Fruit of the Spirit

Nehm4 · 07-22-2005, 02:16 PM

(I accedentily closed my last thread...

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Hi yall. It took me all morning to write. So hope yall read it.

In Galatians 5: 22, Paul talks about the Fruit of the Spirit. In this passage he wanted the Galatians to keep the list of "fruit" in mind. Here is the fruit:

*Love
*Joy
*Peace
*Long-Suffering (Patience)
*Gentleness
*Goodness
*Faithfulness
*Meekness
*Temperance

Galatians 5: 22

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such, there is no law.

LOVE

You cannot go without love. You have to have it. If you know everything and have the faith to move moutains, but do not have love, you are nothing. If you give everything to the poor, but have no love in that, you aren't gaining anything. If you lay down your life for someone, but did that for no reason, that was nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. Not for your self. For others. It's not proud.
For example, say you were walking by cliff and saw someone hanging there. They started to call for help. You walked up to them, and looked down as you heard them say,"Help me!". "I will give you a thousand dollars if you save me from falling!" You quickly pull the person up, and they,"Thankyou!. I will pay you a thousand dollars. I will tell everyone! Thankyou!"
You say,"No problem". Later you recieve your a thousand dollars.
Now if you saved that person from falling just because you wanted the thousand dollars, and the popularity of the town, by saving the fellow; that is not love. You did nothing. It was all for self. Love is GREAT! It never fails. Love comes first.

1 Corinthians 13:13

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

We should not only love our friends and family. But also our enemies. I know it's very hard to put that in our minds in a lot of situations. But we must love our enemies.
If we hate our enemies, it is like murdering them. Because we have done so in our heart.

Matthew 5:44

But I say unto you, Love you enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.

JOY

Joy. Happiness. If you are not happy with you are, you need to change. Don't mourn to yourself: Why am I this person. Why can't I be someone else? That will just bring you down. We should be happy for who we are. Try thinking of a worse situation you could be in.
One thing to think of is God's mercy. We should be in the deepest pit in hell right now. But God is so mercyful, and showed His Love to us by sending his only son to die on the cross, so that we would be forgiven for our sinful ways. We should be in the WORST situation. But God has total mercy.
One thing is witnessing to others. It will fill you with joy. Just like I'm enjoying writing this, which I hope will reach someone who might need it. So be happy, and wear a nice smile.

PEACE

Many of us have a bad temper (raises hand *blush*)Yes I have a bad temper sometimess, and want to get very bossy. Some of us gets in fights very easily.
Say someone was constantly bothering us. Just really bugging us. We say to stop. We say please stop. Then we try an ill attempt at ignoring them. And they just won't stop. Suddenly we turn around and shout,"Stop it, dummy!"
That would be very, very rude, and hateful. Remember, we should love our enemies. We should be peaceful no matter what they're doing, although they are not being friendly.

One day, I was at camp. Me and Mdronie were playing chess. There was a boy who kept on bugging me all throughout the camp time. That time he kept bumping the table, banging it, and then making it look as though it were an accedent. I asked him to stop. He didn't. I told him to stop. He didn't. I tried ignoring him. It didn't work. He bumped the table hard, and our chess pieces fell over. I couldn't stand it any longer. I said,"Stop being such a bully!!!"
Kristos, standing near by said,"Josh!". I felt like slamming the table over. But, I didn't. Why did I feel like slamming the table over? Because, I was tired of the boy bothering me, and was mad at him, and mad at myself for having such a temper. Then Mdronie said I wasn't being nice. I stupidly tried to cover up my mistake by saying,"I was just telling the truth!" But that was stupid of me. I didn't say anything else relising the last three sentences were unsensable.
Well, in the end, me and the other boy apolagized to each other. I felt much better. I think he did too.

Mark 9:50

Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.

LONG-SUFFERING (PATIENCE)

In all love, in all joy, in all peace, in everything we need to have patience. I know, about everyday, we loose our patience. That's why it's called Long-Suffering. We have to suffer the long wait...I think.

Luke 8:12-15

12 Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. 13 They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away. 14 And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection. 15 But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.

See? Did you read that? Fruit with patience. We NEED to always have this fruit. Everyone of them.

GENTLENESS AND GOODNESS

I put these together because they go hand to hand. As far as I have to say for goodness is...well...Grow in all this fruit and you will have goodness. You will be good. If you "grow" this fruit, and is not good, you didn't really grow in it. So, be a good boy/girl/man/woman..person.

Now gentleness. Oh, now, I might have to really think on this one...
Well...you shouldn't be "macho". Whether you are big or small; skinny or fat; short or tall, in shape or out of shape; a genius or not smart, you should never put yourself above others. You should not...er...um..
overpower yourself.

Not I am NOT applying this as a bad excuse for not following your parents. Or respecting your elders. You should always respect them, and obey them unless they go against God's Word and Will.

FAITH

Faith. Without faith, how could we go anywhere? How could we trust in Christ? We can't. We have to have faith. If we are witnessing to an unopen minded person, and it's been months, and they still don't give in. Keep on trying. Believe that you can get to that person. Pray and have faith.

Here's an example strait from the Bible:

Matthew 17: 14-20

14 And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying, 15 Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water. 16 And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him. 17 Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me. 18 And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour. 19 Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out? 20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.

The deciples did not have faith. They did not really trust in Him. So the man's son was not healed. Jesus then healed the boy.

Now, this is an example where this man has a lot of faith:

Matthew 8: 5-10

5 When He entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, 6 "Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible agony!" 7 "I will come and heal him," He told him. 8 "Lord," the centurion replied, "I am not worthy to have You come under my roof. But only say the word, and my servant will be cured. 9 For I too am a man under authority, having soldiers under my command. I say to this one, 'Go!' and he goes; and to another, 'Come!' and he comes; and to my slave, 'Do this!' and he does it." 10 Hearing this, Jesus was amazed and said to those following Him, "I assure you: I have not found anyone in Israel with so great a faith!

Now there's faith! That's an example to follow.

Now think of this: If you are loving, then will you not have joy? If you are loving, will you not also have peace? If you are loving, will you not also have patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control? Love is the tree that bears the fruit of joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. If you have love, the love of God in your heart because of your belief and faith in Jesus and His sacrifice, then all the other fruits are there too.

1 Corinthians 13:13

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

And to finish it:

2 Peter 1:5-8

5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; 6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; 7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. 8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

-Josh (Nehm4)