"You really shouldn't say,"I love you," unless you mean it. But if you mean it you should say it a lot. People forget."

The Forgotten Fruits of the Spirit

Galatians 5:22-23

22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Kindness- Be kind and what? I have to be nice to these people. But they're so, so, so... human. They sin and do unkind things to me. You're telling me that I have to be nice to them. Come on.

I find that as I grow older and hopefully wiser that kindness is a choice. As I sit there and process what is being done or said to me that I can choose my reaction. I quickly go over in my head what a great reaction would be. This one is usually unkind and without grace or mercy. Then more slowly I go over what would be a nicer reaction. What the kind thing would be. What Jesus might do. I don't always get it right. Sometimes I choose what would be unkind and sometimes what is closer to kind still isn't the right thing. Yet there is always that choice. I hope and pray that God would work in me and that desire to react unkindly would fade. I pray that God would show me how in every situation I can do what His son would have done in my place.

The Forgotten Fruits of the Spirit

Galatians 5:22-23

22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Patience- It's a virtue. Not a virtue that I have in great abundance. Society does not value patience. We want to get what we want five minutes ago. In our fast society we can't wait for good things to come to us; we must ,therefore, go out to find them.

We rush into relationships, yet we are told that "love is patient."

We don't want to deal with the trials that God puts us through, but the bible reads that "we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope..."

We get tired of always doing the same good christian things; however, Paul tells the Galations ,"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."

The dictionary defines it as quiet, steady perseverance; even-tempered care; or diligence.

When you show perseverance in a job it shows strength character. The strength of Christ is reflected in your quite waters.

Funny story. I was trying to post on peace yesterday and I just could not get it done. I kept getting interrupted and people needed help. My cousin had to go to the doctor because she thought that she had broken her arm. It was not a peaceful day; however, that just made me think about God's grace is the only thing that can give me peace. So it was a good thing, just not very peaceful. ;-)

The Forgotten Fruits of the Spirit

Galatians 5:22-23

22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Peace- What is peace? The whole world seeks peace in so many different ways. People try and find spiritual peace through meditation and doing good deeds. People seek peace on a national level by trying to fight for peace for others and by trying to stay out of war. We seek peace among friends and family relations. We seek peace and quite from the world. Yet we can't find it.

Christ gives us Spiritual peace. He has done that with his blood on the cross.

Colossians 1:20

20and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

God offers us mental peace and peace within our hearts.

Philippians 4:7

7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

It is nothing that we do. It is all the grace of God which gives us peace. This does not mean we shouldn't try and have peace in our lives.

Psalm 34:14

14 Turn from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.

Hebrews 12:14

14Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.

If I try and pursue peace apart from God, I will fail. Only God can piece together our lives so that they are complete. God is the only one who can fill our hearts with peace.

Romans 15:13

13May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Forgotten Fruit of the Spirit

Galatians 5:22-23

22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Joy- What is joy? It's so close to so many things, but they just seem to miss the mark. Joy is not happiness. Happiness is sadly temporary and joy last longer than that. Joy is not merely contentment, it is more powerful than that. It is not exuberance or delight. Joy is all of these things. Joy is none of these things. What is joy? We are told to count it joy when we go through hard times and trials. Like love joy is often confused as an emotion, but it is not. Joy is a way of life that God calls us to be as Christians. If we were always happy, how superficial and fake would that be? Joy like love is an action, a verb. Something that must be lived out rather than felt for a time before it passes away.

How can you live out joy? Why must you live out joy? Live joyfully by spreading the gospel. It should be something that attracts the attention of both the none believer and the believer. It should draw them in and closer to Christ.

The Forgotten Fruits of the Spirit

Galatians 5:22-23

22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

When I say the forgotten fruits of the Spirit I don't mean that we have forgotten them entirely. We can still recite them like any good Sunday School child, but we have forgotten the meaning and power behind these fruits. We have forgotten how to live them.

Love- In our culture love can get you hurt. It is much better to just seek after the physical side of love or a superficial friendship and then you won't get as hurt. To have a Christ like love to open up yourself a world of hurt, yet that kind of love is more powerful than than anything on earth. This is the kind of love that will change the world if we only have the courage to display it. I have heard it said that love is not an emotion, it is an action. As a Christian it is a picture of the sacrificial love Christ has for us and the service Christians have.

Currently Reading
When Life and Beliefs Collide
By Carolyn Custis James
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Dear Rebecca,

I loved getting your questions. I read in the book
that Jeff Price mentioned, When Life and Beliefs
Collide, that there is this word that means strong
helper. It is used to describe Eve, but it is also
used to describe God. The Psalmist use it when they
call God their help when they are in need. The book
can put it better than I can and I would encourage you
to read it. I am no Greek scholar, but Carolyn Curtis
James is and she does a beautiful job bring it down to a
level that I can understand with out losing any of the
significance or power of the words.

Adam and Eve didn't so much have to fight for any
things as God had given them a mission to carry out.
The mission was first given to Adam, but Eve added her
strength to his to help effectively carry out the
mission that God entrusted to them both.

I would encourage you to read it for yourself. There are
so many concepts that really spoke to my heart as a
woman and as a Christian.

Genesis 2:18-24

18 The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."

19 Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field.
But for Adam ^[h] no suitable helper was found. 21 So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs ^[i] and closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib ^[j] he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

23 The man said,
"This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called 'woman, ^[k] '
for she was taken out of man."

24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

What was Eve doing in the Garden before the fall? Which of the "good housewife" things was she most proficient at? Was it sewing? Um... they didn't wear clothes. She must have been an excellent cook, that's it. Wait... they just had to go to a tree and pick fruit and there was dinner. She must have kept a spotless house...garden...or maybe she didn't have to do much work in that department. What did Eve do before sin came into the picture?

Eve was Adams helper. Oh, great that makes what I'm suppose to do. That lays out what my life should be well...not.

Eve wasn't just a helper, she was a warrior helper. She was suppose to fight along side Adam, not just give him a nice place to come home to. If I ever marry there will be days when I won't want to clean, when I can't cook dinner, and I already can't sew very well. My point is I will fail to be the perfect house wife. I will also fail in a fight, but the Lord has made me, designed me for this so this is what I will be most suited to do. I hope that someday my husband and children will look at me and call me blessed. Not for cooking or cleaning, but for being a strong warrior that has ministered with my husband and family.