We can only begin with where we are today, asking God to help us in our prayers to show us our lives in light of the fruits of the Spirit.
22 the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. 24And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. (Galatians 5:22-25)
With this breath, and this breath, I humbly offer myself to You in prayer, the one named Holy, Soul-lover, Life-giver. What would You have me perceive, wonderful God, about the Spirit working something new in me? Guide me in your wisdom to be more available than I was yesterday to Your Spirit, and to grow and serve others willingly, gracefully, more selflessly. Amen.
Invite the Spirit to speak, sing, whisper, pray each of the fruits, slowly, and ask for the Spirit’s help to see your life more clearly in light of these fruits.
love
joy
peace
patience
kindness
generosity
faithfulness
gentleness
self-control
Where has your capacity to live each fruit been growing? With whom?
Thank God’s Holy Spirit for working continually with you and for the ways God’s power, working in you, can do infinitely more than you can ask or imagine!
Who in your life, either well-known or almost-strangers to you, either members of your faith community or perhaps even un-churched someones, have alerted you to the blossoming of the Spirit’s fruits in your life? How has God perhaps used others to illumine the ways in which you are not fully allowing the Spirit to guide you?
In what ways are you resistant, even just a little, to living by each fruit?
Can you imagine choosing to let this fruit, this power of the Spirit, be your guide next time?
What prayer can you offer to help you submit to the Spirit, trusting that guidance and direction will be available to you not just now, but in the moments when you need them most?
When have there been moments when you resisted acting out of one of these Spirit values, and then chose to let it guide you anyway? Did you feel God’s Spirit strengthening you in that moment? Do you see God’s guidance now, looking back?
Thy Word is a lamp unto our feet, and a light unto our path.” (Psalm 119:105)
Help me, O Spirit, to day by day, moment by moment, orient myself toward the holiness of God, and I pray that you guide me and everyone yearning for God in a life that reflects more and more the fruits of your presence among us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, in the name of Christ and trusting in grace, Amen.
Holy Spirit, Greensboro 