As Christians we are suppose to be full of the fruits of the spirit. We are suppose to be full of peace, joy, love, gentleness, meekness, compassion, and self control. And I think that is what we would all really like to have but we are always lacking something. We may be lacking the joy that we want to have. We may be lacking the peace that we need. We may be lacking the self control that we need to make good choices and decisions. We are all lacking in some area. Well if we have the fruits of the spirit in us then why do we not feel it and feel that we are lacking something?

I believe that a large part of the problem is that we have to purposely make use of the fruits of the spirit. I think that we have to first decide that we are going to be joyful, peaceful, kind, humble, loving, and compassionate on purpose. We are going to have to choose to use the fruits that are inside of us until they get stronger and it becomes a part of who we are. We have it all inside of our spirit but we have to choose to act in the spirit and not the flesh. We have to decide that we are going to display the goodness that we have inside of our spirit(our heart) instead of the selfish ambitions that are in our flesh(our natural self, our mind,will,and emotions).

I was not any of the fruits of the spirit when I first got serious with God. I was still the same old mean, grouchy, hateful, selfish person that I had been. Once I learned that I had peace, joy, love, and kindness inside my heart I wanted to be those things. So I when I was getting upset I had to remind myself that I had peace inside me and I did not have to be upset. When I would get sad I would remind myself that I had joy in my heart so I do not have to be sad. When someone was complaining about something that was going on in their life I had to remind myself that I have compassion in me so I had to choose to be compassionate. I had to make the decision that I wanted to be joyful, peaceful, and loving and then make the choice to act in those ways until it became a natural action.

I am still working on this in some areas. And I think that it is something that we have to work at our whole lives to be able to maintain the fruits of  the spirit. What are some things that you struggle with? Will you get determined today that you are going to make use of the fruits of the spirit that you have inside of you?