Dancing in the Rain

The joy, Paul refers to in Galatians 5 is much deeper than a sense of happiness or gladness from life’s circumstances. It is a profound delight and rejoicing that comes from knowing and serving God.

The Bible describes the importance of this divine joy to the Christian’s life:

Nehemiah 8:10,

And Nehemiah continued, “Go and celebrate with a feast of rich foods and sweet drinks, and share gifts of food with people who have nothing prepared. This is a sacred day before our Lord. Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the LORD is your strength!”

Peace is an unshakeable inner calm that can be a rare quality in turbulent times.

We, in the walk with the Lord,  can call on God’s Holy Spirit to impart a sense of peace when things seem to be spinning out of control.

And the peace that comes from the Spirit is not just a small comfort.

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In Philippians 4:6 – 7,  Paul describes it as beyond human understanding in one of Scripture’s most reassuring passages:

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Galatians 5:22 – 23

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Forbearance is the characteristic or quality of greatness of spirit, a person who faces adversity with courage, in the Bible we see that this is a virtue of those who are good and generous and have faith in God to help solve their problems.

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.  Ephesians 4: 1-2 (NIV)

We may seem weak in the eyes of the world or even foolish in maintaining this conduct, but in truth this fruit of the Spirit, helps us to have discernment and wisdom to resolve adversities with the wisdom that comes from above.

• Mercy, patience, tolerance and self-control, are words that relate directly to this fruit and are essential characteristics for those who have been saved.

The idea of forbearance arises in the Bible under different words.

• Forbearance could be explained as showing patience, even though a thing is owed to us.

Today, we will focus on kindness!

• Kindness is not merely superficial nicety or a random act of goodwill. It goes deeper.
  

It springs from a heart that is attuned to the needs of others and seeks to alleviate their burdens.

Galatians 5: 22 - 23

22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Faithfulness comes from a place of trust and loyalty.

We cannot be wishy or washy about our faith.  We need to show our faith in action.  

It is easy to talk about faith within the four walls – will be able to stand by this faith when the going gets tough?

Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is a confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”

As a believer in Christ, it is important to be faithful to God. It is one thing to simply believe in Him, but another to be faithful to Him.

Let’s begin by – where these discontentment starts… because we have to find where we lost it.

What is the source of our discontentment – and where does it all start?

• How can I cherish… what is given than focusing on what is lacking in my life?

Thomas Watson says – “Discontentment is nothing but echo of unbelief”

We need to declutter and deep clean, in that order.

And although I have high aspirations, I am not sure it will happen at the magnitude with which it is needed. Honestly, it may not happen at all.

When clutter things – that’s what happens… things will start to get rotten.

Pride is a heart-attitude sin that overflows into a person’s motivation, decision-making, and activities. Pride is at the root of nearly every problem we struggle.

Even David, described as a man after God’s own heart, asked God to examine the contents of his soul in

“Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”    

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Sometimes our hearts are like this: cluttered.

It happens over time, not immediately. Maybe it starts with a misunderstanding, or a betrayal. Time nurses a wound like a newborn baby and before you know it, bitterness is fully-grown and hanging out in our hearts.

Overtime, there is a potential for our hearts to be ridden with memories, hang-ups, guilt, sin, and the like, clinging to us and not letting go. I call it heart clutter.        

Let the cleaning – Begin!

In order for us to live a simple life – we need to un-clutter …

Ecclesiastes 3: 6 says… (read the whole thing and pause in 6)

a time to search and a time to give up,

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People clean their houses during the summer…

we will meditate on what the things that we need to un-clutter on… and what does the bible say about it.

• Throw away things that is not needed in your life…

Walk around your garage and unclutter…

Pastor used to say… when we accumulate things, then we move them into garage the overflow… and when the garage overflows, then we take them to storage units, nothing but extension to your garage.

While I was busy purging, cleansing, and uncluttering my external world (frantically grasping for the illusion of control), I completely overlooked the clutter within my heart, soul, and mind. How long had it been since I took inventory of my:

• negative thoughts?

Verse to Meditate:

1 Samuel 7: 3 - 6

3Then Samuel said to all the people of Israel, “If you want to return to the LORD with all your hearts, get rid of your foreign gods and your images of Ashtoreth. Turn your hearts to the LORD and obey him alone; then he will rescue you from the Philistines.” 4So the Israelites got rid of their images of Baal and Ashtoreth and worshiped only the LORD.

5Then Samuel told them, “Gather all of Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray to the LORD for you.” 6So they gathered at Mizpah and, in a great ceremony, drew water from a well and poured it out before the LORD. They also went without food all day and confessed that they had sinned against the LORD. (It was at Mizpah that Samuel became Israel’s judge.)

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• Go into your closet, and take a piece of chalk and draw a circle around you and ask the Lord for revival for everything that is inside of the chalk line. When God answers your prayer – then, revival is on!