March, 2018 WWJWMTD by Steve the son of John

The One Character Trait You Will Always Need

The Character of the Month Series

God asked me this morning, “If you could choose only one character quality, what would that be?” (I was impressed in my spirit by the Holy Spirit to choose a personal quality that would help everyone in these last days.) I was not sure and just one? I felt I needed many positive character qualities in order to ‘make-it’ in this world. Every book I have read about leadership or character development there are at least a dozen or more ‘needed qualities’ if one is going to be successful.

I am amazed at the questions God asks me. He knows that it is the questions, not the answers, which challenge and change our lives for the better in our walk with Him. I constantly tell my friends “it is the questions you ask” as you read the Bible that helps you in your understanding, not the obvious answers that most people gravitate too.

One character quality—what can that be? Eventually, I ended up with the advice of James the Apostle (James 1:22-25). (Jesus said the same thing but in different words and illustrations.)

"But be you doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like to a man beholding his natural face in a glass: 24 For he beholds himself, and goes his way, and straightway forgets what manner of man he was. 25 But whoever looks into the perfect law of liberty, and continues therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed."

How often do we look in the mirror and don’t like what we see? The older I get the less I spend looking at myself, “I don’t want to know!” But God, He wants me to look at and know myself. The Holy Spirit is into searching things out. His job (one of many) is to show you who you are and what you can be. The Holy Spirit is to identify what is wrong and how to fix it. (He is busy in my life. There are lots to be fixed all the time.)

If there is one character trait that Jesus wants us all to have and keep using in this lifetime—it is to allow God’s spiritual mirror to reflect who we are and what we can be in Christ. It’s not easy to do this but with God, this is the only way we can be blessed and walk in liberty.

It is freedom that God is offering us. Freedom from the evil person that we are, and thereby becoming the person of God that God had always planned for our lives. It is this liberty that only the Holy Spirit can bring to us. May the Holy Spirit become the mirror to your freedom in Christ! This lifetime character quality none of us can be without.

WWJWMTD

What would Jesus want me to do?

Dr. Steven J. Wentland www.wwjwmtd.com

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