Daily Devotional Day & Night

HAPPY MONDAY!

I pray all is well with everyone, and you're enjoying the beginning of another workweek (for most). I'm doing well, woke up filled with the Spirit! I had an awesome weekend; the weather was absolutely perfect, not a cloud in the sky, reminded me of Hawaii. I cooked dinner at my Grandma's house yesterday; it was nice to have the family gathered together. I'm looking forward to cooking for her again. She's feeling better, once the house started smelling good, she got her appetite back, we need to do that more often. I'm looking forward to a family vacation soon. Have a wonderful day!

Today's scriptures are about the gentleness of the Spirit. We are to take on the attitude of Christ, as we grow in our Spirit. We learn that God is slow to anger and quick to forgive. He forgives us for all of our inequity, every time we ask. He loves with extraordinary care and patience, because He's our creator and Father. The word Longsuffering is mentioned 16 times in the NKJV of the bible, and I believe it best describes our revolving relationship with God. It's defined: Patiently enduring wrongs or difficulties; essentially suffering long without complaint. When I think about how good God has been to me, and how patient He's been, I know His grace and love is real. He smiles on me every morning I wake up, and He teaches me love through His wisdom. We're made in His likeness so we're expected to take on His Spirit as well. We're not required to, because we have free will, but we reap what we sow. We know that God expects us to be good to each other, as He's been good to us. Jesus was constantly teaching patience, forgiveness, longsuffering, gentleness, and meekness, because that was how He was, at the right times. He urges us understand of each other, the same way God understands us. We're supposed to be as passionate about each other's well being, as Jesus was. He died so that we could have a second chance at life, and have it abundantly, yet we can't find it in our hearts to forgive each other. This reminds me of Matthew 18:15-20, when Jesus explains how to deal with our "sinning brothers". Verses 21-35 explains the parable of the Unforgiving brother, and verses 21-22 is what I wanted to share with you: Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. We must be patient with each other, and understand that God is in control. He's our leader, protector, strength, and shelter; He will never allow us to fall. When we're following His commandment to “Love our Neighbor as we love ourselves", we're in His will. We are all being worked on, strengthened and redeemed through Christ. Each of us has our own personality, mindset, and attitudes. We're put here to work for God, and to complete His tasks, which involves us fellowshipping with a lot of different people, most of whom are lost. For it is written in Luke 19:10: For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. We're put here to help save the lost, even if it's leading by example and allowing our testimonies to be heard. Most of the time it's going to require us to endure pain and heartache, love with no restraints, and the sacrifice our comfort, so that others may be able to see Christ in us. This is what Jesus was; this is how He lived, and what He stood for. He is a fisher of men, and we’re to strive to be Like Christ (Christians). He wasn't always comfortable; He didn't even have a place to call home. He was the walking description of Longsuffering. Jesus and His disciples traveled across countries with one thing in mind, to save the lost, and it didn't matter to them that it would one day cost them their lives, because their only concern was to complete the task that God set forth. This is what God teaches us, that's why He explains the Fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. He wants us to understand that as long as we're living by these few powerful guidelines, we'll live a happy and peaceful life. Take a moment, and read each word, and think about it seriously. Do you exercise these every day when applicable? I'm learning more and more each day, that I cannot allow my circumstances to predict my happiness, because this life is way beyond me. The day I learned that it's not always about me, is the day my life and attitude changed for the better. Ignorance is one of my favorite words, because I've learned how debilitating it could be, or how driven it could make me. If you don't know Jesus then you should get to know Him, because through Him life is worth living to the fullest. God is a loving God, who waits to be gracious to us, but His hands are tied, until we accept Jesus as the atonement for our sins, once we do that, we’ll be free, to live. Living is an adventure, that includes love, trials, ups, downs, highs, lows, ins, and outs, and we must know that no matter what time we're in, God is in control, and He loves us, and has made us all brothers and sisters in Christ, so that we could uplift each other. My favorite verse today is: Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. (Ephesians 4:32)

ENJOY! http://www.bible.com/scripture-detail.php?juli=2454984&dtype=Scripture
http://www.intouch.org/site/pp.aspx?c=cnKBIPNuEoG&b=4943197
http://www.intouch.org/site/apps/nl/newsletter2.asp?c=cnKBIPNuEoG&b=5200573

I love you!