“You have love righteousness and hate wickedness: therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy” (Hebrews 1:9)

Part 3 of 3

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit" (Galatians 5:22-25). As believers the fruit of the Spirit has been deposited in our born again spirits. The fruit listed in Galatians 5 is Jesus' character and His nature. As believers our spirits are identical to Christ Jesus (I John 4:17). Therefore we have His joy the moment we believe. By living after the Spirit instead of the flesh, this joy will be evident in our lives. It will overtake us, it will overflow out of us and it will be apparent to everyone around us. We don't have to wake up moaning about the day ahead, instead we can wake up and look forward to life because of Jesus lives inside us.

We recently moved out to the country. It's been a change of pace for me as I have always lived in town among neighbors with easy access to things. Since the trip into town is long, I find myself staying at home in the evenings. I enjoy walking around our property after supper with the dogs. They love the chance to explore every nook and cranny of the acreage and it is a great time to unwind from the day.

As I was walking one day I noticed an apple tree. I didn't realize it was there when we purchased the property because at that time it was spring; too early to identify it. I was pleasantly surprised at this finding, looking forward to autumn when I would have this sweet delicious fruit to enjoy.

Every couple weeks I walk by to check the progress. Each apple started as a bud but through the course of the summer they have grown, become sweet and taken on color. I plan to pick the first batch this weekend to give away to friends and perhaps I’ll even bake a pie. I am excited at the thought of having all of this at my disposal.