Daily Devotional - Wednesday - November 11

What we repeat in times of ease, we recall in times of hardship.- Kelly Minter

There is a reason why the discussion of the Fruits of the Spirit occur.  In the Bible it talks about the Fruit of the Spirit.  I learned these as a child and I could say them in sing-song fashion (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control). I would recite these as a child who memorizes things, but I did not understand the intent.   Only in my adult years did I realize that the fruits of the spirit are not things I should “strive for” necessarily. I realize now that when it’s a fruit of the spirit, my role is to allow the spirit to work in me and then the Spirit provides the fruit.
  
So, what I have found is that if I allow God to work in me, those things will be more familiar patterns of my behavior and mindset.  In times like these, where there is abundant stress and overwhelming uncertainty, these fruits really come in handy.  That’s why God wants us to have these as our baseline.  He wants us to respond to the stressors of life with these characteristics because then others will see His Spirit in us.  So, when we allow God to develop these fruits in us, the times of hardship may show something different in our response than what we normally would have shown.  
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Ask God to begin to change your outlook, to renew your mind. You don’t know how He may use your attitude in these uncertain times. He may use your fruits of the spirit to draw someone closer to Him.