Living In Abundance Series
With the Fruit of the Spirit called Patience now working in your life, you are given a ‘rest period’ to get yourself sorted out. In this time, you are to do only one thing. That one thing is to PLAN. Plan how you want your life to be. Architects design miniature models of buildings which do not yet exist. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). You are the architect of your life, so you’ve got to put its design down on paper (the substance). Do not keep dreams and visions (the things not seen) in your head only. You can forget details that are critical to catching your dream.
Our last conversation discussed you chasing those demons in your head, catching them and arresting them so that you can come to this ‘rest stop’ and pull yourself together. The Word of God clearly resounds that LOVE is the greatest gift of all. Jesus demonstrated His love for us by crucifixion (Romans 5:8). God’s love is immeasurable by human standards, but it’s described in 1 Corinthians 13.
In the list of the Fruit of the Spirit, the first fruit is LOVE (Galatians 5:22-23)—JESUS is the first fruit (Romans 8:29; 11:16), GOD IS LOVE (1 John 4:8-16); and from LOVE come all the other fruits, including patience. Now, if you want to live a life of abundance, you’ve got to develop the habits required for abundant living.
Yes, we know that if we give, we shall receive; what we sow, we shall reap. But what is so often overlooked is how we live. A habit is a product or fruit of one’s behavior. A habit is something which you do often and regularly, sometimes without knowing that you are doing it. Habits create habitats and habitations for the soul part of you. When habits hinder your walk in the Holy Spirit, they become antichrist strongholds, or as previously mentioned, “comfort zones”. Once you break out of bad habits, or old habits that perpetuate lack in your life, you are truly free indeed to inhabit a life of abundance. And only Jesus can help you do that: Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed (John 8:36).
You caught and arrested those demons tormenting your mind. Now it’s time to move on to covering your nakedness. An open wound results from tearing something off your body, usually the skin, your outer covering. Well your soul, too, can be wounded by another kind of fruit, the ungodly fruit of FEAR. This fruit is of the devil; and he uses it as a cutlass tearing your soul apart, exposing your nakedness to perpetually ensnare you in shame.
As LOVE produces peace, joy, kindness, patience, etc., FEAR also has its ‘children’ named guilt, rejection, shame, nakedness (They were named in our previous conversation—now they’re buried); and anything that HOLDS YOU BACK from being the best person you can be or from sharing your gift(s) to others.
Your soul is exposed and it’s naked. The habits you develop right now during this ‘rest period’ are either going to thrust you forward into a life of abundance or take you back to the captivity of devilish torment: There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love (1 John 4:18).
The first habit we have to create is what I call the ‘THINK TWICE’ habit. What we think, we usually eventually speak. You must KEEP QUIET, be SILENT, and think twice before you speak. Words have power to create and to destroy. If you are free from the sin and shame of your past, leave it behind you buried, rotting, disintegrated, gone! Every time you mention the FEARS (the torments) of your past, you bring it into the present. Mention your sins, your shame NO MORE. Get into the habit of loving yourself. The Son has made you FREE.
Remember from our last talk: Christianity is a walk of faith. It is not a mere religion. It is a daily journey toward discovering the real you and you celebrating who you are in Christ. The Holy Spirit is living in us, just as we breathe and are active, so is He. Jesus is the lover of our souls, and God, our Father is the maker of our souls. The triune God is at work perfecting everything about you (Psalm 138:8) so that your life will be complete, lacking nothing (James 1:4).
It’s time to cover your nakedness with some garments; and only you can put them on. Yes, the accusers will try, with all their might, to expose your nakedness (reminding you and others of the past where you sat in shame and in sin); but remember when the accusers brought the woman caught in adultery to Jesus, He rebuked them saying, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first” (John 8:7) and each one sulked away, one by one, starting with the oldest. Well, as you put on your garments, your accusers will vanish completely out of your life.
Your garments are also called your habits; and habits become automatic actions the more your practice them. So, let’s get dressed, shall we? Wait. Don’t forget to put on your undergarment before you get dressed. What is your undergarment? The Whole Armor of God! (Read Ephesians 6:10-18). O.k. now, let’s have fun dressing up!
See you in next week’s blog. I’ll be the one carrying your first garment!
© 2020 by Patience Osei-Anyamesem. All rights reserved. Published by The Liight In Me Enterprise. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews or other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
Unless otherwise stated, all scripture quotations are from The New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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