Enjoy the Fruit of Your Labor

“How joyful are those who fear the Lord - all who follow His ways!

You will enjoy the fruit of your labor. How joyful and prosperous you will be!” - Psalm 128:1-2

The values outlined in God’s Word include love, service, honesty, integrity, self-sacrifice, and prayer. These help to set a good relationship. Reading and obeying God’s Word together is a good place to start your relationship moving in the right direction.

Faith and patience are like two faithful companions on the journey of every believer. Growing these qualities is essential for anyone striving towards spiritual maturity. They embody the essence of a person who reveres the Lord and seeks to follow His path.

A true respect for our Almighty God, paired with a willingness to listen and obey His voice, leads to a rich harvest of spiritual fruit and blessings. Blessed is the person who fears the Lord, and even more so is the one who follows His ways.

The fleeting rewards of this world may glimmer for a moment, captivating our senses before fading away into emptiness. In contrast, the eternal blessings that come from God are cultivated through quiet, spiritual growth in our new life in Christ. They represent the flourishing of the cherished fruits of the Spirit, sparkling like jewels in the crown of our heavenly King.

While the path of faith may not always be straightforward, the fear of the Lord lays the foundation for true wisdom. Those who walk in His ways become abundantly blessed, receiving a multitude of gifts that extend beyond this life into eternity.

Praise the Lord! Many blessings are available to us- joy, honor, prosperity, security, freedom, from fear (psalm 112:1) when we fear the Lord and delight in obeying His commands. To fear God means to revere, to respect  and to stand in awe of His greatness and goodness. If you desire God’s blessings, you must revere Him and gladly obey Him.

Fulfillment through Perseverance

“If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully keep all His commands that I am giving you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the world. You will experience all these blessings if you obey the Lord your God: Your towns and your fields will be blessed. Your children and your crops will be blessed. The offspring of your herds and flocks will be blessed” - Deuteronomy 28:1-4

Even if you don’t see the rewards ahead of you, be content with your life and calling. God said in 1 Timothy 6;” Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth”. This is the key to spiritual growth and personal fulfillment. We should honor God and center our desires on Him and we should be content with what He is doing in our lives. (Philippians 4:11). Paul is showing the vast difference between true 'spiritual' wealth and a false 'worldly' wealth. The world's view of great gain is connected with money, material possessions, power, and prestige, whilst godliness with contentment is considered as great gain by the Apostle .Godliness, combined with an inner contentment which is rooted in the sufficiency of Yeshua to provide all that is needed, according to His riches in glory, surpasses anything that this world can provide.

But like the Philippians Christians, it is also good to be prompted by the Holy Spirit to give support to our brothers and sisters who may be facing hardships or other types of difficulties - and to thank others and God if others are prompted to give aid to us. We are not only to give freely of our time, our finances and other offerings but we are to give our gift cheerfully and joyfully as unto the Lord, knowing that it was for our sake that Yeshua was sent into the world by our heavenly Father to be the propitiation for our sins, so that by faith in Him we might have life everlasting.

Persevere! It is only through faithful obedience to God, you will receive the blessing you need. God’s blessing is all you need. God gifted us with joy and fulfillment as we persevere with a precious, loyal heart brimming with love. Nothing can defeat you.

“I will call a swift bird of prey from the east a leader from a distant land to come and do my bidding. I have said what I would do, and I will do it” (Isaiah 46:11).

God could not be more clear in the bible verses- He will do what He says. Israel was tempted to waver between the Lord and pagan gods. Isaiah affirmed the sole lordship of God. God is unique in His knowledge and His control of the future. His consistent purpose is to carry out what he has planned. When we are tempted to pursue promises of pleasure, comfort, peace or security apart from God, we will miss out on His perfect plan for us both now and for eternity.

Are You Walking by the Flesh or by the Spirit?

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. - Romans 8:1 KJV

Many today say that they are walking with Yeshua, but are they truly walking with Him? How can we know for sure that we are walking with Yeshua?

Scripture tells us that we are not to walk after the flesh, but after the Spirit. What does this really mean? Walking after the flesh means you are satisfying your natural desires, the sinful nature. You are doing things that brings pleasure to your flesh - yourself. When you are walking after the Spirit, you are doing the things that please God. You no longer do what satisfies or pleases you, but that which pleases God. You die to yourself, you die to your flesh, you die to your sinful nature. The life that you now live is unto God.

For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit, Romans 8:5 KJV. Let’s look a bit further into what the things of the flesh are, versus what the things of the Spirit are. When you follow the desires of your sinful nature (the flesh), the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God – Galatians 5:19-21 NLT.

Walking in the Spirit looks like this: But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! Galatians 5:22-23 NLT. The scriptures continue on and say, Those who belong to Yeshua have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there, Galatians 5:24 NLT.

The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions, Galatians 5:17NLT. This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh, Galatians 5:16 KJV.

Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So, letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God, Romans 8:5-8 NLT.

So, I ask the question again, are you walking after the flesh or after the Spirit?