By Saiko Woods
This past Saturday evening after the conference, my wife and I and several other brothers went to IHOP for dinner to discuss and reflect on what we learned so far from the conference and to fellowship with each other as well. After we finished our meal, one of the other brothers still had some food left on his plate and requested for a “doggie bag” for him to take back to his hotel room where he could later on finish eating what he had left over. The thought came to my mind as my brother Tyris said that. There are so many things that I’ve learned from the conference and was convicted, & challenged to consider as I spent time learning from everyone that I met that weekend that I decided to bring home my own spiritual “doggie bag” that I would like to share with all of you and pray that the Spirit of God will speak to your hearts as you read my thoughts and to apply them in your lives daily as we meet other brothers/sisters in Christ.
Our fight (struggle) is not inside (against one another) but outside! Don’t take petty, non-essential matters personal (Eph. 6:12).
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Strive to keep unity within the body of Christ no matter the cost (Eph. 4:1-6).
Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.
Cultivate (learn; practice) ways to show love to one another (1 Cor. 13:4-7; 16:14; 1 Jn. 3:18; 4:20).
Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Let all that you do be done in love.
Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.
If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.
