What is your garden growing?

Being a blogger it's impossible for me to be deaf to others in the blogging world. Some of the blogs I frequent are listed in the left column of my home page. The one that sparked some thought for me today is called Standing on the Promises of God. The last post found in the blog is from June 10th and is entitled Being Led By the Spirit- What's the point?. The post talks about being equipped with everything that you need to be led by the Spirit. We often time put the idea of that off as if we need time to gain something that will help us, but it's indeed true. We have everything we need to allow the Lord to have total control. The post also speaks of patience, not just any type of patience but "passionate patience". I think an area that I definitely struggle with is patience. When you are so used to things happening your way and in the time that suits you, it's very difficult to deal with curved balls. Anyone can have some form of patience but who actually has passionate patience? If you think of loving someone passionately then imagine that your patience should be in the same manner. Maybe it's just me, but doesn't that just give patience a whole new meaning? The epitome of patience portrayed in the Bible is none other than Job. Job didn't just wait patiently on the Lord. He waited passionately. Wow! The thought of that gives me chills.


The post goes on to speak of the fruits of the Spirit, which are love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. I think that most people are familiar with these things but do you ask for God to grant them and strengthen you in those areas daily? After reading this I felt a little convicted. The fruits of the Spirit are what ultimately make us closer to God and helps us be led by the Spirit. It's something that we should think about daily, hourly, every minute, and every second. I can honestly say that more recently I am lacking in more than one, if not all, of these areas. I don't know about you, but it seems like I definitely have a lot of work to do. God most certainly isn't done with me yet... This goes back to something I've been preaching for several years now. We have no quarrel with asking or praying for healing, success, financial breakthroughs, and overall increase but what are we giving God? The fruits of the spirit may very well be the things that we can not only pray for but diligently work on so that we aren't just asking without giving something in return. Your spirit is to be nurtured daily like a garden. If you've ever done any form of gardening then you realize that you get out of it what you put into it. Our spirits/gardens weren't intended to be a place where we harbor anger, negativity, unGodliness, and so forth. So what are the things that you are growing in your garden? Just a little food for thought.

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