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PAGE 12 Thanksgiving Blessings & Cookbook, November 1999 to & 4pAstAX~ffvLLeA, Lx^e By Judy Robinson I have come to the end of another day! As I settle Into bed, my thoughts are reminded of how wonderful life can be. I also realize how stressful and heavy our loads can be. It all depends on how we choose to live. I am so grateful to God my father who enables me to have a Joyful IKe even though I, as many of you have, had my share of hardships. The Lord has so graciously blessed my life with Himself! In the past months. I have come to leam a very valuable lesson about the Holy Spirit that the Lord sends to every believer. As we go about our daily lives it really takes a toll on us. We start to feel as If we are running on empty (ever feel this way?). I know many of you feel this way a lot of times if not all the time. So much to face from day to day. A job to perform, a positive atti tude you must somehow present. When all the while you are feeling over whelmed on the inside with the cares of the day and then there’s home life a spouse relationship to maintain, and children who need discipline, and have homework to do and baths to take. We must have love and patience with them even though all we want is to be left alone to unwind. There are home duties -- meals to prepare, laundry to wash, fold and put away. Keeping order in the home involves so much. It is a full time job within itself. And don’t leave out those pre cious animals we have to feed and love. Now we must have quiet time to talk with our Father and study His word. God’s word is power ful! We must not leave it out of our day because it is our strength. We can’t keep up with all that life demands as we have come to know it. Life moves by us much too fast or do we move through life much too fast? I think the latter is true. So what is one to do except lose your mind. I dare say that many of us resolve to be miser able. Phillipians 4:13: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." I have known this verse for many years and somehow I just didn't understand the full impact of what it was say ing to me as a believer. It’s not meant for us to go about the task and worries of life under our own strength. That being true, how do we learn to let go of the thought that I have to depend on myself to make it? First of all, I have to realize that I am nothing apart from Christ and I can do nothing in my own strength. God not only wants to help us be a better Christian and the labor thereof. He wants to help us be a happy content, Christian and that puts value to all areas of our lives. WE HAVE A HELPER The Lord told his disci plines in John 16:7 - But I tell you the truth. It is for your good that I am going away, unless I go away the counselor will not come to you. But, if I go, I will send him to you! Romans 8:26 - In the same way the spirit helps us in our weakness. If the Lord’s disciples needed help from the Holy Spirit, how much more do we need that help? They walked with Jesus. They saw first-hand the sick could be healed. Dead men were raised up right before their eyes. They even per formed miracles them selves, yet Jesus said, “You need the Holy Spirit, wait until I send Him to you." Jesus knew these men didn’t have it within them selves to make it and nei ther do we. Every believer has the Holy Spirit indwelling with in them, yet, somehow we also end up trying to go about our daily lives in our own strength which will always lead to an over whelmed life, a joyless believer and someone who struggles just to make it from day to day. This does not have to be!!! God has more for us than that. The Bible says the joy of the Lord is our strength. So if we lose our joy we lose our strength. How I pray that we could leam this powerful truth of allowing the Holy Spirit to govern our lives and I for one know this is one of the toughest things to leam. THINK ABOUT rr Would you allow some one to come into your home and take over, run your house the way he wants to? Well, it’s the same thing. This body we live in houses our spirit. We must allow the Holy Spirit to come in and take over the house. We need Him. We need His strength. There is no match for the power of the Holy Spirit. He enables us to do things we cannot do on our own such as forgive those who hurt us. The power and courage to realize our own faults and sins, to give us guid ance in the direction all of us must go until the end of life as we know it here. We don't like to think about moving out into eternity do we? Just as sure as we live we will die. Too many of us live like this life will be for ever but it won’t and only what we have done for Christ will matter in the end. There will be no sad ness when we live with Jesus forever! The Lord has so many things planned for your life. Jeremiah 29:11-13. For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord. "Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart" I believe once we fully understand the power and strength that we have in Christ through the Holy Spirit we will have all the fruits of the spirit. The following is by Charles Stanley from his book The Wonderful Spirit- Filled Life. THE SIGNATURE QF THE SPIRIT ♦ Fruit is a public testimony to a believer’s sensitivity to and dependency on the Holy Spirit, t is the telling sign. Fruit sets the abiders apart from the producers. It is not simply one mark of a Spirit filled life; it is the preeminent mark. When we see fruit in a life, we know without a doubt that the Holy Spirit has custody over that partic ular child of God. The person is more than His possession; the person is under His influence. The closer you get to believers who are truly walking in the Spirit, the better they look. There is nothing plastic about them. You don’t get the impres sion they are hiding some thing. They radiate integri ty. You get the impression you could bust them with your most intimate secret. You may even find yourself opening up to them in a way that is uncharacteristic for you. Intimidation is not their game. They don’t rely on personality and trumped up enthusiasm to win you over. They seem to be at peace with who they are. And they seem almost anx ious to accept you for who you are as welll. For that reason, you may feel drawn to them. They are the peo- pie you find yourself wanting to be like, not because of a particular skill or talent, but because of the depth of their character. We are not talk ing about perfec tion. In fact, you will hear more apologies from the lips of those who walk by the Spirit than any other group of people. Their sensitivity to the Spirit provides them with an uncanny ability to know when they have offended or hurt someone. Their internal security allows them to respond quickly once they realize their sin or error in judgment. They are not afraid to admit their faults. They have reconciled themselves to the fact they are sinners. However, they are aware they have within them the power to rise above their fleshly appetites and desires. Spirit-filled believers make their biggest impres sion during troubled times. Then it becomes most apparent that the source of their abiding character is something that lies deep within them. When all the crutches and props are kicked away and they are still standing, no one can argue that their uniqueness was simply a by-product of their environment. They have their down times. They don’t win every battle. Doubt and temptation take them out of the race from time to time. But their recovery time is remarkably short. They don’t stay down. And once they are back, it's as if they actually benefited from the experi ence. Specifically, their lives will be characterized by the following nine virtues: •Love •Joy •Peace •Patience •Kindness •Goodness •Faithfulness •Gentleness •self control. We will never have to run on empty when we rely on the Holy Spirit for strength. May the Holy Spirit fill your life!!!