Living by The Spirit
A devotional by Mirachelle Canada
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”
— Galatians 5:22-23 (ESV)
— Galatians 5:22-23 (ESV)
I love being a high school teacher, but sometimes the workdays can be arduous. Like parenting a child, educating one also comes with challenges. During one particular start of a school year, I was having a hard time maintaining the right attitude. I dreaded each morning and became sad. I loved my students; I just didn’t love supervising them, and every moment of needed correction irritated me.
I prayed for God’s guidance and intervention. How was going to make it through when I still had months to go? Was it time to change jobs? Was I no longer cut out to be a teacher if I didn’t have the right attitude? I also knew that among my colleagues I wasn’t the only one struggling with this problem.
I turned to the Lord for help and He took me to 1 Corinthians 6:17 (ESV), which says, “He who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.” As I meditated deeper on the verse, God instructed me to approach each day through the power of His Spirit by first praying for and then enacting ways to show the fruit of His Spirit.
That next Monday, I started with love in heart and mind. I prayed to love my students unconditionally and sought out ways to show them I cared for them, whether through a genuine smile or a personal hello or asking how they were doing.
Tuesday, I went in prayed up with joy. I used every opportunity to show my enthusiasm and happiness for what they were doing and the fact they were there in my class.
I prayed for God’s guidance and intervention. How was going to make it through when I still had months to go? Was it time to change jobs? Was I no longer cut out to be a teacher if I didn’t have the right attitude? I also knew that among my colleagues I wasn’t the only one struggling with this problem.
I turned to the Lord for help and He took me to 1 Corinthians 6:17 (ESV), which says, “He who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.” As I meditated deeper on the verse, God instructed me to approach each day through the power of His Spirit by first praying for and then enacting ways to show the fruit of His Spirit.
That next Monday, I started with love in heart and mind. I prayed to love my students unconditionally and sought out ways to show them I cared for them, whether through a genuine smile or a personal hello or asking how they were doing.
Tuesday, I went in prayed up with joy. I used every opportunity to show my enthusiasm and happiness for what they were doing and the fact they were there in my class.
On Wednesday, I welcomed peace to guide us. If a conflict or issue arose, I was slow to react and remained as peaceful on the outside as I was on the inside.
On Thursday, I relied on patience to help me with proper responses to guide my students through their own struggles.
On Friday, I looked for every opportunity to show kindness to everyone I met. The results were incredible! I, along with all my students and even my colleagues, were notably happier people. The Spirit of the Lord had completely changed the atmosphere of my classroom!
The next week, I continued to welcome God’s Spirit through goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. In the months that followed, if I or my students reverted to bad habits or attitudes, I took every opportunity to reestablish the right Spirit, just as David prayed in Psalm 51:10 (ESV), “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” Each time it worked! God’s method became so effective that I now write one fruit of the Spirit to cover an entire week on my calendar.
Are you in a situation that needs divine intervention? I encourage you to begin praying to be guided by the fruits of the Spirit. Start with God’s love that unites with your faith and hope. He won’t use His fruit to change things just for you and your situation. Unity with Him is meant to bring us all together in “one heart and soul,” as He says in Acts 4:32 (ESV).
The fruit of His Spirit are boundless! The power of your partnership with His Spirit will permeate and affect those around you too, so they may also be blessed.
We serve an awesome God! To Him be all glory and praise! Amen.
~*~
Author Bio:
Mirachelle Canada is a writer, playwright, screenwriter and theatre director/producer from Northern Virginia. She teaches television production at C.D. Hylton Senior High School.
She earned her Master of Fine Arts in Script & Screenwriting from Regent University and is a member of Act One: Hollywood Film & Television Writing Program, American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW), ACFW Virginia Chapter, The Jerry Jenkins Writers Guild, and Your Novel Blueprint.
Mirachelle is passionate about awakening creativity and the gifts of God in everyone. She is currently working on her first historical fiction novel set during WWII, inspired by her time studying theatre education in London, England.
In her spare time, she also writes and directs Christmas and Easter passion plays at Christ Chapel Assembly of God in Woodbridge, VA.
~*~
Connect with Mirachelle:
Website: www.mirachellecanada.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mirachellecanada/
Instagram: https://instagram.com/mirachelle77/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/miracan
She earned her Master of Fine Arts in Script & Screenwriting from Regent University and is a member of Act One: Hollywood Film & Television Writing Program, American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW), ACFW Virginia Chapter, The Jerry Jenkins Writers Guild, and Your Novel Blueprint.
Mirachelle is passionate about awakening creativity and the gifts of God in everyone. She is currently working on her first historical fiction novel set during WWII, inspired by her time studying theatre education in London, England.
In her spare time, she also writes and directs Christmas and Easter passion plays at Christ Chapel Assembly of God in Woodbridge, VA.
~*~
Connect with Mirachelle:
Website: www.mirachellecanada.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mirachellecanada/
Instagram: https://instagram.com/mirachelle77/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/miracan
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