After Thanksgiving, I began to reflect on my 2018 accomplishments and how much I had grown spiritually, mentally and emotionally. I prayed for guidance as I launched my brainstorming process for 2019. Many say, “New Year, New Me” but I wanted to step it up. I wanted to carefully and effectively create goals that were achievable and not the common “New Year Resolutions” that so many of us bail on by March.
I began to envision my goals for 2019 and asked the Lord, how could I walk in my purpose. I’ve learned the importance of always being content in whatever season I may be in but my personal mission is to always strive to grow and be better. We should always be evolving. Who we were last year should not be the same person we are currently.
I quickly became interested in the biblical significance in the number 9 and how it would correlate with my relationship with the Lord in 2019.
The number 9 symbolizes patience, divine completeness (fruit of the spirit) and stands for a complete cycle of growth.
The Fruit of the Spirit
The first thing that came to mind, as I pondered on my spiritual development and growth for 2019 was the significance of the number 9 being the Fruits of the Spirit.
Galatians 5:22-24 (NIV), “But the Fruit of the Spirit is
- Love
- Joy
- Peace
- Forbearance (patience)
- Kindness
- Goodness
- Faithfulness
- Gentleness
- Self-Control
The fruit of the Holy Spirit lives within each of us. As we grow spiritually, the nine attributes of the Holy Spirit should dwell in us and be a part of our daily lives.
1 John 4:7-8 (NIV), “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
Matthew 22:37-40 (NIV), “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
We can’t say we love the Lord and mistreat his children. We’re all God’s children and we should love others as we love God and ourselves.
Nehemiah 8:10 (KJV), “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” God is sensitive to our needs but never forces HIS love on us. When we’re ready, HE is too. Even when we’re broken and weak, HE still gives us strength.
God’s love has a transformative power strong enough to lift you from pits you once thought you would never rise above. Philippians 4:7 (NLT), “Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. HIS peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” Some people may never step foot in a church but God’s light should shine bright through us all. I pray that your presence in someone’s life will shine light through whatever dark moment they may be enduring.
God teaches us how to be patient. When we’re waiting, God is working. God works behind the scenes. HE takes the good and bad and mixes all the ingredients together creating a beautiful masterpiece. God’s strength is made perfect in our weakness.
Patience, virtue, faith in HIM and obedience will filter out situations and people that were not intended for our journey nor purpose. The walk is not without injury but surrendering will position you to recognize and receive the higher order over your life.
Ephesians 4:32 (NIV), “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” We’re all struggling with something but one’s kindness is sometimes worth more than anything we can buy. Something as small as a hug, sharing a smile with someone or sending a text letting someone know you’re thinking of them.
God continues to show us grace when we didn’t earn it and mercy when we don’t deserve it! We are called to be kind to our neighbor simply for the fact that God continues to be kind to us! We can’t expect something from God that we aren’t willing to do for others.
Some may call it cliché but “hurt people truly do hurt people.” We must learn to forgive people even when they don’t ask for forgiveness. It’s okay to forgive someone and love them from a far. Forgive them for you.
If you don’t forgive, you will harbor negative feelings for them that will slowly eat at you like a cancer. Sometimes it’s as simple as forgiving someone for your sanity and health.
God is working things out for you even if you don’t feel like it. Have faith and be thankful. Where faith and hope grows, miracles blossom!
Ephesians 4:2 (NIV), “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”
2 Peter 1:5-7 (NIV), “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge, and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.”
God is like a Gardner and we are his fruit. The only seed that will grow is what you sow. God is watering your seeds and hard work. A harvest will rise up in your life.
Everything that manifests in your life results from the seeds you sow. YOU determine whether you will reap good harvest or bad harvest.
2 Corinthians 9:10-12 (NIV), “Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.”
What Fruit Are You Bearing?
Webster’s dictionary defines fruit as “the state of bearing fruit. The effect or consequence of an action or operation: product, result.” As I meditated on each fruit of the spirit, I began to reflect on the definition of bearing. “The manner in which one behaves or comports oneself: the manner in which one bears. The act, power, or time of bringing forth offspring or fruit. A product of bearing: crop.”
As a gardener, God cultivates and cares for us. He plants us as a seed in the ground and waters us through various life experiences which gives us strength and nourishment to become beautiful fruit trees. God is responsible to maintain our beauty. Just like a gardener, God performs a range of general maintenance to assist us in producing fruit.
The amount of fruit we produce on our tree is determined by the amount of time and effort we put into our personal maintenance. When we allow the Holy Spirit to have control of our lives, we will start producing “good” fruit.
When we spend personal time with the Lord and consistently read God’s word, we will bear ripe fruit. When our tree is nourished by the fruits of the spirit, God shows us how to produce sweet fruit just like the fruit you pick at your local grocery store or farmer’s market.
The Pruning Process
John 15:1-5 (NIV), “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
If we’re lacking in a particular area, God will begin the pruning process; removing the dead branches that are stunting our growth. 1 Corinthians 10:13 (MSG), “No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it.”
Pruning improves our health, strength and allows God to develop a stronger structure for our spiritual tree.
God knows the perfect time to prune and which tools (circumstances) can perfectly remove unwanted branches without harming us. God methodologically directs our pruning through the Holy Spirit in a very gentle manner. Although our tree may look healthy, God knows when it needs to be pruned. When God finishes pruning, our tree will grow, bear better fruit, maintain a beautiful appearance and we will become more like HIM.
I pray that we allow the Holy Spirit to work in and through us. Allow the Holy Spirit free range in your life, removing whatever may be preventing you from producing the Fruits of the Spirit. May our lives continue to reflect we belong to God and bear good fruit in every season.
I pray that the Lord helps me to be a woman who radiates love, mercy, kindness and grace to others. I want every person I meet to feel God’s love through me and have a hunger to know HIM. God wants us to show others the same love and grace HE shows us.
I believe 2019 will be a year where our patience and faith may be tested at times but God’s plan overrules our doubt. I pray that 2019 will be a year of growth, inspiration and divine completeness for us all. God wants us to show love and kindness even when we think someone doesn’t deserve it. Let’s be real, God continues to show us unconditional love; although, we may not always show love to God nor others.
We are made in God’s image which means we’re called to love others and lead them to Christ. Growing up, I knew my actions were a “reflection” of my parents and I was determined to stay out of trouble because I never wanted to bring embarrassment to them. As a child of God, the same applies.
Ephesians 5:8-9 (NIV), “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth).” It may not always be easy but we have a responsibility to show love, kindness, compassion and forgiveness to others even when they don’t deserve it.
When you hope, be joyful. When you suffer, be patient. When you pray, be faithful. Be happy when you’re tested in different ways because it causes endurance, maturity and completion. Instead of asking why is this happening to me, ask how should I respond.
For All I Trust Him because God is broadening our parameter so we can bless others, be humble and be more sensitive to others and their needs. May we always appreciate God’s pruning process and never be afraid to ask ourselves what fruit am I bearing? I pray that we may all yield marvelous fruit in the lives of others and our own. By being obedient to God and opening ourselves to the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit, we allow God to do a work in us especially when we don’t understand.