Devotionals for the Heart: Self-control

Self-control
A devotional by Allison M. Wilson

Key Scripture: Galatians 5:22-23 and Proverbs 25:3 (NASB)

I’ve really struggled with this last fruit of the Spirit. Not only in application in my life, but in writing this blog post. I have this deep sense that self-control means much more than we realize on the surface, yet, I must not be at a point where God’s ready to reveal it.

I’ve been praying about this fruit for some time. The other blogs have flowed pretty well, with lots of thoughts and ideas swirling around before I sit down to write. This one, however, has just sat in my mind…self-control.

The other fruit have shown us that we can not manifest them through fleshly initiative for long. They are all part of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. They are a result of a surrendered life. Self-control must be the same, right? So, if all of the fruit are a result, how does self come into this? How can my flesh, or self, gain any kind of real control?

Proverbs 25:3 tells us that it’s to God’s glory to conceal a matter and to the glory of kings to seek it out. God doesn’t play hide and seek to be malicious or sly. He wants to know we are desiring to hear more from Him, to go more deeply. That requires a seeking out on our parts.

A quick search of the Scriptures says that the word “self-control” isn’t used in the Old Testament, only in the New Testament. Interesting! Another piece of information is that the word is only used from Acts on. I think we’re getting somewhere!

With the knowledge that self-control was talked about in the Word only after the Holy Spirit was given to believers, there’s definitely a connection. My question about how self plays into this still remains, but a thought is starting to form.

We see Jesus in the wilderness being tempted. It’s a relatively short story in the Scriptures, with enormous ramifications. Until recently, I really didn’t think about what it was like for Him to have the enemy tempt Him with food, though I think that was likely the hardest to resist. He had been without food for 40 days. I know someone who has been called to a 40 day fast several times in his life. He’s told me that it is the most difficult thing he’s ever done, and when he is able to eat, his mind wants to eat everything in sight! That’s the point to which Jesus had gotten when He was told to make a stone into bread, which is something that is incredibly simple for the Creator to do.

Gethsemane is another place we see the Lord suffering under stress to the point of sweating out blood. So much was going on with His flesh, that it was pushing blood out of His pores. That’s something few people can say they have experienced.

During both of these overwhelming trials, Jesus did not sin. He did not give in to what His flesh, self, wanted, though it was a severe struggle. He exhibited the self-control that I believe the Scriptures may be talking about in Galatians. The wrestling with what I want, versus what I know the Spirit wants. The surrender of my will to One who has done the same to His Father. Giving up my right to be right, in order to be right with Him.

Perhaps I’m getting to the point of God illuminating this more for me. I’ll just have to seek it out. Are you willing to do the same?

Let's Pray: Dear Daddy (Father God in Heaven), You have redefined so many words as You have conformed my thoughts to those of You. This word is no different. Show me what You want me to see about myself and my walk with You, as Your Spirit guides me into all truth. In Jesus’s Name, I pray, Amen.

~*~
Author Bio:

A very early reader and lover of the written word, Allison M. Wilson has been writing since the age of eight with the heart to impart stories and God's truth.

She has judged countless contests for the last 25 years, reviewed for several online publications, professionally edited, and written articles and devotionals.

Wife, mother, writer, editor, teacher, mentor, and mompreneur, God keeps her busy while living in east central Florida with her family.

~*~
Connect with Allison:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/allisonmwilson
Twitter: https://twitter.com/amwilson

Devotionals for the Heart: How to live by the fruit of The Holy Spirit

Living by The Spirit
A devotional by Mirachelle Canada

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” 
— Galatians 5:22-23 (ESV)

I love being a high school teacher, but sometimes the workdays can be arduous. Like parenting a child, educating one also comes with challenges. During one particular start of a school year, I was having a hard time maintaining the right attitude. I dreaded each morning and became sad. I loved my students; I just didn’t love supervising them, and every moment of needed correction irritated me.

I prayed for God’s guidance and intervention. How was going to make it through when I still had months to go? Was it time to change jobs? Was I no longer cut out to be a teacher if I didn’t have the right attitude? I also knew that among my colleagues I wasn’t the only one struggling with this problem.

I turned to the Lord for help and He took me to 1 Corinthians 6:17 (ESV), which says, “He who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.” As I meditated deeper on the verse, God instructed me to approach each day through the power of His Spirit by first praying for and then enacting ways to show the fruit of His Spirit.

That next Monday, I started with love in heart and mind. I prayed to love my students unconditionally and sought out ways to show them I cared for them, whether through a genuine smile or a personal hello or asking how they were doing.

Tuesday, I went in prayed up with joy. I used every opportunity to show my enthusiasm and happiness for what they were doing and the fact they were there in my class. 

On Wednesday, I welcomed peace to guide us. If a conflict or issue arose, I was slow to react and remained as peaceful on the outside as I was on the inside. 

On Thursday, I relied on patience to help me with proper responses to guide my students through their own struggles. 

On Friday, I looked for every opportunity to show kindness to everyone I met. The results were incredible! I, along with all my students and even my colleagues, were notably happier people. The Spirit of the Lord had completely changed the atmosphere of my classroom!

The next week, I continued to welcome God’s Spirit through goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. In the months that followed, if I or my students reverted to bad habits or attitudes, I took every opportunity to reestablish the right Spirit, just as David prayed in Psalm 51:10 (ESV), “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” Each time it worked! God’s method became so effective that I now write one fruit of the Spirit to cover an entire week on my calendar.

Are you in a situation that needs divine intervention? I encourage you to begin praying to be guided by the fruits of the Spirit. Start with God’s love that unites with your faith and hope. He won’t use His fruit to change things just for you and your situation. Unity with Him is meant to bring us all together in “one heart and soul,” as He says in Acts 4:32 (ESV).

The fruit of His Spirit are boundless! The power of your partnership with His Spirit will permeate and affect those around you too, so they may also be blessed.

We serve an awesome God! To Him be all glory and praise! Amen.

~*~
Author Bio:

Mirachelle Canada is a writer, playwright, screenwriter and theatre director/producer from Northern Virginia. She teaches television production at C.D. Hylton Senior High School. 

She earned her Master of Fine Arts in Script & Screenwriting from Regent University and is a member of Act One: Hollywood Film & Television Writing Program, American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW), ACFW Virginia Chapter, The Jerry Jenkins Writers Guild, and Your Novel Blueprint.

Mirachelle is passionate about awakening creativity and the gifts of God in everyone. She is currently working on her first historical fiction novel set during WWII, inspired by her time studying theatre education in London, England.

In her spare time, she also writes and directs Christmas and Easter passion plays at Christ Chapel Assembly of God in Woodbridge, VA.

~*~
Connect with Mirachelle:
Website: www.mirachellecanada.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mirachellecanada/
Instagram: https://instagram.com/mirachelle77/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/miracan

Devotionals for the Heart: Patience

Patience
A devotional by Allison M. Wilson

Key Scripture: Galatians 5:22-23

Love, joy, peace, and patience are probably the most well known of the Fruit of the Spirit, yet they are some of the hardest to see manifested in our own, or other believers’, lives. Patience tends to be difficult for me. I want perfection now. That’s likely a very common human trait, but still not what God wants from us.

Love is needed for joy to be expressed. Joy is needed for peace to flow. Peace is necessary for patience. Why? If we have peace, we’re not going to be thinking things should be a different way, or done in a different timeframe. We’ll be content with whenever God deems the timing to be right.

As with all the Fruit of the Spirit, patience is something which is given to us, not something we can do on our own. I used to tell God that I would work to be more patient. It might last a few hours before the human side of me would come back out. I would then beat myself up for not following through on what I promised to God. The issue was, God already knew I could not make myself more patient. It’s called a fruit of the Spirit for a reason. Only the Spirit can manifest this, and all the other fruits, in us. Otherwise, it’s just works, and they will burn up as nothing.

Patience only grows in me as I’ve given up. I’ve surrendered. I’ve put my life into the Savior’s hands, and said it’s no longer mine to live. I don’t want to live my life for Christ. I want Him to live His life through me. Only one perfect life was ever lived.

Giving up has been a process. We sing about surrendering all to Him, but we really don’t have a clue what that means, or how to do it. He doesn’t ask us to do that, anyway. He calls us to one step at a time. One moment of surrender, and then another, and another, and another until we look back and see how far He’s brought us.

Know where this surrender is hardest for me? Traffic. Yup. The Lord uses traffic to teach me about patience the most. Several of the other fruits get thrown into the lessons, too, but patience is the biggie. You see, I’m a rule follower. If there’s a sign that says, “Wet paint. Don’t touch,” I’m not going to touch it. If a person has a sign saying to stay off their lawn, I’m going to respect that. I use my turn signal, am careful to move out of the way of traffic on multiple lane roads, and have studied the traffic laws for the state where I live in order to be a better driver. I expect others to have done the same, but that’s not the case. Don’t get me started on driving pet peeves! I live in Florida, and it seems like every other state is represented, poorly, by the drivers who come to visit…or live.

But, if I am truly allowing the love of Christ to be a fruit of His Spirit in me, then joy will be a natural outflow, even in traffic. From that joy will come peace in the knowledge of God’s overwhelming love for me. Peace will manifest in patience, because I know that God’s got the timing down perfectly for all He needs to do in my life. I’ll be someone known as patient, peaceful, joyful, and loving. The Father’s heart will be what others see when they see me. He will be living His life through me to love those around me. That is what I want to be seen in me. Only Jesus. Only love. Only joy. Only peace. Only patience. May it be made so in me, Lord.

My Prayer: Heavenly Daddy, I can’t do any of this on my own. It all has to come from You as You get me to surrender more and more of the things which hold me back from the life You want to live through me. Show me more of You. In Jesus Christ’s Name I pray, Amen.

~*~
Author Bio:

A very early reader and lover of the written word, Allison M. Wilson has been writing since the age of 8 with the heart to impart stories and God's truth.

She has judged countless contests for the last 25 years, reviewed for several online publications, professionally edited, and written articles and devotionals.

Wife, mother, writer, editor, teacher, mentor, and mompreneur, God keeps her busy while living in east central Florida with her family.

~*~
Connect with Allison:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/allisonmwilson
Twitter: https://twitter.com/amwilson

Devotionals for the Heart: The Joy of God's Grace for His Children

A Bad Day at McDonald’s
A devotional by Victoria Bylin

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” 
–Matthew 7:1-2 (NIV)

How often have you heard this statement: “If a person is really a Christian, we’ll see evidence of it.” I’ve heard these words many times—in churches and on the radio, through social media, and out of the mouths of friends and fellow believers.

On one hand, I believe these words without question. When the Holy Spirit moves into our hearts, we change. Becoming a Christian is a little like picking up a lit stick of dynamite. Something is going to happen. At the same time, that explosion isn’t always pretty—at least that’s been true in my own life.

I’ll never forget a particularly embarrassing visit to McDonald’s. My oldest son was four years old, and he’d spent the day in pre-school while I was at work. Rather than go home (exhausted) and cook, I took him to the new McDonald’s with a play area. My son inhaled his Happy Meal and ran off to the hamster tubes and ball pit.

The clock in my head started to tick. Did I mention I was exhausted? I just wanted to go home, but those hamster tubes were one of his favorite things in the world. While I was bone tired and wanted quiet, my sweet son had spent the day following rules and being a good boy for his teachers, holding in every emotion that his four-year-old self had.

He needed to burn off some steam. I needed to lie down.

How long do I let him play? Five minutes? Ten minutes? After about ten, I did the mom thing and blew the whistle on his good time. He wasn’t happy about it. In fact, he threw the one and only tantrum of his preschool days.

I think of that now and cringe—not because of his behavior. I cringe because of mine. I didn’t lose it completely, but anger burned through me as I hauled him kicking and screaming to the car. That’s when it hit me. He needed to play as much as I needed quiet. Essentially, I’d given him cake and snatched it back before he finished it.

Anyone witnessing that scene at McDonald’s would have seen strife and anger—not the fruit of the spirit listed in Galatians:

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV)

My humanity leaked all over the place in that moment. I didn’t look at all like a Christian. But I was . . . a struggling Christian mom in need of grace and forgiveness.

Years later, I’m still sorry we didn’t stay until he’d had burned off the tension of his own day. But something else important happened. I saw my own failings and came to a deeper understanding of grace—both my own need for it and the need to extend it to others.

Anyone watching the incident at McDonald’s would have seen strife and struggle as I carried my son kicking and screaming to the car. I didn’t feel at all like a Christian—but I was. Period. Christ did the work of redemption for me. He paid the price for my sin and selfishness, and for that I am beyond grateful.

Christians don’t always look and act like Christians. I wish we did. But the good news is that we have a God who is far more consistent—a God who never fails to love us just as we are. 

~*~
Author Bio:

Victoria Bylin is the author of 18 traditionally published romances. Known for tackling difficult subjects with great compassion, she delights in stories that shine the spotlight of God’s love on ordinary men and women facing realistic challenges.

Writing has always been a part of Victoria’s life. As a child, she wrote hundreds of letters and scribbled in journals. As an adult, she worked as a freelance journalist and editor before taking on the challenge of fiction.

She had one goal when she started her first novel: to finish a book-length manuscript, good or bad. That first effort will never see the light of day, but it led to a second manuscript and a sale to Harlequin Historical. Since then, she has written westerns and contemporary romances for both mainstream and Christian publishers, with Together With You winning the 2016 Inspirational Readers Choice Award for Best Contemporary.

Writing is a joy and a challenge for Victoria, but faith, friends and family matter to her far more. She’s a wife, mom, proud grandmother, and a dog-mom to a wacky Jack Russell Terrier. 

Originally from California, she and her husband currently make their home in Lexington, Kentucky. When she’s not writing, Victoria enjoys long walks, travel, and dark chocolate.

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Connect with Victoria:
Website: https://www.victoriabylin.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Victoria.Bylin.Author
Twitter: https://twitter.com/VictoriaBylin
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/victoria-bylin
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/568102.Victoria_Bylin

Words of Faith: Kristin's story about pure hearts and a special kind of fruit

A Pure Heart
A Words of Faith story written by Kristin Billerbeck

             “All a person’s ways seem pure to them, but motives are weighed by the Lord.” 

~ Proverbs 16:2 

This is my life verse. Why? Because I’ve seen a lot of people do the “right” thing for selfish reasons and it surprised me how strong the cult of image can be within the church. What I’ve discovered in my own faith walk is that it’s between God and me. No one else. Who I am when no one else is looking? That is my character and what I will answer for, not for teaching Sunday School for 52 consecutive weeks in a row, or never missing a Sunday service.

What I do for Jesus and my faith should be an outpouring of the love He’s shown me. It should be a natural extension of who He created me to be. Not something that will impress my fellow Christians.

Before I committed my life to Jesus, I had a boyfriend in college. He was the first born-again Christian that I’d really met. His family was all about rules and very black and white in their thinking. They were cold-hearted and scary. I remember their disdain for me because “I wasn’t a Christian” and their rejection and judgment. What I don’t remember is their kindness toward me, nor their love. In truth, looking back, I was actually too good for their son. They didn’t know who he really was behind the pious words and the false front. He was playing the role of Christian, but I didn’t see a lot of fruit to prove that he actually was a Christian.

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law."~Galatians 5:22-23

One day, this boyfriend invited me to dinner with teachers from his former Christian school. These people were warm and loving. They made me feel welcome in their home by accepting me for where I was in life. They asked me real questions about my faith and listened intently to my answers. In short, they made me want to know, Who is this Man, Jesus?

It was less than a year from that dinner that I accepted Jesus as my Savior, but more than my faith, these people helped me realize what kind of Christian I wanted to be in life. I never wanted to be the kind of Christian who kept people FROM knowing Jesus, the kind of Christian who portrayed myself as better than others. I wanted to be the kind of person who loved people for who they were — not who they might be if they were saved. People aren’t notches to be ticked off and put over in the “saved” category. They are living, breathing human beings, each with their own special set of troubles and emotional baggage.

I want to speak the truth in loving kindness like Jesus did with the woman at the well. Life is tough enough for people. I don’t want to add to their pain by seeing myself as better than others because I’m saved. The truth is, I’m only saved because He loved me first, not because of any special qualities I have to offer. God knows my heart. He knows my motives, so I try intensely to keep those pure. And in turn, keep a pure heart.

~*~
Author bio: 

Kristin Billerbeck is the bestselling author of over 45 novels, including What a Girl Wants and A Billion Reasons Why. 

Kristin is a Christy Award finalist and two-time winner of the American Christian Fiction Writers’ Carol Award.

She has appeared on the Today Show and has been featured in the New York Times, the Atlanta Journal Constitution and World Magazine. 

A proud mother of four, she makes her home in the Silicon Valley of California.