There is a war going on in my Spirit!

For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

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There is much we can learn from the life of the Apostle Paul in Romans and Galatians. This Apostle was given the opportunity to do extraordinary things for the kingdom of God. The narrative of Paul is a story of redemption in Jesus Christ and a testimony that no one is beyond the saving grace of the Lord. However, The Apostle Paul knew the challenges that would confront our spirituality. I would like to say two things about our spirituality. The first is, our spirituality is something that we have to work at. The second one is that it will become naturally as we are changed from the inside out with the help of the Holy Spirit producing fruit inside of us.

Also I want to bring to your attention that the Apostle Paul did not say fruits of the Spirit but used the singular word fruit. All of these things are part of the singular fruit of the Spirit in our lives. So we have a choice. We can either work at following our fleshly nature by operating in our own strength or we can allow the Holy Spirit to guide us and produce fruit in our lives that we did not have to work at but instead have become a part of who we are. The Apostle Paul concludes this chapter by encouraging us that since we already live in the Spirit, that we should choose to walk in the Spirit rather than operating in the flesh with provoking one another to anger, envying and gossiping about one another or simply being arrogant. So when it comes down to it, what is the decision you are going to make? Both decisions have consequences however only one of these decisions will impact your spirituality to be Christ like. Choose today, a relationship with the Holy Spirit that leads you to His fruit. I want to encourage you in one of the fruit of the spirit today.

It is easy to love those that return love to you but the challenges are to love those that have afflicted you in some manner. During my tenure as Supervisor of the Chaplaincy Department at The North Carolina Correction for Women, I taught the inmates that never knew love to love one another in spite of the how unlovable their crimes were – soon we learned there is some good in the worst of us and some bad in the best of us. We read inspiring examples of people who have embraced and love in spite of the circumstances and determine to be the most effective Christian to improve their church and community with love. Love is a powerful motivator for being good!