Fruit of the Spirit

The past few days God has shown me that instead of getting upset over stones thrown at me, I should use them to build my relationship with Him.

Currently I am researching what it means to be a Christian. What about me shows that I am a follower of God? God tells us that we are to know each other by our fruits. What fruit is God talking about? The fruit of the Spirit. So I looked it up to see what they were.

"But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law."- Galatians 5:22-23

After reading over that scripture a few times, I knew that I needed to get the definition of each word to get a better understanding of what God means.

This is what I found.

Love: 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 tells us the definition of love.

"4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."- 1Corinthians 13:4-7

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

Joy: Great happiness. Joy is a delight of the mind from the consideration of the present or assured approaching possession of a good.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

Peace: To be, become, or keep silent or quiet. A state of security. Freedom from disquieting or oppressive thoughts and emotions.

Peace of God: Peace of which is the gift of God.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

Long-suffering: Suffering for a long time without complaining. Very patient during difficult times.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

Gentleness: The quality or state of being gentle: especially: mildness of manners or disposition.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

Goodness: The quality or state of being good.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

Faith: Strong belief or trust in someone or something. Believing in something you can't see. Complete trust.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

Meekness: Showing a quiet and gentle nature. Enduring injury with patience and without resentment.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

Temperance: The practice of always controlling your actions, thoughts or feelings.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

It really was any eye opener for me. These are the fruit that we are to bear according to His word. I know that I fall short in many ways.

I pray that God helps me work on my fruit this Summer and every day for the rest of my life.

"Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit."

- Matthew 7:16-17