Galatians 5:22-24

“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.”

Here in Galatians, Paul writes to the people talking about fighting the desires of the flesh and walking by the Spirit. Encouraging the people to walk in the Spirit and to fight against the desires of their flesh, the flesh that has been crucified under the blood of Christ. As I’m reading and studying through Galatians, I came to these verses about the fruits of the Spirit and was reminded of a prayer I prayed about these things at the beginning of my time here in Africa. I was praying to the Lord asking for Him to grow me in love, patience, and faithfulness mainly because those were the fruits that I struggled the most with. As I’ve continued to pray this and the time here in Uganda has flown so quickly, I can now look back and see how each challenge and each thing that has come my way in this time has grown me in those areas, along with me now recognizing and understanding more the process of sanctification in my life. These verses brought me back to all the times I’ve been frustrated and cried out to the Lord, only to realize that it is all to draw me closer to Him and how my life is His and His alone, my flesh has been crucified to itself and I am now a vessel to be used to further exalt the Lord. In being able to look back and see all the Lord has done in my life to draw me deeper into His presence, I am very thankful. I see the way He used the community living to grow me in my patience wit others and even love for others, the children in my kindergarten class to teach me unconditional love and faithfulness and even patience with them. There are so many other examples I could give, but the Lord brought to remembrance all of these things and even reminded me of this prayer that I cried out to Him. It is so cool to be able to look back at a season of life and know that if it wasn’t the Lord doing it in and through you, that you wouldn’t have made it or even been able to do half of the things you were able to do. These fruits of the Spirit are so vital to our walk with the Lord and only by His power can we grow in them. We have to be willing to seek after Him and earnestly desire these things no matter how the Lord chooses to grow us in them. I think sometimes, I forget about these fruits because I’ve heard them so much in my life and they’ve been engrained into my memory. Something I am learning with those kinds of things is that it is one thing to know in my head, but totally different to hold them and know them in my heart. My heart is where it pierces so deeply and really brings upon understanding in a way I could never begin to explain or understand on my own. As I read over these fruits and see the Lord working in my life to grow them so that I can be a vessel for Him is a joyous and encouraging thing to look back and see as this time here in Uganda is coming to a close. As the Lord has given me practical ways to live out and walk in His Spirit, it brings more understanding and application on each day in my walk with Him. My application is to continue to pray and earnestly desire to grow in walking with the Spirit and the fruits He can bear through me.