I went to the Joyce Myer
Con. in Hampton VA this past weekend with Dana (sis-n-law) and 5 ladies from her church. We had a wonderful time! If you don't know about Joyce Meyer then you are missing out. She is a dynamic speaker who teaches you God's word, very loudly, with out trying to be nice about it. Meaning this: if you are listening, her goal is to step on your toes with her heels! She speaks the truth and doesn't worry about being PC. I so need to be taught that way!
Joyce is dynamic because she teaches based on her own failures and mistakes. She is very open and funny about how far God has brought her and where He is still teaching her.
This weekend's teaching was on the Fruits of the Spirit.
The 1st thing I learned is that Spiritual Gifts are given by the Holy Spirit and that Fruit is developed. Different gifts are given to different people for our enjoyment. So when I am tempted to wish I could sing like someone else or teach like them, I should stop and just enjoy the gift they received and be thankful that they are using it for God's glory.
2nd: I must practice Love and Self Control in order to produce any of the other fruits. Joyce taught that Love and Self Control are the "book ends" of the fruits. If you don't have Love for God's children and you don't practice Self Control, you can never develope joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and faithfullness.
3rd: 1 Peter 4:8 tells us that "love covers a mulitude of sins." In our life people have hurt us, wronged us, broken us down, and it will happen again. Our flesh wants to make them pay us back, undo what was wrong. Well, they can't. They may apologize and try to make restitution but they can't repay what emotional damage they may have caused. Can we ever repay Jesus for suffering and dying on the cross for us? Never. Jesus doesn't even expect us to. So who are we to try to make people repay us? That is up to God. Think of all the people you have sinned against, hurt somehow and you don't even realize it!
4th: If I call myself a Christian, then it is time to take that to a whole new level. No more acting like the world. I am to be a light that draws people to me, to God. This is going to be hard. Loving people as Jesus did is going to be hard. Taming my tongue is going to be hard. Practicing Self Control is going to be very hard. Going the extra mile is going to be hard. Someone please show me the verse that said this life would be easy.
I am tired of going from luke warm to on fire back to luke warm again. I want to be consistant in my faith walk. I want people to see Jesus in me all the time! I want to listen to and follow the Holy Spirit's nudgings all the time. I want to be different from everyone else. Now I have my chance.
If my tree is firmly rooted in Jesus and His word then I will bear fruit. The devil will attack, and I may bend, but I will not break. God promises me this. It is time to claim God's promises and start living them out.
Won't you join me on this journey? I assure you, it will be quite a ride!
