April 18, 2012

Hey all,

I am teaching again tonight on the fruit of the Spirit and while I love these lessons, they continue to point out areas in my life where the Holy Spirit's work is not manifesting as it should. I realized yesterday when I created the Fruit Evaluation Examine for tonight's class........I still have a LOT of flesh displaying on my tree. UGH! I would love to blame all my flaws on someone else or my attitude and circumstances. BUT.....change always begins with ME. I have to realize that the fruit of my life indicates which SEED is producing the qualities I display. Are my words and actions saying Holy Spirit or are they saying FLESH?

I used to laugh and tell people "if I don't eat, I get mean." Several things are wrong with that: 1) it's a negative confession, 2) it announces that my flesh is stronger than my spirit and 3) It encourages weakness and making excuses. I started 2011 asking myself, "what does a size 10 look like?" I wrote it out, I proclaimed it, I told people, I made a positive confession, I stopped making excuses..........I stopped watering and fertilizing the wrong seed and began to nurture the right seed. BOTH seeds are in us, as we are born with a sin nature. The kicker is WE TEND to the seed in our hearts. And, while I WANTED the good seed to always be evident, my frustration and depression about my weight often influenced the seed that brought forth the evidence. UGH!

NOW.....I'm not blaming my bad fruit on my weight, but I am saying that it's much easier for me to be patient and exercise self control on this side of good health. :) I'm just saying - being consumed and frustrated about being trapped in my body after trying EVERYTHING often caused me to snap on folks. Being really real here! It's amazing how LOVE and SELF-CONTROL are the first and last fruit of the Spirit listed and LOVE covers all and self-control helps us LOVE ourselves and others bringing us to the top of the list again. Just thinking out loud this morning. :) Having my coffee with you and listening to the birds sing. :)

Examine your fruit today and ask yourself which fruit of Spirit in your life needs more attention. And above all remember God chose you before the foundation of the world to be IN HIM. PK

PS - several folks just starting phase 2 - got any recipes or tips, please post them. :) This is a family venture.