You Choose.

Last week I shared an example of when I was upset and Holy Spirit re-directed my praying and transformed the way I was thinking about the person who upset me. I had a choice every step of the way. I could have decided, “No, they deserve the wrath of God. I refuse to pray blessings on them.” Or I could have taken matters into my own hands and picked up the phone and said a few things that would later require repentance.

We always have a choice with God. In Deuteronomy 30 15-20 it says as follows:

“Now listen! Today I am giving you a choice between life and death, between prosperity and disaster. For I command you this day to love the Lord your God and to keep his commands, decrees, and regulations by walking in his ways. If you do this, you will live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you and the land you are about to enter and occupy.

But if your heart turns away and you refuse to listen, and if you are drawn away to serve and worship other gods, then I warn you now that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live a long, good life in the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy.

Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the Lord, you will live long in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

Deuteronomy 30:15-20.

Choosing life is tied in with loving and obeying God. We can do this by paying attention to the Holy Spirit when He is speaking to us. Last few weeks we have been talking about Jesus Christ living in us and how He helps us navigate life. This week we are going to start talking about the fruit of the Spirit. See, that is a capital S for Holy Spirit. We have been laying the foundation so we could get to this here. It’s going to be a fun few weeks!

Our key verse is Galatians 5:22-23 TPT which says, “But the fruit produced by the Holy Spirit within you is divine love in all its varied expressions: joy that overflows, peace that subdues, patience that endures, kindness in action, a life full of virtue, faith that prevails, gentleness of heart, and strength of spirit. Never set the law above these qualities, for they are meant to be limitless.”

Holy Spirit is joined with our spirit and lives on the inside of us. Which means that the fruit of the Spirit is in our spirit, it’s a matter of us learning how to release it into our soul and out of us. Our soul is good at learning. If we remain pliable, open hearted or tender hearted towards God, God can do amazing things in us.

The level of fruit we have in our lives directly correlates to the level of obedience to the Holy Spirit we have in our lives. The more we learn to choose life, the more fruit of the Spirit grows and becomes evident in our lives.

In other words, the degree to which we are willing to allow the Holy Spirit to transform us and do His work in us, is the degree to which we will find ourselves living in Kingdom realities. The more we yield to Him when He is teaching us things, the more we will find ourselves bearing His fruit in our lives. Fruit is not automatic. We have to work with the Holy Spirit for our lives to bear the fruit of the Spirit. We have to learn to make our spirit king so the fruit of the Spirit can flow more through us. As long as our soul is large and in charge, the fruit of the Spirit will not be able to grow and mature in us. A submitted soul is a thriving soul.

Love and blessings,

Melissa Tsingano.