Kingdom Stewards Network

This is from Brad Tuttle:

We pray to be a sweet aroma

(Disclaimer: The Holy Spirit downloads everything I write for me personally. And I figure that sense I needed this, someone else just might benefit from it.)

We pray to be a sweet aroma, not a stench. Jesus cares how His Bride acts and/or responds to the world. When we enter a conversation with someone, do we leave a stench of sarcasm, anger, haughtiness, self-centeredness, justification and stubbornness? Or, do we leave the sweet-smelling fragrance of Jesus? Have we spent adequate time in the presence of the Lord every day to freely distribute the life-changing fruit of the Holy Spirt we all so desperately desire and need—diffusing the sweet aroma of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 2:14-16)?

Phillip Yancy in his heart-searching book, “What’s So Amazing About Grace”, writes that Christ followers should be “grace extenders”, that if the world cannot find grace in the church or from believers, just where will they find grace? Something to think about as we search our hearts.

We should not leave a wake of pride, offense, resentment, judgement, belittlement or indifference, but a bowl of fresh picked fruit of the Holy Spirit. There is an abundance of pain, suffering, bitterness, ridicule, and arguing in the world and amongst us believers. He gave us the Holy Spirit to produce fruit—fruit that remains. Everywhere we go, we are to leave big bowls of fresh fruit of love; joy; peace; patience; kindness; goodness; faithfulness; gentleness and self-control (Gal. 5:22-26).

Do we really understand the impact we have with our conversation and attitude? Maybe we could spend a week on each fruit, meditating, searching our heart and asking the Holy Spirit to reveal where we are lacking on each one – then spend time crying out in prayer, confessing, repenting and being washed in His Blood (I Jn. 1:7,9; Rev. 1:5).

We are told in Psalm 26:2 (see also 2 Cor. 13:5; Ps. 19:12-13) to search our heart and examine ourselves. These Scriptures should cause us to search our hearts, as out of the mouth, the abundance of the heart speaks (Matt. 12:33-37). We do not want to distribute rancid fruit, but fresh picked fruit that carries the pleasant essence of Jesus. Let’s ask to be filled with the Holy Spirit to be fruit producers. 

Can we ponder just how we can display this kind of character, producing fruit that emanates the bouquet of Jesus? How would we look to each other if we spent more time with Him? Don’t we remember our parents telling us that who we hang out with we will become, or our teachers telling us we become what we read? Maybe we need more margin in the busyness of our 21st century lives? Can we eliminate the time-wasting things that have no lasting significance and take that time to spend in His presence?

What if we got up an hour earlier and spend that time in His Word, letting His Word speak and instruct us? Or cancel our TV subscription and use that time for sweet fellowship with our Jesus in prayer? Or spend less time on our mobile devises and instead, spend that valuable time in unrestricted, uninterrupted worship of the only One truly worthy of all our worship?

Oh, Jesus, may we throw away our spoiled, rancid fruit we have been dishing out and instead, be dispersers of the fruit of love; joy; peace; patience; kindness; goodness; faithfulness; gentleness and self-control that has been infused with Your fragrance. That the world would get a whiff of the incense of Jesus and savor a relationship with the Friend and Savior of the world. Are we willing to do our part, and do it well? A stench or a sweet aroma—it’s our choice.