Kenneth Copeland Ministries: Pursuit Of His PresenceSample

It’s Who You Really Are!

by Gloria Copeland

“Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.... Give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall.” 2 Peter 1:5-8, 10

When I realized what these verses were saying, I determined to have this powerful force called the fruit of the spirit flowing in my life because I don’t want to fall. I don’t want to stumble and miss my destiny. I want to run my God-appointed course and finish it in victory!

“I do too, Gloria,” you may say. “But I have a problem. I’m just not a very patient person. My personality is harsh—not gentle. And I have a major lack of self-discipline. In other words, the fruit of the spirit just doesn’t come naturally to me.”

Yes, it does.

If you’re born again, the fruit of the spirit is a part of your new nature. It’s your natural “supernatural” disposition!

When you made Jesus the Lord of your life, you became “a new creature” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Your spirit was reborn in the image of your heavenly Father. You were made a partaker of His divine nature (2 Peter 1:4).

• God is loving by nature. First John 4:8 says, “God is love.”
• God is joyful by nature. Psalm 16:11 says, “In thy presence is fulness of joy.”
• God is good by nature. Exodus 34:6 says the Lord is “abundant in goodness.”
• God is peaceful by nature. Philippians 4:9 says He is “the God of peace.”
• God is patient by nature. Numbers 14:18 says, “The Lord is longsuffering [patient], and of great mercy.”
• God is gentle by nature. David said to Him in Psalm 18:35, “Thy gentleness hath made me great.”
• God is faithful by nature. Psalm 119:90 says, “Thy faithfulness is unto all generations.”
• God is meek by nature. Jesus—who is exactly like the Father—said, “I am meek” (Matthew 11:29).

We know God is temperate by nature because if He were not, none of us would be here.

The reason I went through the entire list of the fruit is because I wanted to impress firmly on your mind that it includes all the attributes of God. And since you’ve been born again in His image, it includes all your attributes! Because God is love, you are love. Because God is patient, you are patient. Because all the fruit of the spirit is His by nature, it is yours too! It’s your nature. It’s who you really are!

Speak the Word

“I am not barren or unfruitful in the knowledge of the Lord for I give diligence to let the fruit of the spirit abound in my life.” —2 Peter 1:5-8

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