DIG for Tuesday the 13th of February…..you can choose to live in joy…..Galatians 5 v 22 and 23

Marking the assessments from our Bible School students is proving to be a great blessing.

Tonight I was reading an assessment about the fruit of the Spirit.

One of the students wrote this; “Joy has no root in our circumstances”.

I thought that was a wonderful comment, and one that I am in complete agreement with.

Joy should have its root in our salvation, in what Jesus has done for us and in who we are in Christ.

Joy is a choice, and it is a choice that is easier to make if our focus in on Jesus.

If our focus is on our circumstances and ourselves it is very hard to choose to live in joy.

But if our mind is on Him and what He was done for us, we can choose to live in joy.

You may be thinking, but Vic you do not know what is going on in my life, and that would be true.

But if you are a born again believer I know a lot about you!

You have been forgiven and reconciled to God, you have been made righteous, you have been adopted into the family of God and you have been healed and made prosperous.

So I think you can choose to rejoice, if you want to.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord that you have given me so much to rejoice over “.

Galatians 5 v 22 and 23…..But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law

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DIG for Wednesday the 10th of January…..I’m sure it’s in there somewhere…..Galatians 5 v 22 and 23

As a man who reads and studies the Word quite a lot, I think I have an understanding of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5 v 22 and 23).

I know what they are and what each one means.

However at times, and you may feel the same, I just think some of them are not there!

I’ve just had a 30-minute call with my current insurance company, with 5 different people (on hold most of the time), to be told I cannot get a new quote.

And now my keyboard is ‘playing up’ so that I’m missing letters when I type this!

Now when I’ve read Galatians 5 v 22 and 23 before I was sure I saw longsuffering (or patience) in there.

I realise however that I do not need more patience, I need to work out the patience that I already have.

The Lord has placed in my born again spirit all the patience I will ever need (as well as all the love, joy, peace etc).

We are so fortunate to have all we need in our spirit; the key to life is working out (or manifesting) these things.

And the key to manifesting patience (and anything else from our spirit) is an understanding of Jesus and what He has done for us and to us.

Peter wrote that we have already been given all we need for life and godliness (including patience) through the knowledge of Jesus (2 Peter 1 v 3).

So in order to display more patience we do not try to be patient, we gain more understanding about Jesus.

So, I’m now away to read my Bible for a while!

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord that you have already given me all I need for life and godliness”.

Galatians 5 v 22 and 23…..But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law

DIG for Tuesday the 5th of December…..what they tried to get under the Old we now have under the New…..Philippians 4 v 13

I noticed today a few Scripture references inside the cover of my Bible this morning; I’d not seen them for a while!

They were Psalm 22 v 3, then Psalm 16 v 11 and Nehemiah 8 v 10.

I remembered that this was a model for me to use to receive strength.

If I worshiped the Lord I would receive His presence (Psalm 22 v 3), I would then receive joy through His presence (Psalm 16 v 11) and through this joy would receive strength (Nehemiah 8 v 10).

Now this may sound good, and I thought it was at the time when I wrote these verse on the inside cover of my Bible.

However today I realised that I don’t need this model anymore, as these verses are Old Covenant verses and I live under grace, under the New Covenant.

As a born again, spirit filled believer I already have joy, as part of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5 v 22).

As a born again, spirit filled believer I always have His presence as He says He will never leave me nor forsake me (Hebrews 13 v 5).

Because of His presence I now have the strength to achieve all things (Philippians 4 v 13).

Now I am not saying we should not worship, of course we should, however we now worship because we have strength, joy and His presence, not to receive these things.

What I used to try and achieve through worship (His presence, joy and strength) I now have all the time as a gift of grace through faith in Jesus and His finished work.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord for Your continual presence, for Your strength and for the fruit of the Spirit”.

Philippians 4 v 13…..I can do all things through Christ which strengthen me

DIG for Sunday the 17th of September…..sin does not lose you your salvation…..Galatians 5 v 21

I heard a wonderful piece of teaching tonight at our bible school, based upon the truths around the fruit of the spirit.

Prior to the verses about the fruit of the spirit, Paul lists many of the sinful actions that are derived from the flesh (Galatians 5 v 19 to 21).

He also tells us what the result of these actions will be.

Firstly let’s see what he does not write; he does not say you will lose your salvation and he does not say that God will removed Himself from you (both teachings that I have personally heard in the church).

He tells us that we will not inherit the kingdom of God (Galatians 5 v 21), in other words we will not see manifest the good things of God that Jesus died to provide us with.

Sinful actions or deeds of the flesh do not affect our salvation (as in ticket to Heaven) but will affect how we receive from God.

Sin and deeds of the flesh change us, they do not God or God’s attitude toward us.

They do not change the fact that He has already provided us with all spiritual blessings (Ephesians 1 v 3).

They change how much of His blessings we receive and see made manifest in our lives.

It is not down to God if we receive healing and prosperity for example; He has already provided these and it is down to us to believe and receive.

One “blockage” in the way of us receiving all that God has done for us is sin, or deeds of the flesh.

How we “inherit” is dependant upon us and not God.

Paul goes on to imply that as we understand and then display the fruit of the spirit we will inherit more of what God has already made available to us.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord for the fruit of the spirit and thank you that all the fruit is available to me today”.

Galatians 5 v 21…..Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God

DIG for Monday the 15th of April……lesson in peace and patience…..Galatians 5 v 22 and 23

So today I had a an awesome lesson in living in peace and having patience.

I caught the train to head for a connection to York, and once in seat told we would not be leaving for 15 minutes. This would leave me 3 or 4 minutes to get the connection.

It was OK though, got there in time and stood at next train waiting to get in until we were told it was cancelled.

OK, so I would get the next one; no ticket not valid, and I would need a new one at over double the cost.

Alright I’ll hire a car, so got that sorted then waited and waited and waited for taxi and then waited for car to be ready.

Anyway, I am now in York (4 hours late) typing this in a sticky seat and a sticky table in an internet cafe with very poor light.

But I feel blessed and at peace; had a great time in car singing to Hillsong and listening to teaching on cd.

Let me testify that the Word changes people. Ask my family what I would have done 2-3 years ago: I would have gone nuts!

Now I am working out my salvation (and the fruit of the Spirit) into my life, and I am doing this through understaNDING THE FINISHED WORK OF JESUS CHRIST ON THE CROSS (and even a caps lock that has a mind of its own is not bothering me!)

Folks, get into the Word and let it transform you through mind renewal (Romans 12 v 2).

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord that your Word has the power to transform me through the renewal of my mind”.

Galatians 5 v 22 and 23…..But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance against such there is no law