Today we are going to have a devotional from Galatians 5:22-23 New International Version (NIV)
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, Patient, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
This main verse talks about what kind of fruit we can make day to day. We expect to have these fruits in us and God does too. He also says that the more effort we put into learning about his word, we will see the fruits of Love, Joy, Peace,Patience,Kindness,goodness,faithfulness,gentleness and Self-control develop in us. Out of all those qualities, Love is the most important. I believe this is the reason the verse begins with Love; without Love, you can not achieve anything. Love can change any circumstance and help guide us in producing more fruit. First if you have the love of God, you will learn to never be selfish-- you won’t pray for just yourself but, for other people and their needs. When we think only about ourselves, we only further ourselves from Him. When we submit to God and ask him to change our life and give us direction, He will help us change our mindset and how we think. With prayer, our behavior and thoughts will change through God’s love and compassion for us. Because with God’s help, our first thoughts will retreat back to God’s sacrifice for us. We will start to be thankful for what God has done for all of us throughout our lives. When you start to be thankful then God’s love will come to your heart and start working with the Holy Spirit in your mind. With all of these things you will start to develop the fruits of Love, Joy, Peace,Patience,kindness,goodness,faithfulness,gentleness and Self-control. It is impossible for you to have love if you don't have patience. It’s impossible for you to have peace,if you don't have joy, it’s impossible for you to have gentleness if you don't have self-control.
What I picture in my mind is a big tree with long roots close to a river, and each branch has these fruits,by the same relationship that the tree has with the river,so it bears fruit,just as we are with the Lord we will only bear fruit when we have intimacy with Him. But this isn’t a normal tree. From an apple tree you expect apples but from this tree you can find all the fruits God has given us to change our lives forever. These fruits are necessary for us to have a relationship with God and for him to help and guide us. When we ask him for His help we must be humble and depend on him fully. These fruits combine with one another and depend on one another to succeed. We need to discipline ourselves and seek God everyday, we need to be consistent in His word. The first step is understanding these fruits. By learning about these fruits we grow closer to God and then we become better Christians, better people, a better father or mother or siblings. This will create a big impact in our community because they will see how God is working through us with these fruits of the spirit. I hope this can help you and guide you into seeking God’s love . God bless you all!!