A FRUITFUL Christian- Temperance

A Fruitful Christian 🍎🍈🥭🍋🍉

Happy Tuesday and welcome to another look at The Fruitful Christian. Today will finish out this series. I have enjoyed looking at the Fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5 and I pray you have to.

Today brings in our last fruit. The last piece of the puzzle. The last quality of a Christian who is in living in a love relationship with God. The final reward. Temperance.

Temperance-moderation in action, thought, or feeling: restraint, self-control

Self-control- the ability to control oneself, in particular one’s emotions and desires or the expression of them in one’s behavior, especially in difficult situations.

It’s no accident that Paul listed temperance as the very last Fruit of the Spirit. God led Him to place this challenging character trait at the very end. My guess; is because self-control is impossible without all the other qualities being instilled first. Without my daily walk with God, without my quiet time with Him, without by obedience to the greatest commandment; it would be very hard to live in control of my flesh.

My flesh is too weak to control my emotions, my temper, my desires, and my temptations. My flesh can not handle all the pressures of life. But when I’m living in the Spirit and walking with God, His strength is enough to withstand all the difficult situations life may present. Self-control is really all about allowing the Spirit to control your life- being under His control, submitting yourself to Him daily, learning to crucify yourself in Christ daily.

All of these godly attributes have been adding up- one on top of the other. Love is the first and for-most- the foundation of all the Fruit of the Spirit.

I can’t help but think of a triple scoop ice-cream cone, you have this amazing chocolate covered waffle cone that is holding all the delicious flavors of ice-cream together. That waffle cone is the first step, you must have it. You can not skip this vital step, nor would you want to! Who wants to miss out on a waffle cone dipped in chocolate with caramel drizzled on the side? Then, once you have the first step down, you can start scooping all the yummy ice-cream flavors inside the cone, one at a time. Once you are done with the ice-cream, you can add some coolwhip, and the very last step, you get to put the shiny red cherry on top.

Isn’t that a yummy picture of the Fruit of the Spirit? You start with love and inside that love you begin to scoop in all the other wonderful results of walking with God- joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance (the cherry on top). And not only are you a beautiful sight in the eyes of the world, you are also living a beautiful life in the Fruit of the Spirit.

Do you long for some joy or peace in your life?

Do you feel like you need more long-suffering, gentleness, or goodness?

Are you a woman of faith?

Is meekness a word that upsets you?

Do you long to have control over your fleshly desires?

It all boils down to this last questions.

How is your love relationship with God?

As we wrap up this study, I want you to remember- the closer you are to Him, the closer you will resemble Him. And shouldn’t that be our desire as a Christian; to be Christ like? Are you a Fruitful Woman? You can be! But you must follow the recipe that God has given us. You can find the recipe and all the ingredients for being a Fruitful woman in Galatians 5:22-23

Peace, Joy, and Blessings!

A FRUITFUL Christian- Meekness

As we look at yet another Fruit of the Spirit in our Fruitful Christian series today, we will focus on Meekness.

Meekness- the act or condition of being meek; submissiveness

Meek- quiet, gentle, and imposed on; submissive

Meek is such a beautiful word with so many beautiful synonyms. I want to share a few, because I truly believe there is power in words. Look how powerful and challenging the word meek is!

Synonyms for meek: humble, modest, peaceable, obedient, unpretentious, lowly, mild, reverent, forbearing, tame, patient, gentle, long-suffering, docile, unassuming, compliant

Which one spoke to you the most? Circle it.

Now let’s look at words that mean the opposite of meek.

Antonyms for meek: impatient, assertive, overbearing, assuming, wild, inpatient, incompliant

Out of these two list, which best describes the characteristics of God. Unfortunately, modern society teaches us the meekness is for the spineless and the weak. Meekness is a characteristic that resembles the timid and the shy. But I would like to argue that meekness is a quality that reflects a beautiful, healthy love relationship with God. Go back and read the definition and the synonyms of meek. Do any of these words describe your personality? If not- pray for it. Work on it. Draw closer to God and allow Him to transform you into a meek woman.

Maybe hearing that term a “Meek Woman” just made your skin crawl. Perhaps you have worked very hard in becoming an influential, independent woman, and the idea of being a meek woman just makes you sick.

 Please turn your Bible to 1 Peter 3:4 and fill in the blanks below:
“But let it be the hidden man of the _____________________, in that which is not _____________________________________, even the ornament of a ________________________ and __________________________ spirit, which is in the sight of God of great ____________________________.

Being a meek woman does not take away from you being an independent, strong woman. Being meek doesn’t mean you become someone’s doormat or a shy timid mouse. Being meek means you live wisely, and allow the Spirit to rule your life, mouth, mood, and actions; not your emotions. Ladies, you can still be influential, you can still be independent and do powerful things through God- being meek just means you’re humble about it. Please, continue to work hard, use your platform to go change the world! Don’t be afraid to do something big. A meek woman can do all this. And when she does- she gives God all the glory!

Peace and Blessings,