September 30, 2013 by Pastor Kris Belfils

Stand Therefore

We are in a war spiritually. This war has been going on even before Adam and Eve in the garden. Lucifer (satan, the devil) was cast out of heaven, along with a third of the angels (Isaiah 14:12), because satan wanted to be worshipped and lifted up. This was the beginning of the war of good vs. evil.

The devil is the epitome of all evil. He is evil. The Bible tells us that he “comes to steal, kill, and destroy” (John 10:10). This is his agenda with anything and anyone on earth. Don’t ever think for a moment that your enemy relaxes or gives up. No, he is relentless in pursuing you to destroy your walk with Christ, to make you think you are defeated, and to bring glory to himself while he is doing it. He is the father of lies.

John 8:44 NIV

“You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

Everyday we are challenged in this spiritual war to either press in and attack or to retreat and give up. God has given us His Word to help us daily in this war. We are not alone in this battle, our Mighty Warrior is constantly with us, fighting along side of us, to overcome any attack of the enemy.

We have to remember that we are not in a war against people, although at times it sure feels like we are, but this war is against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places (Eph. 6:12).

We are to dress for success in this battle. I remember hearing about the Armor of God and even reading about it and really didn’t give it any thought. I felt I had the armor on because I was a Christian, but that is not necessarily the case. The attacks from the enemy are harsh and wickedly evil and sneaky. Being fully dressed in the Armor of God daily helps us to fight this battle as a courageous soldier we all need to be.

Read Eph. 6:10 – 18

Eph. 6:10 – 11 NKJV

“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”

The Bible says put it on. Put on the full armor of God. Now, we’re not looking at metal, swords, leather, shields and helmets, but the armor that God’s talking about for us is a spiritual thing. It’s not something that you see. It’s not something that I see, but the devil sees it and God sees it. And the devil sees if it’s not there. Believe me, if he’s looking for somebody to attack, he’s going to pick the people who don’t have their armor on and don’t know how to use their offensive weapons against him. He’s going to look for lazy, passive people who just do nothing but sit around and whine and murmur about their problems all the time. We are in a war — a spiritual war. Paul tells us:

2 Cor. 10:3 – 5 NKJV

“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for the pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.”

God didn’t leave us weaponless. We will see in this series that we have the biggest and only weapon of the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.

Eph. 6:13 – 14a NKJV

“Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore…”

STAND

Eph. 6:13 – 14 NKJV

“Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore,…”

In Eph. 6:11 – 13 we see the word “stand” four times:

Eph. 6:11 “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand…”

Eph. 6:13 “…that you may be able to withstand in the evil day…”

Eph. 6:13 “…and having done all, to stand.”

Eph. 6:14 “Stand therefore…”

Stand therefore! This is before Paul even goes into the different parts of our spiritual armor. Paul is telling us to prepare ourselves for combat.

Once a soldier has on their full armor or uniform for combat, they can stand knowing they are prepared and ready for battle. Stand in battle position.

There’s some new sayings that are slowly becoming old – yet fit the message I want to get across today. They are: “If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything,” and “If we don’t stand together, we’ll fall apart!”

Sometimes we can’t do anything but stand. When we’ve done all we know to do – many of us will allow the weight of our tribulations and trials to drop us to our knees. We give up. We quit. We lose the fight. But, God is calling you and I to a place that requires determination and fortitude…He’s calling us to …stand!

There are times we find ourselves in the place of uncertainty, we fly off the handle or take matters into our own hands. We must get to the place where we’ll not speak, not move, not act – sometimes, we must do nothing but stand!

Standing our ground is still winning! We are not giving up territory. We are not retreating. Standing is a battle position.

Many of God’s people walk out of their house every morning naked! Spiritually naked that is. Without the Armor of God! You must remember the enemy is going to shoot his arrows where he finds the weak spots. So, you must have the ‘whole’ armor on! You see you can’t stand without the whole armor! It would be like you were standing naked in a snowstorm expecting not to get cold! Rather foolish don’t you think? And yet, that’s how some Christians live their lives. They think they’ve got it all together. They have this attitude – ‘hey I can stand!’ Problem is, they are trying to stand on their own. You can’t stand on your own! It may be your own two feet that you stand on, but it’s by God’s grace and power that you can stand at all!

Paul tells us to “Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” Without the armor on, You will not be able to stand.

1 Cor. 10:12 – 13 NKJV

“Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear (endure) it.”

The Amplified Bible goes into much more detail on these verses:

1 Cor. 10:12 – 13 Amplified Bible

“Therefore let anyone who thinks he stands [who feels sure that he has a steadfast mind and is standing firm], take heed lest he fall [into sin]. For no temptation (no trial regarded as enticing to sin), [no matter how it comes or where it leads] has overtaken you and laid hold on you that is not common to man [that is, no temptation or trial has come to you that is beyond human resistance and that is not adjusted and adapted and belonging to human experience, and such as man can bear]. But God is faithful [to His Word and to His compassionate nature], and He [can be trusted] not to let you be tempted and tried and assayed beyond your ability and strength of resistance and power to endure, but with the temptation He will [always] also provide the way out (the means of escape to a landing place), that you may be capable and strong and powerful to bear up under it patiently.”

First Corinthians 10:13 promises us that God will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear, but with every temptation He will also provide the way out — the means of escape. The end result will be that we are capable and strong to patiently bear up under whatever negative circumstances we face.

“Temptation” can be translated in the Greek; “enticement to evil or testing in general, including various kinds of trials.”

I think we look at the word “temptation” and think of a sinful act. It can be that, but it also can be that we are tempted to react ungodly in a trial or battle or hardship. God wants us to stand firm under any situation we face today.

Sometimes we don’t get answers or relief from the battle in our timeframe, but to Stand and not be moved, is a battle position. Standing is winning!

The thing about God’s armor is that it’s ‘one size fits all!’ When Saul tried to assist little David in his fight against Goliath, he invited him to wear his armor. But, David could not because it was too big for him. It didn’t fit.

Many of God’s people look at the Armor of God and try to leave some articles at home declaring that they don’t fit their lives. Some may say, “Well, I don’t need that shield of faith because I just don’t believe in all that faith stuff.” Then how in the world did you ever get saved in the first place without faith?

Some would say, “Oh, truth doesn’t fit into my life, I don’t need that belt of truth. Telling the truth just hurts too much.” Fact is, truth might hurt a little, but lying will flat out kill you! You might say, what is truth? The Bible tells us that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and that no one goes to the Father accept through Him. The Bible is truth! Leaving the belt of Truth out of your armor is setting you up for failure and being vulnerable to the enemy.

No, this Armor of God is one-size-fits-all! In fact, if you think it doesn’t fit your life then you have to change your thinking or you are being deceived.

Eph. 6:13 Amplified Bible

“Therefore put on God’s complete armor, that you may be able to resist and stand your ground on the evil day [of danger], and, having done all [the crisis demands],to stand [firmly in your place].”

“…and having done all…” There will come a time in every battle that, “after having done all,” after doing all we know, we stand and see the salvation of God. We stand, and watch God work.

This is exactly what happened to Moses and the children of Israel after fleeing from Pharaoh in Egypt.

Exodus 14:13 NKJV

“And Moses said to the people, ‘Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today you shall see again no more forever.”

On one side was the Red Sea and on the other side were Pharaoh’s army. The Israelites had no place to go in either direction. They were up against a wall so to speak. It didn’t make sense to them. One minute they were leaving Egypt and captivity and excited about their future and then the next they were surrounded by impossibilities. Did God make a mistake? Did they make a mistake? Did they hear God correctly to go posses their promised land? They started to second guess everything.

Exodus 14:11 – 12 NKJV

“Then they said to Moses, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.”

How quickly do we start grumbling and complaining about our circumstances when things don’t go our way or they seem impossible? We are just like the Israelites. We complain when we don’t see answers to our prayers. We complain when we are challenged in life. We want out of hard situations instead of walking through them and possibly receiving a miracle of the parting of the red sea in our own lives.

Moses reminded them to Stand still and see the salvation of God. Too often we are busy and quick trying to get things done on our own power. We are busy complaining and murmuring to ever see the miracle God is trying to do in our midst.

We are to stand still. Stand therefore! Do not stir from the place where you are. Do not offer to run away, or to make your escape. We are to hold our ground. We are to look to God for deliverance and not our own abilities. Even in the midst of this possible tragedy God was protecting them.

Exodus 14:19 – 20 NKJV

“And the Angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud went from before them and stood behind them. So it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. Thus it was a cloud and darkness to the one, and it gave light by night to the other, so that the one did not come near the other all that night.”

Wow, God was intervening. He was protecting them and kept them hidden from their enemy during the night. This was the beginning of the salvation of the Lord for them. God was setting them up for an even bigger miracle and victory.

If they would have fled from where they were, only destruction would have happened. Standing in the middle of hard situations shows your trust in God. It displays godly character. It sets you up for God’s salvation, His miracles, and His victory.

Remember that Jesus is our armor. All that the Armor of God is, is Jesus Christ’s character and strength.

Jesus is our Armor

Jesus Christ is the Armor of God, think about it. Paul tells us to have on the belt of truth. Didn’t Jesus say He is “the truth, the way, and the life…” (John 14:6b, KJV).

Paul said to put on the breastplate of righteousness. Walking in Christ and His righteousness is equivalent to putting on the breastplate of righteousness.

2 Cor. 5:21 NKJV

“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (Christ).”

Walking in peace is equivalent to putting on your shoes of peace. Isaiah 9:6 calls Him the “Prince of Peace.”

Ephesians 2:13 -14a NIV

“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace…”

Paul says to take the shield of faith. Is Jesus not our shield of faith? Does He not protect us from the evil one? God says he is our shield and the lifter of our head (Psalm 3:3).

Paul says to put on the helmet of salvation. Without Christ, there would be no plan of salvation. He is our help and our salvation!

Jesus is also the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. John tells us: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1, NIV).

In essence, what we need to do is ‘put on Christ!‘ Paul said, “…for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” (Galatians 3:27, NIV)

You can’t stand in this world without putting on Jesus! Once you put Him on, just stand!

Standing, ready for battle, in the middle of the battle, is a requirement. It is essential in winning the battle.

This is the introduction of the series; “Armor of God” that we will be having the next few weeks. Next week we look at the first piece of armor; “The Belt of Truth!” Be ready for battle. Be ready with your armor on everyday of your life. God gave it to us but we must put it on daily. Don’t leave home without it! Dress for success!

Your sister in Christ,

Pastor Kris Belfils

www.krisbelfils.com

www.HopeFellowshipSpokane.com

www.krisbelfils.wordpress.com

September 23, 2013 by Pastor Kris Belfils

Open Heaven

Have you ever longed to be in God’s presence? Do you hunger for more of God and receive more of whom He is in your life?

I believe God is pouring out His precious Spirit upon all flesh and this out pouring will bring more and more souls into His kingdom. More lives will be transformed by just one moment in His presence. But there is a longing in my spirit for even more. You see, unlike our natural hunger that is satisfied after we eat, our spiritual hunger becomes more intense after we eat and partake from God. The more you spend time in God’s presence, the more you want to stay there. You want more and more of Him. He is so beautiful and loving. His joy will fill your very being. You will know that He has everything under His control.

It is a precious place to be in the everlasting arms of God. This is the beginning of an open heaven into more of God.

Open heaven happens in the natural as well as the spiritual and God’s glory is revealed…

OPEN HEAVEN IN THE NATURAL:

Deut. 28:12 NKJV

“The LORD will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow.”

His good treasure, the heavens! Wow, The heavens are God’s treasure waiting to be

poured out to you and I as we obey His Word! How awesome is that? In this case it was in the natural. God was telling the Israelites that if they obeyed His commands, and followed His ways, He would open up the Heavens, where His great treasure was, and pour out a blessing they couldn’t even contain.

How many want the Lord to bless the work of your hands? The Message states that verse this way:

Deut. 28:12 Message

“GOD will throw open the doors of his sky vaults and pour rain on your land on schedule and bless the work you take in hand. You will lend to many nations but you yourself won’t have to take out a loan.”

Here God is speaking to the Israelites concerning the many blessings God will give to them as long as they obey His commandments and stay close to Him. These blessings are available in the natural as well as the spiritual.

Too often people see the blessings part and ignore the condition of the blessing.

The conditions for the blessings promised:

1. They diligently hearken to the voice of God

Deut. 28:1 – 2 NKJV

“Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the LORD your God will set your high above all nations of the earth.”

God was speaking to them and they were to do their utmost in obeying what He was telling them.

Deut 28:13

“And the LORD will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you heed the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them.”

We are the head and not the tail. God has raised us up above our enemies and we will be eating at a table prepared for us in front of our enemies all because we love the Lord enough to obey His Word and walk in His ways.

2. They observe and do all his commandments

Not only do them for once, but keep them for ever; To set out in His ways and walk in them forever. God wants to see faithful people. Faithfulness is doing the right thing over and over and over and over again.

3. They should not go aside either to the right hand or to the left

Deut. 28:14 NKJV

“So you shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right or he left, to go after other gods to serve them.”

It is so easy to be swayed by the things of this world, even false teachings. We must be diligent in our relationship with God and following His word. The United States use to be a nations under God, but today, there are so many critics of the Gospel. Be strong and stand up for what you believe in. Don’t be swayed by becoming “Politically Correct.”

People get offended by the truth, yet the Truth will set you free! ~ “And you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free.” (John 8:32 AMP)

Jesus offended many by speaking truth. He was the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one can go to the Father except through Christ. Let’s be a people who make a stand for the Truth. We will be honored and blessed because of it.

“…they should not go after other gods (Deu_28:14), which was the sin that of all others they were most prone to, and God would be most displeased with.

What is an idol in your life? People? Things? Position? Past hurts? If we focus on them more then God, they are “other gods” in our life. Don’t give power to your past hurts by playing and replaying them over and over again.

Blessings follow obedience!

When we obey we are blessed

First, and foremost, we make good decisions when we choose to follow God’s Word. It is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.

Psalms 119:105 (NKJV)

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”

Obeying God’s word will help shine light on the next step you should take. We can look to God’s Word for any situation we may be facing in life. God has the answers for us. Are you willing to look?

Second, when we obey God, our life has less trials then one who disobeys and continues to make poor decisions for their life.

Proverbs 4:18 – 19 (The Message)

“The ways of right-living people glow with light; the longer they live, the brighter they shine. But the road of the wrongdoing gets darker and darker – travelers can’t see a thing; they fall flat on their faces.”

“Right living = Right Results!” If we choose to live right, and follow God’s word, we will achieve right results in our life. Isn’t it awesome that God gave us His word to help bring right results and success in our lives? This makes me want to obey God even more. It shows His love for us.

Proverbs 3:35 (The Message)

“Wise living gets rewarded with honor; stupid living gets the booby prize.”

I don’t want anything except the very best from God. If my choices of obeying God brings good results, I will all the more obey Him.

Third, When we obey God’s word we choose life!

Deuteronomy 30:19 – 20 (NKJV)

“I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may life; that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

We choose good health when we choose to obey God and His word. He is for us and His word has life. God will not lead us astray. No! God’s direction is always the right direction to take. We can trust God with our life. He created us in the first place. Surely the Creator knows what is best for His creation. He has given us a blueprint, a roadmap for our lives with His word if we choose to follow and obey it. We will live a prosperous, productive, successful life when we do.

What are some blessings when the heavens are open?

READ Deut. 28:1 – 11

1. The Lord will Make your businesses and your farms successful.

2. You will have many children.

3. You will harvest large crops

4. Your herds of cattle, flocks of sheep and goats will produce many young.

5. You will have plenty of bread to eat.

6. The Lord will make you successful in your daily work.

7. The Lord will help you defeat your enemies and make them scatter in all directions.

8. The Lord your God is giving you the land (territory)

9. God will make sure you are successful in everything you do.

10. Your harvest will be so large that your storehouse (bank accounts) will be full.

11. God will make you His own special people.

12. Everyone on earth will know you belong to the Lord, and they will be afraid of you.

These are the promises of an open heaven!!!

God opens the Heavens spiritually too. God’s rain is more than just stuff but also revival and the bread of His presence. he is the true hidden manna of heaven.

OPEN HEAVEN IN THE SPIRITUAL

One of the most common manifestations of living under an open heaven is constant revelation.

Here are a few examples:

1. Ezekiel

Eze. 1:1

“Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.”

2. John the Revelator

Rev. 4:1 – 2

“After this I looked, and behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter. And immediately I was in the Spirit:”

Rev. 19:11

“And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and true, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.”

3. Jacob

Gen. 28:12

“And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.”

4. Peter

Acts 10:9 – 11

“Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour: And he became very hungry, and would have eaten: but while they made ready, he fell into a trance, And saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners.”

5. Paul wrote…

Eph. 1:15 – 23 (Amplified Bible)

“…[For I always pray to] the God of our Lord jesus Christ, the Father of glory, that He may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation [of insight into mysteries and secrets] in the [deep and intimate] knowledge of Him. By having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, (Heaven opened) so that you can know and understand the hope to which He has called you, and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints (His set-apart ones), And [so that you can know and understand] what is the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His power in and for us who believe, as demonstrated in the working of His mighty strength…”

…of insight into mysteries and secrets in the deep and intimate knowledge of Him… This comes as we gaze into Christ’s beautiful face.

Hebrews 12:2

“Looking unto jesus the author and finisher of our faith,” the word “looking” is translated to Gaze or stargazer.”

Gaze: to turn the eyes away from other things and fix them on something, properly, to stare at, to see with the eyes, to see with the mind, to perceive to know, to become acquainted with by experience, to experience, to see, to look to or study intently. (Brown Driver Briggs Hebrew Lexicon).

As we gaze into Christ’s face, we begin to see how beautiful He is. The more we seek Him, the more He will reveal Himself to us.

6. Isaiah 6:1 – 5 (I saw the Lord sitting at the throne…)

Isaiah was given a vision through an open heaven of God on His throne. It was a powerful vision. After he saw the vision he couldn’t help but say, “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: For my eyes have seen the King, The LORD of hosts.”

We become “undone” when we experience an Open Heaven of God’s glory. Yet, we long for and crave for more.

Isaiah 64:1

“If only You would split open the heavens and come down! The mountains would quake at Your presence.”

God is here today and wants to His glory to be revealed in all of us. We are precious to Him.

WHAT IS AN OPEN HEAVEN?

Definition: When the heavens are open we have free access to everything in heavenly realms, a free flowing of Gods abundant graces and ministry power. Ministering under an open heaven is like toiling the soil without labor or sweat on the brow. When heaven is open for you God will be near and heaven will be manifest in the natural “on earth as it is in Heaven.”

OPEN: to be let loose, be thrown open, to loosen, to open oneself

Strongs Concordance states: pâthach, paw-thakh’, A primitive root; to open wide (literally or figuratively); specifically to loosen, break forth, let go free,

HEAVEN: BDB (Brown Driver Briggs Hebrew Definitions) – H8064, shâmayim / shâmeh, heaven, heavens, sky, abode of the stars, as the visible universe, atmosphere, heaven as the abode of God.

We can safely state that “Open Heaven” literally means: To open wide, throw open or loosen oneself, let go free the sky or atmosphere where God dwells!

How do we receive an open heaven?

What opens the Heavens?

What stirs the Heart Of God?

Intimacy is the key to unlock an open heaven.

There is an intimacy that God longs for but, it will cost us something. The cost is dying to our flesh. We have to decrease so that God can increase in our lives. I know you have heard that saying before but let’s look at it more closely.

How do we receive an open heaven?

1. We must decrease so God can increase

From the beginning of when we were born we have centered on ourselves. We are a selfish people. It is unfortunately natural to think about ourselves and look out for #1. That is why we have to teach our children to share and be nice to others. We have to teach them to think about the other person’s feelings. We never have to teach a toddler to think about themselves. One of the first words they learn, besides “no, is “mine.”

So it takes some deprogramming to change our thinking and to look beyond ourselves and focus onto God and what He may want. The first step in decreasing is brokenness.

a. Brokenness

In our brokenness His love pours into our hearts and flows out to those around us like never before. Weeping and even wailing come forth in the pure presence of His sweet life giving sustenance of love. When we think that He has abandoned us and life has turned dark, the light of His pure love reaches us and flows like a river into our lives changing us forever. In brokenness our values and priorities are greatly changed. The things of building and doing become of little value and the reality of being in His presence becomes preeminent.

Acts 14:22

“We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.”

It seems through brokenness and trials and tribulations God prepares the soil of our hearts to receive from Him. They awakened us from our self-sufficiency and our spirit can respond in humility to the drawing and whooing of the presence of God.

Pride must go! Leaning on our self-sufficiency must go! We have to come to a place where we rely on God and God alone for our everyday needs. When pride is broken, God can move in our hearts in a real and powerful way.

Our self-sufficiency will destroy us and our pride will prevent God’s favor and blessing in our lives. The flesh is hard to tame. The only thing that will tame it is to lay it down at Christ’s feet and say, “Have your way in me.”

Christ said it well in Matthew 26:39b Amplified Bible,

“…My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will [not what I desire], but as You will and desire.”

Even Jesus gave up control to the Father when He literally laid down His life for His Father’s will.

“For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain,” Philippians 1:21 (NKJV).

Galatians 2:20 (NKJV)

“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

These passages of scripture show how we are to view our lives. It’s all about what He wants. When we give our hearts to Christ, we are not our own but His.

You need to deal with your flesh immediately. Your flesh doesn’t want to die. It will scream out at you to stop. It will scream out in self-pity to have its way. Be aware of it when the time comes for you to let go of your control to God.

If self-pity wins, sin has won.

Press through the pain of letting go of your will.

The world will tell you to look out for yourself, stand up for your rights, but God requires us to be broken and have a contrite heart, these sacrifices God will never despise (Psalm 51:17 NKJV).

It’s never fun to die. It costs us something. Our will has to die. Flesh wants to run when it is costly or painful.

We must die to our flesh, our pride, and self-sufficiency, because they can rob us of a close relationship with Christ, and prevent us from being what God created us to be.

Amy Wilson, with the Christian Literature Crusade, expresses this thought well;

God, harden me against myself,

The coward with pathetic voice

Who craves for ease and rest and joy.

Myself, arch-traitor to myself,

My hollowest friend,

My deadliest foe,

My clog, whatever road I go.

Our flesh will scream for us to have its way. We are only deceiving our self if we let it win. Part of our flesh is our pride. Pride comes in so many packages. One big package was my stubborn will.

I had to lay my dreams and goals at Christ’s feet. They were my crowns, or the precious things I had carried all my life, and really they amounted to nothing compared to God’s plans for me. Laying down my dreams and letting go of my self-sufficiency was making me decrease, and giving God back control and allowing Him to transform my life was allowing God to increase in my life.

When I decreased, it was no longer about me, but God. When God increased, He not only became the center of my life, but He increased Himself and His presence in me.

He increases areas of my life as I walk in obedience to His word.

It is a fail-safe plan to decrease and have God increase. It is a “win – win” situation.

B. Obedience – Is also needed to experience an open heaven. We must obey His commands and we must obey His promptings we sense in our hearts.

C. Submission – Submission and obedience go hand in hand. We have to submit under God’s and possibly other’s authorities that God has placed over us. This kills pride on the spot and creates a broken, humble heart.

All three: Brokenness, Obedience and submission bring decrease and allow God to increase.

How do we receive an open heaven? (Cont…)

2. Praise And Worship

As we praise and worship the Lord, it frees us to start focusing on Christ and not our problems or situations.

Worship is the atmosphere of Heaven

Brokenness is the currency of heaven.

When we worship, we bring Heaven’s atmosphere to earth, right where we are. Being broken and humble and coming and adoring God is the only place to be when wanting an open heaven. This creates an open heaven.

3. Waiting and Soaking in the presence of God.

This quiets our spirits so we can hear God’s voice. Just taking the time to wait in God’s presence will create that atmosphere for receiving.

We get too busy and distracted. Soaking in God’s presence (laying down or humbly sitting) helps us to be still and to recognize who we are compared to God. He brings rest and peace. So many voices pressing to be heard from our jobs, family, responsibilities, and more will scream at you for attention. Soaking in God’s presence, with worshipful music on, will bring you right where God is. He is peace and rest. He is the lover of your soul.

4. Being like King David, “A Man After God’s Own Heart.” – We need to chase, hunger, and long for time with the Lord. Intimacy is the key to an open heaven! David wanted to please God’s heart. He not only wanted to please God’s heart but he was after God.

Don’t be afraid to be intimate with God. Do you know He longs for this? He created you for communion and companionship.

Something happens when we allow God deeper into our hearts. We see things differently and we approach our daily life differently because we have a Savior Who is so intimate and real and Who cares about our everyday life. It brings change in our thinking an reasoning. Intimacy with God is a beautiful thing.

I have always known that God longs to be with His people in close fellowship, but to experience an Open Heaven first hand has changed me forever.

I had an experience with God during prayer. My eyes were closed but saw vividly a vision and wrote it in my journal several years ago and wanted to share it with you today:

Atmosphere of Heaven

By Kris Belfils

www.krisbelfils.com

7/19/05

Revelation 22:1 (Amplified)

Then He showed me the river whose waters give life, sparkling like crystal, flowing out from the throne of God and of the Lamb.”

I was praying this morning and sensed the Lord’s presence right away. I sensed a very sweet drawing in my spirit to come. As I was seeking the Lord, I saw a River and walked up to it. Soon I found myself swimming in the River and Jesus was with me. He looked at me and said, “Come with me and let me show you more!” He held me with one arm and we flew up in the air towards the clouds. Higher and higher He took me through the clouds until we came to an opening where a gate appeared. The gate was open. I looked into the field where the gate opened to and saw an immense structure. As we walked up to the structure I saw and heard a river flowing from the structure. Actually, the river was part of the structure. I looked at the River and followed it up with my eyes to see where the birthing of the River came from. It came from within the throne of God Almighty. It was the throne of God. It was so bright in appearance and glowing with beauty and strength. I found myself on the side of this great structure, listening and watching the River flowing from the throne, realizing the vastness and watching the water fall and flow downward to the earth. I could hear the strength in the water. As I watched where the River flowed I could see it flow down from Heaven, through the atmosphere of earth, into houses and places filling them with the River of God. People were drinking and swimming in their homes from this enormous River. Healing came from the River. Laughter came from the River. Peace and health came from the River. Any need the people had was met in the River. My eyes went back to the huge structure in Heaven and I longed to be in it. I heard Jesus say, “Jump in!” I don’t remember jumping, I just remember diving into this flowing, Mighty River. Jesus was with me and we flowed through the waterfall and floated to a calm and peaceful area of the River. Jesus splashed me and I splashed Him back. We laughed and played some more. As we laughed, Jesus took His tender loving arms and wrapped them around me and held me close. How did He know I wanted to be close to Him? I didn’t even realize my need for intimacy until He held me. As He held me He swayed from side to side. He placed His head on mine and just held me and swayed. He stopped and looked intently into my eyes and stroked my hair and said, “I love you, Kris.” “You are so precious to Me.” I wept and whispered, “I love you too Jesus.” Knowing my life and my imperfections, and knowing Who was holding me brought a sense of value into my soul. All my imperfections in my life washed away and I was perfect in the arms of Christ. I thought to myself, “The River was His love flowing from the throne of God.” Then I thought, “Shouldn’t Jesus be sitting on the right side of God?” As I thought those words I looked and beside the enormous structure was Jesus sitting on the right side of God. He was glowing with an orange yellow glow. He looked different to me then He looked when He was holding me in His arms just a few seconds earlier. He was a mighty warrior ready for battle. His eyes were surveying the land in front of Him. I knew He would win every battle. Defeat was never an option. I felt safe and secure gazing at this Strong Tower of strength. I looked and thought, “Where are the twenty-four elders and the creatures flying and crying, “Holy, Holy, Holy?” Before I could even finish asking that question I heard a screech and looked up above the throne and saw them flying, hovering over the Lord with grace and beauty. I looked down to the throne again and realized the twenty-four elders were a part of God’s throne. All were giving glory to God in constant worship. I too was compelled to worship and realized I was worshipping all along from the instant I walked through the gates. It wasn’t even a thought to think about. It came naturally from within me. It was the atmosphere of Heaven.

Kris Belfils

www.krisbelfils.com

September 11, 2013 by Pastor Kris Belfils

Fruit of the Spirit – RECAP

Gal. 5:22 NKJV

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.”

What fruit are you producing? Fruit that looks good on the outside but is really bad on the inside? Fruit that is immature or not ripe? Fruit that is good? People will come and “pick” your fruit.

Immature (not ripe) fruit is thinking you are a wonderful person when in reality you walk immaturely in Christ and expect others to like your fruit. Immature fruit is walking around ignoring issues in your life and expecting good results. It is thinking everyone else is wrong and you are right.

We can really do a world of hurt for others if we don’t take care of any issues in our own life. Issues like; pride, complaining, gossip, un-forgiveness, and so much more, if not dealt with, will produce bitter, unripe, even toxic fruit.

If you want to live like Christ, and have given your heart to Him, there will be times of correction and rebuking. If you are like me, you know in your “knower” that you need to be corrected so that you produce the fruit of the spirit.

God chose us before we were even born. He had a purpose for our lives and that is to bear good fruit.

John 15:16 NASB

“You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain.”

Love

Love, as a fruit of the Spirit, is a verb. It’s not a feeling, and much like faith, if only expressed in words, it’s essentially meaningless. Though we like to hear the words “I love you” they mean nothing if not accompanied by loving action. Remember actions speak louder then words. Show your love to people with your actions.

1 Jn 4:7 – 8, 16

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. … So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”

This simplifies the idea of abiding if we see it as abiding in love because God is love.

Love is from God, we don’t have this kind of love if we don’t know God. If we are abiding in love, keeping it always in the forefront of all our interactions and choices, we are abiding in God.

All that Jesus did was motivated by love. His love for the Father, and His love for others.

This selfless, humble love that washes feet, seeks to build others up, is foreign to the human nature and our culture, but by the example of Christ we can practice this kind of love, and through the power of the Holy Spirit we can achieve this kind of love.

1 Cor. 13: 4

“Love is patient and kind…”

This is the character of God. Patient and kind. Life is hard and we all need a place where we can lick our wounds, be ourselves, rest, and feel safe and cared for. That is what love is supposed to do.

Love makes us feel safe and soothed rather than pressured to perform, or live up to some standard. Love comforts us when we are struggling. Jesus said he will give us rest and peace. We all need to ask ourselves, do the people I love feel soothed by me? Can my loved ones completely let down their guard around me? Are they emotionally safe?

There will be times to love those who are hard to love. Loving people with the love God has given us makes it easy to love others.

1 Cor 13: 7

“Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

God bears with us, he believes in us, he hopes with us, and he endures our constant disobedience and wandering away from him.

Has God forgiven you of much? Then you should love Him much, and in turn, we should love others much. It is hard to produce any of the fruit of the spirit without love. Love binds all the fruit together.

Joy

Joy is deeper then happiness. Happiness deals with what is happening. Happiness depends on circumstance. Genuine joy, on the other hand does not depend on what’s happening. Joy is an inner sense of well-being that has nothing to do with circumstance. Joy is an inside Job.

God wants to produce the fruit of joy in all of us. Often it comes with trials and struggles. James says to “count it all joy” when we experience trials. Jesus went to the cross with joy. Joy is an inner strength. It is a knowing that God is with you and you can walk through anything that you face because you are not alone.

Too often people try to find false joy. They acquire things thinking that will give them joy (Ron’s uncle). Sometimes people think they have joy when their surroundings and needs are all met. Our surroundings change daily. Other times people place their joy in relationships. This is a big false joy. People will come and go. They will let you down. They are unstable, but God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

There are so many lasting things that bring true joy; our salvation, having a grateful heart, and trusting in God are just a few things.

Church remember: Pain, sorrow, trials, and tribulations, are temporary, but Joy is ETERNAL. Happiness is Outside, But Joy is Inside

Allow the fruit of Joy to grow inside of you. Walk in this promise daily. The Joy of the Lord is your strength! (Nehemiah 8:10)

Peace

Isaiah 26:3 Amplified Bible

“You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace whose mind [both its inclination and its character] is stayed on You, because he commits himself to You, leans on You, and hopes confidently in You.”

This is how to keep yourself in perfect peace:

Keep your mind stayed on God
Commit yourself to God
Lean on God and hope confidently in Him

Proverbs 3:5 – 6 Amplified Bible

“Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding. In all your ways know, recognize, and acknowledge Him, and He will direct and make straight and plain your paths.”

Trying to reason everything out will take your peace away. We will have unanswered questions. Ask God to help you stop reasoning and begin to live by faith, leaning on and trusting in Him and not on your own understanding.

Peace, when your in the Kingdom, is not the absence of conflict, rather its the assurance that in the midst of conflict, the Father has things under control. Learn to have peace with people and peace with yourself.

1 Peter 3:10 – 11 Amplified Bible

“For let him who wants to enjoy life and see good days [good – whether apparent or not] keep his tongue free from evil and his lips from guile (treachery, deceit). Let him turn away from wickedness and shun it, and let him do right. Let him search for peace (harmony; undisturbedness from fears, agitating passions, and moral conflicts) and seek it eagerly. [Do not merely desire peaceful relations with God, with your fellowmen, and with yourself, but pursue, go after them!]”

Patience

Patience is not an ability to wait. Patience is a fruit of the Spirit that manifests while we are waiting. If patience doesn’t manifest in times of waiting, then we see the fruit of impatience.

It doesn’t matter why you are impatient. What matters is how you deal with it. Impatience is a counterfeit fruit. It can look like it is productive, but in reality, it only produces stress and turmoil for you and others. Impatience is very selfish. It only cares about itself.

James 1:4 Amplified Bible

“But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be [people] perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing.”

We should rejoice in difficult situations, knowing that through them God tests our faith to bring out patience. Trials do eventually produce patience, but first they bring all kinds of junk to the surface such as pride, anger, rebellion, self-pity, and complaining. We need to face and deal with these ungodly traits before patience can come forth.

Waiting destroys pride. If God gave us everything the minute we wanted it, we would be so proud and haughty, we’d think it was us. We would expect our way always. God makes us wait because He is testing us.

Colossians 3:12 NASB tells us to “put on patience.” That tells me that patience is something that I have to do on purpose. Just because I don’t feel patient doesn’t mean I have to be impatient. We must put on patience.

We can’t expect our clothes to come on our bodies all by themselves. We have to put them on. Likewise, it is the same with patience. We have to choose, to purpose to walk with patience everyday.

Kindness

Kindness is the quality of being kind. Kindness is being friendly and warm-hearted. It is truly caring about others. It is treating fellow human beings with respect and being beneficial or an asset in someone’s life.

~Pastor Kris Belfils

Kindness goes a long way! People respond positively to kindness. You will win people over with kindness. Love and kindness always go together. Love and Kindness is the opposite of selfishness.

Jesus was motivated by love and kindness. He had compassion on people and moved to heal them. Jesus always receives us and he never rejects us. This character trait is something we need to have in our life. When we show kindness people see we are real and approachable. Kindness builds the Kingdom of God.

Proverbs 20:28 CEB

“Kindness and faithfulness protect the king; he supports his throne by kindness.”

This shows that if we allow kindness and faithfulness into our lives we will be protected and supported. It is a good foundation to stand on instead of building on a weak foundation of sandy efforts, works, and manipulation.

We are fortified when we are friendly and generous. When we are approachable instead of being an island unto ourselves. People will be strengthened around you and feel secure.

Listen to people. Hear about their life. Don’t be so quick to interrupt and share your needs or something about yourself. People want to know you care about them. Listening is showing kindness.

Kindness costs us something. It costs us our flesh. We die to what we might want to say and change it to be what God wants us to say. We realize what we are thinking will possibly hurt or hinder someone and let it go, and in turn, we say things that build up. This is kindness.

1 Thess. 5:15 Amplified Bible

“See that none of you repays another with evil for evil, but always aim to show kindness and seek to do good to one another and to everybody.”

Goodness

The Greek meaning for goodness is: “Uprightness of heart and life, goodness, kindness” (Thayer Greek Definitions).

Goodness is the action that kindness brings. Goodness is what God is. God is Good. God can’t be anything else but good. Because He is good, he is waiting and looking for people to be good too.

Isaiah 30:18a Amplified Bible

“And therefore the Lord [earnestly] waits [expecting, looking, and longing] to be gracious to you; and therefore He lifts Himself up, that He may have mercy on you and show loving-kindness to you.”

Being gracious is being good. This is what God is constantly doing everyday.

Psalm 23:6 NKJV

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.”

Only goodness and mercy shall follow you all the days of your life. Only! Nothing bad, nothing negative.

Exodus 33:18 – 19 Amplified Bible

“And Moses said, I beseech You, show me Your glory. And God said, I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim My name, The Lord, before you; for I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy and loving-kindness on whom I will show mercy and loving-kindness.”

Moses asked to see God’s glory. God said he will make all His goodness pass before him. God’s glory is His goodness. That is such an awesome thought that Moses saw all of God’s goodness pass before him. God’s goodness, His glory, goes before us. When we show goodness we literally are showing God’s glory. We shine when we are good.

Each time you have an opportunity; be good to somebody. Don’t let one occasion pass you by to be good to somebody. If you want to be good to somebody, all you’ve got to do is listen to them.

Forgiving someone is being good to them, and yourself. Forgive people when they don’t deserve it. Before someone stops offending you, you can forgive them.

Remember whenever you are good to someone you shine God’s glory everywhere you go. This takes the pride out of us. We realize we are doing it for God and not our own glory. Shine for the King wherever you go by being good to others.

Faithfulness

A faithful person knows what God has put in their heart, and even though many times they feel like quitting, they don’t give up.

A faithful person is committed to doing whatever God tells them to do no matter what it costs them personally. If you start something, finish it!

A faithful person sees something all the way through to the end. There are so many divorces and so much job-hopping and church-hopping in society today because many people don’t understand what commitment means.

A faithful person understands that no matter where they may go to church they won’t like everything that happens. Stay where God has placed you. The way we grow is to stay planted in one place.

A faithful person arrives at their commitments early or at least on time. A foolish person is constantly late.

A faithful person is someone we can depend on – someone who shows up where they say they will be at the time they say they will be there, someone whom you can count on to do something they say they will do for you. Be a faithful person! Your reputation depends on it!

Too often we start out to do the right thing and then when we don’t get the right response we change and backtrack and do something else.

Galatians 6:9 KJV

“And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”

Your faithfulness and stability benefits others. It helps build the Kingdom of God. It brings security in the hearts who are close to you. They know they can count on you.

God never gives up on us, and we should never give up. We especially shouldn’t be the kind of people that give up on something because it is hard.

Gentleness (Humility and meekness)

The word “Gentle” in the Noah Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language: “Mild; meek; soft; bland; not rough, harsh or severe; as a gentle nature, temper or disposition; a tame; peaceable, not wild, turbulent or refractory, soothing, treating with mildness, not violent.”

Are you a gentle person? How do you respond when someone rubs you the wrong way? Are you rough, harsh, or wild in your response or are you meek, humble, and peaceable?

Phil. 4:5 NIV

“Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.”

This fruit of gentleness should be seen by the world, Christian and non-Christians alike should see you as a gentle person. Gentleness preserves us and brings peace.

Meekness is not weakness. Meekness requires great strength. What about Jesus? Scripture tells us that he was “led as a lamb to the slaughter” yet cleansed the temple with a whip! Jesus didn’t have to go to the cross. He said, “Don’t you know I can call on a legion of angles and they would deliver me.” But He humbled Himself under the mighty hand of God because He knew that was what God wanted Him to do and what was going to be best for everybody else.

Jesus didn’t use His power to get out of something but humbled Himself to go through something that He thought God wanted Him to go through. It would be like if somebody really did me dirty and it made me mad and I knew I had the ability to get them back but I refused to do that because I knew it wasn’t what God wanted me to do. That’s meekness. When you have the ability to do something but you won’t do it because you don’t believe that is what God wants you to do. Amen!

If you have the authority or ability to get even or hurt the other person who spoke badly about you this is what you need to do: Forgive, pray, and bless (FPB) and allow God to take care of the situation.

Self-Control

1 Timothy 1:7 Amplified Bible

“For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control.”

The Holy Spirit is not going to ZAP you with self-control, no, it has to be worked out in us. We have to learn to take it as our own and walk in it. It is virtually impossible to show forth the other eight fruit of the Spirit unless we walk in self-control.

How can we remain peaceful in the middle of an upsetting situation unless we exercise self-control?

Self-control allows us to be patient when we feel impatient. You don’t wait to feel patience, but choose to be patient.

How about humility? How can I exercise humility without self-control? You can’t. Remember the “50 Fruits of Pride” we looked at when we were looking at Gentleness?

It takes a willing heart and courage to look at ourselves and see the areas we need to change in, but it is so worth the change. God can trust us with more. Our lives are more organized and blessed. We are not being lead by our emotions.

As we abide in the Vine, we will produce much fruit.

I challenge you to decide right now that you will live the remainder of your life giving glory to God in everything you do. As you make that decision and carry it out in your life, you will find your life to be exceptional beyond anything you could ever have imagined.

Love, joy, peace, faithfulness, kindness, patience, goodness, gentleness, and self-control are the elements that make our lives exceptional; they are a reward in themselves. We were born to display them, and we will never be like Christ or be fulfilled without them.

Pastor Kris Belfils

www.krisbelfils.com

www.hopefellowshipspokane.com

www.krisbelfils.wordpress.com

September 5, 2013 by Pastor Kris Belfils

Fruit of the Spirit – Self-Control

The Fruit of the Holy Spirit is one of the most important things we need to work on in our our walk with God. You have the fruit in you if you are a Christian. It has to be developed, it has to grow.

If we learn how to live in the Fruit of the Spirit it will bring tremendous ease and peace and fulfillment to our lives.

Gal. 5:22 – 23 Amplified Bible

“But the fruit of the [Holy] Spirit [the work which His presence within accomplishes] is love, joy (gladness), peace patience (an even temper, forbearance), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness (meekness, humility), self-control (self-restraint, continence). Against such things there is no law [that can bring a charge].”

We will not operate in any of the fruit of the Spirit without self control. The fruit of the Spirit is not about how we feel, or about our personalities, but about what we choose to do.

If you wait to feel like being nice, then you may hit it occasionally on one of your good days, but most likely you will experience quite a few days when you don’t feel like being nice. You can be saved, full of the Holy Spirit and operate in many gifts, but there still will be times when you feel like smacking someone upside the head.

It takes self-control to be good, gentle, patient, and to love someone. We have to discipline our thoughts. We have to discipline our mouth. Maybe you don’t think that you have any discipline. Yes, you do! If you are saved, you have discipline and self-control within you. You may not have developed it, and you may not want to use it, but it is there.

1 Timothy 1:7 Amplified Bible

“For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control.”

Let’s think about Peter walking on water for a minute. It was his love for God that prompted Peter to have a desire to come closer to Jesus. Peter refused to let a body of water keep him away from his Master.

Peter’s mind was made up once he got out of the boat. His mind was fixed on Jesus. He operated in complete self control by refusing to give into doubt. He didn’t have the spirit of fear or timidity, but of love for His Jesus and self control and a sound mind!

Looking back at that verse did it say, “well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control?” Yes, it did! But, before you get really discouraged thinking you can’t do it remember this; because self-control is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, it is the result of His help and grace, and the outworking of His life in the believer. That is the beauty of the fruit of the Holy Spirit. It is His working in us to help bring that fruit to maturity in all of us. He has His part and we have ours.

The Holy Spirit is not going to ZAP you with self-control, no, it has to be worked out in us. We have to learn to take it as our own and walk in it. We need to learn to be disciplined in all areas of our life.

I thank God for the fruit of self-control. We would be in an irreconcilable mess continually in our lives if God had not equipped us with this wonderful, helpful fruit. Don’t ever say, “I just have no self-control.” Begin to say what God’s Word says about you, “I have the fruit of self-control, and I am able to do whatever I need to do in any situation because God is my strength.”

What we focus on is what we develop in our life. Anything you don’t focus on will not be developed in your life.

If you have any areas in your life where you feel you need to use more self-control then this is the perfect place for you to be today!

Learn to be a good fruit inspector. When I go to the store and buy fruit I look it over. Cause I found out that sometimes just because a piece of fruit looks good on the outside that doesn’t mean that it is good on the inside. A lot of Christians can dress it up and take it to church and learn all the religious language but that doesn’t mean there is any fruit. A person is not spiritual just because they go to church, they are not spiritual just because they have a Bible, their not spiritual because they talk the talk or wear Christian t-shirts. You will know them by their fruit. We need to learn to pay much more attention to the fruit in people’s lives and we need to pay attention to the fruit in our own life.

Matthew 7:15 – 20 Amplified Bible

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you dressed as sheep, but inside they are devouring wolves. You will fully recognize them by their fruits. Do people pick grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles? Even so, every healthy (sound) tree bears good fruit [worthy of admiration], but the sickly (decaying, worthless) tree bears bad (worthless) fruit. A good healthy tree cannot bear bad (worthless) fruit, nor can a bad (diseased) tree bear excellent fruit [worthy of admiration]. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and cast into the fire. Therefore, you will fully know them by their fruits.”

Let me give you an example:

I just got off the phone with someone and it was a hard phone conversation. The other person proceeded to tell me why her and husband were not coming to church. Her words were upsetting me. The more we talked, the more I knew I had to end the conversation for my mental well being. Still this person expressed “in love” more of what she felt about myself and other people in our church. Many times when I talked to this person in the past she would tell me all the bad she thought about and seemed to do it with a smile on her face and her voice would drip with sweetness but the meaning of her words were evil and criticizing. For years I would put up with this, thinking I had to be nice and show mercy and grace and love towards her because that was the “Christian thing to do.” But this day, after I ended the conversation in tears, a friend of mine came to my door. She could see that I had been crying. I tried to act like I was okay, but she read right through me. Finally I shared briefly what had happened. The first words she said to me were, “What fruit is she producing?” Wow, an eye opener! I never thought about this person’s fruit, thinking that I might be judging them. But there is a difference.

Being a fruit inspector you look for what is healthy and able to bring nutrients and refreshing to the one who will partake of it. Judging someone is looking at their actions and behavior, but inspecting their fruit is looking at what happens after they act. Do they leave a wake of destruction behind them?

Before we look at anybody else, we first have to look at ourselves. Is there a wake of destruction behind your actions? What fruit are people picking from your tree? Let us be people who produce good healthy fruit for others to enjoy. Believe it or not your life can help others grow. My heart and my mission in life is to help people be transformed by the power of God. Too often in our churches today there are unhealthy, unripe, and spoiled fruit. You put all that unclean, rotten fruit into one basket and it will lead to spoiling the entire bunch. Why do we think we can sit in church and not deal with our rottenness? We can and do affect others. Remember one rotten apple can spoil the whole barrel. I don’t know about you, but I want to be the fruit that never affects others negatively. It is time we grow in Christ and mature to be healthy, ripe, nourishing fruit. Don’t be the rotten apple and sit in stubbornness and pride and think it is okay. It is not. Again you help others to grow and become healthy. Get yourself cleaned up and be affective for the body of Christ!

Sometimes we have our pet areas and we almost kind of excuse it away by saying, “Well you know I just, I just can’t control myself in that area.” First of all that is an un-true statement. You can control yourself if you really want to. You have to want to. It has to be important to you. If something is important to you you will do anything to make it happen. It becomes your focus. You might even be driven to obtain or accomplish it. You will use self-control to stay focused for your desired goal. Again, you can control yourself if you really want too.

There are three major areas we can look at that encapsulates our life where we need to apply self-control:

1. Physical Self-Control

Food: Most of us don’t want to admit it, but we’ve grown accustomed to overeating. It’s time to repent and develop some self-control in this area. I have to admit I struggle with this at times too. What has helped me lately is to tell myself, “Am I pleasing God when I eat this?” I know, I know, it is like when that phrase; “What would Jesus do?” was popular and my Youth pastor would tell us if we are in a car with a boy and hormones are raging ask yourself; “What would Jesus do?” But there is some truth to this. Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. We only live on this earth once. How are you taking care of your body? Are you making good choices or bad? (Trust me I am preaching to my self here)

Mouth: It seems like the mouth is the hardest area to control. What goes in it and what comes out of it. Such a small organ and it causes so many problems. Amen!

Sinful desires: Speaking of hormones, we have to be aware of our flesh and the desires it craves daily. We can have self-control with our bodes. We don’t have to lust after or pursue fulfilling these fleshly desires.

If you are single, or even if you are married, the enemy will try and put temptations in front of you physically. God did create us to have a sexual drive, but we can have self-control with it. God created us to have this desire to replenish the earth and to have pleasure in marriage with one man and with one woman.

Apply some self-control with your thoughts even before your hormones rage. When you thoughts start to wonder in the wrong direction, immediately use self-control and get your mind on something else. We can talk long on this issue, but for lack of time, bring this to God in prayer, and seek outside help if need be.

Financial: Are you honoring God with the money you get? Too often we see something and want it, and have to have it. We have to get a hold of our spending. Ask God if you are to have it or not. If He says, “Yes” He will provide the funds to obtain it.

Don’t get caught up in putting something on credit just to have it today. If this is you, start paying off the smaller credit cards first and then, once it is paid off, put that money from your regular payment onto the next card until it is paid off. It put pressure on you. It’s stealing from your walk with God. Do you know what the answer is? Buckle down and get out of debt!

Well…

The enemy uses this with many people to put them in bondage and be a slave to it. We don’t have to have what we desire all the time. It actually is a healthy thing to save the money and pay cash for it. Even so, we probably don’t need half of the things we buy.

Be good stewards of your money and God will bless you and provide for your needs. Have self-control and live within your budget. Have self-control and pay your tithes. Sometimes we feel like giving to the church and sometimes we don’t. Sometimes we feel like saving our money and sometimes we don’t. Self-control is desperately needed in our finances. Remember we want to give God glory in everything we do, including our finances.

-How do you take care of yourself?

-Do you get seven or eight hours of sleep a night? Drink half your body weight in water? Some of you say, “Wait a minute I would drown!” You may say, “I don’t like water!”

-Do you control your eating?

-Do you exercise?

-Do you take excellent care of what God has given you?

-Is your car dirty and full of trash?

-Take care of your home?

-Take care of your apartment?

-How do you look when you go out? Do you even look to see if you look okay? Tell yourself, “I’m going out to represent God!”

We do you do it all for the love of God! We are His representatives on earth. We are representing The Most High! The Most Excellent! The King of kings. The Lord of Lords! We, the Bible says, are His personal representatives.

You don’t have to feel like doing it, just do it for the love of God. Not to earn His love, but to show your love for Him! Do it because you want to represent Him well.

2. Spiritual Self-Control

What are you doing to grow spiritually? Our choices affect our growth. Choices are made by having self-control. Our flesh wants to take the lazy, easy road. Are you spending time with God in prayer daily? It takes self-control to be disciplined and cultivate a relationship with God.

We get pulled in so many directions. We have to purpose and choose ahead of time to go to church, and read our Bibles, and spend time with God. It is so worth it when we do. We are rewarded in many ways and feel refreshed after being in the presence of God.

3. Emotional Self-Control

This is a big area where the enemy tries and defeats us. How we act or react to circumstances in life have to do with our emotions. I have seen that self-control affects everything in my life, especially my emotions.

When our mind races into self-pity or anger we have to stop and tell ourselves to not go down that road. This is self-control.

When someone hurts you and you want to withdrawal, use self-control and don’t withdrawal, but press through and stand in the middle of your pressing emotion. Once you do, it will get easier the next time you are faced with being hurt.

See how self control is needed in our lives?

God wants us to overcome being offended. This is a tool of the enemy that he uses constantly in and out of the church today. Churches would be more healthy if people would just use self-control in how they act or react in the body of Christ.

Some of you have been going to church for years but still sit in your play pin crying for your bottle. It is time to get out of the play pin and into real life, overcoming issues in your heart instead of denying they are there. Every person has all the fruit of the spirit in them, including self-control.

It’s extremely important for us to learn that we can do what’s right with God’s help. Let’s understand that God never tells us to do anything without giving us the ability to do it. How silly that would be if God says, “I want you to do this, and this, and this, and Oh, by the way, I know you can’t so I am going to just sit up here and watch you struggle.”

God says we can, we are the ones who say we can’t. And as long as we believe we can’t, then we are not going to.

In the areas where you struggle tell yourself out loud several times a day, “I have the fruit of the Holy spirit within me and I am working with the Holy Spirit to develop that fruit everyday!” “Everyday I am growing in the fruit of the Spirit!” “I walk in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control!” “I am a self-controlled person!”

Do you behave at home behind closed doors differently then you behave in front of somebody else? Let’s just suppose you were having a royal temper tantrum in your house. You are mad at everybody. You are screaming at the kids, you are ranting and raving, you’re just mad! You’re saying every imaginable thing. You are really into this fit. You say things like, “I’m so sick and tired…” and “You guys better get this mess cleaned up… and I’m fed up with this and the door bell rings and you peep through the little peep whole and it’s me. Now, I just want to ask you, “How quickly could you control yourself?” Every single person here knows that you could quickly get it under control and it would take you less then thirty seconds. You would open the door, “Pastor Kris!” “Praise the Lord!” “Wow, this is wonderful, thank you Jesus!” “Kids, come and look who is here, you are not going to believe who’s here!” How many of you get my point?

You see, the problem is we can behave really well around people we want to impress, but here is something we need to understand; God sees everything and just because you go home and shut the door doesn’t mean He is not in there! And if ever we live to impress anyone it should be God!

All-seeing Eye

I don’t think any of us ever gets victory in our life until we learn to live before the “All-Seeing Eye!” The One Who sees everything, and learn to live for His glory and His honor and not just to impress people.

Learn to control yourself for the love of God. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will obey me.” When you love somebody you want to do what they want you to do. Even if you particularly don’t want to do it, you so want to please them and you will do it because you love them.

By the way, self-control is your friend. It’s not an enemy. It’s not something that every time you hear the word you dread it and say, “Oh no, self-control!”

Hebrew 12:11 Amplified Bible

“For the time being no discipline brings joy, but seems grievous and painful; but afterwards it yields a peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it [a harvest of fruit which consists in righteousness — in conformity to God’s will in purpose, thought, and action, resulting in right living and right standing with God].”

Do you want to stay exactly where you are for the rest of your life, or a year from now, or two years from now do you want to be a different person with peace and joy and hope and power?

If you want to have a change in your life then you have to change something that you are doing. You have to change your thinking, change your actions, change your habits. God will help us do that. It’s not about works of the flesh saying, “I’m gonna control myself, bless God, I’m gonna control myself!” No you won’t. What you need to do is study what the Bible says about it and say, “God I want to do this for Your honor and Your glory and I do have a problem in this area and I need Your help!”

Have you ever thought you are just not a very disciplined or self-controlled person? Has that just been the general attitude about yourself? I don’t want you thinking like that anymore, I don’t want you talking like that anymore. If you want to have what God wants you to have, you have to get into agreement with God. Stop agreeing with the devil if you don’t want his plan for your life.

Say, “I have self-control!” “I operate in self-control!” “God helps me control myself!”

Now I can pretty much promise if you just start to even say that several times a day, you will start to see a difference. You add prayer to that. You start asking God to help you. You see, if you are focusing on, “I don’t have any self-control,” then you will believe you don’t have any self-control. But if you believe what the Word, says then you are going to see that fruit in your life.

2 Cor. 5:14 – 15 Amplified Bible

“For the love of Christ controls and urges and impels us, because we are of the opinion and conviction that [if] One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, so that all those who live might live no longer to and for themselves, but to and for Him Who died and was raised again for their sake.”

Jesus died so that we no longer have to live selfish, self-centered lives. He died so that we can die to things that are not healthy for us by simply saying, “No!” No! No! I am a person of self-control.

The love of Christ is our motivator and this helps control us. The more you love God, the more you are going to be willing to control yourself.

Use your time wisely. You know we really only have a short time here on earth. Learn to number your days and don’t waste them.

Discipline yourself to serve and help others. Do it on purpose. Discipline your words and thoughts and attitudes and do it all for the love of God.

Self-control is about controlling your actions when you don’t want to do what’s right, but you control yourself to do what’s right anyway. Self-control is our friend. We need to thank God that He has given us this ability, and put this wonderful fruit in us that we don’t have to be controlled by our feelings and our mind and our will. We have self-control! That’s good news!

Everybody should be thrilled to find out that you don’t have to be pushed around by the devil and be led around by your feelings and your own thoughts. You can actually say, “I feel like choking you, but the Bible says I am to forgive you, so I can control myself and do it!

Eph. 5:22 Amplified Bible

“Wives, be subject (be submissive and adapt yourselves) to your own husbands as [a service] to the Lord.”

I had a hard time with the word submit. I never had a dad growing up. Didn’t know what it was like to have a man around the house. All the men I knew were either abusive or absent. My step father beat my sister and I, along with our mother. I was rapped at the age of 18. Why would I submit to a man when I made it in life without one?

“Wives, be subject (be submissive and adapt yourselves) to your own husbands as [a service] to the Lord.”

You might say, “Well, you don’t know what I have to go through with that Jerk in my life.” Most of the stuff we start fights over is not anything earth shaking. There are times we are in a bad situation or our safety is compromised, but nothing earth shaking. Usually it is just pride, and rebellion, and we don’t want anybody telling us what to do.

Why does God tell us to submit?……… Because there has to be order. If there is no order you have chaos.

Eph. 6:1 Amplified Bible

“Children, obey your parents in the Lord [as His representatives], for this is just and right.”

So God is even telling kids, “You need to submit to your parents as a service to the Lord.”

Everyone has someone they need to submit under. Everyone has an authority over them.

Eph. 6:2 Amplified Bible

“Honor (esteem and value as precious) your father and your mother – this is the first commandment with a promise (Ex. 20:12). That it may be well with you and that you may live long on the earth.”

If you have parents that your ignoring, that is not good. “Well, my parents didn’t treat me right!” My dad was never there. My mom and Dad were divorced when I was two years old. I never had my Dad in my life. For years I felt rejected and abandoned. When he did call me on the phone (maybe 5 times in my life) he would always get me confused with my older sister. He wasn’t there. Then one day, as I was in my prayer time, God told me to go and get my dad and take care of him. He was living in California. Ultimately I did go and get him and placed him in an apartment in my town. Soon I found out he had terminal lung cancer and had to place him in an Adult family home. But God brought reconciliation between the both of us. You can read more about my reunion with my dad here. (click link and scroll down to where you see the title: “I Saved Your Tricycle!”). I was able to ask my dad hard questions this little girl had throughout the years. It brought healing to both of us. Healing never would have happened if I wouldn’t have had self-control and obeyed the Holy Spirit’s prompting to go and get my Dad.

It will add power to your life if you begin to do what you are suppose to do, not because you feel like it or want to, but as a service to the Lord. Because of your love for Him. You can do a lot of things for the love of God that you wouldn’t want to do.

Self-control is about controlling your actions when you don’t want to do what’s right, but you control yourself to do what’s right anyway.

Self-control is our friend. We need to thank God that He has given us this ability, and put this wonderful fruit in us that we don’t have to be controlled by our feelings and our mind and our will. We have self-control! That’s good news!

I really don’t feel like giving my money away, but God says to do it! So, I can control myself and do it and even do it with a smile on my face. I don’t want to get up and clean my house today. I don’t want to wash that car, or do the laundry. I don’t want to do nothing but just lay here! Thank God for self-control. I will get up and do what I need to do and I’ll do it as a service to the Lord.

Eph. 6:4 Amplified Bible

“Fathers, do not irritate and provoke your children to anger [do not exasperate them to resentment], but rear them [tenderly] in the training and discipline and counsel and admonition of the Lord.”

How are you handling disciplining your children? Are you a dictator? Are you harsh? Or do you take the time with them and love them as you are correcting them? Do you correct by example or by just your words?

Eph. 6:5 Amplified Bible

“Servants (slaves), be obedient to those who are your physical masters, having respect for them and eager concern to please them, in singleness of motive and with all your heart, as [service] to Christ [Himself]”

Servants, slaves, employees. Back then they were called servants and slaves. Let’s update it. Be obedient to those who are your bosses.

Listen, rebellion is the spirit of the anti christ. We have such a horrendous problem with rebellion. No body wants anybody telling them what to do. I get it. I’m very strong-willed. And like most people, I think my idea is better then yours so even if I was working for you and you told me what to do, I might have a problem. But thank God I’ve learned that I can’t be blessed in my life and be rebellious. You do it as a service to the Lord.

You can’t be blessed and be rebellious. Walk in self-control and obey the God-given authority in your life because you love God if you can’t think of any other reason!

Pastor Kris Belfils

It is virtually impossible to show forth the other eight fruit of the Spirit unless we walk in self-control.

How can we remain peaceful in the middle of an upsetting situation unless we exercise self-control? “Well, I wish I had more peace.” You won’t get it wishing. Are you seeing how valuable self-control is? You can get up every single day knowing you don’t have to let circumstances rule you. You are in control.

Self-control allows us to be patient when we feel impatient. You don’t wait to feel patience, but choose to be patient. I can’t be impatient just because I feel like it. It is not pleasing to God. I want to please God. I want to display the fruit of the Spirit because I want other people to become hungry for what I have.

How about faithfulness? People commit to do something when they’re in the height of emotions, and then when all the emotional stuff is over, they don’t feel like doing what they said they would do. Remember what is faithfulness: You do it over and over and over and over and over and over again. Does anybody remember that message?

How about humility? How can I exercise humility without self-control? You can’t. Remember the fruit of pride we looked at when we were looking at Gentleness? It takes a willing heart and courage to look at ourselves and see the areas we need to change in, but it is so worth the change. God can trust us with more. Our lives are more organized and blessed. We are not being lead by our emotions. The list goes on and on of the benefits of developing the fruit of the Spirit in us. As we abide in the Vine, we will produce much fruit.

Because all these things are feelings. The minute we don’t get what we want, somebody is not moving as fast as we would like them too, we are in a hurry and now we are in a traffic jam. We are in a hurry and that is just when the clerk doesn’t have prices on the items we are buying and now you are just waiting and waiting.

You can either get upset and say, “For crying out loud this is ridiculous, this is plan ridiculous!” or you can say, “This is only a test. My fruit is being squeezed! Say, “Ha ha somebody is trying to pick my fruit.”

Pay attention to how you feel. If you are starting to lose your peace, use self-control! If you are starting to lose your joy, use self-control.

Self-control is your friend. It’s in you. You can use it anytime you want to to have a victory. No wonder the devil feeds nonsense into our head all the time, “Well, I’m just not a self-controlled person.” “Oh, I hate self-control, I hate discipline.” The enemy wants us to have a bad attitude towards it.

I have noticed the opposition gives away the very thing you CAN do by saying you CAN’T! What ever the enemy says you can’t do, turn it around and say the opposite right back in his face!

Pastor Kris Belfils

Now Paul was preaching to a man named Felix…

Acts 24:25 Amplified Bible

“But as he continued to argue about uprightness, purity of life (the control of the passions), and the judgment to come, Felix became alarmed and terrified and said, Go away for the present; when I have a convenient opportunity, I will send for you.”

How much more perfect could that be? Paul was preaching on what Felix didn’t want to hear and he said for Paul to go away and for another time. Paul was talking about controlling his passions and Felix didn’t want to hear it.

If you are waiting for a better time to take care of somethings God has been convicting you about there is no better time then right now.

Proverbs talks a lot about restraining yourself. It says, “Restrain yourself from hanging out with sinners whose lives are in a mess.” “Restrain your lips, Restrain your anger.”

He who has no control over his spirit is like a city broken down without walls. The world’s slogan is, “If it feels good, do it!” But that doesn’t work in God’s kingdom.

What about your mind when it comes to self-control. Set your mind and say, “I am going to set my mind and get the areas that are out of balance into balance in Jesus name.”

Mindsets are so important. It is unbelievable what a person can do with God once you made your mind up that you are going to do it. If you don’t make your mind up then nobody can help you. There is not enough miracles flying around to get you into victory if you won’t make your mind up. You have to make your mind up.

You need to know this too, when you finally decide to make the change, it’s gonna hurt. It won’t all be easy but it will be worth it.

1 Cor. 9:24 Amplified Bible

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but [only] one receives the prize? so run [your race] that you may lay hold [of the prize] and make it yours.”

How are you going to run your race?

1 Cor. 9:25 Amplified Bible

“Now every athlete who goes into training conducts himself temperately and restricts himself in all things…”

How many things? How many? ALL! “Got to control my thinking, got to control my mouth, control my attitude even when I don’t feel like it. work when I don’t feel like it.”

You might say, “I just don’t feel like doing all that!” Thank God for self-control! You don’t have to feel like it, you have got a friend! Self-control!

1 Cor. 9:25 Amplified Bible

“Now every athlete who goes into training conducts himself temperately and restricts himself in all things. They do it to win a wreath that will soon wither, but we [do it to receive a crown of eternal blessedness]”

If a runner or an athlete can discipline themselves the way they do to win a trophy, surely we can do it to honor God and to be all that He wants us to be in His Kingdom.

1 Cor. 9:26 – 27 Amplified Bible

“Therefore I do not run uncertainly (without definite aim). I do not box like one beating the air and striking without an adversary. But [like a boxer] I buffet my body [handle it roughly, discipline it by hardships] and subdue it, for fear that after proclaiming to others the Gospel and things pertaining to it, I myself should become unfit [not stand the test, be unapproved and rejected as a counterfeit].”

We have to stop telling others what to do and not do it ourselves. We have to be an example.

I love this statement: “Preach at all times and when necessary use words.” Let your life be a sermon.

Love, faithfulness, goodness, patience, kindness, peace, humility, joy and self-control are the elements that make our lives exceptional; they are a reward in themselves. We were born to display them, and we will never be fulfilled without them.

Your sister in Christ,

Pastor Kris Belfils

http://www.krisbelfils.com

http://www.hopefellowshipspokane.com

http://www.krisbelfils.wordpress.com

August 19, 2013 by Pastor Kris Belfils

Fruit of the Spirit – Gentleness (Part 2)

Gal. 5:22 Amplified Bible

“But the fruit of the [Holy] Spirit [the work which His presence within accomplishes] is love, joy (gladness), peace patience (an even temper, forbearance), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness (meekness, humility), self-control (self-restraint, continence). Against such things there is no law [that can bring a charge].”

God hates pride

Proverbs 6:16 Amplified Bible

“These six things the Lord hates, indeed, seven are an abomination to Him: A proud look [the spirit that makes one overestimate himself and underestimate others], a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood. A heart that manufactures wicked thoughts and plans, feet that are swift in running to evil, A false witness who breathes out lies [even under oath], and he who sows discord among his brethren.”

A proud look – the spirit that makes one overestimate himself and underestimate others. God doesn’t like it when we think little of other people. Especially if He has gifted us in an area and we look down on others because they can’t do what we do.

Maybe some of you are gifted mentally and you learn really really fast. Sometimes those people make the worse trainers because they just don’t get it that others don’t get it the first go around. And if you are not careful you make others feel inferior by your words, “Well, how can you not understand that?” “Hello?” Don’t you hate that, “Hello, is anybody home in there?” “Yes, thank you I have been in here a lot of years.”

Some teenagers haven’t lived long enough to know a lot, but they think they know everything. Not all are like that, thank God. You don’t have to wait to be fifty to start humbling yourself. You can start now! This will put a smile on God’s face.

I have read this someplace: “When a person turns eighteen their brains fall on their pillow at night and they don’t get it back until they are twenty five. For me it was more like forty-five.

God hates pride. It’s not just something that He doesn’t like, He hates it.

Humility is defined as: “freedom from pride and arrogance, a modest estimation of your own worth.” In theology it means “lowliness of mind, having a consciousness of your own defects.”

Not unto condemnation. You should be able to tell people what your strengths and weaknesses are and not be embarrassed because we all have them.

God purposely leaves weaknesses even in His choicest of saints because if you had no weaknesses you would have no need for God. Sorry, you will never do it all right. No one is perfect! You can have a right heart, and you can want to do what is right and you can get up everyday and press toward that mark of perfection, but you have to get comfortable with having some weaknesses. Know what you are good at and know what you are not good at. Stop putting all your time into what you are not good at, trying to prove something you are never going to prove. If you are not good at something, find someone else who is.

I tried to sow and do scrapbooking, but that was just stupid. I tried to garden and decorate my home, but that was not my gifting. I tried to do sales and work at a retail store but it left me feeling empty and never satisfied. When I minister for God I feel it is my purpose in life. It brings such a satisfying feeling and I know I am doing exactly what I was created for. It fuels me to see people transformed by the power of God. This is my theme and mission for ministry: “Seeing people transformed by the power of God to transform their world in turn!”

Humble (Vines Greek Dictionary): “Low lying, or to stay under.”

To stay under the mighty hand of God. To stay somewhere when you would like to leave or get out of it but you know God is telling you, “Not yet, not yet, not yet!”

Maybe staying at a job that you are the only believer and it really is not all that comfortable to you. Everything in you would love to go do something else, and you could. You could go get another job but you know deep down inside you are the only light in the place and that is where God needs you. So you humble yourself. You stay under the direction of God.

When are we going to learn to get around to living for God? To realize everything doesn’t have to be comfortable. Everything doesn’t have to feel good. There are sacrifices that we are asked to make sometimes. To stay somewhere where you really don’t want to be. To do something you really don’t want to do. Even as far as not defending yourself.

It’s taking me a long time to not try and convince people that I am a good person when they judged me. “Well, you just don’t understand.” Honestly, the more you try and defend yourself, the guiltier you look. Sooner or later you have to get to the point and say, “God you are in charge of my reputation, and if it isn’t good it is Your problem.”

No body is free until you get to the point you don’t try and impress anybody. I said you are not free until you stop trying to impress anybody!

Meek (Vine’s Greek Dictionary): “Gentle, mild, Christ’s own disposition. It is the Christian adornment. It is the opposite of self interest and self assertiveness. It is an inwrought grace of the soul.”

It has to be worked in us. You can’t just get in the prayer line and get this. I could lay hands on you until you had no more hair on your head and pray for you all night and not pray humility in you. You have a seed of it in you, I do too. This is the fruit of the Holy Spirit that dwells in us!

But a seed has to be watered, it has to be nurtured. You have to keep the weeds away from it. It has to have sunlight. You have to work with it. In order for this seed to grow you have to study in these areas, you have to spend time with God, and you have to go through things where you have to apply this fruit. In the beginning it is so hard you feel like there is no way you can do it.

Let’s talk about trails for a minute…

Trials

2 Cor. 1:8 Amplified Bible

“For we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about the affliction and oppressing distress which befell us [the province of] Asia, how we were so utterly and unbearably weighed down and crushed that we despaired even of life [itself].”

I’m telling you Paul was having a bad day!

2 Cor. 1:9 Amplified Bible

“Indeed, we felt within ourselves that we had received the [very] sentence of death, but that was to keep us from trusting in and depending on ourselves instead of on God Who raises the dead.”

Why do you find yourself in a situation that is definitely over your head and seems like more then you can bear? God wants you to say, “I can’t handle this, but God you can.” “This is too much for me, I lean on you.” “I rely on you God for wisdom.”

Sometimes the more God uses you and the more He blesses you, the more He will have these kinds of situations salted and peppered into your life every now and then.

There is something about us, we just can’t seem to stay right if all we ever have is good good, blessing, blessing, blessing, favor, favor, blessing, blessing. You know why? We start to get proud and puffed up.

The Bible says pride puffs one up. Sometimes God lets us walk into some stupid trap the devil placed before us. He’ll get us out of it but not until God is done with it.

God has to keep us in a position that He can use us and the only way God can use us is when we stay humble, under, submissive. It is not just about being submissive to God, we need to be submissive to the human authority God places over us. And we need to learn how to do it with a good attitude.

You have to learn to come under authority before you come in authority. Coming under authority is not just doing what someone tells you to do, and doing it with a bad attitude and start talking about them behind their back. Come on now! We have to say, “God if this is the job you have given me right now then I’m going to trust You. I’m going to do this for you. And I am going to do it with a good attitude. I’m going to do it unto you.”

The Bible never asks us to do things for man, it asks us to do things for God. The Bible says, The love of Christ constrains me (2 Cor. 5:14). The more we love God, the more we are going to control ourselves to operate in all this fruit. We are going to trust God to get what we are suppose to have. (We will be talking more about this when we talk about the fruit of self-control)

Meekness is not weakness. It is strength under control. Let’s talk about Paul’s famous thorn for a minute.

2 Cor. 12:7 – 8 Amplified Bible

“And to keep me from being puffed up and too much elated by the exceeding greatness (preeminence) of these revelations, there was given me a thorn (a splinter) in the flesh,…”

God was using Paul mightily more then anybody else at that time. He had a miraculous conversion. Miracles. He received by direct revelation two thirds of the New Testament. The greatest revelation on grace.

“…a messenger of Satan, to rack and buffet and harass me, to keep me from being excessively exalted. Three times I called upon the Lord and besought [Him] about this and begged that it might depart from me;..”

And He said, “No!” We’d like to think God is going to say yes after everything we ask Him. “Oh God You got to get me out of this!” Well, sometimes God says, “No! You are more valuable to Me in that situation then out of it.”

Vs. 9 “But He said to me, My grace (My favor and loving-kindness and mercy) is enough for you [sufficient against any danger and enables you to bear the trouble manfully]; for My strength and power are made perfect (fulfilled and completed) and show themselves most effective in [your] weakness…”

God said, “My grace is sufficient for you and My strength and power are made perfect in your weakness.”

God in essence said, “I have given you this thing that creates a weakness in you and inability in you so you’re going to need me and cry out for My grace, and it’s all gonna be okay anyway Paul cause I’m gonna fill up that strength with my grace and it will be as if you didn’t even have it, but I’m going to leave it with you so you need Me.”

Pride is independence. It’s all about me, and I, and what I can do, and not being needy. We inherently don’t want to need anybody. We would much prefer to be self-sufficient. But that’s not God’s plan.

Look at Job for a minute. He did have a problem. He was a righteous man but he had gotten a little smidge into self-righteousness. If you really studied the book of Job, which I highly recommend, you’ll see that he had a little attitude adjustment that was needed. And after he got it God blessed him twice as much as before.

God’s not trying to hurt anybody. He’ll bless you more after you humble yourself. Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God and in due time He might lift you up and exalt you.

Job 10:16 Amplified Bible

“If I lift myself up, You hunt me like a lion and again show Yourself [inflicting] marvelous [trials] upon me.”

You can scream at the devil until you don’t have any voice left. Realize it isn’t all the devil. Some of it was God growing me up. He was allowing me to be in certain situations to teach me how to still act like this no matter what my circumstances were or what situation I was in. This is the “grow up stuff” we need to learn.

The fact is God does want to bless you more then you can possibly imagine but you cannot maintain the gifts God wants to give you if you don’t have the fruit to balance it out. Otherwise you are a tree with no roots. First we have to get rooted and grounded in God.

Job 33:16 Amplified Bible

“Then He opens the ears of men and seals their instruction [terrifying them with warnings].”

I believe when we are acting bad God gives us warnings but we don’t always listen.

Job 33:17 Amplified Bible

“That He may withdraw man from his purpose and cut off pride from him [disgusting him with his own disappointing self-sufficiency].”

Is anybody disgusted with your own self-sufficiency? Like, I am just fed up with acting like I know it all, can do it all, don’t need anybody, competing with other people, comparing myself to other people. I don’t want the pressure anymore of trying to impress anybody. I just want to be free to be me, and be wherever God has put me!

What hard work it is trying to impress people! We have to buy things we can’t afford, and dress in clothes we don’t even like and they are not even comfortable.

Fruits of Pride

Do you have pride in your heart? Believe it or not there is fruit produced from pride in our life. The things we do, the attitudes we have produce fruit. I read “50 Fruit of Pride” and it was amazing how many on the list I did.

Martha wanted to impress Jesus with all her work but Jesus said, “…Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:41 NASB)

What do you do or use to make an impression on others? Cars? Jewelry? Home? The furniture you own? The neighborhood you live in? The company you work for? The amount of money you make a month? Your level of education? What restaurants you eat at? Who you know? What you know? What you look like? Are you a name dropper?

Be free from impressing people. Just be yourself and you will enjoy your life and have fun!

When you are full of pride you draw attention to yourself. You like to talk about yourself. Desire recognition and praise. “Give me the credit that is due me!” You are not fulfilled in serving others. You are self-sufficient. “I will do it myself, then I will know it is done right.” OUCH!

Proud people are anxious because they are always worried about something. They actually think they can solve their own problems.

Self-focused, overly self-conscious. They fear man, and are very concerned about what people think of them.

The Bible says we need to be very careful about our thinking. Be careful when you think you stand, lest you fall.

Even giving your testimony can be given in pride. It it glorifies the person instead of God, it is pride. When giving our testimony the time has to be right and our motives have to be right or we are just gloating.

“Oh brother are you sick? I was sick just last week with the same thing but I prayed and it instantly went away!” What an insensitive, unfeeling, unthinking, unloving, haughty, puffed up Christian! … Selah

We should never give our testimony unless it glorifies God. So many times we lose the power of something that is a secret between us and God because we have to tell somebody!

God has so much that He wants to do in everyone of our lives. God wants to lift you up. He wants to bless you in amazing ways and share His power with you. But first we have to humble ourselves. We have to prove that we will do what ever God asks us to do with those blessings and with that power. Otherwise we become dangerous and all we do is hurt people. Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. that in due time He may exalt you and lift you up! Amen!

Ask God to help you be a more gentle, meek, and humble person. Be a plant that wants to grow they way the Master Gardner wants you to grow instead of a stubborn week that wants its way and chokes out all the other healthy plants.

Blessings,

Pastor Kris Belfils

www.krisbelfils.com

www.HopeFellowshipSpokane.com

www.krisbelfils.wordpress.com

(A portion of this article was from Joyce Meyer’s audio CD: “Fruit of the Spirit – Gentleness”)

August 15, 2013 by Pastor Kris Belfils

Fruit of the Spirit – Gentleness (Part 1)

Gal. 5:22 Amplified Bible

Gentleness, (meekness, humility) is one of the hardest Christian virtues to develop in our lives. A person who needs humility thinks they don’t need it at all, and thats proof that they do need it.

In this message we will be looking at Gentleness, meekness, and humility.

Gentleness

The word “Gentle” in the Noah Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language: “Mild; meek; soft; bland; not rough, harsh or severe; as a gentle nature, temper or disposition; a tame; peaceable, not wild, turbulent or refractory, soothing, treating with mildness, not violent.”

Are you a gentle person? How do you respond when someone rubs you the wrong way? Are you rough, harsh, or wild in your response or are you meek, humble, and peaceable?

Phil. 4:5 NIV

“Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.”

This fruit of gentleness should be seen by the world, Christian and non-Christians alike should see you as a gentle person. Gentleness preserves us and brings peace in our lives. When we are calm and gentle with our responses to others, our lives are better for it.

I use to think it was my right and duty to tell someone how they hurt me. I wanted them to know that what they did had much consequence in my life. After I spewed out my retaliation I felt good and life was better. But was it? Telling someone the negative things of how you feel towards them or trying to stand up for yourself just makes you look bad, especially in how you deliver it. In my case, I usually delivered it with much emotion and fire. No one could stand after receiving my wrath. It was never a good thing. I was deceived in thinking it was okay to behave like that. It didn’t show gentleness in any form. It wasn’t the fruit of the spirit manifesting in my life it was the fruit of pride and selfishness. This was a hard lesson for me to learn.

We are to be gentle when dealing with people, especially when we are correcting them.

Gal. 6:1 Amplified Bible

“Brethren, if any person is overtaken in misconduct or sin of any sort, you who are spiritual [who are responsive to and controlled by the Spirit] should set him right and restore and reinstate him, without any sense of superiority and with all gentleness, keeping an attentive eye on yourself, lest you should be tempted also.”

Meekness

Gentleness is also known as meekness as you saw in the Dictionaries definition of gentle. Being meek is part of being gentle.

It is hard to respond sometimes with gentleness. Human nature tells us to stand up for ourselves and don’t allow others to get away with hurting us. Meekness differs from gentleness. In many ways these two fruit of the Spirit at the same; but meekness is an inward and passive thing, and gentleness is an outward and active thing. A man feels meek, but he acts gently.

Interesting when Moses, Jesus, John the Baptist, Stephan, and many others, were standing up for truth, and what was right, they would speak boldly. They even called those they were speaking to as “Brood of vipers or Stiffed neck, or Hypocrites. But when they were accused they didn’t speak up for themselves or retaliate. This is meekness.

Meekness is not weakness. Meekness requires great strength.

Numbers 12:3 Amplified Bible

“Now the man Moses was very meek (gentle, kind, and humble) or above all the men on the face of the earth.”

Moses was a meek man yet he was one of the greatest leaders in history. He could be stern when an occasion demanded; for example when he made the worshipers of the golden calf drink the dust of their own idol (Exodus 32:30). This was holy zeal for the sake of God Almighty.

When Moses own name was reproached by his brother and sister, Aaron and Miriam, he didn’t make any attempt to retaliate. This reveals the true character of the man, and his meekness.

Stephen is another good example. His meekness shines in his prayer for his murderers when they were stoning him: “And falling on his knees, he cried out loudly, Lord, fix not this sin upon them [lay it not to their charge]! And when he had said this, he fell asleep [in death].” (Acts 7:60 Amplified Bible)

With Stephen, there was no appearance of weakness when he scolded the Sanhedrin, “Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost” (Acts 7:51 KJV).

Notice the qualities in Moses and Stephan: zeal for God, but meekness for self.

What about Jesus? Scripture tells us that he was “led as a lamb to the slaughter” yet cleansed the temple with a whip! Jesus didn’t have to go to the cross. He said, “Don’t you know I can call on a legion of angles and they would deliver me.” But He humbled Himself under the mighty hand of God because He knew that was what God wanted Him to do and what was going to be best for everybody else.

He didn’t use His power to get out of something but humbled Himself to go through something that He thought God wanted Him to go through. It would be like if somebody really did me dirty and it made me made and I knew I had the ability to get them back but I refused to do that because I knew it wasn’t what God wanted me to do. That’s meekness. When you have the ability to do something but you won’t do it because you don’t believe that is what God wants you to do. Amen!

That’s a powerful person. It takes a much more powerful person to wait on God then to take fleshly action in your own zeal. “Well bless God you are not going to treat me that way!” If that fire is in you, allow God to give you a different kind of fire.

There was a person who was on my staff and to my face they were kind and nice and seemed obedient, but I was getting feed back from other people who were around them that they were speaking negative words about me to others. It hurt me. I was in the position to give her fits in our staff meetings, or even point blank tell her I knew what she was saying about me behind my back. I could have taken action but I humbled myself instead. I loved her every time I saw her. This wasn’t easy. I had to pray constantly when I was in her presence, and when I thought about her. God told me to give her some gifts even though I knew what I knew about her. It was hard. I felt I was wasting them on her because she didn’t deserve them. But, I obeyed in spite of what I felt. Eventually she left the staff and did her own thing. Months went by and one day she attended where I was speaking at. By this time God showed me her character and condition of her heart and it made me pray for her every time I thought of her. After the service I went up to her and her friend and asked if there was anything she wanted prayer for. She broke down and started to cry and asked for my forgiveness. She didn’t say why, but I knew, yet she didn’t know I knew. God gave me so much love for her at that moment. I saw her countenance change from anxiety and fear to peace and joy. I never told her what I knew. It didn’t seem to matter any more. Later she thanked me and said she had peace for the first time in over a year.

You see we never know what others are going through because of the mean things they have done to you. Meekness is holding back your strength when you have the power to let them have it! Meekness is gentleness and humility all rolled up into one. Are you a gentle person?

Meekness is not weakness at all. A meek man is a powerful man, a real man. Jesus was a meek man. A real man. A powerful man. A gentle man is a real man. What has happened to gentlemen? My husband still will open the door for me or hold a door as I walk into a store. Even if I opened the store door and motion for him to walk in, he will put his arm out and hold the door and I know I am to walk in first. This is being a gentleman. He has the power to push his way in first, but he chooses not too.

We as believers we need to fight for these qualities. We need to fight for these virtues. The way we do it is by being a good example everywhere we go. The Fruit of the Spirit is there for our taking but many don’t. Why? I believe because it costs them something. It costs us to change.

Do you know the Bible promises things to those who are meek?

The promises to the meek:

The meek shall eat and be satisfied (Psalm 22:26)
The meek will He guide in judgment (Psalm 25:9)
The meek will He teach His way (Psalm 25:9)
The meek shall inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5)
The meek will find rest for their souls (Matthew 11:28 – 30)

Matthew 11:28 – 30 KJV

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Humility

Humility is so major. I give kudos to those who came today and have come during this Fruit of the Spirit series. It means that you want to grow. A lot of people want to see what God can do for them, but they really don’t want to hear what they need to do.

We are living in darkness but we are the light. Everyone of us need to dust off our bulbs and get ourself turned up to full power! There is a great danger living in the world today because we can drift. If you don’t set an example for your kids in your home, I don’t know what is going to happen to them. There was a day if the parents didn’t do their job there would be people and heroes out there that would be an example. WE have to bring it up higher!

The Fruit of the Spirit, these are the most beautiful things you can show your children.

Philippians 2:3 Amplified Bible

“Do nothing from factional motives [through contentiousness, strife, selfishness, or for unworthy ends] or prompted by conceit and empty arrogance. Instead, in the true spirit of humility (lowliness of mind) let each regard the others as better than and superior to himself [thinking more highly of one another than you do of yourself].”

That doesn’t mean to think lowly of yourself. That’s not what it means at all. It means not to think you are better then other people. Are you willing to listen to what they have to say. They might be right and you are wrong? Can you receive a word of correction from them? Listen, you have no idea how God will speak to you.

God had to talk to a prophet through a donkey. A person with a humble attitude is willing to receive. Don’t think that you are better then other people or that what you do is more important then what somebody else does. Don’t have a lowly opinion of yourself, but never mistreat somebody else because you think that you are better then them. These are things we have to think about a little bit.

Philippians 2:4 – 7 Amplified Bible

“Let each of you esteem and look upon and be concerned for not [merely] his own interests, but also each for the interests of others. Let this same attitude and purpose and [humble] mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus: [Let Him be your example in humility:] Who, although being essentially one with God and in the form of God [possessing the fullness of the attributes which make God God], did not think this equality with God was a thing to be eagerly grasped or retained, but stripped Himself [of all privileges and rightful dignity], so as to assume the guise of a servant (slave), in that He became like men and was born a human being.”

Jesus coming down here and becoming a human would be like us seeing a little red ant and we decided to become an ant and crawl around in the dirt to help them. Jesus sweat drops of blood under the pressure of enduring the cross. He had the power to walk away from it but was obedient to what His Father wanted.

Philippians 2:8 – 11 Amplified Bible

“And after He had appeared in human form, He abased and humbled Himself [still further] and carried His obedience to the extreme of death, even the death of the cross! Therefore [because He stooped so low] God has highly exalted Him and has freely bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, that in (at) the name of Jesus every knee should (must) bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue [frankly and openly confess and acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Humility comes before honor, and pride goes before destruction. (Proverbs 16:18 , Proverbs 15:33.) Pride destroys us but humility promotes and blesses us.

The devil’s sin was pride. Interesting. He lost his position through pride and will live in everlasting shame because of it. Jesus bought us back and He received His position through humility. Humility had to come to overcome the pride of the enemy. We were stolen through pride and gained back through humility. Powerful!

Naturally the devil wants us to be like him. He wants us to take on his nature. He wants us to be full of me, myself, and I. I think, I want, I know. Until you get throughly fed up with you, talking about you, thinking about you, and trying to make provision for you. Some of you are just about there aren’t you?!

I’m tired of thinking about myself, worrying about myself, trying to make plans for myself, trying to make everything work out for myself. Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God and see what God can do. That place of humility brings you into rest. It brings an ease.

Next week Part 2 of Fruit of the Spirit – Gentleness. We will be looking more at Humility and The 50 Fruit of Pride.

Pastor Kris Belfils

http://www.KrisBelfils.com

http://www.HopeFellowshipSpokane.com

http://www.krisbelfils.wordspress.com

August 6, 2013 by Pastor Kris Belfils

Fruit of the Spirit – Faithfulness

Galatians 5:22 – 23 Amplified Bible

The Holy Spirit’s presence within us is working to help bring out His fruit in us. It does’t matter if you are the meanest, cruelest, harshest person on earth, if you have Christ living within you (You have asked Him in your heart as your Lord and Savior), you have His Spirit in you prompting you to change and be more like Him. It is not a personality thing. You can’t use the excuse; “This is my personality so that is why I am the way I am.” That is a copout and compromise for NOT wanting to change.

We need to be tender and open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. He does this in love. He knows what you can be. We only see what we are or what we have been. That is why we struggle with change. We think we will be someone we are not. This is not the case. God wants us to have life and to have it more abundantly.

John 10:10 Amplified Bible

“The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).”

This verse lets us know that we are to enjoy life. It also lets us know that if our behavior, if our character tends to want to steal, kill, or destroy, then it is not godly. The opposite of any of the fruit of the Spirit reeks of the devil. Opposite of love is hate. Opposite of joy is depression or sadness. Opposite of peace is turmoil, and so on. It reeks also of our flesh and not the Spirit. You can see the fruit of the Spirit is for our good not for our bad.

In this message I want to talk about the fruit of faithfulness. Most of the time people think it is the fruit of faith, but that is not the case. Faithfulness is what we do. Faith is what we have.

God is faithful. You have a seed of everything of God in you. When you accept Christ in your heart, it is there. It needs to develop and mature.

As His children He wants us to emulate Him. We need to be faithful like God is. To be faithful is to do what is right all the time. Not just part of the time.

One of the most important lessons we can learn is to be faithful with something until God lets us know that we are finished with it. There are times when God will call us out of one place and put us into another one – no doubt about that. But I don’t believe that God changes the plan very frequently.

A faithful person

A faithful person knows what God has put in their heart, and even though many times they feel like quitting, they don’t give up. They don’t leave a place because they want to leave, or a job because they don’t want to be there anymore. They don’t get out of a relationship because they don’t want to bother with certain things in it anymore.

A faithful person is committed to doing whatever God tells them to do no matter what it costs them personally.

A faithful person understands that no matter where they may go to church they won’t like everything that happens. Stay where God has placed you. The way we grow is to stay planted in one place. How many times people give up on a church and later regret it because they see how they would have grown and matured better at their previous church? This might not always be the case, but for the most part it is.

The world needs to see stability and faithfulness in us. When we talk negatively about our church to unsaved people, all they see is Christians are messed up. Don’t give God a bad name by your unfaithfulness and negative talk. You represent Him. We should take ever effort to get along with God’s children no matter what the circumstance is.

A faithful person arrives at their commitments early or at least on time. A foolish person is constantly late. It doesn’t matter what the other co-workers are doing. Their bad behavior should never dictate bad behavior in you.

Too often we start out to do the right thing and then when we don’t get the right response we change and backtrack and do something else.

Again, what the world needs to see from Christians is stability. Not an ever-changing temperament, but stability.

We don’t do what is right based on the reward we are getting, we do what’s right because it is right. The reward will eventually come but we don’t know when.

Galatians 6:9 KJV

“And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”

It is not easy doing the right thing all the time, but God’s word tells us we shall reap a reward if we don’t give up. I like how the Amplified Bible states this verse:

Galatians 6:9 Amplified Bible

“And let us not lose heart and grow weary and faint in acting nobly and doing right, for in due time and at the appointed season we shall reap, if we do not loosen and relax our courage and faint.”

Each of us can put up with a lot of things, but there is a point in all of us that says enough is enough. I wonder if that is what God wants? God is not late, but he is never in a hurry either. We need to keep on keeping on. Even when you are not getting the result you would like to have yet, it’s very important to keep doing what you know to do.

You see what happens to us when we get discouraged and downtrodden is we stop doing everything that is right and we lose a lot of ground. God doesn’t want us to do that. He wants us to hold steady in the storm, in those times of discouragement.

Faithfulness is a wonderful thing

God doesn’t require as much out of us as we think He does sometimes, but He does require us to be faithful. To be faithful means to do your very best to behave the way you think God wants you too. What you know is right you do it! The Bible says that if you know what is right and you do it not, it is sin.

It is better to do the right thing then to do the wrong thing. The Bible even says, “Where have faithful men gone?” We live in a society that faithfulness is not a great trait.

My husband is a faithful man. We have been married for over 28 years now and he has been stable and faithful as a husband, father, and employee. He has worked at the same job for over 20 years. I admire his stability and faithfulness. His stability helps me to do what I do as a Pastor.

Your faithfulness and stability benefits others. It helps build the Kingdom of God. It brings security in the hearts who are close to you. They know they can count on you to be where you say you will be, and do what you say you will do.

God never gives up on us, and we should never give up. We especially shouldn’t be the kind of people that gives up on something because it is hard. If God’s anointing and blessing lifts off something because He is finished with it, that is the time to stop doing it – but not before.

We don’t need to be wimpy, and weak, and pitiful, and pathetic. We are anointed with the Holy Ghost and power. We don’t have that power to be quitters. We don’t have that power to have a pity party every other day. Stop sitting around wasting your day feeling sorry for yourself because you didn’t get what you wanted. We are anointed for hard things. God has anointed us to go through difficult things with a degree of ease. It may not be easy to go through it but you still can glide through it because God is on your side.

You need to stop telling God you just can’t take what is going on in your life one more day because the truth is you can take it just as long as you need to take it. God has promised you won’t have it any longer then you can take it. Amen!

Be not weary in well doing for in due season you shall reap if you faint not.

God is the author and the finisher of our faith. He doesn’t start things and not finish them. He always finishes what He starts. He that has begone a good work in you will bring it to its finish. That is why we need to finish what we start. That’s part of faithfulness. Don’t just start things and not complete it.

It doesn’t take a great deal of character to start things. Anybody can start something because with something new you have a lot of emotion. You haven’t had any of the problems yet you will have when you finish it. A lot of times people are clapping and cheering for you, Yea! Yea! Yea! Go! Go! But when they all go away and there is nothing left but you and hard work, and sometimes judgement and criticism and people laughing at you and making fun of you and even telling you to give up. That’s when we really find out who has it and who doesn’t.

Faithful in the Dictionary means: “Firm in adherence to the truth and to the duties of religion. Firmly adhering to duty, loyal, constant in the performance of duties or services; exact in attending to commands; as a faithful servant.”

The last part of the definition means to be exact in attending to what an authority gives us to do. In other words, when a boss, a pastor, parents, a husband or other authority gives us an instruction, as a faithful person we are to do exactly what we have been asked to do.

Some people do a little of what they are asked to do and a little bit of what they want to do thinking it is okay. It is not okay. Do exactly what you have been asked to do by the authority and God sees and will repay. You might say, Pastor Kris my boss is mean and no one likes them. Why should I do anything they ask? Because you are being paid to do what they ask you to do that’s why. Do it unto God if you can’t think of a better reason. Do it to please God. God keeps the books. He knows what is in your heart and the heart of the authority figure in your life. If there is injustice, God will vindicate you in due time. Just keep on keeping on.

It is important for the tendency among many Christians who haven’t developed the fruit of faithfulness to get back to being faithful in everything they do. For some people, simply doing what they tell people they are going to do, no matter how they feel, would be great progress.

If you want to be used by God, or if you are being used by God and want to be used by God in a greater way, then always remember this: God only promotes faithful men and women. God promotes those who have proven themselves to be faithful. Then, when you prove yourself to be faithful in one area or level, God will promote you to another level.

Don’t expect to be promoted if you are unfaithful. Don’t expect to be promoted if you do what you want to do and not what you committed to do. Bosses, Pastors, Authority figures are looking for faithful people. You might say I have been faithful for years and nothing has happened. Don’t give up doing what is right! Your reward is coming. Most importantly tell yourself, “If I am never promoted, if I have to do this for the rest of my life, I will God if you want me to do it.” I have said those words in my past and shortly after I found myself promoted to a higher level. At the time my heart was speaking truth. I really would stay and do what I was doing, even though it was hard on me. But when I changed my attitude, and did it unto God and not man, it helped me to endure and be faithful.

Faithfulness! You have to make some decisions. Something needs to happen in your heart. I want you to decide you will go deeper with God so you can go higher in God. I want you to decide this wishy washy, up and down, somedays you go to church and somedays you don’t. Sometimes you give, sometimes you don’t. Sometimes you get up and pray and sometimes you don’t. Sometimes you study and sometimes you don’t. Make your mind up that you know is right. What God has spoken to you. what you have read in the word of God. Things you have agreed to in your heart and started out and then it got a little uncomfortable or it wasn’t making you feel real good then you back up. Don’t spend all your life in this same little place. Some of you have been doing this for 25 years already. Let’s make a little progress. At least make it a little farther then before. Amen!

You know what faithfulness is? Faithfulness means that you know what God is telling you to do and you do it over and over and over again. When we do the right thing, we will get a reward. That’s not a good reason to do the right thing. The reason is to be obedient to God and the blessing is a by-product.

Our motives are very important. We should never give someone a gift to get a gift. We can’t do what’s right to get somebody else to do what’s right. We have to do what’s right because it is the right thing to do. And we are not going to do it once, or five times, or ten times, but we are going to do it until the day we die. Irregardless of what we get, we are determined to be what we are; obedient to Christ.

It’s not what we do once that brings victory in our lives. It’s what we do over and over and over again. You didn’t do one wrong thing and get in a mess. You practiced it over and over and over again. How many times have you said something negative and now has turned into a mess in your life? You said it over and over and over again, and now you want to make a couple of good confessions and get mad at God because its not all straightened out. It’s not what we do right one time. It’s what we get revelation on and we do what we know God wants us to do because we know He wants us to do it. It’s doing the right thing over and over and over again.

Being faithful is obeying the laws and rules of the land. It is obeying even when no one else is looking.

We have to stop doing things in a way of controlling God. Yes we reap what we sow. But the Bible doesn’t tell us when. In due time. At the appointed time. In God’s time. But none of that tells us anything. It is when God knows you are ready. Not when we think we are ready.

So what about you? May be today you don’t have any joy and it might be because you haven’t been faithful. Each person will give an account of themselves.

Think of a couple of areas in your life to come up higher. Today make a decision to be a faithful person. You know what it is like to have a faithful person in your life. You like it. Be that for yourself and others.

Be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. Don’t be a quitter. Even if you don’t get one thing you want you will still be faithful to God.

The fruit of faithfulness is a beautiful fruit. Be a faithful friend. Be faithful to your job. If you leave your job in a bad way, you will enter a new place the same way. If you leave with compromise, you will enter as a compromiser.

Be a faithful person. Sheep Christians and Goat Christians. Sheep go Baaaaa (yes master, no master) and goats go But, But, But! Be a sheep Christian and say yes to faithfulness.

Let’s remember:

Galatians 6:9 Amplified Bible

“And let us not lose heart and grow weary and faint in acting nobly and doing right, for in due time and at the appointed season we shall reap, if we do not loosen and relax our courage and faint.”

From one faithful person to another,

Pastor Kris Belfils

www.krisbelfils.com

www.hopefellowshipspokane.com

www.krisbelfils.wordpress.com

(Some of the material used in this post was adapted from Joyce Meyer’s “Fruit of the Spirit – Faithfulness” audio CD.)

July 30, 2013 by Pastor Kris Belfils

Fruit of the Spirit – Goodness

Gal. 5:22 NKJV

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.”

Goodness. What is goodness? It is more then being good. Goodness in the Dictionary means: “Morally excellent; virtuous; righteous; satisfactory in quality, quantity, or degree: of high quality; excellent, right; proper, and well-behaved.”

Do you know of any good people? Are you a good person?

The Greek meaning for goodness is: “Uprightness of heart and life, goodness, kindness.” (Thayer Greek Definitions)

Goodness is the action that kindness brings. Goodness is what God is. God is Good: All the time and All the time: God is good. I say this a lot during my sermons and everyday life. But the reality is so true. God can’t be anything else but good. Because He is good, he is waiting and looking for people to be good too.

Isaiah 30:18a Amplified Bible

“And therefore the Lord [earnestly] waits [expecting, looking, and longing] to be gracious to you; and therefore He lifts Himself up, that He may have mercy on you and show loving-kindness to you.”

Being gracious is being good. This is what God is constantly doing everyday. Isaiah 30 verse 18 goes on to say:

Isaiah 30:18b Amplified Bible

“For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are all those who [earnestly] wait for Him, who expect and look and long for Him [for His victory, His favor, His love, His peace, His joy, and His matchless unbroken companionship]!”

This scripture says that God is waiting to be good to somebody who is waiting for God to be good to them. What are you looking for in your life? What are you waiting for? What are you expecting? Are you expecting nothing? Are you expecting trouble, bad news or just “whatever”? If you are expecting “whatever” you will get it – whatever, instead of specifically what you are needing or desiring.

Now that we have established that God is good and that He is looking for people who are expecting good things, we need to learn to be good to people, no matter how difficult it may seem at the time, it is a basic requirement of experiencing God’s goodness.

Have you ever noticed how excited we are about someone being good to us? We may say, “They are such a good person.” Or, “He or she is so good to me.” We will talk about it to others for hours. But when it comes to being good to someone else, we’re not nearly as interested. It’s time to get our minds off ourselves and say, “From now on, God, every day I’m going to be good to someone. In fact, every day, all day, we need to be good to all people.

If you think about it, there are numerous ways to be good to people. People are starving for somebody – anybody – to show them the love of God. Demonstrating love starts with a simple act of goodness. To display God’s character, you must make a choice to be good to people.

Start by asking God to develop the fruit of goodness inside of you. Ask God to put opportunities in your path that allow you daily to demonstrate goodness to someone. Ask God to display His character through you. To make someone feel better, give someone joy, make someone happy. Ask God to use you as an instrument to bless someone. You’ll be amazed at how your life will change by simply getting your mind off yourself, your problem, your wants and your needs. Leave your list of “I wants” in God’s hands. Instead, concentrate on being a blessing wherever you go. You’ll be surprised at how many of the “I wants” on your list will be taken care of because of your goodness to others.

Let’s get back to basics again. God is good all the time and here is a verse that proclaims this:

Psalms 31:19 Amplified Bible

“Oh, how great is Your goodness, which You have laid up for those who fear, revere, and worship You, goodness which You have wrought for those who trust and take refuge in You before the sons of men!”

This verse tells us that God’s goodness is laid up for those who fear, revere, and worship Him, trust, and take refuge in Him before the sons of men. That says to me that if I will not be a closet Christian, but be open and live my christianity before the sons of men, God will store up His goodness for me.

There are a number of people today who profess to be Christians but don’t want to admit it or live it outside of their Christian circle. They’re Sunday morning Christians, but on Monday morning you can’t tell any difference between them and those who never claimed to be a Christian.

We need to take a stand for God. But, many of us choose fear instead. We’re afraid of being rejected, or isolated or laughed at, we’re afraid to take a stand and say, “I really don’t want to hear a dirty joke. I’m a Christian and I don’t want to hear any filthy language. I’m not really interested in going to an R-rated movie, or hitting the bars after work. That’s not what I’m about. My life and my relationship with God are too important to me.” That is what the Scripture means when it says,… those who trust and take refuge in You before the sons of men!

This eliminates lukewarm, compromising Christianity. Hearing about the fruit of the Spirit, specifically goodness, will not do you any good unless you’re ready to take a full, 100% stand for Christ.

It is no accident that you are living at this time in church history. I firmly believe that God hand selected those He wanted living during the time when Jesus will return. I do not take lightly the responsibility that God has given me. With opportunity comes responsibility. It’s time to stop compromising. It is time to stop giving excuses. It is time to stand for Christ and live out our Christian walk and not be ashamed.

Psalm 23:6 NKJV

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.”

Only goodness and mercy shall follow you all the days of your life. Only! Nothing bad, nothing negative. Only goodness and mercy. Goodness and mercy follow you everywhere you go. I like how the message Bible states this verse:

Psalm 23:6a Message

“Your beauty and love chase after me every day of my life…”

God’s goodness is more then we think it is. The Shepherd knows what the sheep needs at different times of the year.

Psalm 65:11 NKJV

“You crown the year with your goodness and your paths drip with abundance.”

We can see an insight of what exactly God’s goodness is in Exodus 33:18 – 23.

Exodus 33:18 – 19 Amplified Bible

“And Moses said, I beseech You, show me Your glory. And God said, I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim My name, The Lord, before you; for I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy and loving-kindness on whom I will show mercy and loving-kindness.”

God’s goodness, His glory, goes before us. When we show goodness we literally are showing God’s glory. We shine when we are good. Now, when you read verses about Goodness, it has a whole different light to it.

Going back to Psalm 65:11, “You crown the year with your goodness and your paths drip with abundance.” Now we see that God crowns each year with His glory, His goodness, and our path, our steps, will drip, overflow, with abundance. This sounds like goodness and mercy, beauty and love, shall follow me, chase after me all the days of my life.

When we show goodness, we show God’s glory, because God is good. The devil has no good in him. He can’t even try and muster up a single ounce of goodness. Only a good God can bring good. We are being like Him when we show goodness. See how we shine for His glory when we display goodness to others?

God is good! This is what God said about Himself concerning Who He is when He passeed by Moses: “And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.” (Exodus 34:6)

We need to believe, really believe in the goodness of God. Perhaps your belief in God’s goodness is something that you’ve let slide to a back burner. God wants you to start expecting good things from a good God again!

If you don’t believe in something good, you will have a sour life. And sour people turn everything around them sour. I don’t want to be around sour people who do nothing but complain about their problems. I want to hear what God can do, what God has done. I want to hear your expectations for what God will do in your life.

Are you expecting something good to happen to you?

Psalm 27:13 Amplified Bible

“[What, what would have become of me] had I not believed that I would see the Lord’s goodness, not in heaven, but in the land of the living!”

David said, “What in the world would have happened to me? What kind of condition would I be in? What pit would I be in had I not believed that I would see the Lord’s goodness, not in heaven, but int he land of the living.”

Just because something happens that appears to be a dead end to you, doesn’t mean it is a dead end.

If God closes a door, He opens a window. If Satan seals up every door and every window, God will yank the roof off. We serve a God Who makes a way where there doesn’t seem to be a way.

God is the Waymaker. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). He is tenacious. He never gives up to fulfill His goodness towards His people.

Psalm 27:14 Amplified Bible

“Wait and hope for and expect the Lord; be brave and of good courage and let your heart be stout and enduring. Yes, wait for and hope for and expect the Lord.”

You will experience God’s goodness not just when we get to heaven, but in the here and now, in the ordinary activities of your life. No matter what you are going through put your hope in God’s goodness and expect Him to move in your situation.

Psalm 37:3 NLT

“Trust in the LORD and do good. Then you will live safely in the land and prosper.”

Trust God and do good. Don’t give up doing good, you will receive a reward.

Galatians 6:9 NIV

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

There will be times we want to give up. You might be experiencing hard times right now. You may be believing for a breakthrough. Don’t be discouraged. God’s going to come through for you.

Galatians 6:10 Amplified Bible

“So then, as occasion and opportunity open up to us, let us do good [morally] to all people [not only being useful or profitable to them, but also doing what is for their spiritual good and advantage]. Be mindful to be a blessing, especially to those of the household of faith [those who belong to God’s family with you, the believers].”

Each time you have an opportunity, be good to somebody. Don’t let one occasion pass you by to be good to somebody that you don’t jump in there and take advantage of that opportunity. If you want to be good to somebody, all you’ve got to do is listen to them.

Forgiving someone is being good to them, and yourself. Forgive people when they don’t deserve it. Before someone stops offending you, you can forgive them. Love believes the best. Maybe they didn’t mean to hurt you.

God is good… All the time, now you are going to be good… all the time

Kindness is the attitude we have towards people at being willing to forgive them and not be hard on them. Goodness is the action we take to actually be a blessing in their life.

Your sister in Christ,

Pastor Kris Belfils

www.krisbelfils.com

www.HopeFellowshipSpokane.com

www.krisbelfils.wordpress.com

July 24, 2013 by Pastor Kris Belfils

Fruit of the Spirit – Kindness

Gal. 5:22 NKJV

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.”

“Kind” in the Dictionary means: “Of a friendly, generous, or warm-hearted nature, showing sympathy or understanding; charitable, humane; considerate, forbearing; tolerant, generous; liberal, agreeable; beneficial.”

Kindness is the quality of being kind. Kindness is being friendly and warm-hearted. It is truly caring about others. It is treating fellow human beings with respect and being beneficial or an asset in someone’s life.

~Pastor Kris Belfils

Kindness goes a long way! People respond positively to kindness. You will win people over with kindness. Love and kindness always go together. Love and Kindness is the opposite of selfishness.

Kindness builds the Kingdom of God. Our job is not to be in the demolition business. Our job is encouraging and building up others. What good is there in knocking others down with our words or actions? Absolutely nothing! Knocking someone down, even if they truly did something wrong to us, shows how possibly unstable, selfish, and immature we are as Christians. Showing love and kindness brings healing and reconciliation. Showing love and kindness is doing what Jesus did.

What takes away our kindness

1. Being mean, grouchy, and uncaring.

Maybe you are a nice kind person with a gentle sweet personality and being kind comes natural. But most of the world is not that way. We can change.

Proverbs 12:10 CEV

“Good people are kind to their animals, but a mean person is cruel.”

Proverbs 14:14 Message

“A mean person gets paid back in meanness, a gracious person in grace.”

Proverbs 11:17 NIRV

“A kind man benefits himself. But a mean person brings trouble on himself.”

Just being too tired can make you mean, grouchy, and uncaring. Take the time to take care of yourself. Make sure you get the right amount of sleep each night. Don’t stay up late the night before something important, especially if it is a Saturday night and you have church the next day. Be kind to your pastor and go to bed at a decent hour so you are ready for church in the morning.

Sometimes it is someone’s demeanor to always be mean. If you are a mean person, you can change.

We can change because God has equipped us in our inner man to change.

Every time you walk in one of the fruit of the Spirit and you do it, you become stronger in that area and it becomes easier to do the next time.

We don’t have to stay angry and mean. Choose to be kind. Allow God to help change you from the inside out.

2. Being too busy.

Philippians 2:21 (NET) New English Translation

“For all seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus.”

Seeking our own is being too busy for others and only caring about yourself. This is not how Jesus acted. What if Jesus was too busy to be kind to you?

When we are too busy we don’t have time to be kind to others. We need to tell ourselves to relax and enjoy the journey. Far too often people are in a hurry to be or get somewhere in life. More so I am talking about a career or advancement. Striving for more can exclude others. What good is it to advance if you have no one there to share it with? Your job, career, ministry, and life are not as important as being kind to others.

People are God’s priority. What is yours? We can put things or opportunity above being kind and good to others and it only makes you look selfish and mean.

Check your priorities, and check them often. If you are too busy to help others you have your priorities in the wrong place. When we put God first, all other priorities fall into place.

If you focus on getting what you want, it will just make you more selfish. But if you focus on God and the fruit of the spirit, then that is what will be developed in your life.

3. Being unforgiving

Holding onto a grudge or not forgiving others immediately takes away your kindness. It is hard to be kind to someone who has hurt you. Interestingly this is what the Bible calls us to do.

Matthew 5:44 NIRV

“But here is what I tell you. Love your enemies. Pray for those who hurt you.”

Pray for those who hurt me? OUCH! This seems totally opposite of how we feel. God knows what it will take to overcome the hurt and bring healing. We are asked to pray for those we are offended with. It is hard. But there is a reason why God requires this. It is because it changes our perspective towards the offender. Our view on them after the offense is negative and uncaring. When we pray for people who have hurt us our view point changes towards them. We start to have compassion for them. This is kingdom living.

God has changed me and I am not the person I use to be. In my old condition, there was not room for the fruit of the Spirit to truly manifest. Now, allowing God to change and heal me of my past, there is a healthier tree to produce healthier fruit. I have learned to abide in the vine! This is what we all need to do. We can’t bear fruit on our own, only by abiding in Jesus will we produce much fruit.

John 14:11 NKJV

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away, and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.”

Looks to me like we are pruned if we don’t abide, and pruned if we do. I would rather be pruned to bear more fruit then to be cut off and discarded because I chose to not abide.

2 Peter 1:7 – 8 NKJV

“…to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

This is a command for us to have brotherly kindness and to add to that, love. This helps us to forgive those who have wronged us.

We add these virtues not only for ourselves, but for others. Our lives affect many. What fruit are you producing that others can pick?

It is easy to get selfish and uncaring about others. It is hard to live in this selfish world and not have it affect us. That is why we have to put on faith and love and to be kind to one another.

How we should live

1 Thess. 5:8 Amplified Bible

“But we belong to the day; therefore, let us be sober and put on the breastplate of faith and love and for a helmet the hope of salvation.”

Again, we are to put on faith and love. We are to put on salvation like a helmet. This protects and surrounds us and our thinking.

Did you know kindness protects and supports our life?

Proverbs 20:28 CEB

“Kindness and faithfulness protect the king; he supports his throne by kindness.”

How can kindness support us? Let us go back to the definition of the word “Kind”: “Of a friendly, generous, or warm-hearted nature, showing sympathy or understanding; charitable, humane; considerate, forbearing; tolerant, generous; liberal, agreeable; beneficial.”

We are fortified when we are friendly and generous. When we are approachable instead of being an island unto ourselves. People will be strengthened around you and feel secure.

Don’t pressure people when they do wrong. Yes, we are to correct if need be, but never make the other feel they blew it and there is no hope. Kindness is how we want to be treated (Do unto others as you would like them to do unto you Matthew 7:12), and kindness is how we should live.

We purpose to wear kindness and to give out that fruit daily. We have enough of it because it is growing and manifesting in us new everyday.

Listen to people. Hear about their life. Don’t be so quick to interrupt and share your needs or something about yourself. People want to know you care about them. Listening is showing kindness. Listening goes a long way.

1 Thess. 5:14 Amplified Bible

“And we earnestly beseech you, brethren, admonish (warn and seriously advise) those who are out of line [the loafers, the disorderly, and the unruly]; encourage the timid and fainthearted, help and give your support to the weak souls, [and] be very patient with everybody [always keeping your temper].”

1 Thess. 5:15 Amplified Bible

“See that none of you repays another with evil for evil, but always aim to show kindness and seek to do good to one another and to everybody.”

The Apostle Paul, the writer of Thessalonians, wanted you to have the very best life that you can have. There are a lot of people who don’t know Christ so get over yourself and let your action and attitudes do the preaching.

This is a way to have a great life. show love, be at peace, show patience, show kindness, and seek to do good, and thank God in everything. No matter the circumstances.

We all have problems and we can react or act badly towards others because of them. Your problem that you think is the worse thing in the whole world, is not your problem, your problem is probably the way you are acting because of your problem.

Mercy is kindness and kindness is mercy. Mercy is a beautiful thing. Become nicer. Don’t be a mean Christian. MAKE A PLAN TO GO OUT AND BEHAVE YOURSELF.

Aim to show kindness and seek to do good! Powerful words to live by. This is how we should live everyday.

From one kind hearted person to another,

Pastor Kris Belfils

www.krisbelfils.com

www.hopefellowshipspokane.com

www.krisbelfils.wordpress.com

July 15, 2013 by Pastor Kris Belfils

Fruit of the Spirit – Patience

Gal. 5:22 Amplified Bible

“But the fruit of the [Holy] Spirit [the work which His presence within accomplishes] is love, joy (gladness), peace, patience (an even temper, forbearance), kindness, goodness (benevolence), faithfulness, gentleness (meekness, humility), self-control (self-restraint, continence). Against such things there is no law [that can bring a charge].”

Patience is one of the most challenging things, especially to certain personality types. If you are a quick person, this fruit is a challenge.

One definition of “patience” is long-suffering with mildness, gentleness, and moderation. The best definition of “patience” I think is: To be constant or to be the same all the time, no matter what is going on. This should be our goal as believers.

Patience is not an ability to wait. Patience is a fruit of the Spirit that manifests while we are waiting. If patience doesn’t manifest in times of waiting, then we see the fruit of impatience during those times. We all have patience inside of us. What prevents it from coming out is being impatient.

Let’s talk about being impatient first.

“Impatience” is: “lack of patience; intolerance of or irritability with anything that impedes or delays, restless desire for change and excitement” (Collins English Dictionary).

Some phrases for the word “impatience” are: “Champ or Chomp at the bit.” This means like a horse, they chew on their bits when they are eager to move or go and are impatient at waiting. Another phrase: “Bite the bridle” or “strain at the leash.” all mean the same thing as “Chomp at the bit” but in addition they stamp the ground with their hooves to get going.

Have you ever done this? You get impatient and eager to do something. You get upset and stomp your foot or bang your hand on your steering wheel while driving behind a slow driver.

Usually impatience comes because of a time constraint. We are pressed for time, running late, or need to get somewhere fast. The harder you try to move faster, often, the more impatient you become because it is making things worse.

I was leaving the Baltimore Airport to head back to Washington state. We already arrived at the airport late and there was a long line for checkin. By the time we checked in our luggage, and walked through the security, it looked like we had ten minutes left to get to our gate. We ran and got to the gate before the plane was scheduled to leave but they had already given our seats away to “stand by” passengers. We missed out flight. I had to resolve how I was feeling, impatient, and reconcile the fact that we missed our plane and had to wait stand by for the next flight that wouldn’t leave for another few hours. When that flight came, there was no room and we were bummed to another flight but were confirmed seats on that flight. It was nine or ten hours later from the original flight to the one we finally boarded. Impatience didn’t get us to the plane on time. It only caused me to stress out.

How about the phrase: “Cool ones heels” or “Cool your jets!” Both mean to stop and cool off and slow down and stop being impatient.

I am sure you heard the phrase: “Haste makes waste.” Which means you do not save any time by working too fast; hurrying will cause you to make mistakes, and you will have to take extra time to do the job over again.

All of these phrases have to do with being impatient and in a hurry. This is what society thinks gets the job done.

With me, when I was younger, I was extremely impatient. Not wanting to wait for things. I remember not wanting to go to school because of something that was going to happen that day and I would choose to stay home. I didn’t want to endure the day. It seemed overwhelming to me to walk through a few hours of being uncomfortable. I hated to wait. Wait was a four letter word to me. You might as well of told me to not breathe because that is how I felt when I had to walk through something I didn’t want to be in. I would quit jobs just because I didn’t like the environment and had to wait eight hours before I could be free and away from the uncomfortableness.

God dealt with me in many ways to burn out my impatient spirit. I wrote an article entitled; “Endure or Bolt?” This came after a time in my life when I always bolted instead of staying and enduring a circumstance. I think my nature of wanting to always leave started as a little girl. My Single mom moved us from one house to another trying to make ends meet. I don’t know what she was searching for, but she took all of us kids along in her bolting. She would get impatient and upset over something and the next thing I knew we were moving to another place to live, and another city to get use to.

We get impatient with people because they are not working as fast as we would like. How about a cashier at a store. You get in line and see that your line is going no where all because of the store clerk who is slow. What is your reaction? Do you vocally say something out loud for them and others to hear of how frustrated you are? Do you look for another line that is moving faster and move over to that line? Both reactions are signs of being impatient.

What are you believing God for? When you don’t see the answer to what you asked God for do you get depressed, sad, discouraged, negative, grumble, and complain all the time you are waiting?

When we reach the point where we don’t need to have things done our way and in our timing, that’s when God will give them to us. Remember, Patience is not waiting. It is how we act while we’re waiting.

“Patience” in the Greek means: “cheerful (or hopeful) endurance, constancy: – enduring, patience, patient continuance (waiting).” (Strongs Hebrew and Greek Definitions)

It is hard to imagine having a cheerful hopeful endurance in the middle of waiting, but this is what this fruit produces.

We need to develop this fruit of the Spirit called patience in our life and just say, “Lord, I’m going to trust You. If it takes longer than I’d like, then You must know something that I don’t know.”

Luke 21:19 KJV

“In Your patience possess ye your souls.”

Your soul is your mind, your will and your emotions. It is that personality part of you – your thought life and your feelings. If you don’t learn to posses your own soul, or to control that soulish life through developing the fruit of the Spirit, then it will possess and control you. Be patient because in patience you possess your soul.

James 1:4 Amplified Bible

“But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be [people] perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing.”

If you become desperate enough for some joy and peace, you’ll start developing patience.

God moves two different ways – Quickly and suddenly; slowly and little by little. First, He always moves slowly, little by little, so slowly that you think it is never going to happen, and it’s all you can do every day of your life to not give up.

Then suddenly God moves, and your breakthrough comes. You don’t know how; you don’t understand it, but it’s just like, “That must have been God,” because you’ve done everything that anybody could do forty-five times over and none of it worked. Finally, when you’re done, God says, “Okay, now that you’ve finally let go, I will take care of you.”

Waiting destroys pride. If God gave us everything the minute we wanted it, we would be so proud and haughty, we’d think it was us.

For example, if we pray and God gives us what I want right away, sometimes we begin to think, “Boy, my prayers are powerful. I must really be living a holy life. I’m a righteous person.”

That is a very wrong attitude to have. God’s goodness is not based on our goodness. God’s goodness should only provoke praise and thanksgiving, not proud thoughts of how good we think we are.

God makes us wait because He is testing us. He told the Israelites, “I led you these forty years in the wilderness to test you and to prove you to see if you would keep My commandments or not.

It’s one thing to keep the commandments of God when we’re getting everything we want. It’s another thing to keep the commandments of God when we’re not getting much of what we want. It’s one thing to be nice to somebody when they’re being nice to you. It’s another thing entirely to operate in the fruit of the Spirit when they’re not being so nice to you.

Colossians 3:12 NASB tells us to put on patience. That tells me that patience is something that I have to do on purpose. Just because I don’t feel patient doesn’t mean I impatient. We must put on patience.

The Amplified Bible states in Colossians 3:12 to “Clothe yourselves therefore, as God’s own chosen ones…” Again, patience is something we put on. We can’t expect our clothes to come on our bodies all by themselves. We have to put them on. Likewise, it is the same with patience. We have to choose, to purpose to walk with patience everyday.

Colossians 3:12, in the Amplified Bible continues, “Putting on… patience… [which is tireless and longsuffering, and has the power to endure whatever comes, with good temper.” One of the greatest ways to show love to other people is by being patient with them. That doesn’t mean we don’t deal with issues or become a doormat for everyone to walk all over us all the time.

When we begin to recognize a wrong behavior in someone, it is often God trying to lead us to pray for them. If we pray first, that opens the door for God to deal with them. Then He can prepare their heart for any future action He might ask us to take.

We try so hard to make things happen, and we get so impatient and so frustrated we don’t realize that if we pray, God has a plan. His plan may not always be our plan, but we’ve got to get sensitive and listen to God about what He wants us to deal with and what He doesn’t.

So when I say be patient, I don’t mean never deal with anything, I mean to be patient enough to deal with things in God’s timing and not our own timing.

BE PATIENT

-Be patient with people’s opinions.

-Be patient with people’s personalities. We have people in our lives who have personalities that are harder for us to handle. That’s an opportunity to exercise the fruit of patience.

-Be patient when someone tells you a story for the third time, even though you mentioned in the beginning, “Yes, you told me that last week.”

-Be patient when someone wants to tell you every minor detail of a story that you’re not even interested in hearing.

-Be patient when people interrupt you when you don’t want to be interrupted.

-Be patient with people when they call you at 6:00 a.m.

-Be patient when people goof around and act silly while you’re trying to be serious.

-Be patient when you’re sick and going through a really rough time and people seem to be clueless concerning your needs.

-Be patient when people push in front of you in line or take a parking space you’ve been waiting for.

-Be patient when a department store heavily advertises a certain item on sale, and when you get there, they’re all on back order.

-Be patient with a clerk when you have to return an item two times because it fell apart both times you took it home.

-Be patient when you have an agenda and someone comes and interrupts you with something that seems less important.

Allow the fruit of patience to develop in you by choosing to wear it daily. Life is NOT all about you. People have been patient with you, it is your turn to be patient with them.

Watch this video of preschoolers who were given a marshmallow and see if they have the patience to wait and get another one! Video: Marshmallow test

Galatians 6:9 NKJV

“And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.”

Your sister in Christ,

Pastor Kris Belfils

Pastor Kris Belfils

Seeing people transformed by the power of God!

Encouragement

Stand Therefore

Open Heaven

Fruit of the Spirit – RECAP

Fruit of the Spirit – Self-Control

Fruit of the Spirit – Gentleness (Part 2)

Fruit of the Spirit – Gentleness (Part 1)

Fruit of the Spirit – Faithfulness

Fruit of the Spirit – Goodness

Fruit of the Spirit – Kindness

Fruit of the Spirit – Patience

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