The Fruit of the Spirit

Just a quick thought on this verse...

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control

~Galatians 5:22-23~ 

The fruits of the spirit are the things listed above, what it looks like when God is obviously guiding someone's life, these are the attitudes, actions and the way to treat others. I could break each one down, into categories and what each one really means, what it really looks like, and I'm sure there's whole books on it, But I started thinking, if we know what the fruits of the Spirit are, then we also know what they aren't... they are the opposite

Which is: 

Hate, depression, anger, impatience, unkindness, wickedness, unfaithfulness, aggressiveness and being unrestrained


We can choose to seek God and the things of His spirit or we can have it choked out by other things and the opposites crop up in our daily life. So... in closing...

 Those who belong to Christ  have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.  Since we live by the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

~Galatians: 5:24-25~

:) 

The shortest month

February is the shortest month, and it's felt like it. It's whizzed by and I feel like I've been far too silent on my blog despite how much I've been learning and thinking about. It's all really hard to put into words but I've just really felt God's peace with me, despite having six assignments due in one week- I'm glad that I've made Him first, I still went to church and volunteered... even though I had to get a bunch of work done, I stopped my work when I -honestly wasn't getting much done and needed to refocus and be refreshed by reading through Matthew or singing along to a couple worship songs or stopping to pray for five or ten minutes, which I know isn't long but just because I want to! And those are always really lovely times AND I realized that time spent praying or being led to pray about something - (when you're told to) is also a huge part of obedience and really fruitful! :) 

The last couple weeks especially I've been thinking about a verse in Luke quite a bit 

~Luke 9:23: ~

Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me."

Two parts of this REALLY stood out to me...first of all, the word MUST. We must deny ourselves... it's a command, a duty and it means commitment. At least that's what the Thesaurus tells me when looking for synonyms for 'must'. 

The second part of that that stood out to me was 'themselves'. It makes perfect sense but I got thinking... what makes me who I am? 

That's a tough question to answer really, and that's probably why I've had to take the last couple weeks to even begin to think about it. So I've come up with a short and basic list (I do hope to make it more in depth)

What makes us who we are?

Interests/hobbies
Habits (good and bad)
Thoughts -> 
Words -> 
Actions (these three generally link up)
Talents
Desires/goals
Values
What we love and value in life


This is the basic list, and to truly deny yourself- who you are as a person sounds.. impossible and almost cruel, with a world telling you to 'be who you want to be and don't let anyone or anything get in your way'

But God tells us to do the opposite (surprise, surprise) so as someone who loves and follows Jesus I have to lay down these things and let them be scrutinized by God, so that I learn what needs to change and what can be used better for His glory. 

That's a lifelong process folks, and it's a must! 

Parable of the sower

 “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 

 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 

Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 

 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 

 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 

 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown" 

~Matthew 13: 3-8~

I was reading the parable of the sower today and I got thinking about the thorny soil. It never said the soil there was bad, just that there were thorns, so it's still good soil - it's just other things got in the way, Luke's account says those other things that choked it out are worries, riches and pleasure. 

So what if it wasn't choked out - what do seeds  need to grow?

 We've  got the soil part covered, but what about water? Seeds need water!
Jesus mentions that drinking the water He gives  (Living Water) will be ''a spring welling up to eternal life'' 

So the soil where the thorns are, are the people who are more focused on other things rather than Jesus.
And the seed in the good soil producing fruit is the people who are focused and spending time with Jesus.  Have you ever seen any fruit tree in a drought, it doesn't make very yummy fruit without that water eh? 

Coincidentally, plants with thorns typically grow in places without a lot of water. 

There's my thought of the day.