Fruit and Gifts of the Holy Spirit

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  Against such things there is no law.  (Galatians 5:22-23)

 The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.  (Isaiah 11:2)

 The stuff I think about at times can be rather odd and come out of nowhere, but lately I've been thinking about the spiritual gifts believers are given upon conversion to a salvation experience.  Each person who knows Jesus Christ is given a gift or gifts, and he or she is expected to use those gifts.  (Refer to the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25:14-30.)  Along the way, as our relationship with the Lord and Savior grows, the fruit of the Spirit will manifest themselves.  Of course I strive to live as such, but my humanity and sinful nature usually offers roadblocks and hurdles to overcome.  In other words, I will never live this life perfectly.  However, I do contemplate the spiritual gift of discernment I have been given.  Sometimes this particular gift becomes rather overactive to the point of paranoia, but so far it has never led me astray if I listen to this "gut instinct".  Listening is the key word in the previous statement.  Those of us with this gift must continually remain situation-ally aware at all times in order for this gift to function well as it was intended.  By my own confession, I often fall down on the job in paying attention to the circumstances and situations around me.  Living in my own little world is unacceptable.  I must play an active part of the spiritual community to grow and also to invest in the lives of my other spiritual brothers and sisters.  As I close, I strongly encourage each of you who know Jesus to discover your spiritual gift(s) and to begin developing it in the confines of church community.

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