Are you prepared to fight for what is right? To fight to do right?
Just when you think you're getting ahead of things, the world, the flesh, or the devil will rise up to wear you down.
Those old habits come back with a vengence, that person comes back into your life, and perhaps your prayer and discipline in godly habits may be lacking.
Will you fight? Maybe, but will you fight now rather than leaving it till another day to enter the battle? Do you have the Spirit of overcoming on your side?
What is the main lifestyle characteristic of a Christian? An outside point of view might yeild a different answer from an inside point of view.
How about these: abundant joy, unshakable love, an abiding peace in times of trouble?
Yes, yes, and yes. But so much depends on context - these things can be hard to see, even when they are there.
The Christian, in whom the Spirit works, will display an increasing level of personal morality. With some inevitable ups and downs, but overall upward in direction.
From the outside, people will be continually surprised at what lengths you go to to help others. From the inside you are daily considering your weaknesses, trusting God for forgiveness of them, and praying for strength to overcome them.
Do you value that person in your life who seems to know just the right thing to say or gives the right piece of advice at the right time? Do you value that person who seems to have their life in order and responds to tricky circumstances in a way that always seems to work out?
Wisdom is not merely knowledge, and not merely knowledge of how to apply knowledge either.
True wisdom requires spiritual "unction" to make that application happen. This is why wisdom is a spiritual gift and a spiritual growth in every Christian (at least in some measure).
This is why we are to "get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding" (wisdom and understanding are parallel in this proverb)
The world won't stop without you. You can trust God to fill in the gaps left by your presence.
Does your ministry (personal or professional) demand a lot of your time? What happens when you get sick, or need an unplanned break?
God doesn't need you to keep the universe ticking over. While our lives never stop, and our growth in Christ continues every moment, sometimes our rest is a part of the bigger action.
Learning to rest, learning to show the world that you do trust God with what you can't do. Knowing that anyone else could do your work, if God wills it.
Enjoy your holiday breaks to the glory of God.
Do you acknowledge your wicked deeds? or do you attempt to justify your actions?
You can pass the blame onto someone else or onto circumstances that you feel are beyond your control. You can say, "It's not really that bad!" and then forget about what you have done.
Or, you can take full responsibility for your actions, "Yes, I did it. Yes, I deserve hell for it. Lord, help me not to do it again!"
God loves to honour prayers like that! He will justify you through Christ and give you the strength to repent.
What does it even mean to be meek? Meek rhymes with weak, but someone can be both strong and meek!
Restrained strength. Knowing that you are right, but deliberately failing to assert your dominance. If this is meek, why would Jesus ever claim that it is good to act this way?
Have you ever been in an argument where you knew you were in the right - the other side being either too stubborn to admit, or simply couldn't understand? Rather than escalating so that you can prove yourself right, or even so that you can receive the justice due to you, giving up the argument and trusting in God - that is meekness.
Sometimes it is suffering as Jesus did, like a silent lamb to the slaughter. Sometimes it is letting the other person have the last say. Restrained strength, a virtue, trusting God for deliverance or justice.
Not toward God but toward man.
How do you deal with praise given to you? Does it puff you up or can you remain humble? It can be very hard to react rightly.
Knowing that all gifts come from God, including the ability to be disciplined and dedicated to a long and difficult task; this is a good start to remaining humble.
Knowing that, "but for the grace of God" I too would be swallowed in sinful self-indulgence and destruction - that knowledge continues to keep one humble and forgiving of others.
