Cultivating the fruits of the Spirit
Philippians 4:8, “Finally brethren whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, is there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
Faithfulness, Gentleness, self-control
The first six fruits of the spirit of the Holy Spirit show in our personal lives and in our attitudes towards others.
Faithfulness, gentleness and self-control will show in our fruit towards others. Our life styles will show who we really are in Christ.
Matthew 7:16, “You will know them by their fruits”
Philippians 1:10-11, “So that you may approve what is excellent and may be pure and blameless for the day of |Christ, filled with the fruits of righteousness which come through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.”
The fruits of the Spirit are gifts received from God through spending time in His presence cultivating them.
The gift of righteousness is received by faith. Philippians 3:9, “to be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own based on the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.”
All the fruits of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit are received through faith from God. We therefore need to spend time in regular prayer to receive these gifts from God. For these are the fruits from Heaven, not from Earth.
Proverbs 21:21, “he who pursues righteousness will find life and honour.”
Romans 6:19, “I am speaking in human terms because of your natural limitations, for just as you once yielded your members to iniquity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now yield your members to righteousness for sanctification.”
Let us yield ourselves to the Holy Spirit, let us seek the Lord in prayer AND ALLOW Him to change us inwardly, then the fruits of the Holy Spirit will show through our lives outwardly and good works will become a natural result.
1. Faithfulness – We will become faithful to God and one another
2. Gentleness – God is gentle with us. This causes us to be gentle with others.
3. Self-control – If we turn our backs on sin and pursue righteousness this will
make us become more and more self-controlled for the Holy
Spirit will be in more and more control of our life as we yield
to him.
Colossians 1:10, “to lead a life worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.”
When we yield ourselves to the Holy Spirit to work in our lives something wonderful happens.
2 Corinthians 3:19, “and we all with unveiled face, behold the glory of the Lord are being changed into His likeness from one degree of glory to another, for this comes from the Lord who is Spirit.”
When this happens in our lives, we are inviting God’s blessing on everything we do for Him. We shall succeed for in God is victory every time. We cannot fail God if we are living and walking in the Holy Spirit submitted to His ways, walking in obedience and righteousness, bearing the fruit of the Spirit in all we do.
2 Peter 1:5, “For this reason make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these things are yours and abound, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these things is blind and short-sighted and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Therefore brethren, be the more zealous to confirm your call and election, for if you do this you will never fail, so there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour.”
The more we live and walk in the Holy Spirit, the more the fruits of the Holy Spirit will show in our lives. The more the fruits of the Holy Spirit are cultivated in our lives, the greater the degree that the gifts of the Holy Spirit will be able to operate through our lives.
The devil knows who are God’s people and who are not. Acts 19:15, “But the evil spirit answered them, ‘Jesus I know and Paul I know, but who are you?’ and the man in whom the evil spirit was leapt on them, and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.”
The devil may tempt men to sin and has no respect for them, but true men of God, the devil does not only respect them, but will flee from them for they have the Holy Spirit of God in their lives.
When we truly seek to cultivate and grow in the fruits of the Holy Spirit in our lives, then Jesus himself gives us the authority of His Name to drive out demons and heal the sick.
Luke 10:19, “I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and overcome all the power of the enemy, nothing will harm you.”
The closer we live to God and live out the fruits of the Holy Spirit, the less we will limit God from working through our lives.
The less we limit God from working through our lives, the more powerfully the gifts of the Holy Spirit are able to operate through our lives; and Jesus was the most perfect example of this.
Let’s draw closer and closer to Jesus, let us yield totally to His glorious Holy Spirit, let us walk in total and joyful obedience, let us allow every fruit of the Holy Spirit to show fully in our lives. Then we shall see the bigger miracle healings. It is then that we shall see creative healings, even arms growing out from a stump and the dead raised. Do you want to move in God in this dimension?
I do, let’s follow Christ fully. Hebrew 12:1-2, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfector of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
QUESTIONS
1. How do the fruits of the Holy Spirit in my life enable the gifts of the Holy Spirit
to operate through my life more powerfully?
2. Does the devil know who you are? If not why not?
3. Why does the devil respect a person full of the Holy Spirit?
4. Why should you never try to cast out demons without the Holy Spirit?
5. How best can I cultivate the fruit of the Holy Spirit in my life?
6. Are you prepared to make a change in Christ from this moment on?
If so let’s pray: -
Lord Jesus, I want to commit my life to you fully. I want to spend time in your presence for you to fill me with your love, joy and peace. I want to pursue your righteousness and fruit of the Holy Spirit in my life. I commit myself to you to do so, Thank-you Jesus. Amen
Spend time today in God’s presence and every day.