"You are the light of the world." Matthew 5:14
What a great study today, don't you think? WE are the "heavenly lampstands"! It is our job to make sure that our flame is continually burning brightly in order to illuminate the way for those living in darkness. What a noble task God has entrusted us with! And what an awesome gift the Holy Spirit is! I love to think of "God's entire being uniting to produce the brightest possible flame" IN ME.
However, I know that often my lamp doesn't burn as brightly as it should. I get bogged down with responsibilities, I get tired, I start having a million excuses, and as a result my light starts growing dimmer and dimmer. Beth Moore states that, "If we do not burn with a passionate flame, it is because we have limited God, who prepared us for victory..." So true!
And have you thought about the fact that when we allow the Holy Spirit to flow freely the "fruit of the spirit" naturally occur? I am super guilty of praying for specific "fruits" and then becoming more and more frustrated when it seems they do not appear in my life. Instead I need to be praying that the Holy Spirit will fill me!
Can you identify the fruit of the Spirit in your life? If not, what do you need to change for your life to exhibit this fruit?
5 comments:
Meghan, I feel as you do - that sometimes I get too wrapped up with everything going on around me. I get worn out & flat out exhausted that results in my flame getting dimmer and dimmer. Why is is that I have to remind myself to make God my # 1 Priority? It should ALWAYS be a given, NO if - ands - or buts!!!
The great thing is that the light can never be extinguished! It's just up to us how much will allow to add fuel to our flame.
I love seeing how the steps of God's entire being unites to produce in us the brightest possible flame. "The Father offered the Light and created every human with a wick to receive it. The Son came bearing the light to any who will receive it. The Holy Spirit came to fuel it perpetually." Amazing!
Can I identify the fruit of the Spirit in my life? This was honestly a hard question for me. Two things came into my mind. I LOVE to sing. It is a gift that was given to me from God, and I love praising him with it. When singing, to me it's not all about me - it's about HIM! It's almost an out-of-body experience, it's a heavenly experience.
The other is what I call my "Gift of Gab". My husband will tell you that I like to "over-share". I am an open book. This can be a bad thing, and this could be a good thing. I have been very open about struggles that I have faced in my life, one in particular is the when I faced post-partum depression after having my son. In being open with this I have had many women approach me and ask me how to deal with it themselves.
God has given each of us special gifts. He has represented his "personality" in all of us. We are who we are because he created us as unique and special individuals. But he created all of us with wicks and it is our job to keep his flame shining bright.
"This little light of mine. I'm gonna let it shine. This little light of mine. I'm gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine."
That song makes me think of Iris when she was between one and two...when we would get to the part where you sing, "...hide it under a bushel...", she would shout NO as loud as possible - it was pretty funny! She LOVED that song!
i have been so convicted as of late to evaluate the fruit of the spirit in my life! today's study was very timely for me... i love the way BM brought out the point that the fruit of the spirit is just that, fruit of the spirit! it is a natural occurrence from being filled with Holy Spirit!! it is encouraging to think that there's nothing we need to necessarily DO other than allow God to come in and fill us with His Spirit! i make things SO much harder than they need to be!! i try SO hard (supposedly) to be patient or kind or whatever... and i just continually come up short, or get tired of trying, or to be honest, forget that i'm supposed to be trying!!! but when we've allowed ourselves to be filled with the Spirit, it is a natural outflow--the Spirit will guide us and counsel us to be patient, loving, kind and have self-control, etc. it's not something i have to master, it's something i have to submit to! i love the way God works! because if WE mastered these things, we would think we were something special! then we start to get proud and arrogant which then oftentimes leads to impatience and other NON-fruits of the spirit, if you will.... so, He has provided the perfect way for us to live godly lives where He is glorified, we are humbled and we are better for it!!! when we do things His way it always works out BEST!!! i LOVE seeing things this way!!!... our God is SO awesome!!!
with all of that.... the fruit of the Spirit i see in my life right now... hmmmm.... maybe i can say it this way--i commented yesterday about the Holy Spirit's conviction in my life. i truly believe this is exactly what He's been convicting me about--at least this is what is mostly boils down to--displaying these fruits in my life... and i'm realizing it won't get "fixed" by me trying harder or being more diligent or even studying my Bible more. although those things may help, obviously. what needs to happen is i need to allow the Spirit to fill me! instead of filling myself with other things--whatever those may be. i need to allow the Spirit to fill me in order for His fruit to flow out of my life!... i don't know about anyone else, but it's actually a bit relieving. as hard as submitting and surrendering is, it's nice to know that if would just let go and allow God, He will do these things in me! i know how in capable i am!!!...
today's study was good for me....
I know what you mean. I often think that if I just pray harder or read my bible more or become more involved at church...or just TRY harder THAN I'll have more fruit in my life. Not realizing that it doesn't work ON MY OWN! Letting go and letting God is so hard for me! And there in pride and self-righteousness grows instead of the "fruit" I'm looking for. I too, make it too hard - I need to surrender and let the Spirit fill me....
did i say "in capable?" you knew what i meant, right?...:)
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