Cultivating The Fruit Of The Spirit
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things.”
Galatians 5:22-23 (CSB)
What happens when a garden is neglected? Weeds choke out flowers, thorns overtake pathways, and what was once beautiful becomes a tangled mess.
Now imagine stepping into a well-tended garden - vibrant colors, sweet fragrances, and life flourishing everywhere. The difference isn’t simply in the soil’s potential but in the gardener's care.
The Apostle Paul used agricultural imagery in Galatians 5 to remind us that Christian life, in a sense, is like a garden. We have two potential influences vying for control of our hearts: the sinful flesh and the Holy Spirit. Each produces dramatically different fruit.
Philosopher and writer James K. Smith, pulling from Saint Augustine, uses this illustration: Think of your heart as a “love pump.” When the flesh is in charge, that pump is constantly working to draw love, attention, and validation toward itself. The result? A scarcity mindset that produces jealousy, strife, selfish ambition, and envy - what Paul called “the desire of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16).
But when we follow the lead of the Spirit, something beautiful happens. That same love pump begins working differently - our hearts draw from God's infinite love and pump it out toward others. The result is this: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things” (Galatians 5:22-23).
An interesting detail is that "fruit" (in Greek, karpos) is a singular noun here. This isn't nine separate fruits we must strive to produce independently. It’s singular because it’s ordered and produced by one Spirit of peace. One fruit with nine expressions - all driven and framed by love.
Love is mentioned first in Galatians 5:22 because it's the source from which all other spiritual virtues flow. Love is the greatest virtue, according to 1 Corinthians 13:1, by which we live and execute the gifts of the Spirit.
Galatians 5:16-25 gives us the practical steps: “Walk by the Spirit … led by the Spirit … live by the Spirit … keep in step with the Spirit” (CSB). All of us are walking toward something and being led by someone or something - the question is what and whom.
The beautiful truth is that every morning, we can decide: Will I choose the anxious striving of the flesh, or will I invite the Spirit to cultivate His fruit in me?
This choice happens in the small moments when someone cuts us off in traffic, when we’re overlooked for recognition, or when relationships disappoint us. We can either react from the flesh's scarcity mindset or respond from the Spirit's abundance.
No matter what condition your life is in right now, the Spirit of God stands ready to pour out His life-giving presence.
Holy Spirit, I invite You to tend the garden of my heart. Help me walk in step with You today, producing fruit that nourishes others and brings glory to God. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
- Dr. Joel Muddamalle
Provided by "Proverbs 31 Ministries"
Jesus Wants You To Know...
"Your best preparation for the journey ahead is practicing My Presence each day. Tell yourself frequently: 'Jesus is with me, taking good care of me.' Visualize yourself holding onto My hand as you walk. Trust Me - your Guide - to show you the way forward as you go step by step. I have a perfect sense of direction, so don’t worry about getting lost. Relax in My Presence, and rejoice in the wonder of sharing your whole life with Me."
"For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end."
- Psalm 48:14
- "Jesus Always" by Sarah Young
How Can God Be Good If I Feel This Broken?
I know you’re in pain. I know it feels impossible to lift your eyes when your body aches, when your heart feels raw, when your soul feels like it’s on fire. I know what it is to beg God for healing and to wake up still hurting. I know what it is to wonder, “How can God be good if I feel this broken?”
The truth is, you don’t have to have all the answers. You don’t have to be strong all the time. Loving Jesus in the middle of suffering doesn’t always look like joy or bold faith. Sometimes it looks like tears streaming down your face as you whisper, “I still need You.” Sometimes it’s just holding on by the edge of your fingernails. That, too, is love.
Jesus isn’t asking you to fake it. He isn’t asking you to put on a mask. He isn’t disappointed in your weakness. He knows. He felt the weight of agony, the sting of unanswered cries. On the cross, He Himself cried out, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?” He knows what it’s like to feel abandoned in the pain.
And yet, He stayed. He endured. Because His love for you was greater than His suffering.
So even now, when your body is tired and your soul feels scorched, His love holds you. His goodness isn’t proven by the absence of pain but by His refusal to leave you in it. He is closer than your own breath, even when you can’t sense Him.
If all you can do is breathe His name, that is enough. If all you can do is let your tears fall in His presence, that is worship. You don’t have to fix yourself to be loved by Him.
You are safe to fall apart in the arms of Jesus. And when you can’t take another step, He will carry you.
Because His goodness doesn’t change with your circumstances. His goodness is nailed into history by a cross and sealed forever by an empty tomb.
Even here, even now, you are not alone.
- Ellie Mont
Tending To The Inner Storm Of Anxiety
“But soon a fierce storm came up. High waves were breaking into the boat,
and it began to fill with water. Jesus was sleeping …”
and it began to fill with water. Jesus was sleeping …”
Mark 4:37-38 (NLT)
It was a chaotic day, and my body was holding the stress. I felt like someone had plugged me into a jolting electrical socket.
Do you know that feeling of being both “tired and wired”?
Anxiety can feel deeply disorienting and disconnecting. I’ve often returned to one scene in the Gospel of Mark that puts vivid imagery to the landscape of an anxiety-riddled inner life.
Jesus and His disciples were on the Sea of Galilee when a fierce storm came upon them: “High waves were breaking into the boat, and it began to fill with water. Jesus was sleeping …” (Mark 4:37-38).
This fierce windstorm mirrors what happens in our bodies when we’re anxious. Anxiety is the body’s way of responding to threats, real or imagined, that trigger the nervous system into survival mode. Our bodies tighten and our minds race because deep down, we don’t feel safe. Anxiety is always about a felt sense of catastrophic aloneness and isolation.
When I feel those churning waves and stormy waters brewing within, I relate to the disciples’ desperate cries: “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?” (Mark 4:38, NLT).
God, do You see me?
Do You care?
Why aren’t You doing anything?
How long will this go on?
With the simple command, “Be still,” Jesus calmed their external environment (Mark 4:39, NLT). He moved toward them, bringing His presence to their fear. But what captures my attention is how we find Him just moments before: asleep.
His sleeping wasn’t an absence of care but an embodiment of the deeper rest He invites each of us into. A kind of rest that can settle our inner world - not in the absence of external storms but despite them.
Here, Jesus embodied the psychological experience of living anchored in God. We can rest in the “still waters” of God’s love and care (Psalm 23:2, ESV) even when the winds and waters of our external world churn. Jesus models what the field of psychology has only recently discovered:
The antidote for anxiety is not calm; it’s safety.
While calm might bring short-term relief, true relief from anxiety comes when our bodies experience and internalize a felt sense of safety.
Some of us have been taught to view anxiety as a character flaw, but it’s not. Anxiety is appropriate in situations that are unsafe or overwhelming. God's invitation is not to pretend there is nothing to fear. Rather, when we feel the storm of anxiety churn within us, we are invited to sink into the indwelling presence of our Resting One, who can help us navigate our fear.
I wish I could tell you that I stay in this grounded, connected place all the time. I don’t, but I’m learning to return more quickly. We can come back to this still and holy place within, experiencing an internal sense of safety with the God who never leaves — who has been there all along.
Dear God, help me rest in You today. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
- Taylor Joy Murray
Provided by "Proverbs 31 Ministries"
You Are Not Alone...
Maybe what you need right now isn’t to have all the answers or to force yourself to be okay. Maybe what you need is just to survive this moment. To take one breath at a time. To be honest about the pain instead of pretending it’s not there.
And in that space, know this: you are not alone. Even if you can’t feel God right now, He’s closer than you think. And being real about your pain doesn’t push Him away, it draws Him near.
So let yourself be here, as you are. Not okay, but still breathing. Still here. And that is enough.
- Ellie Mont