AWAKE, ARISE, AND TRIUMPH
Friday – January 13, 2023, Tevet 20, 5783
FRIDAY NUGGETS
FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT – PART NINE
Greeting dear and precious saints of God and welcome back to our Friday Bible Study named Friday Nuggets and I am currently exploring the Fruit of the Spirit, and today is part nine. I trust this new year is off to a victorious start for all readers. Where and how does victory come? By the Word of God, being fully persuaded and doing the Word. Please take a moment and share this teaching as widely as possible by every means at your disposal to expand, extend our reach with this wonderful, nothing like it, news. There is no better news than that contained in the Holy Bible and demonstrated in our lives. What is the testimony of our lives, the fruit produced by our lives in Christ Jesus? I am not answering that question, it is for each of us to ponder. Now continuing to read out loud, let’s read our primary Bible text.
Galatians 5:22-23 (KJV)
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Fruit is the useful thing that is produced, in the case, by our spirit. Let’s consider, using the analogy of trees, that our spirit contains nine trees with the potential to produce nine different, but interrelated fruits. The tree nor the potential for fruit, is of any use, but the fruit is very useful. Consider, an apple tree by itself, even in blossom, is of no real use, but with apples on it, it is very useful. And so, it is with us, our potential is of no use to us, to others, or to God, but the exercise or production of these fruits, the bringing forth of these fruits, is of great benefit to us, to others, and to the Kingdom of God. Is our number one priority the Kingdom of God, and Kingdom of God ways? Now, consider this. We are either bringing forth the desires of our flesh?
Galatians 5:19-21 (KJV)
19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Or are we bringing forth the desires of our spirit.
Galatians 5:22-25 (KJV)
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.
What is manifesting in my life, in your life? Now let’s be careful not to go all physical on one and all spiritual on the other. There is no physical manifestation that did not first occur in the spirit realm and all spiritual manifestations have a physical component. Physical adultery had its origins in the thought life of the mind (spiritual – soul), so there was a spiritual adultery before the physical and so with all sin. Likewise, the expression of the fruit of the spirit (our spirit) starts in the spirit, into the soul, and in some way manifests in physical manifestations. Let me once again reiterate that our spirit and our soul are separate but connected and both are spirit and both came from God. We know that before salvation our spirit was dead, separated from God, the soul (mind, will, and emotions) was functioning albeit in darkness (not the light of the Word).
The first of the fruit of our spirit I will be covering is love (agape). Many times, with love and the other fruits just as with the gifts of the spirit there is confusion between them. Now, there is overlap in both the fruits and the gifts. That is one fruit with another and one gift with another not a fruit with a gift. For example, as I listen to people talk it is very common for love (agape) to be confused with patience, gentleness, or goodness. It seems to me that the problem is not knowing what each fruit is, especially love (agape/agapeo). Lord willing, I will pick up right here next Friday plunging into the fruit of love.
By: Dr. David R. Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
2 Chronicles 20:20 b (KJV)
20 … Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.
Receive the blessing in Jesus’ name!
Numbers 6:24-26 (MSG)
24 GOD bless you and keep you,
25 GOD smile on you and gift you,
26 GOD look you full in the face and make you prosper.
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