05.25.22 | The Fruit of Love
In Galatians 5, Paul encourages the church of Galatia to walk in the Spirit –something we all desire to do as followers of Jesus, as we commit to practicing his way. In verses 22-23, Paul then specifies that the fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
For the next several weeks, we will be focusing on each of the fruits of the Spirit – beginning with love.
Keeping the fruit of love in mind, continue through the four steps of FAST:
- Focus: Find a quiet place to settle your mind and open yourself to the Holy Spirit’s presence.
- Adoration: Spend time honoring and exalting God, tell him what you appreciate about him. Contemplate on who he is and what he has done. You might even be able to get a sense of his presence with you.
- Speak: Commune with God, taking moments to both speak to him about what’s on your heart and to pause and listen for his voice. Use journals to write down what you hear him say. Ask simple follow up questions like, “is there anything else you’d like me to know about [fill in the topic]” to really get to the heart of what Jesus wants to communicate to you and what you want to say to him or plead for while you fast.
- Transform: Commit to taking active steps to change or address what the Lord revealed during your time of fasting.
During the third step, Speak, ask God what he wants to reveal to you about his love. For example, spend time asking God:
- How do you love me?
- How can I experience your love today?
Ask God to bring others to mind that he wants you to extend his love towards. What might that look like? God may bring people to mind that you’ve had a harder time loving in the past – that’s ok! Talk with him about it and why that is.
During the last step, Transform, partner with the Spirit to focus on finding ways to express God’s love to someone that came to mind. Commit to showing that person the love of Christ whenever you encounter them next, or make a point of reaching out to them if the Spirit is calling you to do so.