What kind of fruit do you like?

 Happy 2014!

What a kick off I had with 50 plus stitches in my legs. Everything went really well, and my guys couldn't have spoiled me more. They took such good care of me. Joseph cooking and doing dishes, the boys cleaning and doing laundry, I hardly had to do anything but rest. It was the perfect time to have the varicose vein surgery, really. With our English classes suspended for the holidays, we had a week of rest and recuperation. Thank you for praying for us during this time.

Now to the fruit. 

What kind of fruit do you want more of this year? 

Exotic Fruit Stand in Barcelona

Why fruit?

We are praying for fruit this 2014 new year.

Not just any kind of fruit. It must be the best kind.

The Fruit of the Spirit, of course and fruit of our labor.

You have heard and read about the fruit of the Spirit your whole life (well if you grew up in church), but what does it really mean to have the Fruit of the Spirit? Are we really exemplifying what God intended for us with these fruits? Are we really putting them on?

Galatians 5:22-23 says.

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance against such there is no law."

"Nothing will draw nonbelievers and believers alike to the Lord than a truly sanctified saint in the Lord who is walking and operating in all 9 fruits of the Holy Spirit. 

If you are willing to allow the Holy Spirit to work and transmit all 9 of these fruits up into your personality to some appreciable degree in this life – you will then become a light that will literally radiate the presence of God Himself through your soul and personality. 

You have no idea how many people you will be able to save, touch, witness to, and help disciple if you have these fruits operating through you. These fruits will give you a credibility with God and with other people that no degree or title can give you in this life."
www.bible-knowledge.com

It is the work of the Spirit to save souls, but we need to put on these fantastic 9 traits in our lives or we won´t be effective in making disciples for God´s glory.

I am starting with love, joy and peace.  In the next posts, I hope to share an up close and personal way to add more of these into our lives.

 It was stated that we can´t make fruit of the Spirit grow in us any more than we can make apples, pears and oranges grow on the same tree. We need to allow the Spirit Himself grow them in us as we read the Word and apply it.

Oh, this all sounds so elementary, but if we ask ourselves, how many of us can say that we truly love, that we are truly joyful or that we are truly at peace?

My youngest son, Michael, was doing a project on the fruits of the Spirit the other day. He had to name persons who exemplified the different fruits and give an example of each. He came up short when trying to find a person for peace. He said that Toro our dog was the only one he could think of that was truly peaceful.

This made me want to really study God´s Word more! How does one show true love, joy, and peace?

Well, let´s start the new year right, by choosing the right fruits. What fruits are you in need of growing more?