Last week I wrote about living in the truth instead of the narrative: the narrative is the story that we have been taught by our culture, our parents, and through our own experience—it is what we want to have happen in our lives. And now this week, I turn to what happens in our […]

The last fruit of the Spirit that Paul writes about in Galatians (5:22-23) is self-control (NIV, NRSV) also translated as temperance(KJV).  That sounds like an outward control of bad habits, but it’s more an attachment to Jesus’s teachings and His leading us to the kingdom of God than us controlling our own behavior.  Priorities change […]

Fruit of the Spirit Kindness, Goodness and Gentleness   Kindness, goodness and gentleness are love in action in this world, with everyone we meet, with friends and family and enemies. The ability to be kind, good, and gentle grows in us—like all the fruit of the spirit–as we follow Christ in our lives, especially as […]

We Americans talk so much about happiness, but happiness is a just short-lived positive reaction to meeting our goals or buying the next thing on our list or getting someone’s approval. Happiness is really about what our ego- and culture- dominated lives desire. It has only to do with superficial goals and the surface of […]

  “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” Purity is holiness, untainted by any human impulse, unblemished by sin.  Jesus is talking about the releasing of all that stands between us and God in this Beatitude. And when we have released all that separates us from God, we will see God.[1] […]

Paul described the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-3: peace, joy, love, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Fruit is the end product of a long growing season, the product the plant or tree offers the world. That this “fruit” comes from the Spirit of God means that it is given to us, […]

[based on Romans 12:2] To live in the world and not be of the world is not something we can claim because we believe in Jesus Christ. It is a step-by-step dismantling of the world’s influence in our lives. It is taking the bias of the world out of our own thinking. It is giving […]

What if? –we stopped projecting our stuff on to God and just discover who He as He reveals Himself to each of us? What if? –we just listened to God tell us what He wants for us instead of telling Him what we want? What if? –we dropped our very human inability to be consistent […]

Willingness To give your life over to God to be born again To follow wherever He leads To lift up to Him whatever sin He highlights in us To worship Him always Faith is more than just a belief in Jesus Christ and God. Belief is a good starting point, but it won’t take you […]

We can’t have it both ways, if we’re being true to our love of God. We can’t do things one way and think and feel the other way.  If we are only ”nice” and “good” and “kind” on the outside, our inner state will belie what we do. We all read the inner energies of […]