Take My Hand Inspirations

Sunday, 4 February 2018

19: BREATH OF PATIENCE: The Fourth Fruit

Take My Hand Inspirations

Fruit of the Spirit Series

My Brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces PATIENCE. But let PATIENCE have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing (James 1:2-4).

Must be reborn in LOVE

Dear Brethren

Before JOY comes

in the morning, afternoon,

evening and again

spinning round

sole wind inviting

His kiss of PEACE

waking you, wrapped

in cool caresses

. . . til you feel . . .

BLESSED

Then old dogged devil

Spews stress

. . . til you feel . . .

S t r e t c h e d

like a tiny rubber band

whirling round you in blurry

streaks

forcing from the gut

shreaks . . .

for it all to STOP!

Bodily sickness

Financial unfitness

Psychological weakness

Misguided meekness

Confusion, Despair

Til you just don’t care

What that wind was like

‘cause you just got

it knocked right out of

your spiritual consciousness

By various vicious

TRIALS . . . .

Still playing games

with the tongue

Stunned

in timeless silence

Holy Bible

Clutching my heart

With violence beating,

“Count it all joy, girl,

and push on through

THE PAIN

as PATIENCE

bursts all over you

Perfect, lacking nothing—

No sting from fallen communication

No ring ‘round broken sordid relations

No sling shooting unholy attachments

No thing forcing relentless bad actions .”

Beholding everything

Good when I allowed God

To Be holding me

In His mighty Hand:

“Count it all joy, man,

Even when it hurts

. . . so much.

Strong personalities

That press and crush

Your ideologies,

precious progenies,

Within you they try

to cut you up

And eventually cut you out.

Believe in yourself . . .

Never doubt!”

You must pass the test of PATIENCE

To reap your miracle fruitful blessing

Though tossed and twisted

Yet shaped supernaturally

in the midst of its

Unfair turbulence

(Or is it hypocritical nonsense?)

But floating atop that truculent wind

are LOVE, JOY, PEACE and me

Exhaling

BREATHS OF PATIENCE,

“I win!”

YOU MUST CHANGE, DEAR ONE, INTO THE IMAGE OF JESUS. On His way to Gethsemane, our Lord passed through the most excruciating trials, tortures and shame dangling naked before humanity like a sinister criminal under the death penalty.

We are the disciples of Jesus. The Bible tells us that we shall go through similar persecutions because we are no better than our Master; and we must be made perfect (Matthew 10:22-25a). After the pain, we gain wisdom and understanding, our faith is fortified and our testimony becomes impenetrable because we overcame that trial. We did not run back into old worldly ways. But rather, we made a conscious effort to endure for the “night”. We passed the test.

Passing life’s various trials removes the “garbage” inside us making more room for the Holy Spirit to fill us up. Being filled with the Holy Spirit, we lack no thing that will keep us out of heaven. We now possess all the right tools – the gifts of the Holy Spirit, knowing where and how to walk on the narrow path, bearing the Fruits of the Holy Spirit, and rejoicing as we fulfill our Great Commission.

CHRISTIANITY is not a religion of comfort or mystified ideologies of living a rich lifestyle. CHRISTIANITY is a lifestyle, a life-long journey of self-sacrifice, always putting yourself on the altar to be changed into CHRIST’S likeness. Another way the FRUIT OF PATIENCE is described in the Bible is longsuffering. You may lose “friends”, jobs, family members, materials, popularity, every attachment that hinders your walk toward heaven.

The rich young man said to Jesus, “All these things I have kept [obeying the Word of God] from my youth. WHAT DO I STILL LACK?”

And Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come follow Me.” (Read Matthew 19:20-22).

Jesus did not mean you cannot be successful or have wealth. Each of us has our own “test” to complete. The young man described above was very rich; and Satan used that “wealth” as a stronghold to keep that young man so comfortable and “happy” that he could not see how to use his money to promote the Kingdom of God. He rather, saw that money as a “god” (an idol) he could not do without; though he stood before the true GOD, looking into the eyes of Jesus Christ. He chose to stay shackled instead of following Jesus into freedom.

We each have our individual tests to pass. And Jesus knows which “exams” to administer to each one of us. Maybe you must give up bad character, or self-satisfying indulgences like sexual immorality or lust for money. Perhaps your test involves ceasing the need to always be right, or lack of self-control over your tongue or other body parts, or negative mindset, or petty jealousies, gossiping, backbiting and all other vices of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21).

If you cannot ask Jesus: “What do I still lack?” and allow Him to help you become full, lacking nothing; or you refuse to let sinful practices go, then you will go through various trials to break that debilitating habit or behavior . . . until you become perfect and complete, lacking nothing; and made completely ready to walk into the Kingdom of God to live there for eternity.

Satan comes to steal, kill and destroy what is good in you because you are a wonderfully made creation of Almighty God. But Jesus promised us emphatically that: “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). That abundance includes health, wealth and the wisdom to know how to use wealth, success and every good and perfect gift from above (James 1:17). And that abundance also comes exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to His power that works in us (Ephesians 3:20) if we only allow His Holy Spirit’s FRUIT OF PATIENCE to grow and mature in us.

Dear Young Christians, our grandparents taught us by their actions: DO NOT RUSH IN LIFE for it only leads to heartache and hurt. Running after quick cash, sexy girls, sly “sugar-daddies or malicious sugar-mommies” (men and women old enough to be your fathers/mothers or even your grandparent’s age giving money to have sex with you), in a hurry to accumulate clothes, cars, phones and any other “pleasures of sin” all end up as “vanity”-- quoted from the richest king who ever lived, King Solomon (in Ecclesiastes).

That’s why Grand Parents are so grand, or important, to us young folk. They have been tested and tried; and over time and longsuffering have come to know the answers to many of life’s questions we are now asking ourselves. Experience is the best teacher; and always will be. And those who have grandparents alive right now, humble yourself and appreciate their good advice—it’s one of those perfect gifts from above.

Isn’t God wonderful? Then trust Him to break you and make you perfect for His Kingdom. This can only be done through longsuffering which definitely bears the FRUIT OF PATIENCE. Breathe out . . .

YOU ARE A WINNER IN CHRIST JESUS!

© 2018 by Take My Hand Inspirations, a division of PepParadise Society Ltd Publishers. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, 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.

Most of the paintings selected is retrieved from “Black Art” search engine.

Take My Hand Inspirations

Tuesday, 26 December 2017

18: THE TRINITY FRUIT of PEACE

Take My Hand Inspirations

Fruit of the Spirit Series

THE TRINITY FRUIT of PEACE

Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14). Why? Because: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God (Matthew 5:9). And: You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You; and nothing causes them to stumble (Isaiah 26:3; Psalm 119:165).

Once again, consider your Christian life like a plant; and Jesus Christ as the Sower. From our conversation (Blog #15), when I introduced this Fruit of the Spirit Series, we trustingly embraced the knowledge that when we give our hearts to Christ, He opens our hearts and plants His seeds of whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things . . . and the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:8-9).

As you allow these seeds to germinate with the watering of God’s Word in your mind’s thoughts (and emotions/feelings stored in your heart), YOUR SOUL (therefore, your life) becomes rooted in Christ: That Christ may dwell in your hearts [soul] through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, . . . may be filled with all the fullness of God (Read Ephesians 3:17-19).

We are born through the portal of the Fruit of Love. We experience power from the Fruit of Joy when we embrace who we are in Christ and celebrate the talents, strengths and beauty He has breathed in all of us without discrimination or partiality. Generous is the Lord in His giving. So in Love and bubbling over with Joy, why is it so hard to get and maintain PEACE within our own souls as well as sustain it in the outside world whirling around us?

As we are watered, we grow and mature and develop our multi-coloured, sweet-smelling flowers in preparation for pollination, fertilization and fruit production. As a teacher of so many subjects, the one I find most exciting is science. When we understand (even a little) how God created everything and how it all works, is it most astonishing. I feel part of God’s plan as I teach some of the mysteries of His work! How a flower fascinatingly becomes a fruit is so much like the processes necessary for the Christian to produce the Spirit’s Fruit of Peace.

Meditating on the Fruit of Peace and actually applying its principles to produce this trinity fruit were a challenge for me. And I am not a theorist wherein I share the “how” and never do it. I must first do it (apply the Word of God about peace), see how it works, learn from my failures when I do not achieve it, then meditate on it some more and try again. That is why it took me this long to write this blog.

Peace does not develop overnight, instantaneously as we will it to come. Developing the fruit of peace, to me, is a three-step process—that’s why I call it the Trinity Fruit; and it’s also the third fruit produced in line with the Holy Spirit. Just as a flower goes through many processes before transforming into fruit, so must the life of a watered-by-the-Holy-Spirit Christian go through ups and downs before “the Peace of God which surpasses all understanding” (Philippians 4:7) can shoot out of his or her life.

Step 1: We must clean up our “house” before we endeavor to bring peace into it. That cleaning involves putting the “GOOD” or the “BAD” sticker on our thoughts, as I’ve spoken on throughout this series. What are you thinking about? Is it about the wrong spoken against you, or how you are going to give to those less fortunate than you? Ask yourself whether what you’re thinking about is “GOOD” (in line with Philippians 4:8-9) or is “BAD” (totally off the markers of Philippians 4:8-9) then pour those marked “bad” into the toilet and flush it.

Step 2: Now get your mind in order by scrubbing and rinsing and re-washing it in Philippians 4:8-9. Read, watch and talk about everything relating to God’s Word in books, audio and visual cassettes, films, podcasts, etc.; go to lunch with fun-loving, faith-filled Christians; take a short vacation to enjoy nature; or gather family and friends and host a fabulous Birthday party for Jesus! Get in the kitchen and cook or bake till you drop while singing and dancing to worship and praise songs to the Lord. Or simply smile as you go on visitation to the sick and shut-in; volunteer in your community church’s soup kitchen—do something kind or give something nice to a stranger. Encourage the down-trodden with the goodness in you.

DO GOOD TO OTHERS AS THE LORD LEADS YOU.

Step 3: Work on how you relate to yourself and to others. Peace involves human relationships. Peace also involves the inner relationship you have with yourself. If you are a contentious, argumentative person who is so easily provoked, you take yourself wherever you go and will continually experience rivalry, jealousies, fights and quarrels with everyone around you. What is in you surely comes out in any situation or environment you find yourself in.

Don’t get me wrong, there are “haters” always ready to falsely accuse you about something absurd. Look at the flower. Are only birds, beetles and butterflies allowed to pollinate it? Birds, beetles and butterflies are the “beautiful” ones—the ones who love you for who you are with all your strengths and weaknesses. They are the ones who stick to you in hard times. Your soul feels “beautiful” when you are around them.

But flowers are also pollinated by stinging bees, acidic-biting ants and ugly moths, even bats and houseflies. They represent the haters—those who don’t value anything about you. They wait for you to fall or fail, and rejoice when you do it, though ever smiling and pretending to be your cheerleaders all the while hoping and wishing for your demise. Yet, we need the “haters” to produce the product of perfect peace because they force us to run to God to find a way out of their terrifying entanglements. Life is not only a bed of roses. To get to peace, we surely will learn life-long lessons from stings and bites and pinches and punctures and odious odors.

But how you handle the outside world definitely relates to how you handle your inside world. This is a conversation I usually have with myself (my soul): O.K. I love myself. Others don’t love themselves. They strike out against my “sunny” disposition to bring me down into their darkness. Oh, Lord, I need your grace to overcome wanting to be accepted and thus drown in that depression. I definitely need Your help to bring about a change in how I want to be in this situation and bring others up into Your light with me. Show me how right now, Lord.

Then the Lord opens the way and I run through it emerging on the other side with great and perfect peace. You must develop the Fruit of Peace through the gift of discernment (read 1 Corinthians 12:8-11)—seeing how a situation is going and listening to God as He tells you how to move through it to achieve peace. So ask the Lord right now for this gift of discernment. That is your way to developing His Fruit of Peace.

And when you find yourself in a situation desiring peace, He will tell you how to get it without compromising your Joy. He won’t make the other person feel good, and leave you feeling awful at the end of it all. Listen for His voice. At times, the Lord has told me to do one or a combination of these to move into peace and stay there.

· * Say, “I’m sorry. Please forgive me.”

· * Keep silent. Don’t talk.

· * Excuse yourself and walk away; at times, just calmly walk away.

· * Flee! Run! Don’t look back.

· * Tell the truth. Stop lying or trying to cover yourself with half-truths.

· * Speak with frankness and clarity on an issue as the Holy Spirit gives you the boldness to do so.

· * If you can “see” (discern) what’s good in you, then force yourself to “see” the good in others and tell them about it.

· * Switch off the phone for a few hours and rest your mind.

· * Leave that platform—it’s doing nothing good for your soul’s inspiration.

· * Give the troublemakers, the peace-snatchers, over to the Lord in prayer. You cannot change the stubborn; they must be put on the Potter’s wheel for a while.

When we shut God out, perfect peace can never be achieved because we would resort to our humanness to solve problems with shouting, disrespect, cursing and dissention—the works of the flesh. The Fruit of Peace can only germinate by the watering of the Holy Spirit in an atmosphere of prayer. Memorize and recite Psalm 23 throughout the day--everyday!

My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid (John 14:27).

Glory to God in the highest,

And on earth PEACE,

Goodwill toward men!

(Luke 2:14)

© 2017 by Take My Hand Inspirations, a division of PepParadise Society Ltd Publishers. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, 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.

Most of the paintings selected is retrieved from “Black Art” search engine.

Take My Hand Inspirations