the word "Fragrance" became the word on my heart day after day.....
To be a fragrance-
to be covered completely by God that His spirit oozes out of you and even the people that can't stand you CAN'T HELP but be drawn to you by the fragrance of Almighty God.
And that, my friends, is what I want.
To be a fragrance for Christ.
To be filled with the Joy of Christ.
Have you ever noticed that the words "Joy" or "filled with Joy" are hardly ever used to describe a non-believer. I find that interesting and not surprising all at the same time because the word joy means to be able to GLORY IN, TO BOAST IN, TO REJOICE IN.
All the words that describe a life that belongs to God really. Yes, I understand that this world is made up of a million personalities with a million different life experiences.....not everyone is sanguine like me and openly expresses joy.
BUT....even the "quiet somewhat laid back believer" can ooze joy and the "task oriented somewhat OCD" believer can ooze joy.
Our joy is what makes us different and if we steal others joy, don't have joy, or get annoyed at other believer's joy then.....WE DON'T LOOK ANY DIFFERENT THAN THE REST OF THE WORLD THAT HAS ZERO HOPE ABOUT ETERNITY!
Joy also comes from a spirit that is continuously cleansed of sin and a spirit that understands we are nothing without a Savior.
And because we understand that, we are able to yield to God's will and He begins to produce a Holy Fragrance in and through us.
"But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphant procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing". 2 Cor 2:14-16
You see, what I kept encountering these last few months are
A. people that belong to God but do not yield their lives to him
or
B. those believers that have taken the fruit of the spirit........peace, patience, kindness, love, joy, gentleness, self-control......and divided them up according to what fruit they wanted and didn't want.
or
B. those believers that have taken the fruit of the spirit........peace, patience, kindness, love, joy, gentleness, self-control......and divided them up according to what fruit they wanted and didn't want.
WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The fruit of the Spirit are 1 in the same. You either got them all that day or you don't.
The Fruit of the Spirit are NOT SPIRITUAL GIFTS. They don't come and go as God sees fit for that particular season of life. No! You can't say........"Well, I am a teacher of the Word, so I don't have to have joy or love for others." or "Well, my spiritual gift is administration so I don't have to care for people or treat them with kindness as long as I am running the church or committee correctly!"
The Fruit of the Spirit are NOT SPIRITUAL GIFTS. They don't come and go as God sees fit for that particular season of life. No! You can't say........"Well, I am a teacher of the Word, so I don't have to have joy or love for others." or "Well, my spiritual gift is administration so I don't have to care for people or treat them with kindness as long as I am running the church or committee correctly!"
WRONG PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Eph 5:1 says we are to "Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of L-O-V-E, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a FRAGRANT OFFERING and sacrifice to God."
He has called us to look like Him.
Caroline, He has called you to look like HIM no matter what or who or where you are!
Matt 7:16 says we will know them by their fruit..........both false prophets and believers alike.
Picking out what fruit we want is us trying to control our lives and the result is us not producing any fruit or fragrance for that matter.
Galatians 5:22
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control."
He has called us to look like Him.
Caroline, He has called you to look like HIM no matter what or who or where you are!
Matt 7:16 says we will know them by their fruit..........both false prophets and believers alike.
Picking out what fruit we want is us trying to control our lives and the result is us not producing any fruit or fragrance for that matter.
Galatians 5:22
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control."
Did you notice???????? it says FRUIT...singular...not FRUITS......it is one for all and all for one....they are completely connected.
My bible commentary says this:
"The fruit of the Spirit is the spontaneous work of the Holy Spirit in us. The Spirit produces these character traits that are found in the nature of Christ. They are the by-product of Christ's control- we CAN'T obtain them by trying to get them without Christ's help. If we want the fruit of the Spirit to grow in us, we must join our lives with His. We must know Him, love Him, remember Him, and imitate Him. As a result, we will fulfill the intended law to love God and our neighbors."
Makes so much sense, right? A person that is joyless and thankless to everything around them has far greater hurting on the inside than just trying to take our joy away. "Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thess 5:16-18
Something, in the heart of a believer, needs to be dealt with if they push people away with their odor instead of drawing others in with the fragrance of Christ.
I want to smell good friends. I want to smell good even when those around me stink and what me to stink too!
I don't want to be like them.......a child of God still walking around chained and miserable when they have the birthright and blessing to be FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This life is a blink of an eye.......I don't want to lose another day because I am fighting the right to BELIEVE GOD and the right to BOAST JOYFULLY IN HIM.
I want to wake in the morning yielding my every thought, action, and reaction to Him. I want to yield to His choices during the day and allow myself to never be busy so much that I can't hear from Him. I want to be filled with the Spirit so that He is producing MUCH FRUIT IN ME. I want Him to cover all my ugliness with Him so that others do not see me but Him. That they become drawn to me by my fragrance of Christ. I want Him to cover me with peace, patience, joy, love, kindness.......the fruit of the Spirit because my human sinful nature is none of these things!
I WANT TO NEVER EVER BE MISTAKEN,
BY MY MOUTH OR ACTIONS,
AS A PERSON THAT DOES NOT
BELONG TO CHRIST!
I am a Christian. I am a Child of the MOST HIGH! and I ask God to wake me each morning knowing that "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me".
Amen
Amen
Amen
I will NOT give my glory to another.
I will NOT shut my mouth in my praises of Him.
I will NOT let my joy be stolen by another.
I will NOT EVER cease praying for GOD to do a MIGHT WORK IN THE LIVES OF THE LOST AND THOSE THAT BELONG TO HIM!
Father you are worthy of all my praise! ALL MY PRAISE! I will not coward down when other believers are so covered in sin that they can't praise you. I will continue to sing with joy around them. Trusting, Lord, that you will flow a sweet fragrance from me to help soften their hearts! Let us never be ok with a baby faith but hunger for solid food from your Word! Convict us when we begin to pick up the baggage that makes us look like we are of the world. We are in the world Father but we are NOT OF THE WORLD! You have called us to MORE. You have given your children the right and ability to NOT BE MISERABLE!!!!!!!!!!! Even in our hurting, even in our pain, even in our anger..........we can call on your NAME to cover those feelings with your love and peace. You are a GOOD GOD ALL THE TIME. Let us start living like we belong to you! I love you and I thank you that you never let me get away with a SINGLE THING! Continue the make me more like your son. Let me live for you because I don't want to miss a thing! Amen and Amen.