Maureen Y. Smith - Conquering the Seeds of Destruction

In today's podcast, I share the importance of communicating with God. When you are building your relationship with Him, it becomes important to keep a two-way dialogue with Him. You have to be able to talk and listen to Him just as I shared in Chapter One of the book. It is important to keep the lines of communication open with Him regardless of what is taking place in your lives. Although some people pray to God when bad things are happening, He wants you to also pray to Him when things are good. Praying to God is necessary and should be done on a consistent basis. 

When the Fruit of Temperance (Self-Control) is developed inside of you, you may find that you will revisit some situations that you believe that you have already overcome. It will be up to you to decide how you will move forward. Will you get distracted and give in to the tempations of your past or will you stand true to yourself and to God to show that those situations are behind you? Prayerfully, you will keep moving forward and be ready to experience your next level of growth with the Fruit of Temperance.

As you listen to today's podcast, you will hear another fruit that the Holy Spirit is trying to get you to embrace on a deeper level. When you operate in the Fruit of Meekness, it is not a sign of weakness. As you allow the Holy Spirit to help you walk in the Fruit of Meekness, you will see that your acts of humility towards others will not only give them a feeling of encouragement and comfort, but you will see that it will also give the same to you.

Now that you have been building your relationship with God, prayerfully you have the faith to seek God in your day-to-day walk. As the Holy Spirit continues to take you to a deeper level with The Fruit of Faith, you may discover that it will require you to remember how He has brought you through past situations so that you can have the confidence and the strength to overcome a bigger battle that you may be faced with today. Please stay encouraged that He is still with you and you must keep trusting Him in everything that you do and that comes your way. You got this. Keep the Faith!

There are times where it may be difficult to show goodness or to receive goodness from a person. When you allow your efforts and actions to be guided by God, then it won't seem as if it is a struggle. If you allow your mind to stay focused on doing things to please God, then He will tell you what you need to do. You will then see that you won't be conscious about how you can benefit from something. The Holy Spirit will show you how to listen to Him so that you can represent God and show goodness to someone who needs to experience it and prayerfully, experience Him through you.

As you continue to embrace the Fruit of the Spirit, you will hear another fruit being discussed today which is the Fruit of Gentleness or Kindness. This fruit is something that we have been showing more of, especially with all of the things that have happened because of the pandemic. It is always so heartwarming to hear and see people show kindness to those that need some extra help and attention. It is also just good for people to show kindness just for the sake of it, even if someone is not in need. God wants us to represent Him in a pleasing way and being kind to others is one way to do so.

In today's podcast, you will hear how the Fruit of Longsuffering can be developed in you. When you go through the challenges of life, there are times where you don't know how you may make it. When you trust God to help you through your storm, you will begin to see the strength and the endurance that you possess. By relying on Him to help you, you put the focus more on Him than on yourself. As a result, you operate in Him guiding you through some of your most challenging of times and you see that He was always by your side.

The Fruit of Peace is a part of the Spirit that all of us seek after. The phrase "peace of mind is priceless" is a phrase that holds so much truth regardless of what you may be going through. Experiencing peace from God is something that we all strive to attain. Although you may feel that you have peace, when your peace is being guided by God you feel it deeper in your spirit and you know that you can whether any storm that comes your way. Always hold on to God's unchanging hand. 

In today's podcast, you will hear how to operate in another Fruit of the Spirit, The Fruit of Joy. There are times that joy and happiness are used interchangeably but there are distinct differences between them. As you listen, you will hear some scenarios where you can decide which one exists. When you are experiencing "unspeakable joy", you will know without a doubt that it is more than just an emotion of happiness. You feel the Spirit of God moving inside of you. The relationship that you have with Him keeps you praising Him while also feeling humbled and grateful to know Him.

As you listen to today's podcast, you will continue to hear how the Fruit of Love can grow inside of you by trusting God.  God's actions and His character display love throughout the Bible. As you listen to His voice through the people that He had a relationship with, you will see how each person was guided by God to display His characteristics onto others. God teaches love and wants you to embody this Fruit of the Spirit in everything that you do. Even in the difficult times, your feelings of love will outweigh any negative feelings that the enemy wants you to embrace.