Regeneration Wednesday men's edition was a powerful night of understanding the importance of character. The night began with looking at our own life and see how we react in situations that test our patience. We followed these situations by looking at why we react the way that we do. These were things like shame, not meeting expectations, we play to win, pride, self and simply being human. We dove even further by looking at the results of our sometimes poor responses and determined they that really do not change the situation at all, they even break down and destroy relationships.
So, what does character mean? The dictionary defines it as the moral/ethical quality of a person, of fine honorable character. Qualities of honesty, courage, integrity. What is God's definition of character or at least what are the qualities that we should posses. Gal 5:16-26 shows us the traits that God wants to have.
Finally we looked at how we are able to obtain these traits. Taking a closing look at Ephesians 6:10-20 these verses begin to shine a light into how we can begin to foster these traits. Ephesians tells us to live the word and pray daily. But it also tells us to put on the whole amour of God. The belt of truth is simply the knowledge of Jesus and what He has done for us. The breastplate of righteousness is a layer that protects our hearts from attack. The shoes, we determined are all season shoes, it's the peace that is afforded to us by the gospel of God. The shield we saw is the first line of defense against the enemy, the helmet of salvation protects us but it also changes our minds by keep it focused on kingdom bound things. And of course the sword which is the word of God, the only offense we need in dealing with tough situation that comes our way on the daily basis.
Final thoughts revealed that changing our mind set to a kingdom bound one is key to dealing with life's tough challenges. To gain this mind set, to obtain the character comes down to one simple thing: Relationship. We need to gain a relationship with our Lord to build and foster the character that God wants all of us to have.
So, what does character mean? The dictionary defines it as the moral/ethical quality of a person, of fine honorable character. Qualities of honesty, courage, integrity. What is God's definition of character or at least what are the qualities that we should posses. Gal 5:16-26 shows us the traits that God wants to have.
Finally we looked at how we are able to obtain these traits. Taking a closing look at Ephesians 6:10-20 these verses begin to shine a light into how we can begin to foster these traits. Ephesians tells us to live the word and pray daily. But it also tells us to put on the whole amour of God. The belt of truth is simply the knowledge of Jesus and what He has done for us. The breastplate of righteousness is a layer that protects our hearts from attack. The shoes, we determined are all season shoes, it's the peace that is afforded to us by the gospel of God. The shield we saw is the first line of defense against the enemy, the helmet of salvation protects us but it also changes our minds by keep it focused on kingdom bound things. And of course the sword which is the word of God, the only offense we need in dealing with tough situation that comes our way on the daily basis.
Final thoughts revealed that changing our mind set to a kingdom bound one is key to dealing with life's tough challenges. To gain this mind set, to obtain the character comes down to one simple thing: Relationship. We need to gain a relationship with our Lord to build and foster the character that God wants all of us to have.
