Hello, prayer friend, and happy new year. Our team is hard at work recording our new season of the

Prayers of Rest podcast, so in the meantime, we're bringing you some of our very best episodes from the past two years,

the ones that listeners have loved the most since we started. We'd love to hear which of these

episodes is your favorite.

You can simply tag me at Asherita when you share on Instagram or Facebook, or you can leave

us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and tell us which episode you're loving.

We'll be back soon with a brand new season.

Until then, let's get to today's prayer of rest.

What comes to mind when you hear the fruit of the spirit? You know the list. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

For me, it's easy to turn it into a checklist, to measure how good or bad of a Christian I am.

And honestly, I fail in those virtues more often than I care to admit.

I mean, he could ask my husband and kids, and they would agree.

But what if the fruit of the spirit is not a checklist?

What if instead the fruit of the spirit is a list of promises, a declaration of what God commits to do in us through His Spirit when we

abide and rest in Him. Welcome to the Prayers of Rest podcast. I am your host, Ashrida Chuchu,

and this season we'll be praying through the

fruit of the spirit. And I'm hoping that these next 10 weeks will bring you such freedom and joy

as we focus on how Jesus lived out each part of the fruit of the spirit and how he longs to do the

same in you and in me.

As we begin, find a quiet place and take a deep breath as we enter into God's presence together. Today's reading is from John chapter 15 verse 5.

I am the vine. You are the branches. If you remain in me and I and you, you will bear much fruit.

Apart from me, you can do nothing.

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