A Compelling Testimony: Maintaining a Disciplined Walk, Christlike Character, and Godly Relationships as God's Servant

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A Compe l l i ng Tes t imony

(2) Rom. 15.13 – May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

c. Joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, and a central dimension to authentic spirituality.

(1) Gal. 5.22 – But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness

(2) Rom. 5.2 – Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. (3) 1 Cor. 13.4-7 – Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant [5] or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; [6] it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. [7] Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. d. Feasting was an essential element in the identity of the people of God, Israel, cf. Deut. 16; e.g., Deut. 16.10-11 – Then you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to the Lord your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as the Lord your God blesses you. [11] And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is within your towns, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are among you, at the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell there. e. Therefore, joy in the Lord is linked directly to our responsiveness to the Spirit and our obedience to the Lord.

(1) John 15.10-11 – If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my