Day Fifteen-Galatians 5:22-23

"But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives; LOVE, JOY, PEACE, PATIENCE, KINDNESS, GOODNESS, FAITHFULNESS, GENTLENESS AND SELF-CONTROL." Galatians 5:22-23

How many times do we look at this passage in scripture and say to ourselves, "Well I'm patient sometimes, kind at other times, faithful for the most part but....Who can be all of these?" My thinking regarding the fruit of the spirit was radically changed during a devotion time at a Mops meeting over nine years ago. A very sweet, truly devoted Christian woman, who still has an impact on my walk even though I haven't seen her in over eight years, taught me that the 'fruit of the spirit,' is just that; "fruit," as in one fruit, not fruits! She went on to instill in us that if we truly have one of these, it is feeding the Holy Spirit, and therefore cultivating and developing all of the others into our character and being. How true! Think about it. When I truly and sincerely exercise self-control in my life, I am at peace and experience great joy and love for myself and others. I feel more patient and have the ability to be more kind, gentle and good to others. Or, when I experience (and accept) the real love of Christ, it gives me pure joy and peace and I want to extend that love to others in the form of patience, goodness, kindness, and faithfulness. I even find a new desire to act out self-control in order to please my Savior, who loves me so. Realizing this can be a radical and freeing experience for all of us. We spend so much time trying to develop each of these as part of our character, we feel completely overwhelmed and defeated when we are not successful. Yet taking on just one, one that God is really calling you to cultivate will grow and develop all the others. Which aspect of the fruit of the spirit is God calling your to work on today? Patience? Peace? Kindness? Love? Faithfulness? Joy? Goodness? Choose one: focus on it, pray about it, believe that God will develop it into your life, and watch all the others grow!
Enjoy the harvest!
Thanks for reading
Love
Julie

Comments

  1. Kim VanlandinghamFebruary 4, 2011 at 7:17 PM

    Another great post! Thanks for sharing with us...just like your friend did with you.

    ReplyDelete

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