The Fruit of the Spirit: Be Kind
A Moment of Hope
by David Chadwick The fifth fruit of the Spirit is kindness. The dictionary definition of kindness is “the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate.” What a rich word! In the Greek language (chrestotes), it is defined as excellence or uprightness. Kindness is a fruit that is mostly directed toward another person. Generally speaking, kindness is meant to benefit those who are in our immediate circle and those around the world. Kindness is what drives the bride of Christ to serve and to give our lives away. Kindness is what compels us to a life of sacrifice. Jesus calls his...
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The Fruit of the Spirit: Patience is a Virtue…
A Moment of Hope
by David Chadwick Patience is a virtue… but it’s also a fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit are an all for one and one for all package deal. Once you abide in Christ and Christ in you, you will bear much fruit (John 15:5). When we are abiding with Jesus, connected to the Spirit, we will operate in patience. The word patience in the Greek is makrothymia. It means long suffering or fortitude. It implies a willingness to be willing to wait in spite of what our eyes can see. In the Amplified Bible, patience is described not as “the ability to wait, but how we act while...
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The Fruit of the Spirit: “Peace I Leave With You”
A Moment of Hope
by David Chadwick The third fruit of the Spirit is peace. The movie Sister Act 2 has an incredible scene where the nuns perform the song “Ball of Confusion” in a nursing home. Every time I hear this song, I’m reminded that the chaos of humanity has always existed. There has never been a time in history where the devil has not desired to release a ball of confusion all over the world. As the song says, “So, round and around and around we go. Where the world’s headed, nobody knows.” But in the midst of chaos, Jesus entered the chaos of this world and said, “Peace I leave with you;...
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The Fruit of the Spirit: Choose Joy
A Moment of Hope
by David Chadwick Joy is a choice. As our church’s worship leader says in one of the “I will choose joy!” This one doesn’t always come naturally. Without Jesus, it can feel impossible to walk in joy in the midst of this broken world. Remember, where one fruit is present, all nine are present. They are interdependent. But I do love the order because love and joy walk hand in hand. Joy proves that our affections are rightly aligned with God’s will. Joy flows out of a heart that loves him. When you are so intimate with the Father in heaven and his Son, Jesus, the Spirit gives our...
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The Fruit of the Spirit: First Comes Love
A Moment of Hope
by David Chadwick When you have an intimate connection with Jesus, the fruit of the Spirit is evident. The overflow of a Spirit-filled life is a Spirit-led life where the fruit of the spirit from Galatians 5:22-23 are found in ample supply. The first fruit of the Spirit is love. Love is the first fruit of Godly attributes and character found in the life of a believer. I find it so significant that love appears first. The Greek word here is agape. It means unconditional acceptance of another person just the way he or she is. No strings attached. The word agape is used to describe...
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The Fruit of the Spirit: An Introduction
A Moment of Hope
by David Chadwick The fruit of the Spirit is one of my favorite things to teach. In fact, every time I think about this topic, I immediately flash back to my daughter Bethany’s 6th birthday party. It was a “fruit of the Spirit” themed party. I dressed up as her favorite character called “Sunny Love Tree” and each child who came to the party was given a different fruit of the spirit. That party was one for the books! Much like I, as a Father, long to see my children walking in the light, Jesus longs to see his followers abiding in him. A life that displays the fruit of the Spirit is a...
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Fasting for Breakthrough: Guard Your Dream
A Moment of Hope
by Marilynn Chadwick We’re wrapping up our series on “Fasting.” I hope you’ve experienced a breakthrough in some area where you've felt stuck. The Bible encourages us to pray and fast when we encounter stubborn resistance. Could it be that some battles are harder than others because the enemy knows the stakes are so high? My epiphany came one day in a parking lot, of all places. I was heading home after a quick run for coffee with my husband. From a distance, we saw what appeared to be an aggressive bird battle under some nearby cedar trees. As we got closer, we saw the target of this...
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Fasting for Breakthrough: Are You Dangerous to the Devil?
A Moment of Hope
by Marilynn Chadwick "Fasting is a little scary," remarked a friend who had decided to fast for the first time. She's right. Whether it's food, a favorite treat, social media or shopping, giving up something we depend upon can leave us feeling empty. Thirsty. Maybe that's why fasting is so powerful. I'm forced to switch my lifeline from food (or whatever) to God himself. I find myself hungrier for his Word and more receptive to his voice. Even Jesus chose to fast before his duel in the desert with the devil. He had just been baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit. Afterwards, God spoke from...
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Fasting for Breakthrough: Breakthrough in Broken Places
A Moment of Hope
by Marilynn Chadwick Fasting can be a powerful weapon in our prayer arsenal. Though I still have much to learn, I have noticed how fasting adds strength and precision to my prayers. The combination of fasting and prayer is like a one-two punch that has resulted in several spiritual breakthroughs in long-standing problems. But the most powerful testimonies I’ve ever heard about fasting came in a most unlikely place. The lesson is one I have never forgotten. Some time ago, David and I were invited to teach a group of men and women church leaders in Burundi on the subject of prayer. Burundi is...
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Fasting for Breakthrough: How Esther Saved a Nation (Part 2)
A Moment of Hope
Continued from yesterday… God is never actually mentioned by name in the book of Esther. But throughout the story, we see Esther quietly responding to what I believe must surely have been God’s whispers. I don’t think the Lord would have entrusted the very survival of the entire nation of Israel into the hands of a teenager unless he knew she would listen and obey. Training our heart to hear God’s voice is one of our most important jobs as believers. We do this primarily through reading God’s Word and spending time in prayer. But for some reason, fasting helps us depend on God and...
info_outlineby Marilynn Chadwick
"Fasting is a little scary," remarked a friend who had decided to fast for the first time. She's right. Whether it's food, a favorite treat, social media or shopping, giving up something we depend upon can leave us feeling empty. Thirsty.
Maybe that's why fasting is so powerful. I'm forced to switch my lifeline from food (or whatever) to God himself. I find myself hungrier for his Word and more receptive to his voice. Even Jesus chose to fast before his duel in the desert with the devil. He had just been baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit. Afterwards, God spoke from heaven saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
What an amazing spiritual mountaintop experience! But notice what happened next: “Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil. For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry” (Matthew 4:1,2 NLT). It was the Holy Spirit himself who led Jesus into the desert. A place of vulnerability and isolation. On top of that, Jesus fasted for forty days and nights. Not exactly the breakfast of champions. Why would he physically weaken himself in preparation for the fight of his life?
“The tempter came to him and said, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread’" (Matthew 4:3, 4 NIV). The devil's first of three temptations hit Jesus right in the gut, so to speak. He tempts him to turn stones into bread. What could be wrong with that? Jesus could simply try out his divine power. Turning stones into bread wouldn't cost him any money or cause a scandal. And hunger after forty days with no food seems like a legitimate need.
But Jesus, weak in body yet mighty Spirit, knew the fight with the devil was not over. His counterattack came straight from the Bible, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God'." With each successive temptation, Jesus fired back at the devil with Scripture until the evil one finally slinked away in defeat.
For forty days, Jesus had prepared for this time of testing by fasting, praying, pouring over God's Word. He was armed and ready. Power to contend with the devil didn't come from his human strength or logic, but from the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God.
I wonder if we hunger for the true bread of the Spirit? We nourish our bodies with food. We keep our cars fueled up. We recharge our smart phones and laptops. But are we humble enough to admit that we can't win our spiritual battles without God's Word? Jesus showed us how. We don't live by the "bread" of this world alone, but by every Word from the mouth of God. That's how we stay armed and dangerous to the devil.