Have you had your JOY JUICE today? God wants us to follow His instruction; and
I’m convinced that includes drinking in the JOY of the Lord faithfully!
Philippians
4:4 tells us to “Rejoice in the Lord…always.”
And the only way we can do that is by knowing that we are
secure in our relationship with Christ.
If we have accepted Him as our Savior and Lord, then we can rest in the
truth that He has everything under control….even when it feels as if things are
SO “out of our control”!
Lack of
trust in God, brings grief to His heart.
Ephesians 4: 30 says: “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit
of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”
To
grieve means “to afflict with deep sorrow”.
Did you know that we can cause God to grieve with deep sorrow?
In
the context of this verse in Ephesians, we bring sorrow to God when we forget
that we’ve been set free from our “old self” and react in the worldly ways
of bitterness, wrath and anger….all of
which grieve the Holy Spirit because they are NOT fruit that comes from
Him. "The fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self
control."(Galatians 5) When this kind of fruit is growing in your spiritual
garden, then there will be JOY in the heart of God….as well as in your own!
Let’s bring JOY…not grief…to the Holy Spirit by allowing Him complete
control of every area of our lives.
Excellent thoughts - on the heals of our OCOG Study last night on the Holy Spirit, thanks to the DVD, featuring Jim Cymbala. Much has been written and preached about the manifestation of the Spiritual gifts, but I believe the Spirit also manifests - demonstrates his power - through the fruits of the Spirit. I may not always 'get' specific gifts, but I can readily feel, enjoy and relish in the fruits, as they are evidence of a Spirit-filled life. May we all yearn to be God's 'spiritual fruit cakes' - in a good way :-)
ReplyDeleteSpiritual Fruit Cakes.....LOVE IT! I may have to steal that! :) I've been called a fruitcake before, but this gives it a whole new meaning! :) Thanks, brother!
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