All of us are planting something in our lives every single day, whether we realise it or not. And we are Los reaping whatever we have planted in the past. The quality of our lives right now is the result of what we planted and harvested some time before. We reap the good and the bad for years after we have sown. That's why it is so important to plant and nurture the right seeds now.
Jesus said that He is the vine and you and I are the branches. If we abide in Him we will bear fruit (John 15:5). "Abide" means to remain, to stay, to dwell. In other words, if we dwell with Him and He dwells with us, we will bear the fruit of His Spirit (Gala tins 5:22-23). That's what we want. It is said that we begin to resemble the person with whom we live and with whom we are most closely associated. When we share our lives with Jesus, His likeness is stamped on our spirit and soul. When we plug into Him, the fruit of His spirit is manifested in us.* Here are nine good ways to produce a great crop;
1. Plant seeds of love
2. Plant seeds of joy
3. Plant seeds of peace
4. Plant seeds of patience
5. Plant seeds of kindness
6. Plant seeds of goodness
7. Plant seeds of faithfulness
8. Plant seeds of gentleness
9. Pant seeds of self control
If you've not been bearing the fruit of the Spirit in your life the way you'd like, ask God to help you plant good seeds and pull up any weeds that may have grown up around your soul. Feed the soul of your heart with the food of God's Word and ask the Holy Spirit to water it afresh every day. As long as you abide faithfully in the try vine, You are guaranteed to produce a crop of spiritual fruit that will make your heavenly Father proud.
PRAYER
Lord, search my heart and try me and see if there is wickedness in me. Replace all that is wrong in my character with the goodness in Yours. Plant the fruit of Your Spirit in me and cause it to flourish. Help me to abide in You, Jesus, so that I will bear fruit in my life. I invite You, Holy Spirit, to fill me afresh with Your love today so that it will flow out of me and into the lives of others.
You said in Your Word to "let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts" (Colossians 3:15). I pray that your peace would rule my heart and mind to such a degree that people would sense it when they are around me. Help me to "pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another" (Romans 14:19).
Give me the joy the knowing You produces. Make me patient with others so that I reflect Your character to them. Help me to be kind whenever there is opportunity for it, and may Your goodness floe through me so that I will do good to everyone. Make me to be faithful person so that I can be trusted in all things. Help me to have the "meekness and gentleness of Chfist" so that I will reflect Your gentle spirit (I I Corinthians 10:1). Enable me to be self controlled in my hours, words and habits.
Where I need to be pruned in order to bear more fruit, I submit myself to You. I know that without You I can do nothing. You are the vine and I am the branch. I must abide in You in kroner to bear fruit. Help me to do that. Thank You for Your promise that if I abide in You and Your Word abides in me, I can ask what I desire and it will be done for me (John 15:7). Thank You for Your pro is that says if I ask I will receive (John 16:24). May I be like a tree planted by the rivers of Your living water so that I will bring forth fruit in season that won't wither (Psalm 1:3). In Jesus' name, I ask that the fruit of Your Spirit will grow in me and be recognised clearly by all who see me so that it glorifies You.
Scripture for Meditation
Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law
John 15:1-8
I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
#inspired...ann #WiseQuotes
*Stomie Omartian, The Power of a Praying Woman(2006)
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