Verse of the Day 9/25

Through the Bible - Isaiah 7-9, Galatians 6   Good morning, Today's "Daily Bread" devotional (www.rbc.org) told of Socrates teaching method of asking "probing questions to help them arrive at their own conclusions".  It is not a new method, it has been God's way of teaching through the ages, starting with God's question to Adam and Eve in the garden, "where are you"? In Galations 4:18  Paul said that he "labored in birth" until Christ was formed in his listeners.  Looking through the NT you can see how Paul used questions in this way. Paul was also questioned by God from the time he was approached by God on the road to Damascus.  Paul also came to question God to learn more of Him. In our lives we will face trials, storms, illness and persecution and we will question God.  We will learn from and about God during these times and will grow through them if we are His and have faith.  As we go from trial to trial our questions will change and our view of the trials and storms will change. Helmut Thielicke in "Our Heavenly Father writes, "It is as if God intercepts these originally evil and disastrous missiles of fate, catches them in His fatherly arms, and sends them in the direction He wants them to go for the benefit of His children." By faith our questions can change, Thielicke continues, "We don't have to ask why fate permitted our dearest to be taken away from us.  Now we are freee; free to ask another, more confident, question.  And that question is:  What is God's purpose in all of this?  What are His goals for us?  We learn to look up, because God is a God of purpose, a God with great fatherly plans for our lives, for the life of His people, and the life of all mankind." Following this way, living by faith, asking questions by faith, will produce fruit.  Which leads us to today's verse from Galatians 5. Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.   NKJV This fruit is not just evidenced in "good times" but in all times and season's of the Christians life when lived "by faith". My sons have been a great influence on me in this regard.  When I was helping move my son Jason to school in New York a few years ago I asked him how he looked back on the circumstances of his being diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor.  He replied, "if it hadn't been for the tumor, I would never have met Kristen (his wife)".  He wouldn't be where he is today. Something else happens when you come to realizations like that.  You realize that every day is a gift, that every time you see or talk to your son or daugher (or grandchild) it is a gift that brings joy and peace. What questions has God been asking you?  What have you been asking God? In Christ, Mike Gal 5:16-6:1 Walking in the Spirit 16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 24 And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. NKJV