Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.
Galatians 5:25 NLT
How do you know if you are alive in the Spirit? How do you know if you have been born again of God’s Spirit? You judge a tree by its fruit. Every seed bearing plant and tree produces fruit with seeds that produce more according to its kind.
If you have been born again by the seed of truth, the Gospel, and it has found good soil to grow in, the Holy Spirit will produce the fruit of the Spirit in due season in your life. You don’t produce the fruit, you’re a human. You produce more humans when you reproduce. The Spirit abides. When you abide in Christ, the Christ in you will produce spiritual fruit.
“Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.”
John 15:5-8 NLT
How do we abide in Christ? God is love. We remain in love. First, we receive God’s incomparable agape love by His grace. It’s a free gift that is without repentance. God will never stop loving you. He is faithful. He cannot be untrue to His nature. God is love. That’s what He does.
Then, we act as conduits of His love. He is the river, we are the streams. He pours out His love upon and through us. As long as we keep our hearts pure from judging and condemning others we allow the flow of His love to go through us to others. We love others as we are loved by Him. Don’t try to love everyone else like Jesus does in your own strength, you will dry up and wither. Let love flow through you.
God’s love produces fruit as sure as sin produces fruit. The wages of sin is death. The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus.
When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
Galatians 5:19-23 NLT
If you abide in the love of God, if you abide in God’s Spirit, if you remain in His Presence, your spiritual nature, your divine nature, will produce the fruit of God’s abiding Presence. Spirit gives birth to spirit. Love yields more love. If you are completely baptized in the love of God, the Christlike love of God will be manifested in your life toward God and towards your neighbors.
When you are being loved with an unconditional and redemptive love, you will experience peace beyond all understanding. When you love others the way God does, you will be a peacemaker. Others will experience love and peace as you simply abide in Christ.
How do you know if you are not abiding? Simple. You will be sinning instead. Sin is disobedience. Sin is knowing the right thing to do and not doing it. Sin separates us from God’s Presence. Light has no fellowship with darkness. God doesn’t change. He’s the same yesterday, today and forever. We are the ones who determine our fate by the choices we make. God will reward us all according to our actions. God rewards those who seek Him.
The fruit of the Spirit is the work of the Spirit. We cannot produce it in our own effort and strength. It’s only by surrendering to God’s will through obedience that He is welcomed in to abide in us to do what only He can do.
Our part is to trust, listen and obey. Believe in God. Fellowship with God. Do what the Holy Spirit tells you to do. That is the abundant life. God welcomes you into His Kingdom. It is filled with love, joy, peace and every good thing. There is nothing better. God is our prize. To become like Jesus in character and conduct is the goal. It is not possible in our own strength and wisdom. Only God can produce fruit after its own kind. We were created in the image and likeness of God. Sin destroyed the likeness. It’s time to go back to the garden. Go and sin no more.
May God give you a revelation of what it means to abide in Christ. May you understand that God is love and as we love we manifest His divine nature. May you be fearless and forgiving as you love people into the Kingdom of God as you speak the truth in love. God, give us the strength and the desire to do Your will, to demonstrate our love for You, every hour of every day. In Jesus’ Name we pray. Amen.
“I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
John 15:9-13 NLT
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