The Names of God: El Olam

El Olam: The Everlasting God

Psalms 90:1-2

[A Prayer of Moses the man of God.]

1 Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.

2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.

Isaiah 40:28

Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.

I like to do a series with the blog posts because it focuses my thoughts and writing rather than just writing about random thoughts. And I like the series posts because when I'm done with one I immediately begin thinking about the next. Sometimes this means I have the next post up in a couple of days but usually it's a week. But everyday for that week I am thinking about the next post in the series and how my life factors in to what I'm studying about. I know I probably sound redundant at times because I write about losing Lachlan and my other babies, about the changes in Brandon over the last 3 years, about my fears and dreams for my boys - but I can only write what I know, what I feel, what I see. I can only write my story because God has given it to me to use to glorify Him.

So this week as I thought about El Olam, the Everlasting God, and my story, I was overwhelmed at the magnitude of what this name of God means.

It simply means that God and all He is, all He represents, all of His promises are eternal, without end, lasting forever. His love. His mercy. His forgiveness. His grace. His compassion. His comfort. His shelter. His longsuffering. His glory. His goodness. His gentleness. His hope. His faith. His peace. His redemption. His righteousness. His joy.

We could never deserve Him. Never work to gain His favor. Never be good enough for His eternal and everlasting greatness. 

And yet in all His eternal majesty He still created us, still spared us from the flood, spared us from hell by sending His only begotten Son. He loved us more than we could possibly fathom. 

El Olam has been our dwelling place in all generations, from beginning to end. 

He fainteth not, neither is He weary. He never tires of hearing our problems but He deserves our praises. He never tires of comforting our sorrows but He deserves our sacred songs. He never tires of loving us in spite of our sins but He deserves our lives to be lived in fear and service, truth and love of Him.

There is no searching His understanding. We cannot know in this life why He chose to send Jesus to die for our sins, aside from eternal love. But He did choose to. Before the mountains were brought forth, before He formed the earth and world, the everlasting to everlasting God knew my story and chose to send His Son to die so that I could tell it. 

I Just Wanted You To Know

You made dry ground where once were oceans 

Where once were mountains You made them low 

Where there were stones, now there is water 

You satisfy my thirsty soul 

There's strength in knowing You are near me 

That peace that You, alone bestow 

I love You more today than ever and I just wanted You to know 

Where there is fear Lord You will hide 

when winds of danger around me roll 

I feel your arms of grace around me and I just wanted you to know 

All those times I've seen your glory 

And how You've conquered my every foe 

My love for you is overflowing 

And I just wanted-- Lord I just needed! 

My heart is longing for You to know... 

and I just wanted You to know

When The Waiting Is Over

When the waiting is over the tiniest drop of hope that was in the deepest part of your heart disappears and disappointment takes its place. 

You would think after 3 weeks of waiting, that when I woke up to cramping and bleeding last Saturday morning, that I would be prepared for it. You would think I had been expecting it, would have been resigned to it, would have been relieved by it because at least that would mean the waiting was over. But you'd be wrong. 

I had built up this tiny drop of hope in the deepest part of my heart until it wasn't really so tiny anymore. I had nearly convinced myself that I was carrying a miracle baby, that the doctors and science were wrong this time, that the Lord wouldn't do this to me again. He couldn't. Could He? But He did. And there I found myself in a crumpled heap in the corner of the shower, mourning another lost baby, the crushing weight of disappointment taking my breath. 

Two-thirds. 66.666%. That is how many of my children are now in Heaven. I've become a pitiful statistic with no explanation and no understanding. I absolutely cannot fathom why the Lord saw fit to take yet another baby from my womb, leaving me empty, broken. 

There's no anger, no hatred, no bitterness in my heart towards my Savior. Only sadness and confusion, hurt. I was just so unprepared for this outcome. I read about Hannah and Samuel over and over again. I cried out, I pleaded, I begged. And I simply knew that my petition had been heard and would be answered with life. Instead the answer was death. 

And now, everyday I have to explain to my boys why there isn't a baby in Mommy's belly anymore. And if I thought that it was the waiting that was a cruel pain, well I was wrong. The cruelest pain is trying to answers their "why"s when I have no idea how. 

But the Lord works in mysterious ways, it's true. I opened the mail last Saturday evening to find a beautiful card from my Aunt Linda that read:

Life is always full of open and closed doors...

God knows what you are going through and will always be with you.

We don't always understand what God is doing in our lives,

but He has a purpose for it,

we just have to trust Him and He will get us through it.

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding." Proverbs 3:5

"The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion" Psalms 145:8

The card was postmarked 2 days before I woke up to the harsh reality of the miscarriage I had denied for so long. 

This week has been long and it has been hard. But I have kept busy and I've kept that scripture in my heart. The Lord knew just what I needed and He is gracious and He is full of compassion. I know this because even though they're little, my boys understand God's love. They tell me it's ok to cry and that they didn't want Jesus to take their baby back to Heaven either, but that their sister has a Father and His name is God. And that is a balm for my soul, knowing that they are learning, that their hearts are being prepared for Him.

I may never understand God's purpose but I have to trust that it is what is best and right for our family, that it will glorify and honor Him, and that one day my family will be reunited. So the disappointment has to go. Because truly, how can I be so disappointed and hurt when I know who is rocking my babies to sleep tonight, the Great I AM is. How can I be so disappointed when the angels are singing sweet lullabies to my tiny babies? How can I be so disappointed when my babies were loved more in their brief time inside my womb than some people can even fathom. It is the Creator of the universe who kisses their rosy cheeks each day and ruffles their blonde curls. 

I cannot be disappointed for He is gracious and full of compassion. 

Fruits of the Spirit: Temperance

Galatians 5:16-25 KJV

16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.

19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,

20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,

21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

Temperance Is:

The growing realization that one's desire to please self was crucified with Christ, and replaced with a desire to glorify God (Galatians 2:20).

To avoid spoiling watch for pride.

I did not want to get up and go to church this morning. I worked on homework last night until after midnight. My boys were up at 3:16 this morning, climbing into our queen sized bed, asking for water, squirming around, and finally falling back asleep. I was tired and weary this morning at 7:30 when Kieran had an accident in the bed. Water in the middle of the night is not a good idea. I was not looking forward to a service wrangling my overtired boys in the pew, trying to keep them quiet, trying not to be an utter distraction. I wanted nothing more than to climb back into bed and sleep until noon.

But I didn't. 

The Lord has been working on my heart in the last 6 months since we have started our Ministry and blog. I am closer to Him now than I have ever been. Had it been left up to me and my selfish, prideful desires, I would've made some excuse not to go. But I knew that my presence in the house of the Lord was important to Him. I knew that by being there, by being faithful to Him, by setting an example for my boys, that I was glorifying and honoring my Savior. And so I pressed on this morning. We got dressed and ready and made it to church on time. And the blessing we got in return today for simply going to church to worship Him was amazing. 

Today I witnessed what the power of God can do. I saw a man stand behind the pulpit and pour out his heart and soul to a congregation for his Savior. I saw him speak with power, authority, and reverence for God, from God. I saw a man weep with conviction and joy. I saw a man preach with love for a lost and dying generation and for saints in glory. 

I sat in awe of the power of God and I wept with thankfulness. You see this man I saw and heard today was my husband. A man I have loved with all of my heart for nearly ten years. A man I didn't think it possible to love any more than I already did. And yet, as I sat there and watched him give glory and honor to our Savior, I felt myself falling more in love with him and the new man he is becoming. 

Romans 6:6-10 KJV

6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.

8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:

9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.

10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.

Crucified with the old man is our desire to please ourselves. 3 years ago, church was the last place you'd have found either of us. 3 years ago Brandon was more likely to have had a hangover than an overdose of Jesus. 3 years ago we were on the brink of divorce. Oh but what victory there is in Jesus! He has so transformed our lives they are nearly unrecognizable. He has given us love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, and now temperance. He has built upon the love we had for each other and for Him, as deeply buried and as hard to find as it was sometimes, and he has multiplied in exponentially. He is continually changing our hearts, shaping and molding us in the servants He'd have us be. And I absolutely cannot thank Him enough. 

Galatians 2:20 KJV

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Heeding to the will of God, knowing that I put my selfish desires and my pride away this morning and practiced temperance, means that I am learning not only to live in the Spirit but to walk in the Spirit as well. It means that I am living by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me, for you. It means that I had victory over my flesh, over sin, and over Satan. Victory in Jesus.

Victory in Jesus

I heard an old, old story,

How a Savior came from glory,

How He gave His life on Calvary

To save a wretch like me;

I heard about His groaning,

Of His precious blood's atoning,

Then I repented of my sins

And won the victory.

O victory in Jesus,

My Savior, forever.

He sought me and bought me

With His redeeming blood;

He loved me ere I knew Him

And all my love is due Him,

He plunged me to victory,

Beneath the cleansing flood.

I heard about His healing,

Of His cleansing pow'r revealing.

How He made the lame to walk again

And caused the blind to see;

And then I cried, "Dear Jesus,

Come and heal my broken spirit,"

And somehow Jesus came and bro't

To me the victory.

O victory in Jesus,

My Savior, forever.

He sought me and bought me

With His redeeming blood;

He loved me ere I knew Him

And all my love is due Him,

He plunged me to victory,

Beneath the cleansing flood.

I heard about a mansion

He has built for me in glory.

And I heard about the streets of gold

Beyond the crystal sea;

About the angels singing,

And the old redemption story,

And some sweet day I'll sing up there

The song of victory.

O victory in Jesus,

My Savior, forever.

He sought me and bought me

With His redeeming blood;

He loved me ere I knew Him

And all my love is due Him,

He plunged me to victory,

Beneath the cleansing flood.

Fruits of the Spirit: Meekness

Galatians 5:16-25 KJV

16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.

19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,

20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,

21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

Meekness Is:

A tender spirit purposefully expressed (Romans 2:4) and sacrificially given (Ephesians 2:7) especially to the undeserving (Titus 3:4).

To avoid spoiling watch for a judgmental spirit.

You wouldn't think that meekness would be such a difficult characteristic to try to maintain. After all, how hard is it to be nice to someone? Well, sometimes it can be extremely difficult. I believe that is why it is 8th in line behind love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness and faithfulness. We've got to get those down pat before we can truly have a meek spirit to all those we encounter, even those we deem undeserving of kindness.

Anyone who knows me knows that the sun rises and sets in my boys as far as I'm concerned. I love them more than words can possibly express. I prayed and begged God for them, because there was a dark time in my life when I didn't think my heart would ever be whole again. And if you know me, you'll know that I have two of the roughest, rowdiest, rambunctious boys you've ever seen. I've called Brandon or my Momma in tears more times than I can count because I've been overwhelmed, maxed out, done in.  I've sat and cried out to God over and over for help, guidance, and direction in learning how to teach them, discipline them, and love them without breaking their beautiful spirits.

And this morning God graced me with an answer. He broke my heart in utter conviction. 

My hard to handle boys are not my problem. I am.

My boys need me to have a tender spirit purposefully expressed and sacrificially given. Not my bad attitude. Not my temperamental mood swings. If I can show meekness to a rank stranger on the street then I am capable of showing it to my family, the ones who ought to be the easiest to be kind to.

But it's not always easy. Being a Momma means being on call 24/7, no sick days, no vacation days. There is the occasional night spent at Poppa and Nanna's but our time apart is rarely spent on relaxation. So I do get frustrated and overwhelmed at times and I find myself being hateful and ill with the ones I love the most. 

Today the Lord has shown me that in writing this series on the Fruits of the Spirit, my heart and soul have been changing. I find myself being more purposeful in my actions and words than I was before. I am less quick to fly off the handle when Devlin throws a whole roll of toilet paper in the toilet or when Kieran mimics my own stubborn attitude. They deserve my kindness, perhaps more than any other, because in my kindness, in my meekness dwells Christ, the only true kind man that ever was or ever will be. I must be intentional in my walking and living in the Spirit so that I am leading by example, teaching my boys that I not only talk like a follower of Christ but that I live like one too. I must teach them what it means to be a Christian so that when the Holy Ghost beckons them they will answer without hesitation. If my actions were to ever hinder their salvation in any way I would be devastated. 

I must show them that they should never mistake meekness for weakness for it is in the moments that we apply meekness that our strength is revealed. We must be kind to those we believe undeserving of it, we must sacrifice our pride to do it if necessary, we must forsake the judgmental spirits, we must be kind to everyone we meet because they are each fighting a hard battle we know nothing about. We must strive to live as much like Christ Jesus as possible because it was His tender spirit that was purposefully expressed in the ultimate sacrifice to the most undeserving of sinners, you and I.

Fruits of the Spirit: Faithfulness

Galatians 5:16-25 KJV

16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.

19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,

20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,

21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

Faithfulness Is:

A promise (Romans 3:3, Lamentations 3:23) to keep one's word, and do one's best (1 Thessalonians 1:3) with a servant-attitude focused on the Master's approval (Matthew 25:21).

To avoid spoiling watch for weariness, laziness, procrastination, and discouragement.

Ask me how I am at any given point in the day and I'll probably give you one of the above answers. I'm either tired and weary, being lazy, procrastinating and avoiding something, or I'm just downright discouraged.  Exactly the perfect conditions to spoil the fruit of faithfulness. We know that the Fruits of the Spirit build one upon the other so we know what the perfect conditions to ripen our faithfulness to harvest are. They are love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness and goodness. I need to fill my days with these fruits so that I can be faithful to my Savior, so that I can walk in His Spirit as I have been commanded to do.

Perhaps the most important part of faithfulness is the servant-attitude focused on the Master's approval and no one else's. In writing this blog I often struggle with discouragement. Sometimes I feel like there is little to no point in writing these posts because perhaps I don't get the volume of feedback I'd like from the audience I had hoped to reach.  I let myself get bogged down in looking for approval from my peers instead of my Master. Do I need encouragement from my brothers and sisters in Christ? Yes! Absolutely! But ultimately it is His approval that I should crave. It was Him after all that gave His life so that I could live a life covered by the blood. Yet, although I pray for guidance before writing any of my posts, I still find myself second guessing what I've written until I get an "atta girl" from family or friends.  I've told my Momma this before. She scolded me. And I needed it. She told me that second guessing what the Holy Ghost had given me would do nothing but irk Him and I certainly didn't want that. She's right. If I ask Him to use me, to guide me, to give me the words He'd have me use, and then I doubt what He gave me, I'm failing in my faithfulness, in my promise to do my best.

I believe that God gives each of us a specific and unique gift, with one outcome in mind: to be profitable in the Gospel, to use our talent to point others to Christ.  In Matthew 25:14-30 we find Jesus telling the parable of the talents.  The Master gave to each servant according to his abilities. The man with 5 talents and the man with 2 talents each received the same amount of praise because they were profitable, they had each doubled their talents. The third man hid his 1 talent in fear and was cast into outer darkness where there was weeping and gnashing of teeth because he was unprofitable.  

This parable isn't speaking of money but of our individual ability, our specific and unique gift, to serve God. Because although Salvation is not of works, our Salvation will give us the desire to do good works for our Savior.

We must be rich in the fruit of our faithfulness to be profitable for Christ even when we do not always understand the happenings of our lives. 

Faith is a deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you may not understand at the time. --Oswald Chambers

When I miscarried in my 5th pregnancy in January this year, I had no idea what God's reasoning was.  I felt that we were finally getting our lives back on track and that a baby was going to multiply our joy exponentially. But God said, "Not now."  I couldn't understand His will at the time but I made the deliberate choice to have confidence, to have faith in Him. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that we'd have founded Help the Hurt Ministry and odds are, we wouldn't have with a baby on the way. Finishing my degree is something I've tried to do a couple of times in the past and now, I'm praying, it's going to become a reality, slowly but surely. Brandon too, is on his way to getting a college degree. God has given us a mission and we want to be faithful enough to see it through to completion. My heart sill aches with the desire to have a baby, but again, I have to be faithful and know that the Lord will answer my prayer in His own time.

Esther 4:14b KJV

And who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

We have been put here on this earth, in these specific circumstances, for a time such as this. We all know in our heart what our calling is, how we can serve our Lord and Savior in the best way possible. Our faithfulness is our promise to heed to our calling and to do our best as servants seeking the Master's approval.

Fruits of the Spirit: Gentleness

Galatians 5:16-25 KJV

16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

Gentleness Is:
An attitude of humility (James 1:21) stirred by a grateful spirit (Numbers 12:3) revealed in a tenderness towards other (Ephesians 4:2) sustained by a growing trust in God (Matthew 5:5).

To avoid spoiling watch for bitterness.

Imagine yourself living in a house.

God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and fixing the leaks in the roof and so on. You knew those jobs needed doing and so you were not surprised. But presently, He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts and does not seem to make sense. 

What on earth is He up to?

The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of...throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage.

But He is building a palace.

--C.S. Lewis

So has been my journey of motherhood. I didn't mean to turn this series into one on parenting. And it may not continue to be so after tonight's post. But I suppose the Lord knew that this was the direction that I needed to go in the most. Aside from Him, I've never wanted anything more than to be a Momma. So on the days when being a Momma is the hardest thing I've ever done, on the days when I crawl into bed crying from exhaustion and fear that I'm doing more harm than good, on the days when I wonder how on earth I'm going to make it until Brandon gets home, on those days it is difficult to remember that my boys aren't a distraction from more important work, they are the most important work. They are the most important work because their souls hang in the balance (Proverbs 15:11). I have the promise that the Lord will become their Salvation if they but believe on Him. The most important job I have as a Momma is to point them to Christ in every single thing I do. I must live Him, breathe Him, walk and talk Him. They must know that He is the answer for every problem that they face.  

And just like the house that C.S. Lewis talks about, Christ is moving in and tearing down the walls I've built around what I think being a parent looks like. 

I struggle with being longsuffering and patient and in that same regard I struggle with being gentle. I am hasty to dole out discipline in the midst of frustration and anger. I have seen my boys flinch when I raise my voice, I’ve seen them cower in fear. Is this how I want to raise my children? In fear? With a broken spirit? How do I walk that fine line between instilling respect and causing true fear?

I choose gentleness. If I raise my voice, may it be only in praise. If I clench my fists, may it be only in prayer. –Max Lucado

In Jesus Christ’s three and a half years of preaching and teaching, not once did He turn away someone in anger or frustration. The only time we see Him raise a hand in anger is to turn the tables over of the moneychangers and cast them out of the temple because they had defiled the house of God, they were profiting off of the sins of God’s chosen people. (Matthew 21:12)  Instead, He gently rebukes them and tells them to go and sin no more. (John 8:11)

1 Peter 3:4 tells me that a meek and quiet spirit is in the sight of God a great price. To be meek not only means to be quiet and gentle but to be obedient.

I am not gentle by nature but I can be gentle by obedience. –Lysa TerKeurst

If I want to be a Godly Momma, I have to learn gentleness. I have to have an attitude of humility that is stirred by a grateful spirit. Grateful that God has chosen me to be the Momma to my boys. Grateful that He has blessed me with 2 of the most beautiful and magnificent blessings I could ever hold in my heart. I must reveal a tenderness towards them that is sustained by a growing trust in God, a trust in God that believes that He will guide me in pointing them towards His Son. A trust in God that puts my skill in parenting in His hands to be taught love, joy, peace, longsuffering and gentleness. And I must turn to God with any bitterness or resentment that I may feel on the difficult days to avoid spoiling my gentleness. If I let those take up residence in my newly built palace then it will crumble around me. I may not ever be a perfect Momma, but Christ covers my flaws with His own gentleness.

In His gentleness, He gives us grace.

Grace has a face. It is the face of compassion, of comfort, safety, and acceptance. It is the face of unconditional love. It is the face of a parent. Grace has a face…It’s yours. –L. R. Knost

Fruits of the Spirit

Galatians 5:16-25 KJV

16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.

19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,

20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,

21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

Love Is:

A sacrificial choice (1 John 3:16) of words accompanied by actions (1 John 3:18), regardless of attraction or response (Romans 5:8) generated by God not by one's self (John 21:15-18).

To avoid spoiling watch for apathy.

Joy Is:

A pre-determined attitude (Philippians 4:4) of praise for God's goodness (Psalms 5:11) by maintaining an eternal focus (Psalms 16:11) in the midst of difficulty (Hebrews 12:2).

To avoid spoiling watch for complaining.

Peace Is:

A settled confidence of mind (Philippians 4:7) from a right relationship with God (Philippians 4:9) unaffected by circumstantial change (Philippians 4:11).

To avoid spoiling watch for worry.

Longsuffering Is:

A learned attitude (Colossians 1:11) revealed through a joyful willingness (James 1:2) to remain under difficulty (James 1:3-4) in order to learn God's lessons (James 5:11). 

To avoid spoiling watch for an unwillingness to submit.

Gentleness Is:

An attitude of humility (James 1:21) stirred by a grateful spirit (Numbers 12:3) revealed in a tenderness towards other (Ephesians 4:2) sustained by a growing trust in God (Matthew 5:5).

To avoid spoiling watch for bitterness.

Goodness Is:

A focused resolve (2 Thessalonians 1:11) that drives us to become actively involved in the life of another (2 Chronicles 24:16) consistently expressed through generosity (Nehemiah 9:25).

To avoid spoiling watch for selfishness.

Faithfulness Is:

A promise (Romans 3:3, Lamentations 3:23) to keep one's word, and do one's best (1 Thessalonians 1:3) with a servant-attitude focused on the Master's approval (Matthew 25:21).

To avoid spoiling watch for weariness, laziness, procrastination, and discouragement.

Meekness Is:

A tender spirit purposefully expressed (Romans 2:4) and sacrificially given (Ephesians 2:7) especially to the undeserving (Titus 3:4).

To avoid spoiling watch for a judgmental spirit.

Temperance Is:

The growing realization that one's desire to please self was crucified with Christ, and replaced with a desire to glorify God (Galatians 2:20).

To avoid spoiling watch for pride.