Fear, love, control, and surrender
See if you can follow my thought process... I think it'll be worth it if you do.
1 John 4:18 says, "There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear... the one who fears is not made perfect in love."
Next we need to add to that my quote on possesiveness and fear... (i.e. where a person walks in fear is where they are walking in control, but if someone walks in surrender they are free of possessiveness and fear.)
In a different one of my classes we discussed the war between flesh and the Spirit of Galatians 5. At the end we talked of the list of the fruit of the Spirit, i.e. love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, self-control, etc. What we came to realize is that the fruit of the Spirit are exactly that; they are manifestations. And they are a byproduct of being controlled and surendered to the Spirit. One does not become more loving by hearing 1 Cor. 13 two hundred times. Love is not something that can be conjured up. A lot of what our culture calls love has at its roots lust, fear, manipulation, approval addiction, self-seeking, etc. To truly love someone else without selfish motivation is truly impossible for a human being to conjer up. It is IMPOSSIBLE. Love is a manifestation of the Spirit. It, along with all of its friends (i.e. the fruit of the Spirit) will ALL be in operation as one lives surrendered to God through the Holy Spirit.
So if one wants the fruit of the Spirit to be evidenced in their life the first place they need to start looking for blocks to it is where they have fear or where there is control (generally, intimately linked). As those are given up, and any other blocks are delt with (resentment, bitterness, unforgiveness, blocks of the enemy through spiritual warfare, etc.), the byproduct, without even trying will be the fruit of the Spirit.
Make sense?
Unfortunatly, one does not give control to another unless there is intimate knowledge. Generally speaking, we need to intimately and passionatly know the Lord before we will give Him control. This is why the idea of a ten minute quiet time is ridiculous. It really goes back to control. Am I in control of how much God I have in my life, or is He in control of my life. There is a very big difference.
1 John 4:18 says, "There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear... the one who fears is not made perfect in love."
Next we need to add to that my quote on possesiveness and fear... (i.e. where a person walks in fear is where they are walking in control, but if someone walks in surrender they are free of possessiveness and fear.)
In a different one of my classes we discussed the war between flesh and the Spirit of Galatians 5. At the end we talked of the list of the fruit of the Spirit, i.e. love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, self-control, etc. What we came to realize is that the fruit of the Spirit are exactly that; they are manifestations. And they are a byproduct of being controlled and surendered to the Spirit. One does not become more loving by hearing 1 Cor. 13 two hundred times. Love is not something that can be conjured up. A lot of what our culture calls love has at its roots lust, fear, manipulation, approval addiction, self-seeking, etc. To truly love someone else without selfish motivation is truly impossible for a human being to conjer up. It is IMPOSSIBLE. Love is a manifestation of the Spirit. It, along with all of its friends (i.e. the fruit of the Spirit) will ALL be in operation as one lives surrendered to God through the Holy Spirit.
So if one wants the fruit of the Spirit to be evidenced in their life the first place they need to start looking for blocks to it is where they have fear or where there is control (generally, intimately linked). As those are given up, and any other blocks are delt with (resentment, bitterness, unforgiveness, blocks of the enemy through spiritual warfare, etc.), the byproduct, without even trying will be the fruit of the Spirit.
Make sense?
Unfortunatly, one does not give control to another unless there is intimate knowledge. Generally speaking, we need to intimately and passionatly know the Lord before we will give Him control. This is why the idea of a ten minute quiet time is ridiculous. It really goes back to control. Am I in control of how much God I have in my life, or is He in control of my life. There is a very big difference.
posted by Seltzer at 9:32 PM
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