The Everyday Prayer

Re:Verse passage – Galatians 5:22-25 (day one) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; vs 22-23a

We know this text well. It is one of the hallmark passages of the New Testament that we learn from a young age, but do we treat the fruit of the spirit like we are ordering from a fast food menu? “I’ll take two joys, a love, and an order of peace. I’m not really a patience or self-control guy” To quote a favorite commercial of mine – that’s not how any of this works.

I am so grateful that God has made each of us as unique, individual beings. But that individuality does not preclude the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. On our own, it is true, we may struggle to be kind or gentle, but that’s the point, isn’t it? God is not looking for people who are gentle to say – look here’s that fruit I was talking about. No, we all have access to the same work of the Holy Spirit. Knowing that we would not be patient without God’s work in our lives is part of what makes it so wonderful. Don’t limit the Spirit’s work in your life today. Seek the full menu.

Re:Verse passage – 1 Thessalonians 1:2-6 (day seven)

“We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers;” vs 2

Through this series on the Holy Spirit, we have covered what it looks like to be filled with the Spirit. We see joy, hope, love, conviction, and power through the Spirit, but one of the biggest signs of a Spirit filled life is an overflow of thankfulness.

Gratitude is the “gateway” spiritual discipline. When we begin to implement gratitude more often into our prayer life, we become much more aware of our soul’s neediness. When we are filled with the Spirit, we are keenly aware that we are not deserving of the love and grace that we have been given by God. Gratitude leads to humility. Then Proverbs tells us that humility leads to wisdom (Proverbs 11:2). Here’s the correlation: Thankfulness leads to humility, humility shows us our need to be filled by the Spirit, the Spirit grants us wisdom and discernment. The next time you are in need of wisdom from the Lord, begin with thankfulness and watch as God meets your needs.

Re:Verse passage – 1 Thessalonians 1:2-6 (day six)

Have you considered, what in your life requires faith? Choosing one thing over another because its future reward is greater than the immediate promise of the other?

Because of persecution, the Thessalonians had to decide if this Gospel was true and worth it. Was it worth giving up safety and security, for a future promise? Was it worth putting their family through almost certain hardship, maybe even death? At any moment, with a word, they could have chosen safety over the promises of the Gospel. But they didn’t because their assurance and joy in the future promises of the Gospel were greater than the temporary promise of safety in abandoning the Gospel. Paul attributes this kind of faith and assurance to the Holy Spirit.

I have never had to ask myself those kinds of questions. Never.

Do you have the kind of faith that is super-powered by joy in the Gospel? Would it sustain you through suffering that you could otherwise avoid?

Even though I have never faced persecution for following Jesus, would Paul describe my faith in the same way? I sure hope so. While I don’t share in their persecution, I do share in the Holy Spirit. My faith can muster, because the power of the Spirit is the same in me, as it was in the Thessalonians in the first century.

Re:Verse passage – 1 Thessalonians 1:2-6 (day five) “for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.”
Far too long we have settled for a weaker presentation of the gospel. What I mean by that, is we have relied on or exclusively trusted that just living a devoted Christian life would be our way to effectively share the gospel. The phrase “lifestyle evangelism” is a popular term for this approach.  I’ll just live out my faith and that will be my witness for Christ.
Paul challenges that mindset with his explanation of evangelism.  Relying on actions alone was not his approach. There must be both words and actions. Talking and teaching were just as essential to present the gospel as deeds and attitudes. Notice as the Holy Spirit works in both the words and actions together in the life of believers, there is power.
Do we talk and teach about the gospel as much as we live out the gospel?  We should.  We must use both (our words AND actions) to tell and show the world of the hope, love, and joy found in a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

Re:Verse passage – 1 Thessalonians 1:2-6 (day four)

Notice the fruits of the Spirit that Paul identifies as being evidenced in the Thessalonians…work of faith, labor of love, and steadfastness of hope.  Faith, hope, love…these three, but the greatest of these is love (1 Corinthians 13:13).  Throughout all of his writings, Paul speaks of the impact or result in our lives when the Holy Spirit is present.  We cannot be ‘unaffected’ by the Holy Spirit when He is in our hearts.  He is not a token we take out occasionally and flash around.  He permeates our lives and is evidenced in all of our relationships… we become imitators of Christ.

What does the evidence in your life indicate?  Can those around you clearly recognize the fruit of the Spirit or is your fruit mashed and spoiled?  Do those who know you see Christ or do they see a counterfeit that is a poor imitation?  Evidence reveals the truth!

Re:Verse passage – 1 Thessalonians 1:2-6 (day three)

“…constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope.”

Physicists have observed a state of existence called quantum entanglement, in which determining a particular characteristic of one particle will tell the observer specific details about the corresponding characteristic of another particle without the observer’s ever having to examine that other particle. The two particles are said to be “entangled,” even if they are light-years apart. All phenomena in the material realm have their antecedents in the spiritual realm. Human beings have a will because God has a will. Human beings draw life from community because life comes only from God, who exists in eternal community. And if hope sprang up in Paul continually, if love enfolded  him constantly, if faith buoyed him incessantly, it’s because dear friends in Christ entangled their lives with his.

Re:Verse passage – 1 Thessalonians 1:2-6 (day two) 

You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit, Vs. 6

Regional question for you: Where you grew up did you have connect the dot pictures, or dot to dot pictures? I confess that I had never heard of dot to dot until a two years ago. When I read this passage this morning I was thinking of the long line of faithful men and women who have served as faithful followers of Christ since the time of Paul. We all share the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives who has connected each of us together. We will never fully appreciate the grand design that the Lord is putting together until we reach Heaven, but don’t you imagine that it will look incredible. Think also about how Paul describes what he sees in the Thessalonians believers. They imitated what they saw lived out in other believers who had in turn lived out what they had received from the Lord. Again, the Holy Spirit has helped shape our faith by allowing us to see others live out this great testimony. Think of who the Spirit has connected you to, and to whom you are being called to connect.

Re:Verse passage – Ephesians 5:18-19 (day seven)

And do not get drunk with wine – Ephesians 5:18a

It all begins with a taste. One taste, one drink, one more… dissipation and drunkenness. Could it be that restoration begins with a taste?

O taste and see that the Lord is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him! – Psalm 34:8

[…] like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord. – 1 Peter 2:2-3

When we taste the goodness and kindness of the Lord, two things happen. One, we clearly see that we will never be able to replicate the same type of goodness. We see our brokenness. Two, we long for more. When we taste that goodness, our brokenness begins to be put back together, and we realize it is through more of that taste that we will be restored. Taste and see!