DAY 19
Devotional by Robert Cameron
“But the fruit produced by the Holy Spirit within you is divine love in all its varied expressions: joy that overflows, peace that subdues, patience that endures, kindness in action, a life full of virtue, faith that prevails, gentleness of heart, and strength of spirit. Never set the law above these qualities, for they are meant to be limitless.”
Galatians 5:22-23 TPT
The theme for our Wave Conference this year is ‘Limitless,’ which I think is so true of our heavenly Father. In the above verses, we get to look at some of the virtues of God through the Holy Spirit…
1. His love is limitless
When you have walked many years with the Lord, you will find out that His love lasts forever and is not based on our good works. The scripture says in Rom 5:8 “God demonstrated His love toward us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Even when we make stupid decisions that are wrong, He keeps the light on to make sure we get back home.
2. His Joy overflows
The Bible says that the joy of the Lord is our strength. This is not talking about happiness, as happiness depends on good things happening. The Joy of the Lord is with us in times of trouble and difficulty. Habakkuk prayer goes like this,“Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior.”
We want to be like Habakkuk, no matter what we face, we will rejoice.
“It’s our choice to rejoice.”
3. His Peace is always there
When we are faced with seemingly insurmountable problems, we find a peace that passes all understanding. Last year, my family went through horrific circumstances. My nephew passed away all of a sudden right after our daughter’s wedding (7 hours after). He had never been in hospital, hardly ever gone to a doctor yet at 34, slipped into eternity. Just a few weeks later, my niece, who was just 24, was found dead in her bed. Needless to say we were devastated, but through it all, we found that Peace as both of them knew Jesus. I have an expression that I use quite often “God comes on strongest, when you need Him the most,” and I have found that to be true.
4. His patience endures
I am sure we all have times when our patience runs thin and we “lose IT,” but God is a patient God who never loses His patience with us – even though we test that many times. He wants us to have that same kind of patience so we can work with those who may take longer to get on the road to God.
Prov.19:11. Says “a person’s wisdom yields patience and it is to ones glory to overlook an offense.”
5. His Kindness is active
One of my youngest daughter’s favorite movies was “Mary Poppins” and one of the many wonderful songs in that movie was “A spoonful of sugar, helps the medicine go down.” We should by all means try and help those who need help, even pass on some correction at times, but always do it with a heart of love. If you cannot do it with a heart of love, don’t do it at all. God wants us to be kind hearted one to another.
6. His faith never fails
Know this, that even though we fail, His faith never fails. Jesus even prayed for Peter in Luke.22:23. “I have prayed for you that your faith does not fail” and Peter, with all his failings, went on to do amazing things for God. Even when we are at our darkest hour, His faith for us never fails.
7. Never set legalism above these qualities
We can get set in our ways and rituals, but always keep an open mind to new things that God wants to do. Work on these virtues and you will experience the wonderful, large world that God has for us.