The other day I wrote out a list of things that I would like the Holy Spirit to help me change in my prayer journal. These are things that I have recognized about myself that I know are not from God. Things like:
-pride
-selfishness
-bitterness
-being easily offended
-and many more
My husband and I have been having so many conversations lately about the way that Christians do or do not reflect God through the way they live out their lives. We always come back to the fact that when we are full of the Holy Spirit, then we are producing the fruits of the Spirit.
In case you are asking, “What does she mean the fruits of the Holy Spirit? Like actual fruits?” The fruits of the Spirit are what we produce as Christ followers when we have died to ourselves and allowed Jesus to consume us and transform us so that we look more like Him. These are the fruits of the Spirit that can be found in Galatians 5:22-23:
LOVE
JOY
PEACE
PATIENCE
KINDNESS
GOODNESS
GENTLENESS
FAITHFULNESS
SELF CONTROL
Now, friends, I have to be frank with you…sometimes the way I respond or act does not reflect that I am full of the Holy Spirit. Especially when it comes to the lack of respect that I experience from men when I walk down the street or when people up the price and try to take advantage of me when they see my skin tone. These, sadly, are things that I experience often and really push me to gird my tongue.
But I want to be better. I want to be someone who oozes Jesus. Where my Bible is worn from studying the Word and my life is a testament to this. The kind of person who knows how to speak truth in love, keep her heart tender towards others, and who can let things roll off her shoulders.
That’s why I made this list. There are sins that I have been wrestling with for so long. There are some days where I feel like I have overcome some of these struggles listed above, but then something will happen and I respond in a not so loving way that brings me right back to my sin pattern. This is why I need the Holy Spirit.
Shoot, we all need the Holy Spirit, am I right?
Galatians 5:16 says, “I say then, walk by the Spirit and you will certainly not carry out the desire for the flesh.” I have this jotted down in the open column next to this verse, “If we walk by the Spirit, we crave what the Spirit craves and the desires of the flesh are less appealing as we have the Spirit’s lens.”
I want to be clear that the battle of our flesh does not just go away when we have the Holy Spirit in us. Unfortunately that is not how it works. BUT–the big BUT– the Holy Spirit gives us the conviction and strength to turn from temptation. When we live by the Spirit, we no longer want to gratify the flesh. But from the deepest parts of us, we long to honor Jesus in public and in private which is why we no longer crave the things of this world. We instead crave the things of the Kingdom. And as we write the Word of God on our hearts, ask God to forgive us our sins, and we seek to honor Him in all we do…then comes the fruits of the Spirit gushing out of us.
And so I ask you, when you look at your life, are you producing the fruits of the Spirit? Is your life led by your desires and emotions or by the Holy Spirit? Are your decisions made using your worldly lens or your eternal lens?
As disciples of Christ, the world looks to us. Sometimes for hope, sometimes for wisdom or guidance, sometimes to see how we respond in crisis, and also sometimes to see if we are real Christ followers or just people that say they are in order to make themselves appear as righteous.
So when people look to you, will they see Christ in you? Will they recognize that you are someone who is not just preaching Jesus but producing His fruit too? Does your life show Jesus?
Journey to Dominican 