Dear Precious Friends, It's a beautiful new day because God has given us a gift... a gift like no other... Even in the worst of times, we have a new day!! Jeremiah’s statement that God’s mercies are “new every morning” is related to the statement that follows: “Great is your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:23). The dawning of every new day is a symbol of God’s light breaking through the darkness and His mercy overcoming our troubles. Every morning demonstrates God’s grace, a new beginning in which gloom must flee. We need look no further than the breath in our lungs, the sun that shines upon us, or the rain that falls to nourish the soil. The mercies of God continue to come to us via a multitude of manifestations. Gods word reminds us look upon the start of each new day as something special. If we've learned anything through this past year, it is that we must never take a single day for granted. Take at least a few moments today to walk around and observe the world. Savor the natural beauty and majesty of the sunrise or sunset. Our focus as Kings Kids is to Love God. Love Others. Honor God. Make Disciples. So we ask ourselves these questions...What will God teach me today? How can I make a difference in someone else’s life? I pray I encourage someone, thank someone, help someone or bring a smile to another person’s face? How can I be used by the Lord today? We are examining our hearts and have been looking at each fruit over these past 9 days so we know the areas we need to work on. The "fruit of the Spirit" is what happens when the Holy Spirit indwells a believer. The "fruit" is the product of the Holy Spirit’s cultivation of character in our heart. Galatians 5:22-23 describes what that fruit looks like; and we are going through each one of the fruits of the spirit as a sort of "spiritual check" on ourselves to see how the Holy Spirit has cultivated each one in us and what areas we need Him to help us work on. we have already studied love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and now we and now we are looking at self control. . We will wrap up the Fruit of the Spirit series by discussing self-control, which is one of the most important fruits to possess. Self-control helps us to resist temptation and avoid conforming to the things of this world. It guides our decisions, and it correlates with how we show the other fruits in our lives. Self-control can be applied to all of the fruits of the Spirit in the same way it is applied to forbearance or patience. Displaying self-control is often a matter of responding rather than reacting. When we react to a situation, we let our emotions take control. We are more likely to become defensive and say hurtful things. Responding, however, involves developing a thoughtful response that is guided by reason more than emotions. Jesus Christ gives us the perfect example of self-control, because He lived a sinless life and possessed every fruit of the Spirit. Jesus demonstrated self-control because He was sent to earth to carry out the Father’s will. He was to live a perfect life in order to set an example for us, and in the end, He died for our sins so that we may have eternal life. In Matthew 26:53-54, Jesus says, “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and He will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen this way?” WOW WOW WOW... in an instant Jesus could have taken down all who were against Him. He knew what He had to suffer for us... He sweat blood in the garden of Gethsemane the Father to take away what was coming, yet He said not my will but yours be done... For details of what Jesus felt click here... https://www.gotquestions.org/sweat-blood-Jesus.html He demonstrated self-control in submitting to the Father’s perfect plan. Without the self-control of Jesus, we would face death as the punishment of our sin. 2 Timothy 1:7 says, “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” With the Holy Spirit inside of us, we are able to possess self-control and demonstrate the fruits of the Spirit. As a result, we can live in a way that is honorable to God. As Galatians 5:16 says “So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.” WOW such truth!!! We are constantly in a battle with our flesh and our Spirit. Anyone else relate... SO what we must do is be purposeful and know When we wake up ... immediately remember to talk to the Lord thanking Him for a new day and asking Him to help us walk in the Spirit and Truth of His word, His way and life. Starting our day with Him through spending time being silent (silent and listen have the same letters.. Hmmm....) opening up His word, asking Him to speak to us... praying and laying our petitions before Him... asking Him to fill our spirit and for us to walk through this day in His presence which equals fullness of joy despite what is happening in the world. Satan will try to distract us... it's obvious there are so many distractions in our world today.. but nothing on this earth is more precious than time with our Lord. It does take SELF CONTROL to spend time with Him. So my friends as we have gone through each of the fruits of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit has shown us the areas we need work on...WOW.. He has certainly shown me... I pray God fills you with His spirit, His Presence, His Power, His joy to face this day armored up ready for all that this day will bring! Please take a moment to listen to this song!! Love you all so much!!! Take a moment to listen to this song!!!!
https://youtu.be/UvBBC7-PSHo
