Woman's Walk with God , livre ebook

Harvest House Publishers, Inc. - George Elizabeth

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107 pages

English

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Do you yearn for a closer walk with God? For a greater understanding of what it means to let Him live through you? For the marks of His presence in your life? Author Elizabeth George gives practical help for how you can do that in this study of the fruit of the Spirit. Discover... love, joy, and peace that changes hearts, families, and friendships patience, kindness, and goodness that seeks the best for everyone faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control that brings spiritual victory in life's more challenging moments A Woman's Walk with God is an invitation to experience the joys of moment-by-moment living in the Lord's power--and producing the fruit of the Spirit in every circumstance!

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Publié par	Harvest House Publishers, Inc.
Date de parution	01 février 2014
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9780736950923
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0646€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS
EUGENE, OREGON
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture verses are taken from the New American Standard Bible, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. ( www.Lockman.org )
Scripture verses marked KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Bible, The New Scofield Reference Bible, Oxford University Press, Inc., 1967.
Scripture verses marked PHILLIPS are taken from J.B. Phillips: The New Testament in Modern English, Revised Edition. J.B. Phillips 1958, 1960, 1972. Used by permission of Macmillan Publishing Company.
Cover design by Dugan Design Group, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Cover photos Dugan Design Group; iStockphoto/wwing
A WOMAN S WALK WITH GOD
Copyright 2000 by Harvest House Publishers
Eugene, Oregon 97402
www.harvesthousepublishers.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
George, Elizabeth, 1944-
[God s garden of grace]
A woman s walk with God / Elizabeth George
p. cm.
Originally published: God s garden of grace. Eugene, Or.: Harvest House Publishers, 1996.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-7369-5091-6 (pbk.)
ISBN 978-0-7369-5092-3 (eBook)
1. Christian women-Religious life. I. Title
BV4527.G459 2000
248.8 43-dc21
99-059248
All rights reserved. No part of this electronic publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means-electronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any other-without the prior written permission of the publisher. The authorized purchaser has been granted a nontransferable, nonexclusive, and noncommercial right to access and view this electronic publication, and purchaser agrees to do so only in accordance with the terms of use under which it was purchased or transmitted. Participation in or encouragement of piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of author s and publisher s rights is strictly prohibited.
Dedication
For my parents Henry and Ruth White
whose home has always been a rich garden of virtues.
Contents
Dedication
1. Preparing for Greater Growth
Section I: Attitudes of the Fruit of the Spirit
2. Looking to God for Love
3. Offering the Sacrifice of Joy
4. Experiencing God s Peace
5. Looking at Jesus Attitudes
Section II: Actions of the Fruit of the Spirit
6. Resisting in Patience
7. Planning for Kindness
8. Giving in Goodness
9. Looking at Jesus Actions
Section III: Applications of the Fruit of the Spirit
10. Following Through in Faithfulness
11. Growing Strong Through Gentleness
12. Winning the Battle of Self-Control
13. Looking at Jesus Applications
Epilogue: Planning for Greater Growth
Study Guide Questions
Notes
About the Publisher
About the Author
1
Preparing for Greater Growth
S everal years ago when I spoke at a women s retreat in Bellingham, Washington, I stayed overnight in the home of a warm and gracious couple. After parking the car in the garage behind their house, we walked through their backyard garden and right past an exquisite apple tree. Being from Southern California where all we know is orange trees, I commented on how beautiful the tree was. With that, my hostess Jennifer began telling me the story of their apple tree.
Since moving into their home, Jennifer s husband, Tom, has tended this magnificent tree. Wanting to enjoy its Golden Russet apples, Tom has worked hard to improve the tree s production. After doing some research, he even grafted on some branches from their older Gravenstein apple tree as well as several new shoots from a Spartan apple tree. Through the years, Tom has nurtured, fertilized, watered, pruned, trained, sprayed, and protected this tree, and his efforts have paid off as he s seen the tree improve over time.
And that tree s yield is quite incredible. Tom has to prop up the branches to keep them from breaking when they re loaded with apples! Then, when the fruit is ripe, it s Jennifer s turn. She takes the tree s three kinds of apples and cooks, cans, mashes, sauces, dries, stews, slices, dices, and freezes them. Anything you can do with apples, she does! In fact, for dessert the evening I was there, Jennifer served apple crisp, and when I left the next morning she handed me a plastic bag full of dried apples to eat on the plane.
As I think of this couple s apple tree, I can t help but wonder about the fruit of our lives as Christian women. Should you and I as women of God pay any less attention to our own fruitfulness, in our case the spiritual kind, than Jennifer and Tom do to their apple tree? Shouldn t we be actively cultivating the fruit of the Spirit in our lives in order to reflect the glory of God and the beauty of Christ? But what exactly can you and I do to grow these spiritual fruit? What practical steps can we take toward becoming more like Christ as we walk alongside Him day by day?
Understanding the Fruit of the Spirit
Well, my friend, just as Tom studied to learn more about his apple tree and the fruit it bears, you and I need to study God s Word so we can better understand the fruit of the Holy Spirit and how it grows. Throughout the Bible, the word fruit refers to evidence of what is within. If what s inside a person is good, then the fruit of that person s life will be good. But if what s inside is rotten, the fruit of that person s life will be bad. Any person who has received Jesus as Savior and Lord and has Christ living within will bear good fruit-the fruit of righteousness (Philippians 1:11)-as God shines forth in his or her life.
The fruit of the Spirit has been described as those gracious habits which the Holy Spirit produces in the Christian. 1 In Galatians 5:22-23, the apostle Paul lists these gracious habits : The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, [and] self-control. I m sure that, like me, you ve undoubtedly longed for these noble traits to be characteristic of your life-but how can we make that happen? Perhaps if I just try harder we may find ourselves thinking. But Jesus teaches and models that such individual, do-it-yourself effort isn t the answer. Instead, it s exciting (and comforting!) to realize that the fruit of the Spirit can be produced in our lives in the same way that it was produced in Jesus life! We will enjoy a harvest of spirituality when we yield to God and allow His Spirit to work in us as we walk through life.
As you and I walk together through God s list of the fruit He deserves in our life, we ll look not only at their beauty and bounty but also at each individual fruit. But we must never forget that all nine fruit stand together: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control make up our walk with God. They are like a string of Christmas lights-there is one string with many lights that, when plugged into the electrical socket, all light up at once. However, if one bulb goes out, the entire string goes out. That s how God s fruit is borne in our lives. No one of them can be missing, and all must be evident to be God s fruit.
We also need to remember that because these fruit act as one, they are each borne in our lives in the same way. They are like a watch, which contains many parts. A watch can be taken apart for cleaning and repair, but each piece must be in place for the watch to run. In this book, you and I will carefully take apart each fruit of the Spirit, and then we ll see how they all work together to present a whole.
And as a whole, these characteristics are all produced in the same way. Everything that is said of one characteristic is true of the other eight. They are one and the same fruit, interwoven and related to one another, produced as we look to God.
Walking by the Spirit and cultivating the fruit of the Spirit is what this book is all about. You and I can enjoy a closer walk with God and bear much fruit as we surrender our lives to Him. As we examine each fruit of the Spirit, we ll also be looking at Jesus life to see its expression in His life. As we follow the real-life example of God s Son, and walk in obedience, we will indeed bear fruit that glorifies our Creator and Lord.
Understanding the Problems
Before we begin learning about our walk with God, we would do well to acknowledge a couple of stumbling stones we ll encounter along the path. First, legalism is a problem for us Christians today just as it was for believers in Paul s day. Legalism is the careful keeping of a set of rules which exceeds what is written in Scripture (1 Corinthians 4:6). In fact, Paul wrote to the Galatians because some false teachers (called Judaizers) were teaching that, despite their faith in Christ, they must follow the Old Testament laws. This teaching ran counter to all that Jesus taught and to the fundamental truth that people come to God by faith alone. It also fostered an ugly form of legalism and religion based strictly on works. So Paul called believers to allow the Spirit of God to fulfill the Law for and through them. If they would only walk by the Spirit (Galatians 5:16,25), they would be abiding by the Law in a natural and beautiful way.
Another problem you and I have in common with Galatian believers, dear friend, is one we ll face until the day we die, and that is the conflict between the flesh and the Spirit which begins the instant we put our faith in Jesus Christ. Paul writes, For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please (Galatians 5:17). These fleshly pursuits result in deeds of the flesh (5:19), sins and vices which Paul lists in Galatians 5:19-21- immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and thin