Tag: Peace

Barack Obama: A Legacy of Progress

With eloquence and grace,

He stepped up to lead the nation

With a message of hope and change

He brought a new sensation

He fought for healthcare reform

And worked to bring us peace

His leadership was bold and warm

He aimed to never cease

He broke through barriers of race

And made history in the land

A symbol of progress and grace

His legacy will forever stand

Through trials and tribulations

He kept his head held high

And left behind a nation

Of progress, unity and pride

Though his time in office has passed

His message will never die

Barack Obama, a legacy amassed

Of progress, forever high.

5 Ways How to Unlock The Fruit of The Spirit During Your Day

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Photo bybknis onPixabay

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Every day, we have opportunities to grow in our walk with The Lord. As Christians, we are to be growing in our faith every single day. It’s not just something we do on Sundays or special occasions. It’s a lifelong commitment that we make to God. And to help us along the way, the Holy Spirit is continually working in us and guiding us toward greater love and service for God. The fruit of the Holy Spirit — which refers to characteristics of The Lord that dwell within us — is what He is doing inside of us at any given moment so that we can grow as His followers. When we experience these fruits within us, it’s a sign that The Holy Spirit is at work within us bringing out our best qualities so that we can become more Christlike in all areas of life. Here are 5 ways you can unlock the fruit of The Holy Spirit during your day:

Dwell on God’s Word

Reading God’s Word is the best way to unlock the fruit of the Spirit. It’s the first step toward growth and learning. Studying God’s Word will help you understand what the Holy Spirit is trying to teach you and provide you with knowledge that’s applicable to your life. When you read God’s Word, you’re allowing The Holy Spirit to dwell within you. When reading the Bible, keep in mind how you want to grow as a Christian. What do you want to become more like? As you read, visualize yourself being more like that person. With that in mind, you’ll be on the right track. Reading the Bible also helps you to understand your relationship with The Lord better. Reading the Old and New Testaments will help you to see how the Bible relates to your life. If you want to grow in your love for The Lord, read about how He loved you first. If you want to grow in your love for other people, read about how He loved them. If you want to grow in your love for yourself, read about how The Lord loves you. Reading the Bible will also help you to understand what The Lord expects from you. Reading about how The Lord lived will help you to understand what a godly life looks like.

Be Persistent In Prayer

Prayer is a vital part of growing in your relationship with The Lord. The Bible says that when we pray, we are speaking to God. When we consistently pray, we’re allowing The Holy Spirit to dwell within us. Prayer is a gift from God that allows us to tell God what’s on our heart and mind while also allowing us to ask Him for what we want. If you want to grow in your relationship with God, be persistent in prayer. When you feel like praying, continue praying even if it feels like you’ve been saying the same prayer for hours. If you feel like you’ve been saying the same prayer for days on end, don’t stop. Be persistent in prayer. Having a relationship with God is a continual process, so if you want to grow, you need to be persistent.

Show Love And Compassion

Showing love and compassion to others is one way that we can unlock the fruit of the Spirit. When you consistently show love and compassion toward others, you’re allowing The Holy Spirit to dwell within you. Jesus loves you and is constantly showing you how to love. He loves you so much that He died on the cross for you. He loves you so much that He never stops loving you. He loves you so much that He wants you to love others even when they are mean to you. He loves you so much that He wants you to show compassion to others when they hurt or struggle. When you consistently show love and compassion to others, you’re allowing The Holy Spirit to dwell within you.

Be Gifted in Service

The fruit of the Spirit that specializes in service is being gifted in service. It’s the Holy Spirit dwelling within you so that you can consistently serve others. Serving others is one of the ways that we can cultivate the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. Being gifted in service is about helping others. It’s about using your gifts to bless others and use your talents to serve others. As you serve others, you’re allowing The Holy Spirit to dwell within you. When you use your gifts to bless and serve others, you’re allowing The Holy Spirit to come and live inside of you.

Conclusion

Every day is an opportunity to grow in your walk with The Lord. It doesn’t matter if it’s the best day of your life or the worst day of your life. The only thing that matters is that you’re doing something that’s advancing your relationship with God. The key is to dwell on the things that will help you unlock the fruit of the Spirit. When you do that, you’ll experience more spiritual growth and more love and service for God. Having a deeper relationship with God is a lifelong journey. It’s a journey that will never come to an end, so you need to prepare for it now. That’s why it’s so important to unlock the fruit of the Spirit every day. Once you begin to experience it, you’ll see how valuable this process is. You’ll also see how much better you are as a Christian because of it. The best thing about unlocking the fruit of the Spirit is that you don’t have to do it alone. The Holy Spirit is always with you, and He wants to help you cultivate His fruit in your life.

Fairbanks Park

Decided to visit Fairbanks Park today here in Terre Haute, Indiana as I wait to hear back about a position with Great Dane. The agency Aegis Worldwide hadn’t returned my call from yesterday letting them know I was here. Started to get a little anxious and so I had gone for a little walk to see what this park was like. The Wabash River borders one side and makes me think of Huckleberry Finn. It’s amazing how wide the river is. Must be pretty deep too as to how still it looks. The park itself is pretty big from what I can see from google maps.

Wabash River bordering Fairbanks Park
The park from where I chose to rest for a spell

First Leg

So far, the 1st leg of the trip went well. Nampa, Idaho was the city we stayed the night in, just short of Boise. The initial part of today’s trip will be to Salt Lake City, Utah.

The hotel we stayed in last night looked a little seedy, with a notice on the front desk talking about zero tolerance for drug use and even a whiff of anything that could be construed in that direction will result in a trespass and cops called. Needless to say that I wondered what kind of people stayed there on a consistent basis.

The day started off chilly but sunny and promises warmth.

Seek It In Yourselves

No man is free who is not master of himself. A man should so live that his happiness shall depend as little as possible on external things. The world turns aside to let any man pass who knows where he is going.” ― Epictetus

When we stop looking for happiness through external factors and start looking at cleaning, straightening, and improving the inside, our view of the world improves and by affect help improve the world around us.

Jehovah Resists The Proud

Psalm 138:6 – ” Though the LORD be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off.”

David writes this for our benefit, letting us know Jehovah has higher regard for the humble over the prideful.

At Psalm 138: 4 – 6, Jehovah’s faithfulness to His promises will evoke the homage of all those in the world. Psalm 138: 6 helps us to see that even with as powerful as Jehovah is, He’s capable of acknowledging those who keep humility and lowliness close to their heart. Even in all His glory, He never loses sight of the lowly, and in time elevates them. The prideful he keeps at a distance, the evil and egotistical can’t hide from his punishment and destruction. Those against him will never be able to find a safe place, forever running away but never succeeding. Their destruction is sure and obliteration will become known.

Is 2:8 shows the immense power that Jehovah has will be seen, the power to give or take life itself. Psalm 113 6 – 8 helps us to see how becoming humble, especially towards the LORD, that one will be blessed, raised up and given glory. Those glorified will be the poor and needy. Isaiah 57: 15 gives insight to how the lowly in heart and humble will be given renewed energy, a continuous hope for what is to come.

James 4: 6 is where we see a resisting of the proud and grace given to the humble. 1 Peter 5: 5 helps us to see how we can be humble by being subject to those related to us in the faith without regards to ourselves, becoming clothed in humility.

With prayerful consideration, I should pay attention to my steps so as to not be overly proud, to become humble with a contrite spirit, lowering my heart in relation to those around me as if I was poor in body so that I may become rich and wealth in spirit.

Anxious, To Be Or Not To Be….

Mt. 6:31 – Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Where withal shall we be clothed?

Matthew, when writing this, recorded Jesus’s words at his Sermon on the Mount to his followers.

When feeling a controllable form of anxiety, we may have an excessive worry about the future, about things that may or may not happen. It is good to have some worry so that we may have a plan for the just in case, but when it goes beyond that to overtaking our mind, then we should take a moment. Normal concern is having an emergency savings for when extra costs come up or when work has to lay off workers due to the company closing a cashflow negative location or location change of a facility altogether as the case is sometimes. Preparing for such helps relieve stress on the mind and body. But continuing to worry about what hasn’t happened, even when prepared, brings down joy and happiness to you and those in your circle. Even in negative situations, there’s always a positive aspect, related or not, to be gleaned from what we’re going through.

Luke 10:41 shows how Jesus tried to help Martha not worry so much about what was going on, to just enjoy the moment that was happening. Luke 12: 29 – 31 helps us to see that as children of God, when we continue follow and seek His kingdom and Him, He will provide all that we need and more. As our spiritual Father, how could He not?

The promises made by Jehovah are given in love as we rely on Him as provider of all good things to His children and servants. My prayer is that I become more reliant on Jehovah as my provider, to know that as my heavenly Father, He will continue to give according to what my needs are, and that I will receive an overflow. Becoming more reliant on Him for my daily needs will prove to be more beneficial as I continue to grow, follow, and rely on Him in the footsteps of Jesus.

Be Still And Know….

(Psa 46:10) “Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.”

In Ps 46:8-11, one reference indicates that this section of verses is an exhortation to reflect upon the marvelous deliverance from wars and persecutions ( Physical and Spiritual), and learn the lesson and to become more reliant upon the Almighty creator and keeper of our souls.

Ps 46 expresses that God Almighty is more than capable of supplying for the needs of his servants and children, along with being able to protect what is rightfully his. When we are moving along inside the frenzied world, and our focus has become lost, even mildly, when we come to a point of no distraction and regain our focus on the progenitor of our very being, our strength comes back and focus becomes realigned. This will also help us realize if we need the help of others outside of ourselves, leading to whatever is necessary for our re-focus on reality.

(Psa 46:11 KJV)  “The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.”

Being still will also help us in taking shelter in the one who is strong enough to keep us safe from the evil one who wishes us nothing good, and from the storms and waves of this world that would drag us down.

(Psa 46:6 – 9 KJV)  The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted. The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. Come, behold the works of the LORD, what desolations he hath made in the earth. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire.

Jehovah God reminds us and warns our enemies at the same instance of what he’s capable of, bringing peace and salvation to His people along with death and destruction to His enemies. This act alone brings reconciliation and harmony among people and therefore throughout the earth in which His people reside.