|
News for the Pews |
Home
1st June 2024
SaturdayReflection
************************
Adrian Rogers
Love Worth Finding
How to Live Out The Fruit of The Spirit
************************
When we turn the fruit of the Spirit into a checklist of moral to-dos, we drain them of their beauty and their power.
We Risk Draining Their Beauty and Their Power
In Galatians 5:22-23, we're told about the fruit of the Spirit:
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things, there is no law."
When we read this list, it can be easy to think that we simply need to start being better people.
More moral and upright. More loving, kind, faithful, gentle, self-controlled, etc.
We can be tempted to treat the fruit of the Spirit almost as if they are a to-do list.
But this is a fundamental misunderstanding of the fruit of the Spirit.
Simply put, if we try to grow in them in our strength, we'll fail.
We can't be more loving, kind, and faithful on our own.
We can't truly exercise God-honouring self-control by our power and strength.
A different approach is needed.
The need for The Holy Spirit
One keyword that changes everything.
When we see this one word, it completely alters the way we think about growing in the fruit of the Spirit.
That word is Spirit.
In this case, it's referring to the Holy Spirit, who is the third person of the Trinity
The fruit mentioned is the fruit of the Spirit.
In other words, it is produced by the Holy Spirit at work in our lives.
We can't simply work ourselves up into being more loving or kind or gentle.
Only the Holy Spirit can truly produce these things in us.
Did you catch that?
Apart from the Holy Spirit, we simply cannot grow in godliness.
On the flip side, when we do have the Holy Spirit in us, He enables us to produce fruit!
He helps us become more like Jesus and put on the fruit of the Spirit.
Of course, all this raises the critical question: how do we experience the power of the Holy Spirit every day?
When we first believe in Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us.
The Bible even goes so far as to say that we are "temples" of the Holy Spirit, meaning the Holy Spirit resides in us
(1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
That's great news!
You can be sure that the Spirit is dwelling in you, producing the fruit of the Spirit in you.
The Apostle Paul was writing this to Christians who already had the Holy Spirit dwelling in them.
He was essentially telling them to be "refilled" with the Holy Spirit.
Not that the Holy Spirit had left them. By no means.
Rather, he was simply telling them that they needed to experience the power of the Holy Spirit every single day.
That they needed to ask the Holy Spirit to give them fresh strength to follow Jesus.
Think of it like this.
Our bodies are made up primarily of water.
Yet we still need to keep drinking more water every day to stay hydrated.
In the same way, we need to keep being filled with fresh power from the Holy Spirit every single day so that we can produce the fruit of the Spirit.
If we want to produce the fruit of the Spirit, we must ask the Holy Spirit to "fill" us each day with fresh power for obedience.
We must ask the Holy Spirit to help us grow in love, joy, peace, patience, and kindness.
We must pray that, by His Holy Spirit, God would help us become more like Him.
In Luke 11:13, Jesus said,
"If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!"
If we ask the Lord to fill us with the Holy Spirit, we can be sure that He will answer that prayer!
If we pray that God would help us grow in the fruit of the Spirit, we can be 100% confident that He will do it.
He loves to help His children become more like Jesus.
So ask the Holy Spirit to fill you freshly today with new strength.
Ask Him to help you grow in the fruit of the Spirit.
You can be sure that He will.
><(((°>
Love Worth Finding Ministries
with Adrian Rogers
Pastor, Teacher, and Author Adrian Rogers has introduced people all over the world to the love of Jesus Christ, and has impacted untold numbers of lives by presenting profound biblical truth with such simplicity that "a 5 year-old can understand it, and yet, it still speaks to the heart of the 50 year-old."
As a pastor and Bible teacher, Adrian Rogers was already a veteran of radio and television broadcasting when 'Love Worth Finding' began in 1987.
Dr. Rogers said, "People were requesting tapes of the messages, and soon the requests began to grow to the point that we knew God was leading us into a wider ministry."
Contact the Rector
The Revd.
Nic.Edwards
The Rectory,
Church Lane,
BUGBROOKE,
Northampton,
NN7 3PB
Land Line: 01604 - 815496
(Can be accessed from the mobile device)
Mobile: .....
E-mail:
thebeneficeofbhkandr at gmail dot com
Contact the Benefice Office
Sunday School Rooms, Church Lane,
BUGBROOKE, Northampton, NN7 3PB
Land Line: 01604 830373
E-mail:
thebeneficeofbhkandr at gmail dot com
Mon., Tues., Wed,, Thur., Fri.
9:00am to 11:30am
For Baptism bookings (Christenings)
to arrange an appointment please contact
the Benefice Office.
For Wedding bookings:
please contact the Benefice Office to arrange
an appointment.
Who Made This?
Seeing as you asked, if you can give helpful
advice or report factual corrections and
'deliberate mistakes',email:-
regparker3 at gmail dot com
Email addresses shown using words in an
attempt to avoid 'spam',
Type the email address replacing 'at' with '@',
and 'dot' with '.'
|