Hey there, friend, and welcome back to the God Empowered Podcast. Today, we are gonna talk about the fruit of the Spirit. What it is, if you got it, why it's essential for you to have it, and how to emancipate the fruit of the Spirit within you, out of you, so that your business, your calling, your family, Yourself. It is all reflected in all of those things. Now, let me first. Say. Why. I'm talking about this. I think it's really important for every podcast episode I do to give some context because I never want topics to feel so random and I also never want it to seem like I am just this mighty teacher. Like, yes, do I love to teach? Do I love to coach? Do I love to counsel through these podcast episodes? Absolutely, but You may have noticed, if you are a frequent listener, that a lot of times I use the word we, and a lot of times I share background story because I myself am struggling with the same thing. I like to create these podcast episodes as a way to show that you and I are genuinely in this journey together. I am not perfect. I do not always get it right. You are not perfect. You do not always get it right. But the beautiful thing about us coming together in these podcast episodes, me as your coach and you as a beautiful listener, is that we create a space where God can meet us right in the middle of it all. So the reason why I specifically want to talk about the fruit of the spirit today is because I came across this question. within myself that I genuinely had to ask and I had to give an honest answer to. And that question was, do I really reflect Christ's character? Not only that, but do I want to reflect Christ's character? Because something that I've noticed is that in my mind, I want to, in my heart, I want to, But my actions don't reflect those wants. There are moments, there are seasons, there are times, there are emotions that just do not reflect the action that Jesus would have took. And it's so important to reflect Jesus's actions in how we show up, in the way that we respond, in the way that we react, in the way that we deal with our insecurities, we deal with our problems. It's so important to reflect that because that is literally the roadmap. To overcoming your circumstances, to getting victory within this life. So if we are not reflecting Jesus's character through our actions within ourselves, within our family, within how we show up for our businesses and our creative ideas, then we really need to ask ourselves, Do we want the life that God biblically promises to give us? A life that's beautiful, that's hopeful, that's prosperous, that's joyful, that's peaceful, no matter the circumstance? Do we really want that life? Do we really want to go God's way? Do we really want that life? Or are we just going to stick to going our own way? A way that surface level might feel like the right path to take, but deep down it leads to nothing but depression, anxiety, confusion over and over and over again. So as I was asking myself that question, And realized that, man, there are characteristics of Jesus that I still desperately need to work on. I started to think on, okay, how can I truly work on them? What does it look like to work on them? And then as I do work on them, as I get victory in it, what will my future look like? And when I was envisioning that, man, it was so powerful. It was so powerful and it gave me the desire that I needed to get it together right now. How important it is to get it together right now. Because when you do, when you reflect the fruits of the spirit within you, you make an impact within yourself and your relationship with Christ. You make an impact within your family. You make an impact to the people in this world that God has been calling you to help, that God has been calling you to influence. And the work in order to achieve that starts now. And one of the best ways, one of the best pieces of work that's a part of that process is you truly developing the fruits of the spirit. So that was a long introduction, but I felt that it was important to talk through that. Now that we're on the same page. Let's dive into what the fruits of the spirit even are and what they mean. Okay. So the fruits of the spirit enable you to become more Christ like. They are specific characteristics within you that reflect the light of Jesus out of you. Not only that, but they are counterbalances to any bad habits that you have that do not reflect Jesus or who God is even calling you to be. They help you overcome those bad habits, overcome anything that's unhealthy that God has been wanting to get out of you for a long time. Okay. So that's what the fruits of the spirit are. And they're called the fruits of the spirit because the Holy Spirit comes in you to help you develop these kinds of characteristics to produce bountiful fruit in the life that God gifted you to live. So that's what they are. Now let's dive into the specifics of each characteristic. There are nine of them. Okay. Love, joy, peace, patience. Kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. Those are the nine fruits of the Spirit. Now, with those nine, I want you to think about which one or ones do you feel that you need to work on. And this might take some time on your part to not just listen to the nine fruits of the spirit that I mentioned, but to understand the definitions of them fully, biblically, so that you can better understand how those fruits of the spirit can be better implemented into your life based off of what you specifically and uniquely are going through right now. So I encourage you after this episode to do a deep dive, take some time tonight in the morning to reflect and journal on these things and to put some action steps behind it. But right now, as you're tuning in, I just want you to think, okay, surface level, what stands out to you? Out of the nine fruits of the spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. Out of those nine, which one popped out at you as almost like an alarm of, oof, I got to work on that. Just let whatever that is sit in your mind for a minute, just so that we can create that level of self awareness. Having good self awareness is exactly what we need that will prompt action. It will prompt genuine change within us. Okay, so as you are thinking on which ones that you feel you could work on, you feel you could get better at implementing, you feel you could grow stronger in, based off of those, I want you to To get to the root as to why you struggle with that specific fruit or fruits of the spirit that are in your mind right now. Get to the root. What is it? What are the roadblocks now for all of us that roadblock is. our own human nature. Like we tend to lead with our emotions. We tend to lead with selfish ambition. We tend to lead with habits that we feel like might be good for us in the moment or habits that we just aren't really sure how to overcome or change because they're so innate in us. All of this is just our human nature. So yes, that's the general roadblock for all of us. But for you, my friend, get specific. Why is it such a struggle for you to be kind? Why is it such a struggle for you to actually maintain your peace consistently? Why is it such a struggle for you to have self control? Why is it so hard for you to be gentle? Why is it so difficult for you to have long term lasting joy? Nothing satisfies you. You struggle with genuine joy. Why is it so hard for you to be patient? Get to the root. And as you're thinking about that right now, some childhood memories might come, some past experiences might surface, some emotions might try to come to your mind right now. And as they do just let them. Again, this is self awareness that I really want us to go through in this episode. So that it can prompt action so that it can prompt change within you. Now, when you get to the root of the problem, why you're struggling with the fruit of the spirit, why you're struggling with Christ likeness to the fullest, why that's so difficult for you. I want you to tie a specific action that you need to take to that problem. So that you develop better habits to be more Christlike, to reflect the light of Jesus in you, to reflect sustainability and consistency within your self, your family, your business, your mental wellbeing. So I want to give specifics here because I feel like it's easy to be like, oh yeah, just tie an action to it. Yes. But let's give some examples just to get your brain thinking on what this could look like for you. For example, if you struggle with the fruit of the spirit, that is patience. And you have somewhat of an understanding as to why you struggle with patience so much. You need to look at your habits that tell you that you're impatient. For example, if you're impatient, you probably rush a lot. You are probably in this constant hustle mentality. You probably have a hard time just sitting down and relaxing. You probably have a lot of anxiety because impatience can trigger anxiety within you because whatever you're impatient for, obviously you don't have yet. So whatever you don't have, it sits in your mind. It sits on your heart and it triggers anxiety towards that thing. So if you struggle with impatience, then your action step The overarching action step is that you need to slow down. So what does slowing down look like for you? What does that genuinely look like for you? I want you to think about your schedule, your routine. I want you to think about moments where you're constantly rushing, you're hustling, you're bombarded with all of these anxious thoughts because you're so impatient. Think about that. And think about for you specifically, how and where can you slow down? And here's what I'll say if you're struggling with impatience and therefore struggling with your ability to just slow down your mind, slow down your thoughts, slow down your hustle. When you learn to take the time to truly slow down at first, it might feel like you are getting behind. You're getting behind and now you need to catch up. You're running out of time. You don't even have the time to slow down. It could feel like that. But that is where supernatural powers of the Holy Spirit come into play. Because when you slow down with your time and you learn to be and to get patient, the Holy Spirit works in you to the point where it feels like you have more time. It starts to feel like you're not behind, and that is the beautiful thing that can help you to not just get patient for a day, but to maintain that patience long term. And God can do so much with that fruit of the spirit of patience. He can do so much with that. Because when you're patient, that develops contentment within you and when you're content, that develops this trust in God when it comes to His timing over your life, over the things that happen within it, the successes that happen within it, the doors that close, the doors that open. Everything is a domino effect. You work on patience. You get content. It builds up trust within you towards God himself. Another example Let's say you struggle with the fruit of the spirit of peace You need to think about what in your life Triggers you to not feel at peace Now, let me be up front, I know that could be a lot of things, okay, I know that there's probably a lot of noise, a lot of tasks, a lot of to dos, and all that stuff in your life, in your business, in your dreams, whatever, all of that causes you to not feel at peace. But, we need to get to the root of what triggers you that much more to feel not at peace throughout your day. For example, if you Are constantly scrolling on social media. You find yourself scrolling way too much, way too often. Surface level, that might feel like you're not doing anything that's bad. You're just scrolling. You're taking a brain break. It's fine. But what you are actually spiritually doing and mentally doing to yourself, if you are not careful, is looking at the lives of other people, you're looking at what they have going on, what they are saying, and you might not even know that deep down, there is a comparison game that your mind is playing. When comparing your life to theirs. And when you play that comparison game unintentionally, unknowingly, it triggers the peace within you to not be there. You start to feel depressed. You start to feel like you're not doing good enough. You start to feel like, Ugh, my problems are so big, I just don't like my life. And that feels like such a natural feeling when in actuality, you doing all that scrolling on social media triggered you to feel that way, that much worse. So now the piece that was also attainable to you now feels farther and farther away because you've allowed that social media consumption a little too much to overwhelm you. We have to pay better attention at how our actions can negatively impact how we feel, how we think, how we show up, and how we act. So those were just a few examples. And I encourage you, my friend, to work through those exercises today, in the morning, look up the nine fruits of the spirit, look up their definitions, and I want you to just journal, where can I show up better in these fruits of the spirit? What actions can I take? To implement more of those fruits of the spirit so that I am reflecting Christ like character so that I am having victory in this life so that I am no longer held down by the chains of my depression, my insecurities, my emotions. I'm no longer held down by those things, but instead I look up. My head is held high. I am free. I am free in my life. I am, I feel free within my family. I feel free within the business that I am building, the business that I have, because I am working on my internal development of developing Christ like character by implementing the fruits of the spirit. So I know this podcast episode was shorter today, But I want to end it here, because I wanted this episode to just be a reflection point for you. And the first step in prompting you to do a deep dive into this topic. Spend time alone journaling on this, working your way through it. And believe me, you're not alone in this. I, myself, am going through the same thing. Taking tons of notes on the fruits of the spirit. Reflecting and thinking on where can I show up better? How can I do and be better? I've been on that journey for the past few weeks and oh my goodness I cannot even express the change that I feel within myself How good I feel how much more confident I feel how much more content I feel How much more hope I have that I am victorious that I can overcome anything in this life Because not only am I reflecting Christ like character, but my reflection of that Christ like character brings me so much closer to God that is all that matters. And when God becomes the number one thing that matters in your life, everything else that you care about falls into place. Everything you are taken care of, you are well above taken care of by God himself. All right, my friend, sending you so much love. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this episode. You can feel free to text podcast show notes or below this YouTube video in the description below, if you're watching it on YouTube, text us, communicate with us, let us know how you enjoyed this. And I'd love to hear what you were able to discover or find when you were journaling. And this is just for me to be in this journey with you. I'd love to celebrate that with you. I'd love to be a part of it with you. And with that, we'll see you next week for another episode of the God Empowered Podcast.