Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Fruit of the Spirit Brag Tags

FREE Printable Fruit of the Spirit Brag Tags


Fun collectible rewards for students!!

Give brags tags as rewards for great behavior, good work, and when you catch students displaying the fruit of the Spirit in action.

Print brag tags on card stock and laminate or print on regular paper.

Give each student a metal ring to keep their cards on or a booklet to glue them into. 

Enjoy! ♥ Dina

Thursday, August 10, 2017

Choose Joy, putting the fruit of the Spirit into action!

Here's a link to my Choose Joy poster, my encouragement to myself to put the fruit of the Spirit into action in my life, family, and homeschool!



If you would like to use this as a reminder, feel free to use it! :)
♥ Dina

Choose Joy Printable

Thursday, September 1, 2016

Works of the Flesh v. Fruit of the Spirit

 
I have been studying lately about walking in the flesh v. walking in the spirit. I personally have read the both of these lists minus the definitions and didn’t think much of them. But, sad to say, with definitions I can find lots of areas in my heart and life that need surrender and cleansing!! Lord, work these things out of me and fill me fresh with Your Spirit!!! :)

Immorality – wickedness, immoral behavior, vileness, corruption, dishonesty, unethical, bad, wrongful, foul
Impurity – morally wrong, especially in sexual matters, lustful, lewd, crude, improper
Indecent – dirty, filthy, rude, coarse, naughty, vulgar, gross, off-color
Sorcery – use of magic, witchcraft, enchantment, spells, incantations
Idolatry – immoderate attachment or devotion to something, worship or a physical object as god. Enmity – opposition, hostility, hate
Strife – anger, bitter disagreement, conflict
Jealousy – feeling or showing envy of someone’s achievements or advantages
Anger (ill temper) – strong feeling of annoyance, displeasure, rage, hostility
Selfishness – inconsiderate of others
Envy – discontent, resentful of someone else’s possessions, qualities or luck
Divisions – discord, disunity, disagreement
Drunkeness – affected by alcohol, losing control of one’s faculties or behavior
Carousing – Drinking + partying

Love – deep affection, warmth, tenderness
Joy – pleasure, happiness, delight
Peace – quiet, calm, tranquility, order
Patience – accepting or tolerating delay, trouble, suffering without anger or upset, even temper Kindness – friendly, generous, considerate, caring, helpful
Goodness – integrity, doing what is right, being thoughtful, gracious, well behaved
Gentleness – kind, tender, sympathetic, understanding, merciful, considerate
Faithfulness – showing true support and loyalty, trustworthy
Self-control – control over your feelings and actions, restraint over your impulses, emotions, or desires

Thursday, March 17, 2016

Psalm 37:3-8

😊Trust
😌delight
🤗commit
🙂be still
😃wait
😩don't fret
😡don't be angry

Psalm 37:3-8

Thursday, September 10, 2015

Self-Control: Night Owl Problems

Galatians 5:22,23 - The fruit of the Spirit is...self-control (self-restraint, continence).


Confession: I have major night owl problems! It affects my whole life. Night owling has benefits, like enjoying peace and quiet while the rest of my household is getting z's! I LOVE THIS TIME! I LOVE TO BE BY MYSELF after a long, busy day. But oh wow, how I dislike mornings after I was up too late the night before. I dislike them as much as I like staying up late, LOL!

It boils down to self-control if I'm totally honest, and in this area I don't have enough. The results can have a huge impact on me and my family. :( (Examples: temptation to just skip my quiet time with the Lord, starting the day behind, starting school late, being a cranky pants all day, feeling tired, etc). There's a balance to be had here.

So, this thought process led me to look at self-control this morning, and I'm really glad I did! I love to look at the meanings of words. The Amplified Bible does a good job of giving deeper meanings, but I like to also look at the dictionary definitions too.

This morning I studied what restraint means. Here's what I found:

Restrain -
1. prevent from doing something, keep under control or within limits. (good idea to limit how long I stay up!!)
2. prevent oneself from displaying or giving way to (a strong urge or emotion) - keeping in check. (Hulk-like Momtastic ranks, anyone??)
3. deprive of freedom of movement or personal liberty (Yes, I'm free to stay up all night long if I want to, but giving into that personal liberty isn't wise for me!!)

My flesh tells me to soak in all the peace and quiet I can, do what I want to do, or do what needs to be done until it's done. But I can't let my flesh rule my life. I have to be full of the Spirit and live to please the Lord. It's hard to do that when you're totally tired, cranky, and fussy!!! (Hello, not a coffee drinker!!)

I'm sharing this to encourage others out there who may be struggling with finding balance and using self-control. There's a reason it's a fruit of the Spirit, we must depend on the Lord for help with this! Apart from Him we can do nothing!

I hope you're having a great week!
Dina

Monday, August 31, 2015

Teaching Gentleness, Being Gentle

This week in our homeschool, we will be learning about gentleness. It's one of the fruit of the Spirit...one I struggle with, if I'm perfectly honest!! For all of the tender feelings I have toward my kiddos, I find that it is easy to use a harsh tone with them.

Growing up I thought my mother was a total nag. Oh, it drove me CRAZY!! And of course, I said, "when I'm a parent, I will NEVER nag my kids, NEVER". Well, as a parent, I have concluded that I was a totally disobedient child, and my mother's response to my disobedience was nagging (I love my mom dearly, and for the record, I regret being so disrespectful, inconsiderate, lazy, hard-headed, and disobedient.)

So, I will start off our morning character talk about gentleness with a confession that mommy struggles to do what I'm telling them to do. I will remind them as I do every week, no matter which character trait we talk about, we can't do these things on our own. We all need to ask God to help us, develop us, and grow these fruit of the Spirit in our hearts!

Our scripture of the week is Proverbs 15:1 - A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

As I was getting ready for bed last night, I was thinking the coming week and about my quiet time this morning and what I would look at. The Holy Spirit heavily reminded me of Ephesians 6:4 and Colossians 3:21. Basically, no matter if my kids obey or honor me, I am still told to do what these verses say. Here they are:

Ephesians 6:4 (AMP) - Fathers, do not irritate and provoke your children to anger (do not exasperate them to resentment), but rear them (tenderly) in the training and discipline and the counsel and admonition of the Lord.

Colossians 3:21 (AMP) - Fathers do not provoke and irritate, or fret your children (do not be hard on them or harass them), lest they become discouraged and sullen and morose and feel inferior and frustrated. (Do not break their spirit).

YIKES folks, I don't know about the other parents out there, but for me, these verses sting. They are basically telling me to get out of my flesh and not to parent out of my own irritation/frustration, but gently and tenderly training my kiddos.  

This week, it is my goal to do just that! I hope you have a terrific week!!

Dina

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Encouraging Verses I've Been Studying

Hi All!

Long time, no post. Life has been so busy these past several years! As we start our second year of homeschooling though, I wanted to share some of the verses I've been studying lately. I've been so encouraged and challenged in my own spirit by them and thought I'd pass them along!

I encourage you also, to go for a treasure hunt in God's word! Start a quiet time with Him to thank Him for giving you life, to tell Him what is going on in your mind and heart. He is such a faithful friend! :) I'm sharing from the Amplified Bible.

Philippians 4:13 - I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who [a]infuses inner strength into me; I am [b]self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency].

John 15:5 - I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears much (abundant) fruit. However, apart from Me [cut off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing.

Proverbs 3:3 - Let not mercy and kindness [shutting out all hatred and selfishness] and truth [shutting out all deliberate hypocrisy or falsehood] forsake you; bind them about your neck, write them upon the tablet of your heart.

Proverbs 3:7 - Be not wise in your own eyes; reverently fear and worship the Lord and turn [entirely] away from evil.

Galatians 5:16 - But I say, walk and live [habitually] in the [Holy] Spirit [responsive to and controlled and guided by the Spirit]; then you will certainly not gratify the cravings and desires of the flesh (of human nature without God).

Ephesians 4:32 - And become useful and helpful and kind to one another, tenderhearted (compassionate, understanding, loving-hearted), forgiving one another [readily and freely], as God in Christ forgave you

Ephesians 5: 2 - And walk in love, [esteeming and delighting in one another] as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us...

I have been using the color chart from Women Living Well. Here's the link: http://womenlivingwell.org/2014/12/studying-the-bible-using-the-soak-method-coloring-chart-and-meditation/

I hope you will be encouraged by this post!
Have a great week!
Dina