The Fruit Of The Holy Spirit

TODAY’S VERSE
But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Galatians 5:22-23 (NLT)

TODAY’S THOUGHT
I am amazed at God’s solution when I think of our human propensity for anger, confusion, impatience, harshness, lack of control, and impulsiveness. Our humanness, a result of man’s fallen condition, has been trumped by God’s Holy Spirit. What a plan. God gives us a body in which we house our personality with enough room for His Holy Spirit. The result is the Holy Spirit’s ability to produce new attitudes, motivations, and behaviors in us. Paul calls it fruit. What a great analogy – the Holy Spirit alive in us, growing into a beautiful fruit tree. The Holy Spirit’s fruit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. You don’t have to make an apple tree produce apples. An apple tree produces beautiful luscious apples when watered, nourished, and receiving adequate sunlight. Likewise, you don’t have to manufacture the fruit of the Spirit; instead, you begin reading and meditating on His Holy word and spending time in a relationship with God through confession and prayer. The Holy Spirit will generate the results. Begin today to nourish your spiritual life and let the Holy Spirit produce its fruit.

TODAY’S PRAYER
Dear Father, I desire the fruit of the Holy Spirit to be evident in my life. Help me to read and meditate on Your word. Help me to relate to You in prayer and confession. Help me, Holy Spirit, live the life You want me to. Produce Your fruit in my life, even today. In Jesus’ name.
AMEN

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Slipping

TODAY’S VERSE
I cried out, “I am slipping!” but your unfailing love, O LORD, supported me. When doubts filled my mind, your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer.
Psalms 94:18-19 (NLT)

TODAY’S THOUGHT
I love the “do-over.” Optimism comes from the ability to “bounce back’, to be resilient, and our God is the God of resilience. The author cried out that he was slipping. Have you ever felt that way? You are trying to climb out of a well, but the sides are slippery, and you keep sliding back down. The result of the author slipping was a mind full of doubt. But even in his doubt, God was there. God’s unfailing love was able to support him. The comfort that came from the Lord gave him renewed hope and cheer. God can do the same with you. Today, bring God your doubts. Bring Him your slippery situation. Let His love support you; let His comfort give you renewed hope and cheer.

TODAY’S PRAYER
Dear Lord, I am slipping. Help me today. May Your love support me. May Your comfort renew my hope. I pray this in Jesus’ name.
AMEN

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Come To Your Senses

TODAY’S VERSE
God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.
II Timothy 2:25-26 (NIV)

TODAY’S THOUGHT
Have you ever felt God nudge you? You know, the feeling in your stomach that something is not right. The twinge in your conscience that says, “This is wrong.” The circumstance that goes haywire and wakes you up from your spiritual stupor. The concern from a friend that gently warms you of impending danger. God uses these and more to help us repent. And in that single acknowledgment that God is right and we are so desperately wrong, He leads us to the truth. We come to our senses and can flee the trap that Satan had for us. How good God’s grace is. He saves us from the penalty of our sin and often the consequences of our sinning. Today, say with David, “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

TODAY’S PRAYER
Dear Father God, thank You for watching over me. Thank You for helping me see the error of my way and leading me to repentance. Today, help me live for You.
AMEN

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New Life

TODAY’S VERSE
Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
II Corinthians 5:17 (NLT)

TODAY’S THOUGHT
When we read today’s verse, we often think of the person that has been raised outside of the church and has never known anything about Christ. Or we think of the person whose lifestyle has been in complete opposition to scriptural standards. We understand how they can become new. But what about those who were raised in the church? Those who have heard the Bible taught since they were little? What is new in their life? The answer is maturity. That’s right. When we truly understand what “belonging to Christ” means, we can choose to believe what Christ believes about us. A “new person” means we don’t have to live with our immature, childish belief systems. Shame, false guilt, people pleasing, and negative self-beliefs melt away when we see that we are a “new” creature in Christ. So you may have belonged to Christ for a long time but have you embraced the new person He created you to be? The old childish, immature life is gone. Embrace your new mature life in Christ.

TODAY’S PRAYER
Dear Father, help me understand how to live that “new” life you gave me. Help me to break away from my “old life” beliefs and embrace the new. In Jesus’ Name.
AMEN

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Paul’s Admonition

TODAY’S VERSE
Dear brothers and sisters, I close my letter with these last words: Be joyful. Grow to maturity. Encourage each other. Live in harmony and peace.
II Corinthians 13:11 (NLT)

TODAY’S THOUGHT
Paul was ending his last letter to the Corinth Church with today’s verse. In this final admonition Paul left them with four practices that would change their life and assure that the Church would be vibrant and healthy. These same instructions apply to us. First, Paul told them to be joyful. Joy is a choice. It comes from knowing and believing that God deeply loves us and that we can trust Him in all things. Next, Paul wrote that we are to grow into maturity. Our relationship with God must not be static. It was meant to mature and produce spiritual fruit in our life. Out of this maturity comes a wonderful fellowship with other believers. Then Paul wrote that we are to be an encouragement to others, living with them in harmony and peace. This is God’s desire. This is the witness that the world has been waiting to see. Today, heed the words of Paul. Live in joy and maturity. Be an encourager and live in harmony and peace.

TODAY’S PRAYER
Dear Father, help me to live this life full of joy. Help me mature and encourage others, living with them in harmony and peace. In Jesus’ name.
AMEN

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Wisdom And Understanding

TODAY’S VERSE
So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding.
Colossians 1:9 (NLT)

TODAY’S THOUGHT
What could you do with it? What would your life be if you had complete knowledge of God’s will combined with spiritual wisdom and understanding? Solomon encouraged us to seek wisdom as if it were gold. Paul goes a step further. He prays that God would give us the knowledge of His will. Do you pray for that? To know God’s will in the affairs of your life would change everything. To have the assurance of what He wants you to do would give you the confidence you need to live the life He wants you to. Having spiritual wisdom and understanding would help you when you are stuck and baffled by life’s ups and downs. Oh, to have His wisdom and understanding when you are tempted to believe lies about yourself, life, and God. How blessed you would be to have His gift of spiritual wisdom to discern between good and evil, right and wrong, truth and lies. If Paul prayed this for the church, you can pray it for yourself. Today do that. Ask God, and do not stop until He gives you spiritual wisdom, understanding, and the complete knowledge of His will.

TODAY’S PRAYER
Dear Heavenly Father, the giver of all good things. I ask you for spiritual wisdom, understanding, and the knowledge of Your will. Guide me; direct me toward this end, I pray.
AMEN

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Comfort, Hope, and Strength

TODAY’S VERSE
Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal comfort and a wonderful hope, comfort you and strengthen you in every good thing you do and say.
II Thessalonians 2:16-17 (NLT)

TODAY’S THOUGHT
Have you ever felt like giving up? Have the pressures of life ever overwhelmed you to the point that you were full of fear? Have you ever found yourself on a merry-go-round of quiet desperation? All of us have had those kinds of times in our life. We all have a story. But here is the good news, Paul wrote a benediction that you can claim as your very own. He wanted you to know that your Lord Jesus Christ and God, who is your loving Father, loves you very much and has been gracious to you, giving you comfort and hope that you can claim as your very own. Also, He has promised to comfort you and strengthen you in every good thing that you do and say. Today, take joy in His promise. Come to Him and claim your comfort, hope, and strength.

TODAY’S PRAYER
Dear Lord Jesus and God, my heavenly Father. Today I come to claim what You have promised me. I ask that You bring me comfort, a sense of hope, and all the strength I need for this day. In Jesus’ name.
AMEM

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Be An Example

TODAY’S VERSE
Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity.
I Timothy 4:12 (NLT)

TODAY’S THOUGHT
Paul originally wrote this to Timothy, telling him not to let anyone despise him because he was young. Paul encouraged Timothy to be an example of how a believer should live. I started full-time in the ministry when I was twenty and remember how relevant this passage was to me. I wanted to be diligent and conscientious about the way I lived. But when does it stop? Each decade is a transition with a new set of issues and problems. Shouldn’t an older, more mature believer be an example to the younger? Shouldn’t someone in midlife be an example of a mature believer to those who are elders? No matter what age, we all should be an example of what it means to follow Christ. Today may your Christian maturity be evident in what you say, the way you live, and your love, faith, and purity.

TODAY’S PRAYER
Dear Lord, help me be an example to those around me of how a Christian lives. Today help me live the way You want me to, with my love, faith, and purity.
AMEN

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Maturity

TODAY’S VERSE
You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word.
Hebrews 5:12 (NLT)

TODAY’S THOUGHT
Maturity is not a given; rather, it is something we must strive for. Have you ever seen an adult act like a child? It is uncomfortable to watch. It is unnatural. Yet most of us have some area that we need to “grow up” in. We may be mature when it comes to handling sadness but are immature with our anger. It could be fear that causes us to revert to childlike behavior. In today’s verse, the author of Hebrews challenges us to mature spiritually. He writes, “You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food. For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right. Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.” We don’t mature in Christ by accident. We must ingest the solid food of God’s word. Through meditating on it and praying over it, God helps us mature into the person He has called us to be. You may be old in the Lord but are you mature? Today commit your life to spiritual growth.

TODAY’S PRAYER
Dear Father, I am Your child. Help me mature into the person You have created me to be.
AMEN

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We Have A Choice Today

TODAY’S VERSE
May all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you!
Psalms 70:4 (NLT)

TODAY’S THOUGHT
You have a choice. I learned this long ago. I was deep in depression and anxiety, and a new book came out. It was called “Happiness Is A Choice.” I remember how liberating that title was. Could I really choose happiness? David made that choice. He constantly laments and then follows with a choice to trust and praise God. In one incident, he writes, “I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me. I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God.” A few verses later, he writes, “But as for me, my prayer is to you, O LORD. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.” David had a choice. His situation was terrible, his depression heavy, but he chose to trust in God’s steadfast love, faithfulness, and timing. You can choose the same thing. Choose today to seek God’s love and faithfulness so you can rejoice and be glad in Him.

TODAY’S PRAYER
Father, You know my situation. You know my thoughts and feelings. Today I choose to thank You for Your steadfast love and faithfulness toward me. Today I choose to seek You. Help me rejoice and be glad in you.
AMEN

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