"Forgotten God" by Francis Chan
This is a pretty basic book and Chan tells that right up front. It is not so much that we don't know about the Holy Spirit, it's more like...we don't acknowledge Him - we don't live like His presence is a reality in our lives.
And that is the message of this book
Many times we are discouraged from being too passionate, or too giving, or too...whatever. Do not let others discourage us from following the leading of the Spirit.
As I was finishing the book; reading the last few pages, this struck me
Galatians 5:22
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness...
Did you catch that? I never have.
Fruit...singular. One Spirit, one fruit, many flavors.
Moonshadow
"Fruit" is one of those English nouns, like "fish," whose plural isn't necessarily formed by adding 's.' (the Greek is singular.)
Wiktionary lists synonyms for "fruit" that, when substituted in Gal. 5:22 really bring it home to me: from Latin fructus "enjoyment, proceeds, profits, produce, income", a derivative of Latin frui "to have the benefit of, to use, to enjoy"
But, yes, the Spirit is one and unlike the gifts in 1 Cor. 12:4ff, the fruit is a package deal.
Jennifer Cote
Ellen, I really enjoy your blog! Thanks for all the good posts 🙂
I love this verse from Galatians. I'm no fancy photographer, but I put the verse on one of my (free) desktop wallpaper designs, if you wanted to check it out! http://pccuisine.com/free-desktop-wallpaper-fruit-of-the-spirit.html