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The Fruit of Life By Natalie Stephans
But the fruit of
the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. Against such things there is
no law. Galatians 5-22&23
Good fruit is
fragrant..it smells wonderful. It is shiny and pleasing to the eye. It
is delicious and perfectly ripe to the taste! It
is truly good for the whole body...
By their fruit you
will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn
bushes or figs from
thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit but a bad tree bears
bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit and a bad tree cannot bear
good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and
thrown into the fire. Thus by their fruit you will recognize them.
Matthew 7 16-20
Scripture
uses fruit as an analogy of what our life should look like. What kind of
fruit are you bearing in your life? We have a loving Father that longs
for you to bear good fruit in your life. He is concerned with every
aspect of your life, like a good gardener would look after his trees,
God takes an interest in His children's lives and wants them to be full
of delicious fruit.
The first fruit
Paul lists in Galatians is love. A deep abiding love..not just a
conditional love that expects certain conditions to be met first, but a
merciful love full of forgiveness and grace. The love our Father has for
each one of you precious ladies. Their is a deeper love then we can
only imagine.. sometimes we must pray for God to give us that kind of
love. Sending Gods beloved son Christ to die on the cross for our sins
is that kind of deep fathomless love. We can all grow and benefit for
learning to love more gracefully, more fully.
Joy is next to be
added to our fruitful lives. What is joy? It is more then just happiness..
it
is something deep within that surrounds your life with a true sense of
contented joy no matter what is happening in your life. Can their be joy
in trials? I know this to be true. This kind of joy once again comes
from God. It is a strong foundation of confidence in a loving Father. He
fills your heart with a everlasting joy, it comes from worshipping a
loving Father and feeling a thankfulness within your spirit. It is pure
and good! May He fill you with joy ever lasting!
There is a freeing
feeling that comes with true peace. God finds and frees our soul of so
much heaviness. Peace is often our guide in life. You will have a
feeling of peace when you are doing something in harmony with Gods plan
for your life. We need to rid our life of anything that is not freeing
us to find peace within our souls. Peace is one of the choicest fruits
that should be on our tree.
Patience.. I am
smiling as I write this because it is something I long to have more of.
Yet scripture tells us over and over to seek patience and peaceful
resolution. Christ is the best example of patience ever. He loves us
with a perfect love and has so much patience when we fall and falter. We
need to seek patience in our hearts and we need to pray for patience
like Christ has for us. He forgives us and helps us when we fall down,
we need to have the same kind of patience as He does. God help each one
of us to pray for more patience.
The beautiful fruit
of kindness glows.. you have seen this fruit in others lives. We know a
truly kind person. They are generous and giving, they are genuine in
their kindness to others. I have seen the eyes of kindness many times in
my life. I hope to be the eyes of kindness to others. It is so closely
attached to serving one another. Kindness shares and loves deeply, it is
full of grace. The fruit of kindness is a piece we all gravitate
towards.
To be good is a
high virtue. Christ said whom is good but God? I love the Lord, He knows
we can be good with His goodness alone. He washes us clean of our sins
and turns our hearts from stone to hearts of flesh that can be filled
with goodness. Goodness is of God. God is wonderful in the reminders of
His goodness all around us! Seek to be truly good!!
Faithfulness.. have
you been faithful in your life? Have you given faithfully? Have you
loved faithfully? Faithful is the one that is always there for you when
you need Him. Faithful is the one that shows up when everyone else
forgets. What an honor to be known as a faithful wife or friend! What an
asset to be faithful in all our relationships and the words we speak
faithfully to one another. God help us to add faithfulness to
our lives.
Have you been hurt
or broken? Then you will understand the worth of gentleness. A gentle
word heals wounds. A gentle touch helps heal the broken hearted.
Gentleness is a sweet hug when your hurting so bad in your heart. It is
a loving smile and a gentle answer to a stinging question. Gentleness is
strong and concerned, yet delicate and pure. It is a loving,
compassionate piece of fruit.
Last but so
very important is self-control. God knows so many are out of control in
so many areas of life. Yet the Lord calls us to self-control. We are to
be in control of our lives. We are to be in control of how we treat
others and how our lives reflect our witness of a good loving life
before others. It is a fruit we need to pray diligently for each day.
God can help us to be controlled if we ask for His help, He wants to
guide us and show us how to become self-controlled.
I want to pray for
each one of you beautiful ladies. You are so dear to my heart, I want
only the best and choicest fruits to grow in your lives!
Dear Father,
You are so full of
love and see so much potential in each one of us. Father you want our
lives to bear good fruit for all to see. But Father our sins and
mistakes hinder us from growing the best fruit in our lives, you
are faithful and loving and long for us to come to you and lay our
burdens before you to heal our lives, to heal our hurts and scars. You
will never let us go.. you love us with a deep passionate love. Father
each of the fruits of the Spirit are possible for each one of these
ladies. Father they are attainable!! But we must come to you and humble
ourselves to ask for help. Help each lady to see her potential..
help
your gaze of love to melt their pride and let worship spring from them
unto you!! Make them see the beauty of whom they truly are!! Reveal the
truth of their potential. I love you Father for your goodness and
kindness to me and for listening to my loving prayers always, I worship
and adore you my loving Father.. In Christ's precious name I pray these
things.. Amen
God bless you
sweet, gentle reader!
By Natalie Stephens
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