Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV) 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
When I was a young girl, I would visit my Aunt Lillian and my cousins Renee and Debbie in Fresno, California during the summer months on many occasions. I have such wonderful memories of my cousins and I going swimming, picking plums and cherries and just running around and having plenty of fun all day long. Fresno had (at least at that time) plenty of fruit trees. During my summer visits, my aunt would put my cousins and I to work cutting fruit. We would cut-up fruit so that my aunt could boil them in order to make, jams and preserve peaches to make peach cobbler. Aunt Lil (short for Lillian) couldn’t just put the fruit into just any container but this prepared fruit needed to be put in what is called Mason jars. Once the fruit was cooked and placed in the jars, a layer of wax was placed on top of the jams or fruit as well as a sealer lid. This would keep the fruit from spoiling until it was time to be eaten at a later date. My aunt understood that those peaches, plums, apricots and strawberries were seasonal fruit and that they did not blossom year-round. So the fruit needed to be gathered during their season and the stored away so that these preserves could be enjoyed during the off-season.
Just like my aunt prepared, preserved and stored those fruit for enjoyment at a later date, each of us must have the fruit of the spirit stored within us, awaiting the time when each of those fruit will need to be utilized and please believe me when I say that time will surely come. Our fruit cannot be spoiled or tainted but they must be fruit that will nourish and sustain others whenever needed.
POWER POINTS:
🔥 There is purpose for the fruit of the spirit;
🔥 They give us power to fulfill our destiny in the world;
🔥 They are what God uses to draw others to Himself through us
PRAYER:
Father in the name of Jesus- I choose to allow the fruit of love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control to dwell richly within me. Help me to utilize these fruit to show forth your glory so that others are drawn to you – in Jesus’ name amen
Matthew 7:17 (AMP) says – Jesus told his disciples that you can tell if someone truly belongs to be by the fruit that they produce
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