The Habit called DELIBERATE

Let me shock you a little:

Don't pray to God to give you love.

Don't pray to God to give you joy, or peace, or patience, or kindness, or goodness.

Don't pray to God to give you faith.

The truth is you already have them. Just use them.

Did I get your attention?

Imagine you went to market and stocked up on food and provisions - beverage, bread, yam, rice, beans, wine, oil etc. And they are all sitting in your store, but you refuse to use them. 

Not only will you go hungry, you will miss also out on the pleasure of enjoying those provisions and their health benefits.

See eh...you are well equipped. When you received Jesus into your heart, God gave you everything you need to live for His pleasure - the fruit of the Spirit: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

This a fruit with nine parts (notice in the Bible verse it says 'fruit' not 'fruits'. Check it out in your Bible). That means you have all of them from the day you became born-again right inside your recreated spirit. 

You can't say you have love, faith, gentleness and goodness but you don't have joy and patience. You do!

Here's the problem: 

Just like the food in your store room, as long as you don't use them, you can never enjoy them. They will lie dormant.

It's in using them or in practising them that they will grow and bloom in your life. As they grow, you spiritually mature.

So rather than praying to God to give you love, or joy, or peace etc, pray thus, "Holy Spirit to help me to practice/use what You have already given me from day one."

You can only stir up what you use consistently.

If you want to love, be deliberate. Go out of your way and love others.

If you want joy, get up and make a decision to stay joyful no matter what your situation is, then watch your joy grow.

Cultivate the habit of being deliberate.

Before you go out everyday, deliberately make up your mind to be a blessing to someone. Look at yourself in the mirror and say to yourself, 

"As I go out now, I am going to be kind someone. I am going to make someone smile. I am going to say an encouraging word to someone."

If you want the fruit of the Spirit to grow and manifest in your life, practise it. Use it. Develop it. Stir it up. Grow spiritually, but you have to be deliberate about it.

©️Mitchelle Obatu

*~ The Habit called Deliberate ~*