From the Heart by B.Demaere

  “But the fruit of the Spirit [the result of His presence within us] is love [unselfish concern for others],   joy [inner] peace , patience [not the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting],   kindness, goodness,   faithfulness,   gentleness,   self-control.   Against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23)     1)        It is Powerful Instead of being feared as being too weak, it must be praised as one of the most Christlike qualities.   Jesus was noticed as a meek and humble leader as was Moses.   So why in the Church today as we are looking for the opposite in leaders.   In the Church we must have gentle parents who discipline their children in that kind of spirit.   No abusive action should be seen in our homes.   The Spirit of Christ must be present everywhere.   Christ was not a charismatic leader like we see in our midst.   He was gentle and firm.   (Matthew 11:29)   2)      It must be Evident to All Let your reasonableness (or

  “But the fruit of the Spirit [the result of His presence within us] is love [unselfish concern for others],   joy [inner] peace , patience [not the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting],   kindness, goodness,   faithfulness,   gentleness,   self-control.   Against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23) 1)      The quality of Faithfulness Faithfulness is the quality that keeps an individual loyal to someone like God or others.   It is putting loyalty into practice consistently regardless of extenuating circumstances. Looking at this definition are you not glad God is faithful to us?   We, I think, can honestly say we all have failed to be faithful to him.   2)      Empowered by the Holy Spirit Let us not fool ourselves into thinking that we will ever be faithful to him on our own.   There is not an ounce or a gram of faithfulness in us apart from Jesus by His Spirit in us.   On our own we will fall short.   But Jesus was obedient unt

 1)  Goodness is Action Goodness is the action behind kindness.   Kindness is passive, but goodness is active showing itself through acts of love toward people and meeting their needs.   The goodness of God was put into effect when he sent his Son Jesus Christ into the world.   Because he is God meant that sending his son into the world was a sacrifice for you and me.   He left his home where he was with His Father and came to earth where he was initially rejected through the Crucifixion.   Mind you he was resurrected, but he came back to life for you and me.   That was God’s kindness in action. 2) Goodness promotes Growth Look! In 2 Peter 1:5-6 “For this very reason, applying your diligence [to the divine promises], make every effort in [exercising] your faith to develop moral excellence, and in moral excellence, knowledge (insight, understanding), and in your knowledge, self-control… Note that in the Amplified translation of the Bible in use the words “Moral excellence” for g

  The Fruit of the Spirit   A while ago you may recall the we talked about the fruit of the Spirit: Love, Joy, peace etc... I just decided that a few others were missing and now I am adding them in continuing with kindness. “But the fruit of the Spirit [the result of His presence within us] is love [unselfish concern for others],  joy [inner] peace , patience [not the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting],   kindness, goodness,  faithfulness,  gentleness,  self-control.   Against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23)(Amplified) Kindness is a Seed Do not misunderstand me I know that it is a fruit but like any fruit kindness has a seed enclosed in it.   When you sow the seed in people’s lives you will reap the benefits of it.   Maybe a harvest of kindness in return.   Kindness softens the ground in which it is planted.   We ought not to be kind with others who are kind only to us but kind to the angry.   The Holy Spirit will enable to do tha

For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen.  These he gathered together, with the workmen in similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth.  And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost all of Asia this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people, saying that god made with hands are not gods.  And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be counted as nothing…. (Acts 19:24-27) The goddess Artemis was a Greek goddess of wild animals, the hunt, and vegetation.   Yet one silversmith in Ephesus was becoming wealthy as well as providing jobs for others in the community.   Because of such profit it is very understandable that the whole town became upset at Paul’s preaching about a God that could replace all of their gods.   We hold on to worthless things in our

  I Keep on Writing Although I am kept busy by different situations happening in our lives I want to keep writing even if it is a short message. I was reading out of Acts 18 and verses 9-10 stuck out.   “And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack or harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.” So I am writing this morning before I post this.   I normally write the day before, but we put a new washer in this old house and the washer is not responding properly to the old plumbing.   The washer has a brain in the form of a chip.   We have had to do our laundry outside the home the old fashion way in a laundromat.   It takes more time and so that is why my writing is affected. I will hopefully write more later on because I like writing and some of you have been kind enough to encourage me to keep writing. I thought that these verses were quite appropriate for

The world is seeking for answers about life and death and about the end.   How will it all end?  Well, I am not an expert in prophesies but as I was seeking the Lord for his help he put on my heart the book of Daniel, one of the prophets of the Old Testament.    Daniel was used by God because he let himself be used by Him just as it is possible for us to follow Jesus today.   Jesus is our example.   He became a channel for God’s glory to work through and we know a lot from Daniel because of his exploits such as him in the lion’s den and his refusal to bow his knee to the false gods. That is what we should be as well and consequently God poured a lot of knowledge in Daniel about the end-times.   He will also do this with us as we follow Jesus.   Daniel 12:1-3 “At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people.  And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time.  But at that time your people shall be