Let the Holy Spirit Help Us Practice Being Fruitful.

Let the Holy Spirit Help Us Practice Being Fruitful.

Good Morning Friends,

The Spirit-filled life is a life lived like Jesus; that’s how you and I are to live our lives. We are to live by the Spirit. When we learn to live the Spirit-filled life—a life like Jesus, then the fruit of the Spirit develops and matures within our lives. If you want to know specifically what Jesus was like, and if you want to know how God wants us each to live from day to day, then look no further than the fruit of the Spirit. Just as the seed contains the genetic material for a tree that can bear fruit so too we have in us as Christians the potential to Let the Holy Spirit Help Us Practice Being Fruitful.

Scripture: By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another.

Galatians 5:22-26 (NRSV)

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.

John 15:1-11 (NRSV)

Message: What is essential to being saved and becoming a disciple of Christ are two separate questions that are connected in a circle of love. One is as our love for God and the other our love of life hidden in Christ manifested in the love of our neighbors and friends. Here love is revealed to us in the Holy Spirit and helps us to know Him, which in turn helps us to love Him in the Spirit which in turn helps us to love others as ourselves. The Trinity is at work here putting it all together to produce Christ’s character in us. That is fruit from the seed of Jesus Christ. The Spirit takes the Son’s DNA of character and helps us to experience and practice the same love that Jesus had…the same joy…the same peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. All nine are overwhelming until one realizes that they work together teaching us to imitate Christ’s character. All of this is as natural as the growth of fruit on a tree. You do not have to orchestrate it on your own. It automatically begins the moment you become a believer. How quickly it happens depends upon how completely you yield yourself to the Holy Spirit’s activity. Here in the challenges of life we discover that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is just the down payment for those willing to trust God. Here we discover that the fruit of joy is never out of season. Friends be changed because you are loved for it is love that blossom fruit. The fruit of the Spirit begins and ends with love.

Pray we practice the joy of love when we rejoice. Pray we experience the patience of love when we endure suffering. Pray we experience the peace of love in trusting God. Pray we practice the kindness of love in serving others. Pray we practice generosity in directional love expanding Christ’s community. Pray we experience God’s faithfulness and our own when we prove our love. Pray we practice gentleness in the love of a heart that is touched. Pray we experience love in the practice of self-restraint and the grace of love in self-discipline. Pray we practice love that manifests love.

Blessings,

John Lawson