I'm a girl with muscles.....

Okay, so my muscles might be buried under some flab but I still have muscles! lol!! Where on earth am I going with this blog....muscles, flab??? Here we go...I spent January devouring the book of Romans in The Message translation. It felt like I was reading it for the first time. wow!! I marked up practically the entire book but by the time I got to chapter 15, the Lord dropped my mouth with what Paul was saying in verse 1-2, "Those of us who are strong and able in the faith need to step in and lend a hand to those who falter, and not just do what is most convenient for us. Strength is for service, not status. Each one of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, 'How can I help?'"

Think about this: every single one of us has a strength(s). That strength is to be used to build up each other, to serve one another, to support each other. Think about how different your world would look if we made that our daily life motto - "How can I help you today?"

When I look back at the life of Jesus - He used His strength and put it to death on a cross so that we could rise up through the power of His strength and live. His strength, through dying, gave us life. Our strengths, through giving, can save a person's life for eternity. What massive impact we can make in our world by the power of one word: Serve. Our strengths are not to be placed on a plaque on a wall and gloat and boast about it, it's to be used to help those who falter, not to be used at our convenience, but to be used at any given moment, whether we are comfortable about it or not. That's where Phil. 4:13 comes in, "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength!"

My challenge is for us to stop looking so inwardly at our lives, how we can better ourselves, tend to our complaints and pity parties, but to start shutting up the flesh side of our lives and start living by the spirit and let our strengths, given to us by God, radically impact the world we live in. As Paul said, "So, reach out and welcome one another to God's glory. Jesus did it, now you do it!" (v.7)

What can I do for you today?

Tracee

Old Fruit Stinks!

When I first saw this picture of old fruit, I first thought it was a shrivelled up orange but then saw the title and realized it was an apple! Think about this: is the love you are giving really life-giving love or is it love only demanding something in return? That is fruit that 'appears' to be one thing but actually is another. Deep, huh?

Today I've been reading Galatians 5:16-26. It's a must read in The Message because it breaks it down even more in a way that will get you to the core. lol! Core - apples, fruit...on a theme here. :)

Personal Life - Think about this: Living in the Spirit is NOT compatible with selfishness. Living in the Spirit is not something you can choose to do half the day and then walk in selfishness the other half. Okay, so I know that after a long days work you come home, make dinner, wash clothes, help with homework, go to soccer practice and the list goes on and on from there - this is going to stretch the limits of 'walking in the Spirit' because by the end of the day you are literally pooped! The difference, though, is when you go to bed at night you will either feel majorly stressed, tense, uptight and worn out or you will feel that peace flood you, you'll have a smile on your face, kindness in your heart and a beautiful calmness - what's cool is the more you walk in the spirit, the more natural it will become. It's all about what you want and the choices you choose to make.

Ministry Life - God has given us a life of amazing freedom but He never intended it to be used for our own selfish benefits. Something that is coming to mind is in my life, I work with teens and girls from way young to upper teen years. What I have come to realize is I can't try to make them become me, who I am, the spiritual experiences I've had - do it my way or the way I did when I was their age. It's a different time, different circumstances, different world - I MUST understand THEM in their culture, not mine. I MUST meet them where THEY are, not where I am. I CANNOT put my expectations on THEM, but LOVE them w/out condition. I CAN'T cut off the fruit in their life that I don't believe should be there - but I can lead, by example, a life of walking out the Spirit - showing: love, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Being a Leader doesn't give me the right to demand, but what I do demand is how I live my own life - living out life by putting action to my words and heart.

Wrap It Up - Living life with these fruits means that we need to WALK in the Spirit...allowing God to remove fruit that is not yielding good fruit - fruit that stinks, is rotten, to the point that you can't even tell what it is. It's such a cool and wild thought to know how deep God's love for us is. It starts at home...in you, your families and stretches beyond. Go for it! You can do it!! (don't worry, I do have those days that I go to bed with my face all uptight and stressed...but the cool thing is rotten fruit stinks so it doesn't last toooooo long! :)