DEVELOPING THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT
(mr 01/12/19)
OLUBI JOHNSON
The fruit of the Spirit describe the character of God’s personality.
Galatians 5:22-23 KJV: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, (23) gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
They can be summarized as love because God is love (1 Jn.4:8; 16).
The fruit of the Spirit or love NEVER does wrong, so there is no law against them!
Romans 13:10 KJV: Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
In fact, in Paul’s description of love in 1 Cor.13:4-8, we can see all of the fruit of the Spirit:
1Corinthians 13:4-7 AMP: Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily. (See here patience, kindness and humility) (5) It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God’s love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong]. (See here more humility, gentleness, goodness, meekness, selflessness, and forgiveness) (6) It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail. (See here righteousness and justice) (7) Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening]. (See here more patience, longsuffering and self-control).
Now, it is CRUCIAL to understand that these fruit of the Spirit are SPIRITUAL forces emanating from the life of God, Who is a Spirit (Jn.4:24); they are not just nice emotions. They come out of God’s life and nature in our spirits and act upon our souls: will (to make us more humble like God); mind (to make us more selfless, gentle, faithful and intelligent like God); emotions (to make us more patient and kind like God) and our bodies to make us more self-controlled like God.
For instance, when the Lord Jesus released the ‘force’ of peace, it calmed a storm (Lk.8:22-25). In the same way, these spiritual forces of the fruit of the Spirit, when released by speaking God’s Word and praying in tongues ‘calm’ the ‘storms’ in our wills, minds, emotions, bodies and circumstances!
ALL truly born-again Christians have the fruit of the Spirit in seed form in their spirits; however, not all have DEVELOPED OR ARE DEVELOPING the fruit of the Spirit hence this message!
John 15:1-6 NKJV: “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. (2) Every branch in Me that does NOT BEAR FRUIT He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear MORE FRUIT. (3) You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. (4) Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. (5) “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears MUCH FRUIT; for without Me you can do nothing. (6) If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is WITHERED; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.
Jude 1:12 KJV: These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose FRUIT WITHERETH, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
The scriptures above show that we can have NO fruit, WITHERED fruit, MORE fruit and MUCH fruit: showing the URGENT NEED TO CULTIVATE, MAINTAIN AND INCREASE THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT!
Furthermore, the more of the fruit of the Spirit we have, the more God can TRUST us with the glory of the Spirit without measure: the glory of His power and the glory of His wisdom.
1Corinthians 1:24 KJV: But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
The glory of the power of God will result in INSTANT HEALINGS of internal sicknesses, from fever to cancer; INSTANT CREATIVE MIRACLES like creation of withered limbs, new eye balls, new wombs and Fallopian tubes etc.; INSTANT RAISING FROM THE DEAD like Jarius’ daughter, the son of the widow of Nain and Lazarus.
The glory of the wisdom of God will result in the ability of the mind of Christ giving incredible Photographic memory, Language learning, Artistic, Musical and Mathematical (PLAMM) abilities, that will be far greater than the wisdom of Joseph, Solomon and Daniel put together!
The light of this glory of BOTH the power and wisdom of God will result in Physical, Intellectual, Political, Economic and Environmental (PIPEE) miracles that will cause the nations to come into the Church fulfilling:
Isaiah 60:1-5 NKJV: “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. (2) See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you. (3) Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. (4) “Lift up your eyes and look about you: All assemble and come to you; your sons come from afar, and your daughters are carried on the hip. (5) Then you will look and be radiant, your heart will throb and swell with joy; the wealth on the seas will be brought to you, to you the riches of the nations will come.
Isaiah 2:2-3 NIV: In the last days the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. (3) Many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
Isaiah 45:14 KJV: Thus saith the LORD, The labour of Egypt, and merchandise of Ethiopia and of the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine: they shall come after thee; in chains they shall come over, and they shall fall down unto thee, they shall make supplication unto thee, saying, Surely God is in thee; and there is none else, there is no God.
In fact the scripture shows us that IF God’s Word abides in us to bring forth much fruit, then we can ask what we will and God will do it because our wills will never be contrary to God’s will by virtue of the forces of the fruit of the Spirit aligning our wills with God’s will!
John 15:7-8 KJV: If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, YE SHALL ASK WHAT YE WILL, and it shall be done unto you. (8) Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear MUCH FRUIT; so shall ye be my disciples.
How then do we DEVELOP the fruit of the Spirit?
We plant the seeds of the fruit of the Spirit by reading, meditating and speaking God’s Word on the fruit of the Spirit.
1Peter 1:23 You have been born again, not from a seed that can be destroyed, but through God’s everlasting word that can’t be destroyed. That’s why Scripture says,
Mark 4:14 KJV: The sower soweth the word.
We water and weed these seeds by the life of God and praying in tongues and travail.
John 4:14 KJV: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
Mark 4:18-19 KJV: And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word, (19) And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things ENTERING IN, choke the word, and it becometh UNFRUITFUL.
Isaiah 59:19 KJV: So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in, like a flood the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.
We then harvest this fruit of the Spirit by practicing these virtues in our daily lives.
2Peter 1:4-8 KJV: by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. (5) But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, (6) to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, (7) to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. (8) For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Selah!
