“22. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23. Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. 24. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. 25. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 26. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.”
Fruit is a wonderful thing. Whether you enjoy eating it or even use it to lure in that big monster buck! Apple trees can be a great success to early season if you can find trees producing good fruit. Do you enjoy stopping at the market store and getting a rotten apple or banana to eat? Of course not! Dumping out a bunch of rotten apples wont help you in the woods either! What kind of deeds are you producing as a Christian? Could you say that you’re producing a good healthy fruit that everyone appreciates, or would you say its more on the rotten side? Looking at this passage of scripture we can see that the S in Spirit is capitalized. That would mean its referring directly to the Holy Spirit of God. If you’re a born again believer you have the Holy Spirit of God living within you. When your fruit is rotten, the Bible says you grieve the Holy Spirit: Ephesians 4:29-32 “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” Some of the hardest people to get along with sometimes are other believers, maybe even your spouse, but don’t allow your fruit to be rotten when you deal with them. A great reason every Christian should daily read their Bible is because the flesh is wicked and it always wants to produce that rotten fruit of harsh words and retaliation. Do you have the fruit of the Spirit today? Do you express love, joy, and peace to everyone, regardless of what they might do to you? What about longsuffering? Do you express gentleness, goodness, and faith? Do you show meekness and temperance? Temperance is patience or calmness. Being a Christian is being like Christ. As He hung on the cross He makes a huge difference in the life of a thief as He speaks to the hateful crowd with compassion, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” How is your fruit today! Is it fruit of the Spirit or fruit of the flesh?
Memory Verse Week 9/3/18
Ephesians 4:29
“Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying , that it may minister grace unto the hearers.”
