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Deut 8:1-5, Jeremiah 17:5-10

Comfort in the wilderness

I’ve met many people who are depressed about happiness. It seems so elusive, so difficult to hold onto. Even worse are the times in your life when everything seems to be going wrong, all the good in your life has turned sour, when the colour and life has been drained from your life.

So how are we supposed to cope with circumstances which we don’t like and can’t change? God wants us to correctly diagnose what our problem is so that we can live the cure. Our problem is not so much bad circumstances but the problem of our heart. We desire the wrong thing.

Fruit not Thorns

Our heart’s desire is to be happy. Our heart tells us that to be happy it needs, wants and feels like certain things or people. When we don’t give our heart what it desires then it gets angry with us, we get sad, we get depressed, frustrated, angry etc.

God wants us to recognise that our heart is very sneaky and tricky. We really shouldn’t listen to it as much as we do. We can learn to change what we enjoy so that we can experience real joy despite bad circumstances.

When we listen and rely on God more than our own heart we will respond differently to our circumstances. Our desire will be to be like God, to grow in the following heart qualities which are the fruit of the Spirit: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Gal 5:22-23). the Rev

Romans: Produce Fruit not thorns

Bible Reading: Deut 8:1-5 and Jeremiah 17:5-10

Exercises

How did Israel respond to their ‘heat’ (1 Cor 10:1-14)?

What currently is your heat, give examples?

What has been your response; thorns and/or fruit, give examples?  

In what way does your thorns or fruit reveal your heart?

Why is v7-8 encouraging, give personal examples?

Share in what way you will seek to produce fruit and not thorns?

Prayer: Dear God, forgive me for loving myself way too much, for primarily being concerned about what makes me feel good. Help me to be willing to give up doing what my heart wants and living for you instead. Open my eyes to the adventure of bearing fruit in the middle of a wilderness. Enable me to be a blessing to everyone around me.  This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it