How about some Spiritual Fruit Salad?

 

 

Just think of your favorite fruit in the fruit salad. Is it apple, grapes, banana, kiwi, cherry, mango, papaya, pineapple, melon, strawberry? All of these fruits are different in color, texture, smell and the seasons in which they grow. Similarly the nine fruits of the spirit which are different are seasonal too. They grow at different times in our life. Often we may go through certain trials in our life in order to prepare for the growth of this particular fruit in our life. Let us briefly look at the different fruits of the spirit as seen in Galatians 5:22, 23:

1)      Love: 1 John 4:8 says that ‘whoever does not love does not know God; for God is Love.’ We may try in our human strength to love people but often fall short when we compare it to the 1Corinthians 13 kind of love. Whenever we fall short, the best thing to remember is the epitome of love which is Jesus on the Cross. The Intense Father’s love for us by giving us His only begotten Son. Jesus Pure Love for us by obeying the Father and willingly giving up His life for us. The Gentle Love of the Holy Spirit who is with us always to remind us of the love of God. We can never match that love. It is only the Holy Spirit who empowers us to love God, ourselves and our neighbor.

Prayer: Blessed Holy Spirit, thank you for the fruit of love in my life. Fill me with your love so that I can learn to love.

 

2)      Joy: Joy is not the absence of pain or sorrow in life. Joy is the smile in spite of the tears! Nehemiah 8:10 says: “This day is holy to the Lord , do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” No life is problem free but when we choose to say that My God is bigger than my problem, we can be joyful in life. That will empower us to go ahead victoriously in life and help us to bear a greater testimony. People will want to know how we do it and that will be the time for us to share His love to them.

Prayer: Blessed Holy Spirit, Thank you for the joy in my life. Help me to keep in mind to rejoice in the Lord always by being thankful for all that you have already done in my life.

 

3)      Peace: The rarest thing in today’s stress filled world is Peace. However, it is highly comforting that we have a Lord who is The Prince of Peace. He is the Lord who can calm any stormy situation in our life. There is a well known quote “NO GOD, NO PEACE but KNOW GOD, KNOW PEACE. How truthful this statement is. No matter how hard we try, we may be spending sleepless nights because of a disturbed mind but once we learn to make Him the Lord of every area of our life, we can rest assured that even when we cannot figure it all out, our Lord who is bigger than us will surely see us through.

Prayer: Blessed Holy Spirit, thank you for that your peace which passeth all human understanding will guard my heart and mind in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:7)

 

4)      Patience:  Many times we may go through a period of waiting in our life where we may be endlessly waiting and wondering what God is up to but the truth is that He may actually be cultivating the fruit of patience in our life which will be essential for us to enjoy what He has in store for us. The irony is, the quicker we learn to be patient, the sooner will we get our answer!

Prayer: Blessed Holy Spirit, thank you for the fruit of patience in my life. Though I may not always like it, I believe your word in Gal 6:9 which asks me not to become weary of doing good, for I will reap a harvest in due season if I do not give up.”

 

5)      Kindness: All of us have wonderful stories from the pages of our life to tell, stories of our successes, power, influence, strength, courage but the stories that will always be fondly remembered will be the stories of our humanity. We live in a world full of pain, we may never know how badly the person next to us is suffering and so we need to follow the example of our Lord who went about doing good to everyone who needed it.

Prayer: Blessed Holy Spirit, thank you for the fruit of kindness in my life. I will obey your word in Eph 4:32 which reminds me to be kind, tenderhearted and forgiving as God in Christ also has forgiven me.”

 

6)      Goodness: As mentioned in 2 Peter 1:5 God’s divine power has given us everything we need for a Godly life through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. Praise the Lord that we are made righteous by the shed blood of Jesus on the Cross of Calvary. No matter how evil we have been in the past, His blood is sufficient ransom for us and now we adorn the robe of righteousness which enables us to lead a life of goodness and be a blessing to those around us.

Prayer: Blessed Holy Spirit, thank you for the fruit of goodness in my life. I praise you that because of Jesus, I am a Royal Priesthood, a Holy Nation, God’s very own possession and as a result I can display the goodness of God who called me out of darkness into His wonderful light.(1 Pet 2:9)

 

7)      Faithfulness: We read in Lam 3:22,23 “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end, they are new every morning, great is His faithfulness.” Loyalty or faithfulness is quite unheard of nowadays. But the Lord commends faithfulness even in the smallest of matters.

Prayer: Blessed Holy Spirit, thank you for the fruit of faithfulness in my life. Help me as your word says in Proverbs 3:3 to always bind steadfast love and faithfulness around my neck and to write them on the tablet of my heart.

 

8)      Gentleness:  Philippians 4:5 says that “our gentleness must be evident to all for the Lord’s coming is near.” Another word for gentleness is meekness ; a highly unpopular if not totally alien trait in today’s upside down world which preaches the gospel of Survival & Self preservation at any cost with the modus operandi of blowing one’s own trumpet and getting rid of anything/ anyone in the way. Contrary to popular belief, meekness is not weakness. It is absolute power under perfect control. Numbers 12:3 says that ‘Moses was one of the meekest men on the face of the earth and hence was used greatly by God.’ If we want to used by God, we must say as John the Baptist said in John 3:30, “He must increase but I must decrease.”

Prayer: Blessed Holy Spirit, thank you for the fruit of gentleness in my life. Help me to learn from you for you are meek and humble and I will find rest for my soul.(Mathew 11:29)

 

9)      Self Control : Prov 25:28 says that ‘a man without self control is like a city broken into and left without walls.’ A city without walls is always vulnerable to attack by the enemy. We have an enemy who prowls around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8) and so it is extremely essential for us to Watch and pray lest we be tempted for the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.(Mathew 26:41)

Prayer: Blessed Holy Spirit, thank you for the fruit of Self Control in my life. I praise you that you have not given me a spirit of fear but of power, love and self control. (2 Tim 1:7)

You may be wondering, this all sounds good but how can we make this work practically in my life. For understanding this better, let us take an illustration (from Joyce Meyer) of an apple tree. An apple tree doesn’t have to try to produce apples. When the season is right, it just automatically produces the fruit. Provided it is well watered, given proper sunlight, fertilizer and looked after, it just bears fruit. Similarly when we spend time in Prayer and the Word, Listening to the Voice of the Father and fellowshipping with other believers, we will also automatically produce the Fruit of the Spirit which is the true evidence of Godly Character. Others will then be able to see that we not only talk the talk, but also walk the talk!

Have a blessed week!

Take care, God bless us,

Sparky Laurie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EYE OPENERS FROM THE BLIND BARTIMAEUS

Hi friends,

Today I would like to share some thoughts from the passage Mark 10:46-52 in which we read about how Jesus healed blind Bartimaeus.

1)Bartimeaus was sitting beside the road as Jesus went by (vs 46)- He was in a place that ensured that he would meet Jesus. Many times when we want answers from the Lord we must be found in the place where the Lord is present in all His glory and that is in the House of God where God inhabits the praises of His people.

2)Bartimaeus on hearing that Jesus was nearby began to shout out “Jesus Son of David have mercy on me”(vs 47)- Blind Bartimaeus could not see in order to follow Jesus and so he did what he could and that was to shout out in all sincerity and brokenness. When we need a miracle from the Lord, we need to focus on the Lord and call upon Him in the best way that we can.

3)Some of the people yelled at him to be quiet, but Bartimaeus only shouted louder(vs 48)- Even when we make efforts, there may be people who will criticize or discourage us but that should only make us to trust in the Lord and try harder.

4)When Jesus heard him, He stopped and asked them to tell him to come(vs 49a)- Praise God that we have a Lord who stops when we cry out to Him and calls us closer to Him.

5)The people told him to cheer up as Jesus was calling him(vs 49b)- The very same people who had yelled at him to be quiet were now asking him to cheer up as the Lord had called him. Many times we too may get discouraged in our circumstances especially when criticized but it is the Lord who will call us to Himself if we keep on calling on His name.

6)Bartimaeus threw aside his coat, jumped up and came to Jesus(vs 50)- Bartimaeus was so hopeful that he threw aside that which he had from the past and he jumped up with joy and went to Jesus. So must we let go off the past and step forward into that which God has for us.

7)Jesus asked him “What do you want me to do for you?”(vs 51)- Jesus very well knew that Bartimaeus was blind and so would like to be healed of his blindness but still He asks this question to him and also to us as He wants us to be specific and full of faith when we pray(ask Him for our miracle).

8)And instantly he received his sight and accompanied Jesus on the road(vs 52)-After Bartimaeus received his healing, he was able to do something that he was not able to do before and that was to accompany Jesus on the road. After we receive our miracle, the Lord empowers us with His anointing to do that which we couldn’t have done before.

Thus from the above mentioned points we can learn that for our miracle to take place, how very important perseverance, faith and obedience to the Lord is.

In conclusion, let us ask the Lord to open the eyes of our heart so that we will be able to see Him in all of our lives.

Click here to sing OPEN THE EYES OF MY HEART LORD

http://youtu.be/Vnqb7Vn4AEE

Have an awesome week!

Sparkylaurie

 

THIS IS YOUR SONG, NOT MINE!

Hi friends,

Hope you all are doing fine. It’s been a while and I’m happy to have something to share with you today.How can we make Jesus the Centre of our Life?

Often as we go up the path of life and grow up, we reach a stage where we take a hard look at ourselves and suddenly nothing seems so sure and certain. As new challenges and struggles arise, we may even look at ourselves in the mirror knowing that we have reached our limit as the Goliath in our life seems so insurmountable. In spite of numerous past victories, we may even suddenly shrink back intimidated by unfamiliar territory. It is often by over analyzing and reasoning that we are paralyzed into inaction. Past experiences and anxious thoughts often play on our minds and we are tempted into backing off or leaving the opportunity on the shelf for some other day when we are stronger. But the truth is that we may never get that chance again. And that open door is now closed. Who knows it may have been the passage into all that we have been believing God and praying for!

What then is the remedy or the way out? How can we avoid missing these chances because we feel we are not ready ? I would like to share with you these verses that spoke to me just this morning. 2 Chronicles 32:7,8 ⁷ “Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid nor dismayed before the king of Assyria, nor before all the multitude that is with him; for there are more with us than with him. ⁸ With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the Lord our God, to help us and to fight our battles.” And the people were strengthened by the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

Here are a few things that came to mind as I meditated on these words that spoke to my heart.

1)There is no denying that the battle is real and the enemy army is mighty. Even when we face our Goliaths in life we need to accept the truth that we are no match for them in our own strength. But the good news is that we are looking at Jesus ability ,not ours and so it really doesn’t matter how able we are or not!

2) “With him is an arm of flesh” meaning, they are just humans, but we have supernatural assistance with us. It does not make sense when we think with our logic or reasoning as we are talking about help in the spiritual realm which may not be seen with our physical eyes.

3)”It is the Lord who will help us and fight our battles.” We need to be in position and believe His Word that He will fight for us. That may often require us to take a step in faith and obey Him even when we do not feel like it. God always honors those who put their trust in Him. He just cannot ignore a person who is full of faith in Him.

4)In reality, we may feel we do not have what it takes to win but the truth is that God does not need our ability only our availability and our obedience. He will do the rest.

5) While on earth, there will be numerous battles one after the other. Life becomes so much easier for us when we make Jesus the centre of our lives. That way we can be sure of the victory all the time! Let Him be glorified each and every time. “He must increase and I must decrease.”

Click here to enjoy this beautiful song:    http://youtu.be/WKuuScgnlDE

 

 Have a blessed week!

Take care, God bless us,

Sparky Laurie

The Blessing of the Lord or the Bread of Sorrows?

Psalms 127:1,2 Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain. In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat– for He grants sleep to those He loves.

Hi friends,
Many times we want certain things in life and believe that if only we get that we will be fulfilled. We may even be ready to sacrifice many things in order to have that because we believe that once we achieve that we will be happy. We may have even prayed and believed to see that thing in our lives and have been disappointed as to why God never answered. We continue to prayerfully wait and in the mean time try out various things to make it happen for we know that it must be in accordance with God’s will. When finally we manage to get it, we realize that we have twisted God’s hand in to giving it to us with our efforts and prayers but though we received it, with it never came the anointing to carry out that task with ease or enjoy the blessing. We struggle and toil to make the thing work and in the process we slowly realize that the blessing was not exactly something that God intended for us at that particular time or season and that is why we sweat and toil but are ultimately unsatisfied and unhappy. This is called the bread of sorrows. Often we feel that our labor is in vain. There is a lack of holy ease and joy that always accompanies the blessing.

Last month I realized this over something that I wanted very badly. I presumed since it was a good thing,it must be in accordance with God’s will and leapt at the first opportunity without even bothering to ask the Lord what His will regarding it for me was. Very soon I struggled because of it rather than enjoying it when I realized that the Lord had sheltered me from it and had prevented me from getting it in the past because He loved me and knew very well in advance that I was not yet ready to enjoy the blessing.

This reminds me of the story of a little boy who cried for a knife to play with. The mother knew it was not the right toy for the boy as he would hurt himself playing with it but because of his continual pestering she finally gave it to the boy. The boy was overjoyed and started playing with it. It wasn’t very long before the boy cut his hand with it and came to the mother crying. The mother lovingly washed the wound and bandaged the little child’s hand and explained to him that this was exactly the reason she didn’t give the boy the knife in the first place.

Our heavenly Father knows what is best for us. Often the blessing we seek may be good but the time may not be right. He will bless us with it at the right time if we cease from our struggles and prayerfully and patiently wait for Him. Proverbs 10:22 “The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.”

Click to enjoy this song Unless the Lord builds http://youtu.be/qULtV42ft7s

Have a blessed week!

Take care, God bless!

Sparky Laurie

 

Accuser Or Intercessor?

Hi friends,

When we see a believer doing something wrong, what is our response? The normal response of criticizing and condemning and accusing OR the right response of interceding for that person in prayer? Every time we choose to be an accuser we imitate Satan who is the “accuser of the bretheren.” Every time we choose grace, we imitate Jesus who is our GREAT Intercessor.

This week I want to share something I came across a book by Patricia Lee Hulsey. Just sharing some points that spoke to my heart. You may download and read the whole book here.

The 3 Lies of the Accuser: (Shattering the Shackles of Shame – By Patricia Lee Hulsey)

There are 3 main areas that  Satan’s accusations always focus on:

1)    Doubt

2)    Destiny

3)    Denunciation

 1)    DOUBT :  

This was the modus operandi Satan employed right from the start in the Garden of Eden , then with Jesus in the wilderness and now with everyone of us today.

Egs: a) “Did God really say you must not eat any of the fruit in the garden?”- Gen 3:1

         b) “If you are the Son of God, change these stones into loaves of bread.”-Math 4:3

          c)“If you are the child of God, why doesn’t He answer your prayer ?”

Remedy :- FAITH IS THE ANTIDOTE FOR DOUBT.

Heb 10:22-23 “Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”

2) DESTINY :

Satan always tries to fill our ears with the following insinuations when thinking about our destinies.

Egs: a) You won’t be able to reach your full potential.

         b)Your talents are already rusted.

         c)You have messed it all up beyond repair.

         d) You are too young/too old. It just will not happen.

Remedy:- We need to remember that God knows our abilities and disabilities and He will empower us – despite our weaknesses to fulfill our Destiny.

Eph 2:10 : “ For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Thus He has already prepared us for good works.

3)    DENUNCIATION :

Denunciation means criticizing /condemning others. Satan wants to make each one of us an accuser instead of an intercessor.

The Modern Church would never have welcomed back a murderer like Moses,an adulterer & murderer like David, a disobedient minister like Jonah or a liar like Peter but our merciful Lord builds the Church with a foundation of  believers such as these.
Our Lord teaches us by his perfect example how we must never condemn such people but  forgive and encourage one another.

Heb 12:12,13 “Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. Make level paths for your feet, so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.”

Gal 6:1 “Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.”

The accuser always finds fault even with the anointed while the Intercessor provides a covering. Prov 10:12 “Love covers all sins.”

Friend, which do you choose to be today? An Accuser or an Intercessor?

Prayer : I turn from the spirit of accusation to the spirit of intercession. I reject doubt. I say to the accuser, get under my feet; you will not dominate my life. I will rise up to fulfill my destiny! I put my foot down on you and declare right now I will be an Intercessor.

                      Click to enjoy this beautiful song : My Redeemer Lives

http://youtu.be/9p4G2GbPYQA

Have a blessed week,

Sparky Laurie

Give them all to Jesus

 Rom 8:28 : “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

Hi friends,

Today I was reminded of a song I learnt in my childhood. The lyrics (given below) remind us that no matter whether it is that thing in our life that seems impossible or which we have endlessly been striving for, or even if it is that which seems destroyed beyond our repair, we just need to take our pretty rainbows, our shattered dreams and our broken toys to the Lord and He will turn those sorrows of ours into joys. Be encouraged today dear friend that nothing is wasted if we place it in the Lord’s hands!

Words and Music by Phil Johnson and Bob Benson.

Are you tired of chasing pretty rainbows?
Are you tired of spinning round and round?
Wrapped up all those shattered dreams of your life
At the feet of Jesus, lay them down.

Give them all, give them all, give them all to Jesus
Shattered dreams, wounded hearts, and broken toys.
Give them all, give them all, give them all to Jesus
And He will turn your sorrows into joy.

He never said you would only see sunshine,
He never said there would be no rain.
He only promised a heart full of singing
About the very things that once brought pain.

Give them all, give them all, give them all to Jesus
Shattered dreams, wounded hearts, and broken toys.
Give them all, give them all, give them all to Jesus
And He will turn your sorrows into joy.

Give them all, give them all, give them all to Jesus
Shattered dreams, wounded hearts, and broken toys.
Give them all, give them all, give them all to Jesus
And He will turn your sorrow into joy
And He will turn your sorrow into joy.

Click below to enjoy this song:  http://youtu.be/iWTcUTuL-n4

Have a blessed week,

Take care, God bless us all,

Sparkylaurie

Choose TODAY!

“Joshua 24:15 : “But if you don't want to serve the LORD, then choose today whom you will serve. Even if you choose the gods your ancestors served on the other side of the Euphrates or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live. As for me and my family, we will serve the LORD."

Today, everywhere we go we are faced with choices to make. While driving, whether to go left or right or straight ahead. When at the supermarket purchasing washing detergent, again we are faced with a wide variety to choose from. At the candy store,there is Kitkat, Perk, Bounty, Twix, Galaxy etc to choose from. While at the restaurant, the waiter rattles to us a whole list of  available options, so many choices for us to choose from that we often end up confused! Watch this funny Kingfisher Ad below for illustration:

http://youtu.be/ee2xkZSdXBU

Often the choices we make in the above mentioned matters don’t make any marked differences in our normal life but there are certain changes like choice of job location, choice of spouse while getting married, choice of college for higher studies, etc that affect our lives to a certain extent. And we have to make these choices at the right time and with care. However in this post , I want to share with you a  life changing choice that you may not have made till now.

Friend, will you choose today whom you will serve? Will you serve the LORD JESUS Today? This choice is one that will alter your life forever.

Isaiah 35:8 “And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way; wicked fools will not go about on it.”

Proverbs 16:17 The highway of the upright avoids evil; he who guards his way guards his life.

ALWAYS REMEMBER FRIEND, THAT YOUR DESTINY IS NOT A MATTER OF CHANCE BUT OF CHOICE! CHOOSE WISELY! CHOOSE PROMPTLY! CHOOSE TODAY! CHOOSE JESUS.

Enjoy this wonderful song by Brian Doersken that summons us to make that choice today!

http://youtu.be/XFs1d32K_ro    
     

I honestly hope that you have made that choice. Congratulations if you have. If you still have not, why don’t you choose today? All Heaven awaits your response. Choose while there is still time.

Have a pleasant week.

Cheers,

Sparky Laurie