March 9, 2016
This week concludes our study on the Fruit of the Spirit. Next week we will go back to our march through the Bible ! We left off at 2 Samuel, so we will start there. Also, we will start a new blog for each book or study we do as we go through the Bible. Since there are 66 books in the bible and any studies we may do along the way, I expect we will have around 70 different blogs for you to study and read. Self Control is mentioned only 4 times in the bible and one of those times is when it list it as one of the fruits. So today we will look at the three other verses in the bible and see what God says about self control.
" And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. " 1 Corinthians 9:25
Here self control (temperate) is being explained by comparing sports training to spiritual training. Olympians train their whole life to get a gold medal, Christians should be training themselves their whole life for the spiritual gold medal ! By doing anything your whole life, takes a lot of self discipline. The imperishable crown spoken of here is eternal life with Jesus and to hear those words," well done my good and faithful servant. "
" Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; " 1 Peter 1:13
When men went into battle they would "gird up their loins " by pulling their robes up through between their legs and tying it into their belts. This would allow them to move quickly without falling. Here Peter uses this term to tell us to tie up any loose thoughts we may have and to show self control in our thinking. The last verse we looked at talked about the body and here we see that self control is also required by our minds.
" .. to knowledge self control, to self control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. " 2 Peter 1:6
Peter is showing here how the fruit interact with each other and where it can lead to. If you envision a set of stairs and each one is a fruit of the spirit, you can easily see how they all interact to get to the top. The interesting part here is that the top is NOT Godliness, but Love. In fact the top two are love ! The Hebrew word for brotherly kindness is also love. The bible uses the word love for both of the Hebrew words.
I hope you have enjoyed this study of the Fruit of the Spirit. If you would like to know more about use we are at www.prayerboxministry.org.
Saturday, March 12, 2016
Sunday, March 6, 2016
Fruit Of The Spirit ... Longsuffering
March 3, 2016
There are nine (9) Fruit of the Spirit listed in the New Testament. There is another place where it appears that there are three additional Fruits. However, on closer inspection we see that these three (3) additional Fruits are the same ones just with a different name. Long suffering is one of the three. When it is mentioned again, it is called patience. So, any time you see the word patience in the Bible, it can be used interchangeably with long suffering. I mention this because if you use a concordance or bible dictionary, it is possible you will not find one of these words and all scripture may be found under the other word.
" My brethren, count it all joy, when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience." James 1 ; 2-3
When I first got saved, I thought I needed to learn patience. So I started to pray for that fruit.Through all that followed I continued to pay for patience on a daily basis. Then one day my bible teacher told me I should not pray for that because the way God teaches patience is through trials and tribulations. He was right ! I lost my home, my wife, my job, and all of my possessions three different time ! All in the matter of about a year. Lesson : Be careful what you pray for... God IS listening .
" But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience. " Luke 8 : 15
This is the last verse of when Jesus is explaining the parable of the Soils. This parable tells of the four conditions that the heart can be in when it hears the Word of God. Here Jesus says that this is the ONLY way to receive God's Word, to keep it, and to produce good fruit. That is with a good and noble heart. Notice also that it says "with patience." Many people think that when a person gets saved, their behavior should change over night. This verse clearly says that it will produce fruit over time with a good heart !
" ...rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer..." Romans 12 : 12
Here we can see that things that are worth doing as a Christian should be done a certain way. Notice that here again we see the words patient and tribulation together again !! BUT notice also that right after that it says "Continuing steadfastly in prayer." This verse tells us plainly that even in the midst of your troubles and tribulation you should pray continually and steadfastly !!
" The servant therefor fell down before him saying,"Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all."" Matthew 18 : 26
This is a parable that talks about forgiveness and evil. In the parable, the servant is forgiven all of his debt. Then he goes out and beats his servant who owes him money. The Master hears of his double dealing and has him put in jail ! We may say that the master is Jesus and we are the servant. If we deal falsely with Jesus we will be put into jail ( Hell ). Jesus died to forgive our debt (sin) and we are forgiven if we deal straight and ask for forgiveness.
This concludes our study of Long Suffering. Join us next week for a look at Goodness. If you would like to know more about us, we are at www.prayerboxministry.org.
There are nine (9) Fruit of the Spirit listed in the New Testament. There is another place where it appears that there are three additional Fruits. However, on closer inspection we see that these three (3) additional Fruits are the same ones just with a different name. Long suffering is one of the three. When it is mentioned again, it is called patience. So, any time you see the word patience in the Bible, it can be used interchangeably with long suffering. I mention this because if you use a concordance or bible dictionary, it is possible you will not find one of these words and all scripture may be found under the other word.
" My brethren, count it all joy, when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience." James 1 ; 2-3
When I first got saved, I thought I needed to learn patience. So I started to pray for that fruit.Through all that followed I continued to pay for patience on a daily basis. Then one day my bible teacher told me I should not pray for that because the way God teaches patience is through trials and tribulations. He was right ! I lost my home, my wife, my job, and all of my possessions three different time ! All in the matter of about a year. Lesson : Be careful what you pray for... God IS listening .
" But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience. " Luke 8 : 15
This is the last verse of when Jesus is explaining the parable of the Soils. This parable tells of the four conditions that the heart can be in when it hears the Word of God. Here Jesus says that this is the ONLY way to receive God's Word, to keep it, and to produce good fruit. That is with a good and noble heart. Notice also that it says "with patience." Many people think that when a person gets saved, their behavior should change over night. This verse clearly says that it will produce fruit over time with a good heart !
" ...rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer..." Romans 12 : 12
Here we can see that things that are worth doing as a Christian should be done a certain way. Notice that here again we see the words patient and tribulation together again !! BUT notice also that right after that it says "Continuing steadfastly in prayer." This verse tells us plainly that even in the midst of your troubles and tribulation you should pray continually and steadfastly !!
" The servant therefor fell down before him saying,"Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all."" Matthew 18 : 26
This is a parable that talks about forgiveness and evil. In the parable, the servant is forgiven all of his debt. Then he goes out and beats his servant who owes him money. The Master hears of his double dealing and has him put in jail ! We may say that the master is Jesus and we are the servant. If we deal falsely with Jesus we will be put into jail ( Hell ). Jesus died to forgive our debt (sin) and we are forgiven if we deal straight and ask for forgiveness.
This concludes our study of Long Suffering. Join us next week for a look at Goodness. If you would like to know more about us, we are at www.prayerboxministry.org.
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