“God's Spirit makes us loving, happy, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled. There is no law against behaving in any of these ways.”—Galatians 5:22-23 (CEV)

Last year I memorized Galatians 5:22-23, which are the fruits of the spirit that we should be trying to emulate. Those of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,  goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control are all qualities that Jesus lived on a daily basis and as Christians we should attempt to do the same.

I don’t know about you, but for me this is a daily struggle. I have a choice every day on how I am going to live. This week I am going to be more intentional about being aware of living out the fruits of the Spirit in my daily activities. 

I will choose love over animosity or judgment.

I will choose joy over cynicism, bitterness or sacrcasm.

I will choose peace over my inclination to worry.

I will choose kindness and empathy over indifference.

I will choose faithfulness over doubting God’s Word and promises.

I will choose goodness over pride, deception or blame.

I will choose gentleness over anger or frustration.

I will choose self control over impulsive and hasty behaviors.

I know I won’t be perfect in making the right choices ever day but praise God that I serve a God of grace and mercy to whom I can ask for forgiveness for where I fail and every day start anew. In all honesty, I wrote this post for personal reasons. I am dealing with a situation where I need to be reminded of all of the things I have written. It helps to hold me accountable to put these words into action rather than act in the flesh.

While I know I may not put into practice every one of the above qualities every day, I will choose not to dwell on where I fall short. The enemy wants me to focus on where I fail this week, but God wants both you and me to remember all of the scores we have this week for His Kingdom. When we live out the fruits of the spirit we are being more like Jesus and when we are more like Jesus, we get to experience a little bit of heaven here on earth. 

Dear Lord,

I praise You that despite my shortcomings that You forgive me when I confess them to You. Thank You, that You have instilled the fruits of the Spirit within me and when I call out to You, You give me the strength to live them out rather than stuff them down. I ask that You help me to make choices that please You and will lead others to You . I pray these things in the name of Jesus. Amen. 

Memorizing scripture is another way that I can produce fruit in my life.

Memory Verse

“For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.”—1 Corinthians 14:33a (ESV)

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