let's walk, shall we?

(from my fb notes, March 22nd 2010)

I had a wonderful Saturday last week. Woke up really late, had practice at church, walked home for about 45 minutes from church (uh! How I love walking!!!), enjoyed eating my fave “kerupuk udang Ny.Siok”, started to read a new book (it’s been on my “waiting list to be read” book for pretty long time).

I chose to read “A Woman’s Walk with God” by Elizabeth George. She is one of my favorite authors, who writes much about my desire, to be a woman after God’s own heart.

As I read the introduction.. I was like “what?? She is just talking about the fruit of the spirit for the 237 pages and $20.50 book? I knew about this!!”

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control!

Talk about “knowing” it!

And, oh yeah, dearestz, I might know and memorize it really well.. but I am far from doing it! Not even close! >.<
Here it is:

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But the fruit of spirit is:
LOVE : the sacrifice of self.
Love involves effort, not merely emotion. It demands action, not just feelings. It is something we do, not something we only feel or say.
Love is an act of the will, action- not just words, reaches out to the unlovely, and expects nothing in return.
Love is not an emotion. It is not necessarily feeling loving toward a particular person. It may not have emotion connected with it.
Love is a decision.

JOY : the sacrifice of praise.
Jesus desired that our joy might be full, but affliction, loss, stress, and pain can too easily rob us of any sense of joy. But, when we turn our gaze upon God in the midst of our suffering, we suddenly find the power we need to praise Him despite the pain and to give thanks for His goodness, even when things are not so good.
Joy is a sure sign of the presence of God in our lives.
Joy is not an experience that comes from favorable circumstances but is a sense of well-being that abides in the heart of the person who knows all is well between himself and the Lord.

PEACE: the sacrifice of trust.
Our peace has nothing to do with our circumstances, daily challenges or crises, conditions of our life. True spiritual peace comes with knowing that our heavenly Father is continually with us.
Choosing to trust God – making the sacrifice of trust – causes us to experience His peace, even in the midst of tremendous uproar. We make the sacrifice of trust and experience God’s peace:
-When we choose not to panic, but to rest in God’s presence.
-When we release our terror, and trust in God’s wisdom and ways.
-When we reject our nervousness, and remember that God is in control
-When we ignore our dread, and instead accept God’s dealing.

PATIENCE does nothing.
If we want to walk in patience when we’ve been hurt, wronged, or ill treated, do nothing! Instead of reacting and doing something outwardly negative and harmful and sinful, inwardly resist in patience. Doing nothing gives us times to do something – to pray, to reflect, and to plan to respond in a righteous manner.

KINDNESS plans to do something.
Kindness goes out looking, wondering and asking “who needs love?”
Caring, noticing, thinking, touching.
It’s about being “too nice”. It is the ability to love people more than they deserve.

GOODNESS does everything.
Goodness puts God’s love into actions, follows through on our plans for kindness, and gives – indeed, pours out! – God’s love to others.
“Christian character is not expressed by good doing, but by God likeness. It is not sufficient to do good, to do the right thing. We must have our goodness stamped in the image and superscription of God. It is supernatural all through.” - Oswald Chamber-
Advance the happiness of others : “Kindness is a sincere desire for the happiness of others; goodness is the activity calculated to advance their happiness.”

FAITHFULNESS does it no matter what.
Faitfulness marks God’s presence in our life. It is reliable, faithful not only in deed, but also in word, loyalty to others.
Walking in God’s faithfulness is a three –step operation. 1st, we must desire to live a Godly life that manifests the graces of the Holy Spirit. 2nd, we need to look to God to enable us. 3rd, we must follow God’s words by moving out intentionally and confidently, empowered and guided by God. This three-step process can help us in our struggles to be faithful:
TIREDNESS “I can’t do it”, LAZINESS “I don’t want to do it”, HOPELESSNESS “it doesn’t matter if I do it”, PROCRASTINATION “I’ll do it later”, RATIONALIZATION “someone else will do it”, APATHY “I don’t care if I do it”, REBELLION “I won’t do it”.
Be faithful in small things.

GENTLENESS takes it.
"Gentleness is perfect quietness of heart. It is for me to have no trouble; never to be fretted or vexed or irritated or sore or disappointed. It is to expect nothing, to wonder at nothing that is done to me, to feel nothing done against me. It is to be at rest when nobody praises me and when I am blamed or despised." – Andrew Murray –
It endures with tranquility the disturbances others create. It endures ill treatment. It withstands misunderstanding.
It is submissiveness to the will of God. It is an absolute confidence that God alone knows the right way to the right ends and what benefits us. It is also comes with the certainty that God is able to free us from that which does us harm.

SELF-CONTROL doesn’t do it.
Self-control is the controlling power of the will under the operation of the Spirit of God.
Self -control controls and checks the self, restrains the self, disciplines and masters the self, holds in and commands the self, says “NO” to self.
Self-control does not yield to temptation, does not give in to desires, does not participate in sin, does not indulge itself, and does not satisfy itself.

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I know it is a lot to take in. But, this is what to walk with God is all about. It is about to be like Jesus, our perfect example in doing the fruit of Spirit. (Remember, Jesus was a perfect HUMAN BEING!)
Walking with God is about: Jesus in us; Jesus visible to others as we walk by the Spirit; Jesus loving and serving others through us; Jesus on display in us.
When we walk by the Spirit, we behave as Jesus did, perfectly modeled each fruit of the Spirit.

“Everyone who truly believes that he will one day be like Christ surely purifies himself and relentlessly pursues godliness as a number one priority. This is the mark of true child of God. We are to feast our eyes upon Christ, upon as much of Christ as we can find in the sacred Scriptures. We are to do everything we possibly can: we are to wrestle and fight and pray and be disciplined in order that more and more we become like Christ-whatever the cost- knowing that every sin that is overcome, every temptation that is resisted, every virtue that is gained is another step, another step, another step towards that moment when we shall be like Him.” – Dr. John Blanchard-

It is really a long journey, but He is with us, He enables us to walk through His path, He walks with us!
Let's walk together!!! :D