"A new believer is sanctified when he places his faith in Jesus Christ. He’s set apart for God’s purpose. Salvation takes place in a single moment, but sanctification is a lifetime process. Those who trust Christ as Savior and allow the Spirit to control their lives are being sanctified. It doesn’t matter what we may feel or how our actions appear to others. We are progressively maturing in our faith." Charles Stanley In Touch Daily Devotional

I want to type out a whole bunch of statements that have hit me hard over the last several days from the book I'm reading, but I have a feeling that out of context, they wouldn't mean so much. I usually consider it a disappointing and unfulfilling day if I haven't stumbled across one new truth sometime between waking and sleeping. Lately it's been upwards of 5-10 a day...

Today I followed through with a challenge by the author to "activate" my faith by praying:

Lord, I claim victory right now over the giant of ________. I recognize that this giant is coming against the Christ in me. Just as You defeated this giant when You walked on this earth, You can defeat it through me now, for You are my life. I trust You to produce peace and self-control through me. I cannot handle what is to come. But You can. Respond through me. When the pressure comes, remind me that the battle is Yours. Amen.

I asked the Lord to remind me when I woke to do this before I got out of bed, and not only did He do it, but He did it twice as I was waking - once I did while on my back, half asleep, and once kneeling on the bed just before getting up. This wasn't a mantra that I chanted to keep me thinking positively so that my will power could do it. I had to genuinely believe what I was saying, and battled some doubts as I prayed. My "giants" I prayed to be delivered from today were laziness, sleepiness, and impatience. I found myself asking God if Jesus really wasn't ever impatient - he seemed to be impatient multiple times with the Pharisees and disciples, the "unbelieving generation"... I just looked it up and saw this to help explain Jesus' anger... But impatience - present in one who should be the embodied Fruit of the Spirit? God, give me insight into this...

Well, I suppose that I don't know the intent behind the statement: "how long shall I put up with you?" And now I've found it. Looking up the Galatians 5 passage about the Fruit in the Message translation, I began to read the list of things that were evidences that a person is NOT controlled by the spirit. These were clearly NOT a description of Jesus at ANY point in his life. In the Gospel passages, Jesus says this just before he heals a boy of a demon. Then I read the list of the Fruit and remembered what I have been studying about Patience in the Greek in my bible study. Patience can be an endurance through difficult EVENTS or mercy with people who you have every right to seek revenge upon (stated in the Message vs 22-23 as: "willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart"). And there I realized that my interpretation of Jesus' impatience must be false because immediately after that statement, he had compassion on the demonized boy, healing him, and helped the boy's father with his unbelief.

When I am impatient, I act out of selfishness and quick temper. I get frustrated with Edward repeating the same offenses over and over and over and start to feel helpless as a disciplinarian. But God forgives me for my repeated offenses, and He is a much better parent than I could ever be.

Holy Spirit, I thank You for residing in me today, for giving me victory over my giants, for giving me insight into God's Word, for filling me up with Love, displacing the unbeneficial feelings I could have been consumed by. Please continue to allow Christ to live through me - walking with my feet, talking with my lips, hugging with my arms, loving with my heart, thinking with my mind. My life is Yours, Father. Lord, You are my life. Keep me abiding in You.