“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” Galatians 5:22-23 (NLT)
When my oldest niece was just a young girl, I worked on a craft with her one day. We cut out fruit shapes from differently colored
construction paper, and we made nine pieces of fruit. On each piece I wrote the words: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control. On top of each piece, we made a small enough hole so that we could put a colorful yarn through it and hang it up on the wall. We had fun doing that together and, while we worked, we sang the words to this Bible verse from Galatians—words I have memorized.
While I remember the words to the verse well, there may be times in my walk with the Lord when the fruit of the Spirit is not so evident in my life . . . like when a vehicle cuts me off in traffic, or when someone speaks to me harshly. I won’t say anything out loud but, in my mind, I do!
Suddenly I realize that this thought was not loving or forgiving. But when I allow the Holy Spirit to have His way, He lives through me and
my attitude changes. My old attitude which wants to talk, think or act in a way that is sinful, is challenged by God’s gentle, loving, changing power, and the fruit of the Spirit . . . and there is no law against that!
– Myrna Kopf
Council Fire is a collaboration with Intertribal Life Ministries and Native Evangelical Fellowship of Canada.
The Council Fire Daily Devotional Book Set is available on the Intertribal Life Ministries website.
Learn more about Council Fire at councilfire365.org