“POINTS TO PONDER” – Day 16Written by M. Hall
Please feel free to agree or disagree with points made, and feel free to comment if so desired. If you would like, you could write your own thoughts on the verse of the day, and include that in your own comments below. Thank you and may you be blessed!! =)“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23
Please feel free to agree or disagree with points made, and feel free to comment if so desired. If you would like, you could write your own thoughts on the verse of the day, and include that in your own comments below. Thank you and may you be blessed!! =)“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23
(picture courtesy of "Cre8ted 2 Shine Photography" - Jesus almost always used parables to explain the truths of the Kingdom. Figuratively, human conduct is thought of as the fruit of a tree, either good or rotten. In Matthew 7, Jesus says, “By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn-bushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.” (Matt. 7: 16-20) Therefore, the fruit of the Spirit is a physical manifestation of a Christian’s transformed spiritual life.
Our lives are like trees, planted by streams of living water. Sometimes our trees can get their roots planted into things of the world, instead of spiritual things. This causes our tree to grow rotten fruit. We need to plant our roots into a firm foundation of Jesus Christ, so that we may produce good and pleasing fruit. The Holy Spirit helps teach us the kind of fruit we are to ‘grow’ in our lives. It isn’t just a one-time event; it’s a life-time process. Continually, we need to grow seeds of the Father, to produce fruit of the Father. As the verse in Matthew stated above, one cannot expect a harvest of pumpkins, if you plant seeds of an apple. We cannot plant seeds of doubt, and expect a fruit of faith.
Each of these fruit is a lesson all on its own, but it all boils down to the first fruit mentioned, Love! In 1 Corinthians 13:13 it says, “So these three things continue forever: faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love.” That is why the Father’s greatest two commandments are; “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. The second command is this: 'Love your neighbor as you love yourself. There are no commands more important than these." (Mark 12:30-31 NCV) It’s all about love!
On the Ethiopian Airlines, on route from Washington D.C. to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia one of the in-flight movies was “Imagine That” starring Eddie Murphy. What a great movie! In fact it was so good, that I think we watched at least some of it three times. (during the in-flight movies there, and back). Without spoiling the movie too much, it’s a movie about a financial executive who can't stop his career down-spiral is invited into his daughter's imaginary world, where solutions to his problems await. (Plot taken from IMDB.com) In the movie, the daughter is practicing to sing a song, “All You Need is Love” by the Beatles. She learns through the movie, that love is all you need.
Here are the lyrics to the song;
Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love.
There’s nothing you can do that can’t be done
Nothing you can sing that can’t be sung
Nothing you can say, but you can learn how to play the game
It’s easy.
There’s nothing you can make that can’t be made
No one you can save that can’t be saved
Nothing you can do, but you can learn how to be you in time
It’s easy.
All you need is love, all you need is love
All you need is love, love, love is all you need
Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love
All you need is love, all you need is love
All you need is love, love, love is all you need
There’s nothing you can know that isn’t known
Nothing you can see that isn’t shown
Nowhere you can be that isn’t where you’re meant to be
It’s easy
All you need is love, all you need is love
All you need is love, love, love is all you need
All you need is love, (all together now)
All you need is love (everybody)
All you need is love, love, love is all you need
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, we praise you and we thank you for helping us grow into fruitful trees. We thank you for the SON that helps us grow, and for your Living Water that refreshes our soul. Lord help us be examples of You and Your Son as we walk in the power of Your Spirit. Help us truly 'love them like Jesus'. Remind us that You do exceedingly and abundantly more than we can imagine. Imagine that! Help us to be transformed, and not conformed to this world. We are to be in this world (for a short time), but not of this world. Give us strength to grow. In JESUS’ name I ask all these things & more, AMEN!
Well, I was thinking I would post a trailer for the movie, IMAGINE THAT, but I said above that I didn’t want to spoil the movie line for anyone… and the trailer sure shows a lot… so if you don’t like reading the backs of movie cases, or seeing trailers that show a lot, don’t watch it! But for everyone else, check it out below! What a great family movie!
Be blessed, and be a blessing!
Our lives are like trees, planted by streams of living water. Sometimes our trees can get their roots planted into things of the world, instead of spiritual things. This causes our tree to grow rotten fruit. We need to plant our roots into a firm foundation of Jesus Christ, so that we may produce good and pleasing fruit. The Holy Spirit helps teach us the kind of fruit we are to ‘grow’ in our lives. It isn’t just a one-time event; it’s a life-time process. Continually, we need to grow seeds of the Father, to produce fruit of the Father. As the verse in Matthew stated above, one cannot expect a harvest of pumpkins, if you plant seeds of an apple. We cannot plant seeds of doubt, and expect a fruit of faith.
Each of these fruit is a lesson all on its own, but it all boils down to the first fruit mentioned, Love! In 1 Corinthians 13:13 it says, “So these three things continue forever: faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love.” That is why the Father’s greatest two commandments are; “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. The second command is this: 'Love your neighbor as you love yourself. There are no commands more important than these." (Mark 12:30-31 NCV) It’s all about love!
On the Ethiopian Airlines, on route from Washington D.C. to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia one of the in-flight movies was “Imagine That” starring Eddie Murphy. What a great movie! In fact it was so good, that I think we watched at least some of it three times. (during the in-flight movies there, and back). Without spoiling the movie too much, it’s a movie about a financial executive who can't stop his career down-spiral is invited into his daughter's imaginary world, where solutions to his problems await. (Plot taken from IMDB.com) In the movie, the daughter is practicing to sing a song, “All You Need is Love” by the Beatles. She learns through the movie, that love is all you need.
Here are the lyrics to the song;
Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love.
There’s nothing you can do that can’t be done
Nothing you can sing that can’t be sung
Nothing you can say, but you can learn how to play the game
It’s easy.
There’s nothing you can make that can’t be made
No one you can save that can’t be saved
Nothing you can do, but you can learn how to be you in time
It’s easy.
All you need is love, all you need is love
All you need is love, love, love is all you need
Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love
All you need is love, all you need is love
All you need is love, love, love is all you need
There’s nothing you can know that isn’t known
Nothing you can see that isn’t shown
Nowhere you can be that isn’t where you’re meant to be
It’s easy
All you need is love, all you need is love
All you need is love, love, love is all you need
All you need is love, (all together now)
All you need is love (everybody)
All you need is love, love, love is all you need
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, we praise you and we thank you for helping us grow into fruitful trees. We thank you for the SON that helps us grow, and for your Living Water that refreshes our soul. Lord help us be examples of You and Your Son as we walk in the power of Your Spirit. Help us truly 'love them like Jesus'. Remind us that You do exceedingly and abundantly more than we can imagine. Imagine that! Help us to be transformed, and not conformed to this world. We are to be in this world (for a short time), but not of this world. Give us strength to grow. In JESUS’ name I ask all these things & more, AMEN!
Well, I was thinking I would post a trailer for the movie, IMAGINE THAT, but I said above that I didn’t want to spoil the movie line for anyone… and the trailer sure shows a lot… so if you don’t like reading the backs of movie cases, or seeing trailers that show a lot, don’t watch it! But for everyone else, check it out below! What a great family movie!
Be blessed, and be a blessing!
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