Patience, Love, and Forgiveness! ( 3 )

1 Timothy 6:11 (KJV)
But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.

Same verse, different word! Are you ready?
Remember last time we were talking about "following after" or should we say pressing on towards or pursuing. Today let's look at one part of what we should be pursuing.

Righteousness.. the dictionary defines it as: "the quality of being morally right or justifiable."

But the Strong's Concordance takes it further by saying: "the condition acceptable to God. Integrity, virtue, purity of life, rightness, correctness of thinking feeling, and acting."

Now I know some questions are probably going through the heads of some.. Questions like, "what's right, or even correct?" "What really does purity of life mean?" "Who sets the standard that's imposed on us?" "What do we do when we have questions in any standard?"

The best answer for all of these questions is, the Lord Jesus Christ sets the standard. His Word is the authority in our lives. And of course prayer and daily walking with the Spirit prepares us and gets us ready to see, hear, understand, and apply the answers directly into our lives. Of course all that must come after a heart of true humility. An attitude of our hearts where we know and accept that we are not enough on our own. The Lord must complete the work in us. His Spirit has to teach us all things and empower us to be obedient. That's why we must have the attitude of pressing on towards the Lord, pursuing Him daily. And relying on Him to change our hearts and minds.

Don't stop reading God's Word! We must study it, learn from the Spirit, abide in Christ. Only when we stay close will we see joy in our lives and only in Him can we have correctness of thinking, feeling and acting! Seek and you will find! Knock, and the door shall be open unto you! May the Lord richly bless the time you spend with Him! May His Spirit mold you and give you wisdom today!

Patience, Love, and Forgiveness! ( 2 )

1 Timothy 6:11 (KJV)
But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.

Today I was hoping to get right into the first of 3 Words, Patience. But my heart is so overwhelmed with this verse, that I have to take some time and dig in, study, and share what the Holy Spirit is showing me.. Overwhelmed and excited! Are you ready?
If you really want to experience what the Spirit can teach you, then don't JUST read the verse above. Look into what the words mean. The Strong's Concordance will help you see and understand what the translated words are really saying..
Let's start with "follow after"...
At first glance one might say it's like a sheep following a Shepherd. "LaTeDa, munch munch... O look, the guy is moving again... Guess I should go.." Kind of a funny way to see it, but it starts setting the frame work of how we understand, or should I say, miss-understand what this means..
The Strong's definition of "follow after" is this: "to pursue, ensue, given to, press forward.
To make to run or flee, to run swiftly in order to catch a person or thing, to run after.
Figuratively of one who in a race runs swiftly to reach the goal, to pursue (in a hostile manner)"...
Quite a difference in interpretative thoughts. And I've said this before, our lives should be a relentless pursuit of our Lord Jesus! A constant reaching out, straining to catch a grasp or get a hold of our Savior. Not that He's running from us, but a heart attitude to know more, be molded, and to abide or stay close to our Lord....Everyday, all day!
Spend some time with this verse. See what the words are really defined as. And pursue some time with the Spirit today. He will teach us. And there is joy in our time spent with God!
Next, we will look at righteousness. Yep.. the very next word.. and then right down the line through the verse.. Are you ready?

Patience, Love, and Forgiveness! ( 1 )

Romans 8:16-17 (esv)

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

Who are we? Why are we here? What are we to look like to this world? How are we to live?

Just a few common questions that Christians ask of themselves and others.

So where do we go to find the answers? Obviously our answer is the Word of God! And the Bible clearly tells us that we are Children of God. Those who have wholly trusted in Christ Jesus as the only source of salvation, and look to Him for all things! Those who fully know that they have been taken from the domain of darkness and have been transferred to the kingdom of God's beloved Son! Colossians 1:13 (esv)
So if the Spirit bears witness that we are truly Children of God, then what do we do from there? How does the world view us? How do those around us speak of us? What sets us apart? The Bible also clearly answers that!
John 13:34-35 (esv) "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Bottom line... If we are the Lord's, then we will love like He loves us! Sometimes that will not be understood. Sometimes the world will call us crazy to love unconditionally, without want of recognition or praise, without conditions. But it's how we are called to live.
I believe there three basic principles, or words, if you will... that we can hold on to as we navigate life. Patience, love, and forgiveness. I will attempt to clarify and expand on those words, in the upcoming posts, in hope that God will be glorified and that His children will begin living the life of joy and fulfillment He has intended for us!