A thought II: The Fruits Of The Spirit

 

A thought II: The Fruits Of The Spirit  

| the sequel to a ramble of thought |

Hello, Sweet Friend! 

A random Q&A with myself that I put in after writing this post XD: 

Did I decide to write this very long Bible Study post and write the email and make all the graphics the day before posting even though I knew that might make me late to publish said post? Yes. Yes I did. 

Will this post and the email to my subscribers get there on time? Only time will tell. 

Will I stay up late to make sure this post does indeed get to my wonderful readers on time? I can’t say. It depends on how tired I am and if I start reading a book. 

Have I been ignoring reading? *shifts eyes in guilt* Maybe…

Am I actually going to start this post or keep Q&A-ing myself? Hehe. Yes, let’s start the post! 

The actual post and not whatever that was before this XD

Last week I was chatting with a friend on my last post and we were talking about The Fruits Of The Spirit. I thought that this topic would be a good continuation of last week’s post. 

I also had this as a post request on my Instagram (made by that same friend (; ). I think *maybe but I might change my mind* that I might start taking weekly blog post requests on my Instagram and in the comments here! So if you have a topic you’d like to see me cover or you have a question for me, please comment down below! 

Now onto the post! 

A Sequel of Sorts  

This is going to be a kind of sequel to the post I did last week (which you can find HERE). At the end of that post, I was talking about being a light for Jesus in your life. My Challenge was: how can you be a light for Jesus today? 

Do something to be a light for Jesus! It doesn’t have to be big. It could be messaging someone and saying you are thinking or praying for them. It could be not complaining when you have chores. It could be cleaning up one of your siblings' messes. It could be checking your words and making sure what you are saying will help people. It could be smiling at a stranger when you are grocery shopping (or at the bookstore or library). It could be a hundred things, but none of them have to be scary or hard. Sometimes the small quiet ones are what is best. 

Now today I want to share what that looks like. You see, we can be lights for Jesus and show Him in and through our actions. How we do that is by the ‘fruit we produce’. This basically means that our actions will show if we are of Jesus or of the world. Do we show the fruits of the spirit? Do we show love and kindness? Are we patient with those who annoy us? Are we praying for those who hurt us? Do we show up as Jesus, actively showing the fruits of the spirit, or are we acting like the world and taking offense and hating each other? 

Let's start by looking at just what the fruits of the spirit are. 

The Fruit of the Spirit

“By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another.” —Galatians 5:22–26 

Now, some of these will be easy for you. I think there is at least one if not many of the fruits of the spirit we can be naturally good at. Some…a lot probably…we will have to take time and actually think through what to do to make sure it lines up. It is a challenge but it is worth it. 

The Works Of Flesh 

Now I want to take a quick moment to highlight something very important. 

If you want to see what actions (fruits) are of the world, just go up to verses 19–21. These verses lay out what it means to be worldly. These include attributes include: anger, idolatry (the worship of anything that isn't God), jealousy, quarrels (fights), factions (division between people), envy and many more. 

I did want to take a moment to highlight these six “works of the flesh” (there are more) because I feel like I can see this very much a part of the world right now especially with things like social media. I want to warn you about this because these can be real struggles and I want you to be on your guard. These things can have a way of creeping in on you, I want you to arm yourself against this. I know how hard this can be but know that you can fight it. 

One of the best ways to fight—if not the best way to fight—is to pray and read your Bible. Reading God’s word and praying is our battle armor. Use it. God gave us these tools for a reason. Fight back against the world with kindness and love. The world won't know how to deal with you and God will be proud of you. Anger can only fight against patience and kindness for a little while before it begins to dissipate. Trust in God and lean on Him. 

Back To The Fruits… 

I could go very in-depth with the fruits of the spirit but I think I want to *try* keeping this fairly simple (you know I’m a rambler so…it will still be long XD). So I’m going to highlight each fruit, give you a Bible verse, and ask a question. I would like you to answer this for yourself. You don’t have to tell me or write it out for me but I do want you to try and answer even if it's only in your head. 

…

LOVE — how are you showing love to those around you? 

“‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.” —Romans 13:9–10 

Something really cool about the fruits of the spirit is that they are all connected. By showing love that is showing every single one of the fruits. So really, if you want to be good at showing the fruits of the spirit, nail down love and you nail them all. If you want to be good at loving people, learn the fruits of the spirit. 

…

JOY — how are you showing joy? How are you celebrating people? How are you bringing people up and making them happy? 

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.” —Philippians 4:4 

I think this can be a forgotten fruit (at least I know I do). Joy. How are you being joyful? How are you joyful even in the hard seasons? Joy in all seasons takes a lot of trust in God. Joy is a powerful thing and contagious too. How are you being joyful? I think this can be one of my struggles. I love celebrating with people but I also like being quiet and outward joy can be a struggle for me at times. That's one of the good things about having younger siblings, they can bring the joy out of you. 

…

PEACE — how are you pursuing peace in your life and relationships? 

“Let us then pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbringing.” —Romans 14:19

If you didn’t know, my middle name is Shalom and that means peace. This is one of the fruits I was always able to remember because of my name. Peace is such an important thing. I think this year especially, peace is something I have been wanting to pursue and look for. That is why my bible study is called “BEHOLD PEACE”. That is what I want. I want to behold and have peace. 

…

PATIENCE — how are you being patient with people? Are you patient in your life? Are you taking the time to slow down and wait? 

“With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” —Ephesians 4:2–3

Patience. I’m going to personally challenge you with patience this week. If you have siblings (or children) patience is a very good quality to have. Some people are naturally patient while others are maybe not naturally that way. That's not bad, that is something to work on. When someone asks you a question, do you patiently (kindly) answer or are you snappy? When there are kids screaming, are you quick to be patient and find peace or are you screaming too? I’m not writing this to call anyone out, I’m writing this to inform and challenge you. 

…

KINDNESS — how are you showing kindness today? 

“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.” —Ephesians 4:32

Kindness is such a beautiful quality. Kindness can come in many forms. It can be a complement, a hug, a smile. It can be a gift. It could be giving your sibling the bigger piece of cake or more chocolate. It could be giving someone else the first pick. It could be sitting down with someone and asking them about themself. It could be babysitting so your parents can go on a date. It could be cleaning without complaint (yes I am writing this on cleaning day at my house XD). There can be many things. Something great about kindness is that it is unselfish. When you do something kind, don't look for complements or recognition. You're not being kind for that reason (or at least I hope you’re not). Hopefully you are doing it for God, to show him you can be kind like Him. He will be proud of you. 

…

GENEROSITY — how are you being generous today? 

“…remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, for he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ” —Acts 20:35 

Generosity is the twin of kindness. They are very similar and are very connected in my opinion. Generosity is the kindness you show with what you have. How are you generous with your time? How are you generous with what you have, your time, your voice, your love, your creativity? How are you giving? This doesn’t have to be giving people money (though you can totally do that too) but it's with everything. Your time, your mind, your everything and anything. How are you being generous? This can even be thinking the best of someone or a situation. You can be generous by giving people the benefit of the doubt. Its little things like that but can make a great impact on not just your life but those around you. 

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FAITHFULNESS — how are you faithful? 

“Do not let loyalty and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart.” —Proverbs 3:3 

Are you faithful to the people around you? Do you keep your word and your promises? Are you reliable? Do you make sure you are these for people? How are you faithful? This can be big like being faithful to your spouse or small like doing your homework on time. How are you faithful? How can you be more faithful? More relatable? More loyal? More trustworthy? 

https://fablerosemc.blogspot.com/2022/08/doing-good-works-study-of-ephesians-2-4.html 

…

GENTLENESS — how are you gentle with those around you? 

“Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near.” —Philippians 4:5 

Gentleness can come in many forms. It can be gentle in your approach to people. Gentle with your words and what you say. Are you being considerate with your actions and words? Do you care about the people around you? Are you gentle and caring for them? Do you think through your words before you speak? Do you make sure that your words are life giving and something that can help people? 

…

SELF-CONTROL — how are you showing self-control? 

“Let us therefore no longer pass judgment on one another, but resolve instead never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother or sister. I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who considers it unclean. If your brother or sister is distressed by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. Do not let what you eat cause the ruin of one for whom Christ died.” —Romans 14: 13–15 

This can be for many things. Self-control is very important in life. I think I could do a whole post on self-control but the passage that popped in my head is in Romans 14. Basically show self-control in a way that is loving those around you. If something is a struggle to someone around you, don’t do that thing even if it's not a struggle for you. Protect those around you by showing self control. 

A few months ago I did a post on having FIRM FAITH. In that post I was talking about getting to promote a book that I found out had things such as cursing that I was not willing to promote. The big reason why is because I know that the people I would be promoting to this book would not be good. I have an audience of a lot of young teen/tween readers and parents who get recommendations. I want to promote clean books. I could have promoted this book but for myself and others around me, I had to show self-control and say no. Sometimes that is all you have to do. Say no. That can be so hard but you will feel better afterwards knowing you stood true to your values and the values of those around you by showing this self-control. 

https://fablerosemc.blogspot.com/2022/09/firm-faith.html 

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BEHOLD PEACE Update: 

The first Bible study in BEHOLD PEACE  is on Esther! Esther Chapter Two, the third post in the Esther Study (Chosen, Favored, & Planned by God), is now published and ready to read!  

I’m so excited to be starting this Bible study with you! I hope you check it out! Make sure to come back to BEHOLD PEACE this Monday because we will be reading and discussing Esther chapter 3!!! 

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• 1 year blogiversary!   

• Annie May On The Train (a short story)

• Broken Ballerina: Celebrating Writing My 4th Novel     

• January 2023 Book Reviews  

• My Favorite Books 2022  

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Discussion Time

I hope you liked this (kinda rambly) post on the fruits of the spirit!!! Thank you so much for reading! <3 

I want to hear from you! Meet me in the comments and tell me what you thought of today’s post? What is one of the fruits of the spirit you are good at? What is one you think you need to work on? Is there a topic you want me to cover? How will you be a light for Jesus today? Have you gone to BEHOLD PEACE? I would love to chat! 

If you have any questions or want to talk, make sure to comment down below! Be sure to subscribe to this blog to stay in the know because I post new content here every week. ALSO, If you want to hear more about my writing and what I’m reading, make sure you are subscribed because I am doing special updates for BLOG SUBSCRIBERS ONLY! 

XOXO Moriyah 🤎