Time to Bear Good Fruit!
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law (Galatians 5:22-23, NKJV).
As I was preparing for our weekly Life Group our topic was, ‘The fruits of the Spirit’. I had prayed to God earlier and asked Him what He wanted me to bring. As I sat down to prepare, I was cutting and pasting things from an old article when I believe Holy Spirit gave me this word.
“Jesus is the door and is on the other side of the cross. I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture (John 10:9, KJV).
You still have to go through the cross. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple (Luke 14:27, NKJV).
Laying down your life and entering into My life takes sacrifice and a laying down of one’s flesh. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me (Galatians 2:20, NKJV).
He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it (Matthew 10:39, NKJV).
The flesh is the human body and carnal nature of man. The carnal nature of man wars against the born-again Spirit of God. When you are born-again the flesh rises up against the Spirit. To walk in the Spirit means you have to walk in the ways of God and walk as Jesus walked. How many can say that they are walking in the Spirit all day every day. Very few. Put to death the old man. This requires walking close to Jesus and allowing His Holy Spirit to convict you of your wrong doings, confessing them and turning away from them. True repentance is a change from worldly thinking and worldly actions to Kingdom thinking and Kingdom actions. This enables you to bear good fruit and display the fruits of Jesus. It is a dying-to-self process. Few move from the born-again process and self-stagnate and wonder why God is not moving in their lives. Say for example you want to move in love then first you need to lay down your hate. This includes your judgmental ways and the critical way you judge one another. Righteous judgement is when you correct or rebuke your brother or sister in love to help them grow. It is not thinking you are better than them because your actions are more holy than theirs. Too many of My children are judging and reproving their fellow brothers and sisters and all this does is bring judgment on themselves.
Walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh. If you walk according to the Spirit, there is now no more condemnation. (Romans 8:1). Although all the fruits of the Spirit are in you, to display them and walk in them requires a laying down of self and a removal of the carnal nature of man. You cannot do it alone which is why I sent My Holy Spirit to aide in this process.
Bear good fruit. Lay down the things that bind. Whatever is bound on earth is bound in Heaven. If you want the fullness of My inheritance, then untie those things on earth that are binding you. Whatever is loosed on earth is loosed in Heaven. The Kingdom of Heaven is released in accordance with My will. ‘Thy Kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven’.
For all who believe in My Son, it is My desire that you are born-again and experience the fullness of the Kingdom and all it has to offer. When you walk in the Spirit you reap the things of the Spirit. When you walk in the flesh you reap the destructive things of the world. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God (Galatians 5:19-21, NKJV).
I am coming back for a spotless Bride – one who has allowed Me to produce good fruit in their lives. They will be without spot or wrinkle. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish (Ephesians 5:25-27, NKJV).
Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints (Revelation 19:7-8, NKJV).
It is time to put off the old man and put on the new. It is time to bear good fruit.”
By Tania Francis