quote

as I've mentioned in an earlier post, I am reading John Ortberg's new book:" the me I want to be". It is a good book.. makes one think.

Here is the quote I read yesterday and have been thinking about off and on since: "When someone bumps into me, what spills out of me reveals what is inside of me". (pg. 46)
what he is referring to here is when someone "bumps" into us, what comes out of us, should be good. When the Holy Spirit invades our lives, He should fill us with His life-giving water, and that should come out of our lives when we are "bumped" into by someone, or when we face trouble, or hardships.
It all comes back to what Jesus said in Matthew 12: 35: "The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him." (NIV)

If Evil is going into our lives, then when someone "bumps" into us, evil will come out. But if, and this should be the case if you are a disciple of Jesus, you put good in, then good will come out when someone "bumps" into you.

I know I still have work to do in this area... how about you, if I happen to "bump" into you, what will come out of you.. Good (the life-giving water of the Holy Spirit) or Bad?

I've been thinking.....

Usually, when My wife says that, it ends up costing me money.... or maybe it's the other way around... anyway,

I have had this thought in my brain the last few weeks, I am not sure what to make of it, or even if I should expand on it or not, but here it is
"why is it that people in the church-- the one's who have been saved by grace-- are sometimes the least likely to show that same grace to other people" ??

it's an interesting thought, right? Maybe I am way off base here, but often times I am "ungraceful" in my dealings with people, even though it's only because of Grace that I have been saved...

I need to, as John Ortberg suggests in one of his books (when the game is over it all goes back in the box) to learn how to ""play with grace, win with grace and lose with grace..."

my kids are yelling at each other right now... .. I guess there is no time like the present to to show some Grace.

Quote

I read this quote today during my quite time with the Lord.. It is taken from Rick Warren's Book "God's Power to change your life".. Here it is:
"God produces the fruit of the Spirit in us by allowing us to encounter situations and people with characteristics that are exactly the opposite of the Fruit of the Spirit." (pg.44)
Interesting.
If I have read this correctly, God, who wants to grow in me the 9 Fruit of the Spirit, (that's all nine, not one, two or five, If I am a disciple of Jesus, I am to have all 9 fruit) He will put in my path people who don't have the Fruit of the Spirit.
Rick explains this quote by saying that if we want to love, (the first fruit) God will not give us people that we love, that's easy. God, who wants to grow the Fruit of the Spirit called Love in His children, will put people in our lives who are "hard to love" this, Rick says, will allow God to grow the Fruit of Love in our lives.
It makes sense. If I want to have Patience, (which I do, especially with my kids) then I need to have an encounter with someone who takes Patience. It's the same way with the other 7 Fruit.
God wants to grow these fruit in our Lives, and, this takes, time. Just as plants are not grown in one day, the Fruit of the Spirit will take time to "grow" in my life.
By allowing these 9 fruit to be in my life, I am becoming more and more like my Savior, Jesus Christ.

It's as a bumper sticker once said "God wants spiritual fruits, not religious nuts"

2 for 1

Here is the second post of the day. (this means that I am off the hook in posting for a few extra days....)

As I mentioned before, i love to read. I have been known, to have 5 books on the go all at once. (maybe this is why it takes me so long to finish even 1 of them)

One of the books I am reading in John Ortberg's new book. "the me I want to be>> becoming God's best version of you" what a book. I highly recommend it. While I am only in chapter 2, I have been left with some things to think about, here's one or two of those things:

God made me to be me. He didn't make me to be anyone else . He didn't make me to stay the way that I am. He expects me to become "a new creation". I am not supposed to compare my life with that of anyone else, because I am not anyone else. I am who God created me to be.... let me rephrase that... I want to become the me God wants me to be.
This is a process, it takes time.

If God has a plan in mind for me, chances are He has a plan for you as well. Sometimes we get caught up in comparing ourselves with others, or we become the "me someone else wants me to become" when in reality, God wants us to be us. He'll do the changing, if we will do the submitting.

I don't know if you got your money's worth today or not, but as my Uncle likes to say "you get what you paid for...."

2 for 1

It's a 2 for the price of 1 today... don't you feel special?

My Friend and colleague, Rev. AJ Plaizier, whom I travelled to Africa with, posted this quote in his blog this past week, and I wanted to "borrow" it from him as is.
"That terrible zone of confusion so evident in the whole life of the Christian community could be cleared up in one day if the followers of Christ would begin to follow Christ instead of each other." A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of Man, p.117

Enough Said.