Wednesday, October 31, 2018

NOVEMBER SCHEDULE


NOVEMBER SCHEDULE

We have a couple of challenges to our schedule this next month. First, we are trying to put together a year-long devotional book to be published by December. Second, we are moving to a new apartment, an opportunity we could not pass up because it is completely power-chair accessible. Praise the Lord!  However, this means we will have limited time to post to our blogs. Our plan is to put a “Thanksgiving” devotion post up each Thursday in November on https://susiesmusings-ksh.blogspot.com/ and resume posting on the other two blogs in December. We appreciate your prayers as we take this brief break from blogging to take care of other necessary business!

Friday, October 12, 2018

GALATIANS 5:22-23 FAITH, MEEKNESS, AND TEMPERANCE DEFINED

Here are the last three of the terms from the Fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23. 

FAITH

4102 pistis – persuasion, i.e. credence: mor. conviction (of relig. truth, or the truthfulness of God or a relig. teacher), espec. reliance upon Christ for salvation, abstr. constancy in such profession, by extension, the system of religious (Gospel) truth itself — assurance, belief, believe, faith, fidelity.

Susan: We looked at the word “faith” earlier in our study of Galatians, but we will discover more nuances or layers of the concept in the context of the Fruit of the Spirit.

Susie: Faith is conviction of, belief in, and trust in the fact that Jesus is the Son of God who was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life as the God-man, died on the cross to pay for our sin, and was raised to life again on the third day to reign with God forever.

Susan: The word Faith also refers to the Gospel, this good news about Christ Jesus, i.e. the Christian Faith.

Susie: Now let’s look at another aspect of the term “faith.” As a part of the fruit of the Spirit, faith refers to the constancy of the believer in his/her profession of the Gospel truth. A believer is faithful when he/she consistently identifies as a follower of Jesus.

Susan: Another facet of this definition of “faith” is fidelity. It is faithful adherence to the covenant relationship between Jesus Christ and His bride, the church, which is comprised of us as individual believers.

Susie: As human beings, we will sometimes stray in our faithfulness to Jesus, but praise the Lord, He never strays from us and as our Good Shepherd draws us back into the safety of the fold.

2 Timothy 2:13 If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.


MEEKNESS
4236 praiŏtēs – gentleness, by impl. humility — meekness.

Susan: Meekness is not weakness, as some suppose. One who is meek is humbly committed and submitted to God, desiring to further the Lord’s kingdom and agenda rather than his or her own. The meek are those who wait patiently for the Lord to act or move.

Susie: Humility is the opposite of haughtiness or self-aggrandizement. The Lord consistently praises the quality of meekness, gentleness, humility. The Bible tells us that the Lord Himself will elevate the humble person in due time.

James 4:10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
1 Peter 5:6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:

TEMPERANCE

1466 ĕgkratĕia — self-control (espec. continence) – temperance.

Susan: Temperance is an effort to stay in the middle rather than to the extremes of self-indulgence or asceticism (extreme self-denial). Let’s see how Webster defines it:

American Dictionary of the English Language

TEM'PERANCE, noun [Latin temperantia, from tempero.]

Moderation; particularly, habitual moderation in regard to the indulgence of the natural appetites and passions; restrained or moderate indulgence; as temperance in eating and drinking; temperance in the indulgence of joy or mirth. temperance in eating and drinking is opposed to gluttony and drunkenness, and in other indulgences, to excess.

Susie: Temperance is self-control, or as I like to say, “Christ-control.” By the power of the Holy Spirit within us, we are able to reign in our tempers (I’ve needed help with that this week), our appetites, our tongues. As we grow in the grace the Lord gives us as His children, we will increasingly exhibit temperance as well as the other character traits listed in Galatians 5:22-23, the Fruit of the Spirit. 

Friday, October 5, 2018

GALATIANS 5:22-23 LONGSUFFERING, GENTLENESS, AND GOODNESS DEFINED

CONTINUING WITH OUR DEFINITIONS OF THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT:

LONGSUFFERING

Susie: Part of the definition of longsuffering is a word we have looked up before—longanimity. Since longanimity expresses this particular character trait so well, we will provide the definition for right after the Strong’s definition for longsuffering.

3115 makrŏthumia – longanimity, i.e. (obj.) forbearance or (subj) fortitude—longsuffering, patience

American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster, 1828.

longanimity - Forbearance; patience; disposition to endure long under offenses.

Susan: I would describe longsuffering as patience to an exponential power. I’m not sure I’m there yet.

Susie: Or patience to the maximum. Just as the entire orange tree is found in one seed but must be planted and cultivated before one can pick oranges from its branches, the Fruit of the Spirit is implanted in us when we surrender our lives to Jesus. However, the Holy Spirit cultivates it over a life-time. Longsuffering grows and develops every time we need to rely on the Lord to make us patient.

2 Peter 1:3 (AMP) For His divine power has bestowed on us [absolutely] everything necessary for [a dynamic spiritual] life and godliness, through true and personal knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.

Susan: It takes a life-time of preparation and cultivation for the fruit to come to full fruition. The Holy Spirit will continue to teach us and empower us to produce His fruit.

Philippians 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

GENTLENESS
Susie: Gentleness is more than the soft touch employed when holding a baby. Let’s look at the Strong’s definition for the specific word Paul employed:

5544 chrēstŏtēs – usefulness, i.e. mor. excellence (in character or demeanor) — gentleness, good          (-ness), kindness.

Susan: We looked up the Greek words for gentle as well. You might want to check Strong’s 2261 and 1933. One of them used “mild” as a synonym for gentle. Mild to me is even-tempered, steady and unflappable.

Susie: “Excellence in character or demeanor” says that the person is consistently characterized by gentleness. This is not a person who flies off the handle easily.

Susan: Think of Mr. Rogers or Mr. Peppermint. Both were kind, even-tempered, soft-spoken men.

GOODNESS

Susie: “Goodness” may not sound like a powerful trait to us. However, remember that Jesus said, “Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God” (Matthew 19:17a). Of course, the man to whom Jesus was speaking did not fully realize that Jesus IS God. However, the Holy Spirit indwelling us cultivates the trait of goodness within us.

19 agathōsūne – goodness, i.e. virtue or beneficence.

Susan: By committing and submitting ourselves to be instruments of God and having the Holy Spirit flowing through us, we can be “good” i.e. virtuous.

Susie: Another word for virtuous would be Christ-like since goodness is a trait that belongs foremost to God.

Susan: We can share the traits belonging to God because He created human beings in His image.

Susie: When Adam, the first man, sinned, that image of God in us became tarnished. However, when we are restored to right relationship with God through our faith in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit begins the work of restoring us to be like Him:

Romans 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

Susan: No amount of Tarnex™ could polish us up. That could only be accomplished by the cleansing blood of the spotless Lamb, Jesus, shed on the cross to cleanse us from sin. His blood is the soap of His love.

 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Susie: The last word in the Strong’s definition is one that is not often used. Therefore, we looked it up in our favorite dictionary:

American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster, 1828.

BENEF'ICENCE, noun [Latin beneficentia, from the participle of benefacio.] The practice of doing good; active goodness, kindness, or charity.

Susie: What I noticed in this definition is the word “active.” We do not just sit around thinking good thoughts toward people; we get out of our comfort zone and do good deeds. Our good deeds do not earn us salvation, but our salvation should result in good deeds.

Susan: This made me think of “random acts of kindness” that were so popular a few years ago. Our goodness should be purposeful and intentional because of Whose we are, and who we are becoming by His grace.