Galatians 5:18-24
“But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”
Remember when you were growing up and your parents would be really concerned about your friends and who you were spending time with? Or maybe you’re the parent and are thinking about the people your children are investing in. When I was young, I would come home from hanging out with certain friends and my mom could tell me who I had been around just by the way I was talking. We know the people we spend time with are important because they influence us. We tend to pick up on each other’s mannerisms, attitudes, use similar vocabulary, and share interests. In short, we become like the people we interact with.
Similarly, the more time we spend with the Holy Spirit, the more we take on his characteristics and his nature. As we are removing things that God has asked us to give up during these 40 days, and as we pray and invite him into the places for which our hearts cry, the Holy Spirit comes and meets us. When we encounter the Holy Spirit and yield to his leadership, we cannot help but be transformed.
One thing I have had the privilege of doing for the past 17 years is drive my kids to school each day. I have treasured and protected this time as we have established it as a time to invite God into our day together. One of the things we have asked God for on a daily basis is to help grow and develop the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. While we continue to be works in progress, I have watched the Holy Spirit answer those prayers in all of our lives. I see it through the choices we make, the way we interact with one another, and the responses we have as we encounter the world around us. We hold one another accountable to filter our choices through the fruit of the Holy Spirit. My favorite, of course, is when I get upset or irritated and start to have a fleshly response, my youngest starts saying, “Hey Mom, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, etc….”, with a mischievous twinkle in his eye. As annoying as that moment might be, God always uses it to help me stop in my tracks and remember that my heart’s desire is for my responses to be from the fruit of the spirit and not my flesh.
The Holy Spirit is always interceding for you. He is working on your behalf behind the scenes in ways you cannot even dream or image. As you come with your needs, he sees the whole picture of what God wants to accomplish in you and in your circumstances. Sometimes that is answering your prayers in the ways you are asking. Most of the time, I find when I invite the Holy Spirit into my places of deepest need, he meets me through transformation. Personal relationship, sanctification, trust, and surrender can be just as important as the need you are fasting for. When you are praying for a healing, a restoration, a request, God uses the time of fasting to do a life changing work in you. He gives you an opportunity to spend time with him and allow him to rub off on you. As you lean on God to be your strength in weakness, your help in time of need, as you fix your gaze on him in worship and prayer, invite the Holy Spirit to transform you in the process.
Will you join me in this pursuit? Will you allow the Holy Spirit to help you grow the fruit of the spirit in your life?
Listening Prayer:
Holy Spirit, what areas in my life are you seeking to transform? What do you want me to surrender to you during the fast? What fruit of the spirit do you want to develop in me over the next few weeks? Write down what you hear.
Prayer:
Holy Spirit, thank you that you are for me. Thank you that you are teaching me, interceding for me, and working on my behalf in ways I will never fully know or understand. As I fast and make my requests known to you, I also submit myself to you. Help me to look more like you and take on your characteristics. I invite you to be the main influencer in my life. Help me love what you love and desire what you desire. Remove from me a longing for things of the flesh. Help me to grow and develop the fruit of the Spirit in my life. Have your way in me. In Jesus name, Amen.
Resource: Bible Verse on the Fruit of the Spirit
Love:
John 13:34
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
Joy:
Romans 15:13
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”
Peace:
Philippians 4:4-7
“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Patience:
Ephesians 4:1-3
“I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
Romans 12:12
“ Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.“
Kindness:
Colossians 3:12-13
“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.“
Goodness:
Romans 12:21
“ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
James 1:17
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”
Faithfulness:
Hebrews 10:19-23
“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.”
Gentleness:
Colossians 3:12-13
“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”
1 Timothy 6:11
“But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.”
Self Control:
2 Peter 1:3-7
“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue,[e] and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.”