The Fruits Of The Spirit

The Fruits of the Spirit

Colossians 1:9-10 “For this reason, since the day we heard it, we have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God.”

I was at a conference this weekend on Saturday, and the speaker, Walter Matthews, talked about this verse. He started with verse 10, “So that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God.” I like this verse as it talks about bearing fruit in every good work as you grow in the knowledge of God.  However, I thought verse 9 was important as it says that they were praying they would all be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.  I think this is the key to the verse 10.  If we don’t have wisdom and knowledge, then I believe we will struggle to bear fruit with our work.  

Do you know what it means to bear fruit in your life or in your work?  I am fairly new to this concept, so in case anyone else listening is like me, I will explain.  Bearing fruit is another way to look at the outcome of the things you are doing.  Are they good vs. bad?  Are you getting good results at work?  Do you feel good, do others around you feel good after interacting with you? What about at home?  Are you happy with who you are at home? Are others happy with who you are at home? Is your home and your family growing in a positive way? These would all be good fruits.

When we want to judge if something is truly from the Holy Spirit, we look for the fruits of the Spirit in our work. There are nine fruits of the Holy Spirit. These are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. My mom actually got me a box set of books that talked about each of these fruits of the Spirit. It was cool to read about them each in more depth. One day when I was talking to my spiritual director, actually the first day with this spiritual director, he said something that helped me realize I could use these fruits as a gauge to see how I was doing in life.  I can’t remember what he even said, and yet I remember a lightbulb went off in my head.

I am constantly wondering if what I am doing is pleasing the Lord. Am I getting this thing called life, right?  Am I hearing what He is saying to me, and am I doing the things He is asking me to do?  These are questions we should all ask ourselves from time to time.  I tend to ask myself this often. After speaking with my spiritual advisor, I realized I could look at my life and see where the fruits of the Holy Spirit are showing up.  For instance, where in my life can I see love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? If I am seeing the fruits of the Holy Spirit, then I am doing something right.  

When I look at my life, I do see the fruits of the Holy Spirit.  The extent to which we see them in our lives can be an indication of how well we are doing walking with God if we have a lot of love in our lives, a lot of peace and joy, if we have a lot of patience in our lives, along with kindness and goodness.  If we have faithfulness, gentleness & self-control, then we are probably doing pretty good. There are things that can also show us the areas we need to work on improving. For instance, lately, I have been struggling with self-control.  I used to be doing pretty well, and now I struggle more with it.

The fruits of the Spirit are not something that we can earn with our own efforts.  

The fruits of the Spirit increase when we live according to the Holy Spirit.  The more we listen to the Holy Spirit, the more we do as we feel the Holy Spirit is leading us to do, and the more we will exhibit these fruits.   So, what does this look like for us practically, that is the question I am wondering right now.  How can we increase in these fruits of the Holy Spirit if it is not through our own efforts? First, we rely on the Holy Spirit more.  We stop before we do something and ask the Holy Spirit if that is the path we are supposed to go down.  Or we ask if there is a problem going down that path.  Second, we remember we have the power of the Holy Spirit living inside of us, and it can give us courage and strength to do things we might not do otherwise.  For instance, we might speak up against the injustice that we see a little more if we remember that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead lives inside of us.

Another way to grow in the gifts of the Spirit is to help others.  Jesus told us what we have done for others, you have done for me.  In Matthew 25, Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” Jesus wants us to help the poor, feed the hungry, and clothe the naked. If we want to grow in the gifts, we can do these things as well.  

It says in Matthew 7:18, “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.” To me, this is reassurance that even if I am not seeing all of the gifts of the Spirit in my life, or I am not seeing them to the degree that I would like or that I strive for, I am still a good tree.  The same is true for you.  You are a good tree.  Whether you have very little fruit growing on your tree or you have tons of fruit growing, it doesn’t matter as much as it does that you have some fruit. If you are like me and you wonder how you are doing following the Lord, look at your life.  When you see love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control in your life, celebrate it.  That is the Lord’s goodness showing up in your life.  

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, I ask you to help people hear what they need to hear in this episode today.  I feel I did not explain it well, and yet I think it is important for people to understand the fruits of the Spirit. Please help each person to hear exactly what they need to hear in the way they need to hear it.  Please help it to make sense and not to be confusing.  We love you, Lord.  We want to follow you. We want to be led by the Holy Spirit. Please help us. We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to seeing you again tomorrow.  Remember, signed copies of my book are still for sale on my website, and the retreat registration is still open.  I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow.  If you have a witness you would like to share for this Wednesday, please let me know.  Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day!

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