Author: mary

Once you understand all of the fruit of the Spirit, you will be able to recognize them in your daily life and how you can better use them to serve the Lord. When you offer yourself as an offering and submit your life to Him, you will see many people affected by your submission, whether that is your spouse, children, family, friends, or coworkers. Romans 11:16 tells us, “And since Abraham and the other patriarchs were holy, their descendants will also be holy—just as the entire batch of dough is holy because the portion given as an offering is holy. For if the roots of the tree are holy, the branches will be, too.”

Take peace for example. When you live in peace with others and strive to keep dissention and conflict out of your life, you will see the people around you striving to do the same. Kindness is another good example of living out the fruit of the spirit. If you make kindness to others a part of your daily life by the way that you live and breathe, the words that you say and the actions that you show, your children will remember your kindness and try to live the way that you have shown them. Abraham’s sons followed in his footsteps and lived connected to God because of the faith that Abraham portrayed. The seed is the gospel that grows into a strong tree, and the fruit of the spirit are the branches of the tree that is rooted in Christ.

Romans 12:1 commands Christians to offer themselves as living sacrifices. To be a “living: sacrifice,” as verse one states, you must daily seek the Lord and strive to show the fruit of the Spirit everywhere you go. Stay connected to Christ so that your branches will remain strong.

Solomon searched for happiness everywhere and couldn’t find anything to bring the type of happiness he was looking for. Instead, he found that to everything there is a season and that true joy only comes from the Lord. His conclusion in Ecclesiastes 3:11-12 states, “Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end. So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can.”

True joy comes from the Lord. Many nonbelievers think that Christianity is just a list of rules. But it is much more than that. He planted eternity ine the heart of every believer. Eternity with Him is what gives the believer joy. Since it is in the heart of man, man longs to know his Creator more and more. He has placed that desire within us. Other people would say, “God wants me to be happy.” While there is a little bit of truth in that statement, it is a very shallow, human thought. His desire is for us to desire Him; He longs for us to make Him our joy. If we are seeking Him and His heart, then we will find the happiness we are looking for in Him. Solomon discovered this truth after seeking after meaningless things.

Finding His joy is a process. He plants eternity in our hearts, which means we have His joy from the minute we are saved, but we tend to look in other places for our happiness. So just as Solomon was on a journey to find the real meaning of life and joy, it may take us a while to learn the truth as he did. It may cost us heartaches, mistakes, and consequences. Ultimately though, if we seek after Him instead of meaningless things, we will cause ourselves a lot less heartache and will find true joy!

The seasons come and go. Every year they change. No matter what happens in life, the seasons come right on time. Summer will give way to fall, fall turn to winter, winter will change to spring, and it will all start over again. Ecclesiastes describes the seasons, but not in their physical form, more in the nature of change and the seasons of life. Chapter 3 says that for everything there is a season and a time. The seasons of life change just as the actual seasons change. The difference is that there is usually not the same season from year to year.

We go through things in our life and periods where some seasons are easier, some are more joyful, and some are just plain difficult. There are seasons of sorrow and seasons of rejoicing. Everything has a beginning and an end. Ecclesiastes 3:2 says that there is a time to be born and a time to die, and then it goes on to explain everything that happens in between. This list shows us two important parts of life: the joy and excitement that come with some events and the trouble and heartache that come with others. A baby being born is such a beautiful time in a married couples life, while death brings sorrow and grief. Verse 3b says “a time to tear down and a time to build up.” When something ends, like a relationship or a job, it is time to tear it down. This can cause heartache and longing for what was. However, joy comes with new beginnings and a time to build something up, like a new relationship or career. That is just one example in a list of many others on Ecclesiastes 3.

All of this is part of life. While heartache is hard, it is a necessary season of life that can grow who you are as a person and bring you closer to the Lord. Seasons of joy and love also grow your relationship with the Lord and help you feel thankful and blessed. Take some time to read all of chapter 3 and praise God for the work He is doing in your life!

Ecclesiastes chapter 1 says that there is nothing new under the sun. History merely repeats itself. This is an interesting concept to think about. There is nothing new under the sun. That means that all the hurts and pains that we go through in this world are not new. That means that there is no new sin, there are no new ideas, nothing that man can do is new. There may be new ways of doing things, but the concepts themselves are not new.

We should not be shocked when the world acts as if they are lost because they are. They will do things that show they are lost. Sometimes you hear people say things are way worse than they used to be. If you read the Bible then you know that is not true. Sins can be recycled over and over and over again. Look at Sodom and Gomorrah; they were so bad that God destroyed them. Their sin was so great that God decided they should no longer exist. This is just one example of how things are not necessarily worse today. People are sinful, and so they will act sinful now just as they always have.

Ecclesiastes 1:10 says that “Sometimes people say, ‘Here is something new!’ But actually it is old; nothing is ever truly new. We don’t remember what happened in the past, and in future generations, no one will remember what we are doing now.” Oh how our memories are so short! We think we’ve been alive for a long time and know a lot about what has happened, but our time on earth is but a mist. Since we know that nothing is new under the sun, then we know the consequences for actions, and that should serve as a warning to us now. Just as sin is not new, God’s wisdom is also not new. The Bible has stood the test of time. We can learn from the past, what happened when people went against God, and even the lessons that godly men and women learned when they tried to do things their own way.

If God is for us, who can be against us? What else is there for man to fear? This verse in Romans 8:31 is an encouraging verse because it tells us that there is absolutely nothing in this world that can tear us apart from the love of Christ. Once we become one of his children, we are His and are held in the palm of His hands.

Verse 35 says that nothing can separate us from His love. The devil cannot separate from the love of Christ because the work has already been done. He already won the victory at the cross. However, the enemy will continuously try to entrap us again and again. He will try to steal our joy and make us question God. He will use others to try and accomplish this. He reigns over the darkness and is always working in the lives of those who don’t know him. So when we are hurt by someone who doesn’t know the Lord, we must remember that they are not one of His people, so they will not act like Him. We have become His sons and daughters, so we must act like Him. What a comforting thought that there is nothing that can separate us from His love. He is always with us.

So when others come against us or question our beliefs, we can rest assured that God is for us and will stand with us when we take a stand! Take comfort in knowing that God is with you and that nothing can separate you from His love!