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FAITH, HOPE, AND LOVE: INSPIRATION FOR OUR SPIRITUAL WALK

“And now abideth faith, hope, charity ...” (1 Corinthians 13:13).   “We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers; remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ , in the sight of God and our Father; knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God.” (1 Thessalonians 1:2-4).   In his first letter to the Corinthian church, the Apostle Paul mentions the enduring quality of the “big three” Christian values or virtues.   The importance of these is emphasized repeatedly throughout the New Testament, but in Thessalonians Paul gives us some special insight into how they influence our walk with God.   Paul’s visit to Thessalonica was characterized by many dangers which he and the local converts were exposed to because of the gospel that he preached.   He had entered the synagogue in that city and for three weeks preached that Jesus Christ was Lord to the Jew...
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SOME GREAT THING

There was a man by the name of Naaman who lived toward the end of the 9th century B.C.   This man was the captain of all the armies of Syria.   He was vastly wealthy and powerful, and he was trusted and respected by his king.   Despite all that Naaman had going for him, though, he was a leper.     Leprosy was a dreaded disease.  It caused the flesh to rot from the bone; and it made outcasts of those who were afflicted by it because no one wanted to be exposed to it or to look on those who had it.  This was obviously a traumatic situation for anyone, let alone a man in Naaman's position.   During an earlier raid into the land of Israel, the Syrians had taken some captives among whom was a young girl.  This little maiden was placed in the house of Naaman to wait on his wife.  Upon hearing of her new master's affliction, she said to her mistress, "Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him o...
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BREAK UP YOUR FALLOW GROUND

In the fourth chapter of Jeremiah, God says, "Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns."  The idea of plowing the ground before planting it is very natural; but when we consider the process, it can seem like a very violent act to the earth that we are preparing.   We tear open the surface with the plowshare or pulverize the ground with a rotary tiller, churning and softening the dirt to create a rich seedbed in which the new plants will thrive and produce crops.   Fallow ground is that which has not been planted for a time but has been left to grow over with weeds.   Being unplanted, it is therefore unfruitful and unproductive.   It becomes a tangle of useless vines and thorns.   We, as individuals, often have areas of our lives that we have left "fallow."   These are areas that are unfruitful and unproductive for the Lord.   We all know that the fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5 is, "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentl...
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