Sunday 6th October

Rebecca Corin shared a message titled,
'Practices that Prepare Good Soil'

Notice what you notice! Pray and ask Holy Spirit to snag your mind on important things that you see or read.

Often we celebrate and cheer on the gifts of the Holy Spirit...
But we sometimes miss celebrating the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

The fruits of the Spirit are quieter. They are things of character. 

Often we have tricky bits in our life story, they show up in our adult life. Things that need transformation and healing. 

1 Corinthians 14:1 NIV
​Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit...

1 Corinthians 13:1-3 NIV
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

The gifts of the Spirit are given by God but they are best expressed when we are also orienting our lives so that we are growing the fruits of the Spirit...

"Fear and hope both demand that you believe in something you can't see. You choose!"

Psalm 131
My heart is not proud, Lord,
    my eyes are not haughty;
I do not concern myself with great matters
    or things too wonderful for me.
But I have calmed and quieted myself [my soul],
    I am like a weaned child with its mother;
    like a weaned child I am content.
Israel, put your hope in the Lord
    both now and forevermore.
We often talk about God as a Father, but there are many verses in the Bible that use the image of God the Mother. There is a visceral connection between a mother and her children. 

How do we build practices and patterns in our lives that prepare good soil for fruit to grow? 

- When we snuggle up to God like a child snuggles into their Mum
- When we sit still
- When we breathe out
- When we create space and calm our souls 

From those places, fruit grows. 

The fruit of the Spirit comes from our intimacy with God. 

"Blessed are we beginning to feel some release from the crippling fear we've grown far too accustomed to, from the drawn out season of anxious vigilance, from the boredom and frustration of plans deferred. Winters long frost is over new ground has appeared and paths too we didn't know were there. Blessed are we who need help waking up to the music, the movement, and the colour of living, who need help trying on joy for a change. The wonder of the daffodil, the mystery and power of the tiniest seed cracked open and sprouting new life reaching in it's own time toward the light, blooming. Blessed are we who say, 'Wake me too, God, put me where beauty and love can reach me, I'm ready for something new.'" ~ Kate Bowler