Trying to peel off a sticker from my apple this morning, I got to thinking how much I dislike stickers on my fruit!  Then the Lord spoke to me of how often things in my life can be just like those stickers!

Maybe it’s a habit I am trying to break, and maybe it is one that is relentless and just doesn’t want to be broken.  It can be like one of those stubborn stickers that insists on leaving a piece of itself behind on my fruit, which was the case this morning!

Then there are things in my life that seem easier to give up.  God showed me I should let these go and with His help I am able to do it easily.  They are like the stickers that peel off right away and I get to eat the whole fruit without spoiling the section where the sticker was.

While following Jesus is such an awesome experience, and I have such fun serving Him, there are certainly worldly things that He has asked me to give up, such as gossip, complaining, criticizing, grumbling, murmuring.  For sure, I don’t always do everything right.  Oftentimes I slip back into something God has told me to lay down and stop doing, but He is faithful to forgive me when I ask Him, and the Holy Spirit is gentle to remind me that I am doing something He told me not to do and help me stop doing it.

So when I think about the stickers on my fruit, I think about things in my life I’ve been able to peel away and continue on unaffected.  But then I think about things in my life that are a constant struggle to give up and realize they are more like the sticker I was trying to remove this morning, one that insisted on staying on my piece of fruit!  I had to bite off and throw away that spot on the fruit so that I didn’t eat that part of the sticker.  Sometimes God has to remove things in our life that can be painful in order to perfect what remains.  He wants to make us perfect just like Him, and I am certainly still a work in progress.

Thank you Lord that you remove all the stickers in my life, especially the ones that don’t want to let go of my fruit!!

“For the fruit (the effect, the product) of the Light or the Spirit [consists] in every form of kindly goodness, uprightness of heart, and trueness of life.”~Ephesians 5:9

After attending the Women of Faith Conference this weekend, I came away with such good information to apply to my life.

I am loved!!!  You are loved!!!!

I need to forgive!!!  You need to forgive!!!  Forgiveness sets us free.

I need to be about God’s business, growing, changing, advancing, going where He is going!

I will define myself by what I find in God’s word, not by anything the world tries to put on me.

The enemy, the devil, comes to steal, kill and destroy but just because he comes doesn’t mean I have let him to steal, kill or destroy anything in my life!!

Quote from Christine Caine, “The devil on his best day didn’t take me out on my worst day!”

Philippians 4:13: I can do ALL things through Christ who gives me strength.

Matthew West sang about Forgiveness and being A Child of the One True King!  Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh!!!

Just how do we love the Lord with our whole heart?  The bible says we are to do this, and yet the cares of the world tug and pull on our hearts all the time.  Spouses, children, parents, close friends, all draw from the love in our hearts.  How do we give enough love to all those we care about and still love the Lord with our Whole Heart?

The Amplified bible says it this way in Mark 12:30, “And you shall love the Lord your God out of and with your whole heart and out of and with all your soul (your life) and out of and with all your mind (with your faculty of thought and your moral understanding) and out of and with all your strength.  This is the first and principal commandment.”

Then the next verse commands us to love our neighbor as ourself.  So how much love can we give out of this whole heart of ours and still give it all to God?

Well, I’d like to think about this as stated in the Amplified version, “out of and with.”  So we love “out of” our heart, and we love “with” our heart.  The bible says that God is love, and when Jesus saves us and sends His Holy Spirit to live within us, His love then becomes part of us.  This then enables us to have enough love to share “out of and with” our hearts, our souls, our minds.  What a mystery and a miracle!  Thank you Jesus!

Anyone care to share any additional thoughts or insights?