Thoughts for Fall

Prayer for fall

Oh Lord,
God of the harvest,
Let us find ourselves like trees,
enveloped in the early morning mist of your love.
May our leaves be festive,
full of color and life,
even as they fall to the ground.

Help us,
to let go of the things we often hold tight to,
and allow them to be carried away,
by your gentle breeze.
Allow storms to test our strength and revive our roots.
Grow us tall,
that we might be the climbing place of children,
broad,
that we might be shade to the weary.

From root to leaf be our sustenance,
until the day we are cut down.
But even then,
use us as lumber.

Thankfulness

God's Will: Your Thankfulness

I sit across from people all of the time who are trying to figure out God's secret will. They want to know God's plans and the things that he has kept for himself. All the while they ignore the fact that many of the things in God's will he has already revealed to us in scripture. Rather than focusing on what we can't know, let's focus on what God has already said. Did you know that it is God's will for you to be thankful? 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 tells us, "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." That seems pretty clear!

God's will is that we would be continually rejoicing and telling him how thankful we are. In every situation, good and bad, we are to give thanks. Even when things are difficult, God is still using our situation to work in our lives. In 2 Corinthians 4:17 Paul writes, "this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison." It's all about perspective. When we focus on God and what he is doing, we have plenty to be thankful for.

What are you thankful for?

We would probably all say that we are thankful for our salvation, our family, and our friends, but I want you to dig deeper. We have so much to be thankful for! I'm thankful for all of the things that God does to keep us alive every day. He has arranged the distance between the earth and sun to be just right... the orbit of the moon to be just right... and the tilt of the earth to be just right... all so that we can have life. What things do you take for granted every day? Help your kids see the value in the little things, because every good and perfect gift comes from God.

Family Activities

Idea #1: Try taking turns as a family sharing something your thankful for going through the whole alphabet from A-Z. Pray together thanking God for all the things you listed.

Idea #2: Get some magnets ready and clear off your refrigerator. Have each person in your family cut out a leaf and then write on it some of the things they are thankful for. Then put them up on the fridge to be reminded every time you walk by.

Fruit of the spirit

As the Spirit works in the life of the believer, the most clear evidence of that work is the fruit that will be produced in the person’s life. Paul describes the fruit in Galatians 5:22-23 as, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” All of these are attributes which can be observed in the life of a believer as he or she interacts with others. Jesus, in John 13:35, said, “ By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” Love, being one of the fruits of the Spirit, is an outward manifestation of the work of the Spirit, and therefore evidence to believers and unbelievers that we are Christians. We can also see the evidence of the Spirit inside a believer by how they demonstrate the empowering of the Spirit. Are they serving? Are they sharing the gospel? Are they making disciples? Are they bearing witness to Jesus Christ? We will also see obedience. In John 14:15 Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” In 1 John 3:9 John writes, “No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.” So if we have the Spirit in us sanctifying us, we will sin less and less over time. We will never be entirely sinless (1 Jn 1:8) in this life, but the Spirit will help us overcome temptation more and more as we grow. Peter demonstrates the link between the presence of the Spirit and the life of obedience in Acts 5:32 when he says, “And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”