The Apostle Paul reminds Timothy (and us) that the Spirit of God blesses us not only with power to live a holy life, but with love as well.
Love is one of nine fruits of the Spirit we are delving into for our Immersed-in-Jesus time this week, and it is where we start:

Galatians 5:22

The fruit of the Spirit is love…

That word is thrown around to cover many situations, used in many ways. As a fruit of the Spirit, it is a God-like quality our Heavenly Father places in us. The more connected we are to God himself, the more reflective that we are of his love nature, the more this fruit known as God’s love will show up in us.

Lord, let your Spirit have His way in my life so that your love flows in me like sap, resulting in a fruit of love that fills my life while relating to others.

We step into this week singing alleluia to You, Father, the God of Love;

We sing alleluia to You, Jesus, as Love incarnate;

We sing alleluia to You, Spirit, the one producing the fruit of love in us;

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Full Reading is John 14:15-21

“If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. 

The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.

you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you

I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 

Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”

What jumps out at you from this Bible reading? Ask God why…

I Will Rise

by Chris Tomlin

There’s a peace I’ve come to know
Though my heart and flesh may fail
There’s an anchor for my soul
I can say “it is well”
Jesus has overcome
The grave is overwhelmed
The victory is won. He is risen from the dead

Like love, peace also comes in multiple ways and means. Peace with God, peace in the home, at work, in the world, with oneself. Not all peace will come by God’s Spirit (like world peace this side of heaven); peace with God, with self and with others can be had through the present working of the Holy Spirit. But – it will come much more readily while keeping in step with God’s Spirit who brings it about.

God of peace, let me know peace in my relationships… teach me as I walk with you in life.  Amen.

Remember: Take five to ten minutes a day to stop and listen, to connect with God in music. Let the Holy Spirit use it to feed your soul.

Galatians 5:22

The fruit of the Spirit is…patience...

Yielding to the Holy Spirit

Jesus promised the Holy Spirit would remind his disciples of what he taught; That Spirit helps us too. Ask for His help as you close up your devotional time and face the rest of the day: like for today:

Spirit of God, I pray that you use this time of devotion to shape and influence my thoughts and emotions, my actions and attitudes throughout the day. May all who encounter me also encounter You in me. Again, I yield my heart and mind, my soul and spirit, my will and imagination to You as I immerse myself in the rest of this day to God’s Glory; In Jesus’ name, 

Amen

Galatians 5:22

The fruit of the Spirit is…kindness, goodness...

Double duty today – two fruits that often get linked together: Kindness and goodness. To differentiate, some have chosen to define kindness as the desire or thought to be nice or virtuous while goodness is defined as the act of being nice or virtuous. To run with this thought: Not only does acting godly on a consistent basis require God’s influence, but even thinking that way is a fruit of the Holy Spirit’s presence.

Lord, may the presence and influence of your Spirit influence my spirit in both thinking and acting today.

Amen

I called Dallas to ask him what I needed to do to stay spiritually healthy...There was a long pause -- with Dallas there was nearly always a long pause - and then he said slowly "you must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life." I quickly wrote that down. "Okay Dallas" I responded "I've got that one. Now what other spiritual nuggets do you have for me? I don't have a lot of time, and I want to get all the spiritual wisdom from you that I can." "There is nothing else; hurry is the great enemy of spiritual life in our day. You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life."

-- Soul Keeping, John Ortberg, page 20

A Secondary Reading:
1 Corinthians 2:6-14

We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written:

“What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard,
nd what no human mind has conceived” —
the things God has prepared for those who love him—

these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.

Galatians 5:22

The fruit of the Spirit is…faithfulness...

Faithfulness relates to a commitment to God. Staying committed to the Lord depends upon a power outside of us. This fruit comes only with the power of God that raised Jesus from the dead (and creates faith in people). The good news? It’s ours through the Spirit who desires us to have it. The deeper we swim with God, the more faithful to God we will find ourselves to be as we live.

Take me deeper, Lord – deeper!

Amen

Galatians 5:23

The fruit of the Spirit is…gentleness, self-control...

It’s ironic to think that self-control cannot be acquired by oneself, but must come as a fruit of the Spirit working in our lives. Controlling oneself is a learned behavior from God, and we all know some people (namely yourself) who could use a great deal of more time with God for the sake of this fruit.

Lord, could it be that the reason I lack self-control is that I have neglected to spend more time with you?

Amen.