Galatians 5:13-26 TPT
Fruit of the Holy Spirit is Love.
Beloved ones, God has called us to live a life of freedom in the Holy Spirit. But don’t view this wonderful freedom as an opportunity to set up a base of operations in the natural realm. Freedom means that we become so completely free of self-indulgence that we become servants of one another, expressing love in all we do.
For love completes the laws of God. All of the law can be summarize in one grand statement: Demonstrate love to your neighbor, even as you care for and love yourself.
But if you continue to criticize and come against each other over minor issues you’re acting like wild beasts trying to destroy one another! (Aramaic and Greek manuscripts read “biting and devouring,” which is a metaphor for critical attitudes that will destroy the fellowship). How about it will destroy friendship, it will destroy you.
As you yield freely and fully to the dynamic life and power of the Holy Spirit, you will abandon, the cravings of your self-life. for your self-life craves the things that offend the Holy Spirit and hinders him from living free within you! And the Holy Spirit’s intense cravings hinder your old self-life from dominating you!
So then the two incompatible and conflicting forces within you are your self-life of the flesh and new creation of life of the Spirit.
But when you are brought into the full freedom of the Spirit of grace, you will no longer be living under the domination of the law, but soaring above it!
The cravings of the self-life are obvious: sexual immorality, lustful thoughts, pornography, chasing after things instead of God, manipulating others, hatred of those who get in your way, senseless arguments, resentment when others are favored, temper tantrums, angry quarrels, only thinking of yourself, being in love with your own opinions, being envious of the blessings of others, murder (murder from the tongue), uncontrolled addictions, wild parties, and all other similar behavior.
Haven’t I already warned you that those who use their “freedom” for these things or (those who devote themselves to these things) will not inherit the kingdom realm of God!
God is love (1 John 4:7). It is His character, who He is. To know God is to know His love because He is love (1 John 4:8). The more we know and experience God, the more we see His love demonstrated to us and through us.
In verse 9, John states that the love of God was produced in us to demonstrate His love for us. Through Jesus, God demonstrated His love by providing us eternal life with Him.
The Holy Spirit comes into our lives, making our spirit alive (John 6:63; Ephesians 2:1). Without the Holy Spirit indwelling us, our spirits remain dead, and we cannot love.
But the fruit (harvest) produced by the Holy Spirit within you is divine love in all its varied expressions:
joy that overflows,
peace that subdues, (inner peace)
patience that endures or (never quitting)
kindness in action, (words can say many things, but it is your actions that people pay attention to)
a life full of virtue (goodness)
faith that prevails,
gentleness of heart,
strength of spirit (self control) helps us not to conform to things of the world. Involves our capacity to dig deep and find the greater meaning in life, to align ourselves with purpose that extends beyond ourselves, to find relationship and unity with something greater, such as nature or God. The ability to operate in spiritual things such as loving people (seeing them through the eyes of Jesus), being anxious for nothing or joyful amid trouble, understanding the scriptures, believing God
Never set the law above these qualities, for they are meant to be limitless.
I believe that the fruit of the Spirit are our spiritual swords, that we need to pick up individually to take out the enemy. We can change the atmosphere or circumstances by using these swords.
The Sword of Love.
The Sword of Joy.
The Sword of Peace.
The Sword of Patience
The Sword of Kindness
The Sword of Goodness
The Sword of Faithfulness
The Sword of Gentleness
The Sword of Self Control
We have a choice to pick these Swords up, to fight the enemy or we have a choice to stay in our flesh. We have a choice to partner with the Holy Spirit to advance the Kingdom of God, to represent Jesus well. We have free will, it is our choice how we move forward.
Keep in mind that we who belong to Jesus, the Anointed One, have already experienced crucifixion. For everything connected with our self-life was put to death on the cross and crucified with Messiah. We must live in the Holy Spirit and follow after him. So may we never be arrogant, or look down on another, for each of us is an original. We must forsake all jealousy that diminishes the value of others.
We belong to Jesus, He calls us by our name. When this happens we are awakened to His love and His healing touch.
The God of all creation knows you. Is this not amazing - He sent His Son to us, so that we could enter into the holy of holies and have a relationship with Him. Holy Spirit was sent to us to guide us in all that is commissioned of us, to reach our purpose for the Kingdom of heaven and to glorify Creator in all that we do. We get to partner with Holy Spirit, following all that Holy Spirit has for us.
We are never alone, but we must be willing to reach out and ask for help in our weakest moments. This is where Holy Spirit comes and strengthens us.
You do make a difference! You are one of a kind. When we are walking with the Holy Spirit, why do we go into doubting ourselves. When we doubt ourselves we doubt Creator who created us. (We are made in Their image).
We must learn how to reflect Creator.
There is a harvest in us when we walk in the fruit of the Spirit.
Sometimes our flesh will rare up, but we have all authority to have the self control with the Holy Spirit to overcome our fleshly ways.
We can speak to our flesh, we can pick up our Swords, we can decree God’s Word over us or over our families, our land, in doing these we will have Victory.
Sometimes our battles are brought on by our flesh and we are so easy at blaming satan when it is our flesh. It could be our circumstances, are for us to learn a lesson or to learn to trust Jesus. To learn to walk with Holy Spirit in addressing our circumstances or our flesh. Ask, what is this and what mus I do about it?
Hopi saying: We each have a chosen path, a lesson. Consequently these lessons may not reflect our own, but someone else’s. Often times their experience are our lessons. Out of compassion we may want to reach in (because we have the answers). But in doing that we rob them of their lesson. The ultimate lesson is to love them for who they are and where they are at. Because in that, they then can move on (forward) and who knows, they may be there for us to learn that lesson.
The enemy doesn’t want you to advance God’s Kingdom, the enemy wants you to stay in your flesh, to stay in captivity. To not have freedom. But we have Sword’s that we must fight with, to take the enemy out.
That same phrase 'walk in the Spirit' can also mean to live by the Spirit or to be guided by the Spirit. This means that you live a life that is connected to the Holy Spirit on a regular basis.
The Holy Spirit becomes the one you depend on as you go through life. For many, that sounds very simple, almost too simple but it is not always simple. When you were saved Jesus made a promise to you, He would give you the Holy Spirit.
One of the first things you must recognize is that you have the Holy Spirit living inside you. This is what Jesus said. What you should also notice is one of the main purposes of the Holy Spirit is to help you. He is the one who helps you understand. He is the one who helps you pray. He is the one who helps you overcome the lusts of your flesh or sinful nature. Therefore what it means to walk in the Spirit is to tap into the help that God has already provided for you. The more you are able to do this the stronger you will become. The less you do this the weaker you become.
3 Ways to Make Sure You’re Walking with the Holy Spirit
Getting to this place of maximum impact is where you are living out what it means to walk in the Spirit. How then do you get there?
1. You must commit to prayer.
You cannot walk in the Spirit if you never pray. Prayer is more than just a spiritual exercise or discipline. Prayer is really your lifeline. The way we connect our spirit with the Holy Spirit is through prayer. Worship can be a part of prayer. There has to be a place in your life where you get into God’s presence. You cannot grow or function without this. Our sacred place.
Are you struggling? Do you have many struggles in your life?
There is a direct correlation between time spent with God and struggles that are overcome. The reason is, when you make room for the Holy Spirit, he empowers you to overcome the struggles of the flesh. This is walking in the Spirit. Anytime we are wrestling with some sin, there is a guarantee, prayer was absent. We are not plugged in. There was no other outcome because if you don’t have the influence of the Holy Spirit you are left to your own devices and that is no match for your sinful nature.
2 . You must commit to the Word.
Many people don’t connect reading the Bible with walking in the Spirit. How then can you connect these two? The Word of God gives you instruction on how to live and the Spirit of God gives you the power to do it. The Spirit of God and the Word of God work in cooperation with each other. They are not competitors but teammates who help move you toward becoming the person God wants you to be. Remember what David said in the Psalms,
I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. – Psalm 119:11
We hide God’s Word in our hearts and it’s his Word that teaches us how to live. Then God gives us his Holy Spirit and when we walk in cooperation he gives us the strength and ability to live out the word. When you commit to the Word the Holy Spirit will help you do what God wants.
3. You must commit to obedience.
Without obedience, it does not matter how much you pray or how much you read the Bible. Without obedience, those things are just nice things to do and you are actually deceived. Consider what James says, "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." – James 1:22
When you walk in the Spirit he gives you the desire to obey. The desire grows not out of obligation but because he forms in you a heart that grows to love God more. The more you love him the more you want to obey him. When you are walking in the Spirit you will not only read the Bible he will help you do what it says. This is why walking in the Spirit is so wonderful.
God has given you the Holy Spirit. One of the purposes is to help you. He will help you to pray which will give you the strength you need. He will move you to read the word which will give you the wisdom you need and show you how to live. Finally, he will help you to obey what God desires you to do. In other words, walking in the Spirit impacts every aspect of your life. From this point forward when you think of what it means to walk in the Spirit, you don’t have to treat it as if it is some mystical thing. It is far more practical than that. It should be a very normal part of your Christian life for one simple reason. The Holy Spirit lives inside you. Because he does, he will give you what you need to live the life he wants. Your job is to stay plugged in and when you do, you will truly walk in the Spirit.
God wants all of us to enter into a true sanctification process with Him so that He can begin the process of molding, shaping, and transforming us into the express image of His Son Jesus Christ. He wants to make us into a better and more holy people. He wants to transform us by the renewing of our minds. He wants to put right thinking into our thought process.
In the “Sanctification,” It is by the power of the Holy Spirit that this sanctification process is done with you in this life.
You have to be willing to work in cooperation with the Holy Spirit once He begins to start this sanctification process within you.
When God the Father purposely isolates and spells out 9 specific qualities that will be coming direct from His Holy Spirit – then He is really letting you know the extreme importance of these specific fruits.
This sanctification process is a two way street.
God is more than willing and anxious to do His part – but you will have to be willing to do your part. And your part will be to learn what changes God will want to make with you – and then start to live, walk, and operate in those specific changes once the Holy Spirit starts this supernatural, sanctification process within you.
This part God cannot do for you.
Jesus gave Peter the power and ability to be able to walk on water. But there was one thing Peter had to do before that supernatural power was released to him. He had to get out of the boat and start walking straight forward on that power.
It was only when he got out of the boat and started walking straight forward did the supernatural power of God manifest that allowed him to literally walk on water!
It’s the exact same way in this sanctification realm with the Lord. God, through the Holy Spirit, will give you the supernatural power to change, transform, and sanctify you – but you will have to be like Peter and be willing to live and walk in that supernatural power before it can really start to work to change and sanctify you.
To those of you who will decide to enter into this sanctification process with the Lord – realize that all of this will not occur overnight. The Holy Spirit will set the pace and timetable that He will want to work with you on. You can perfectly trust Him to handle each of the areas that He will want to get into.
Though some of this may be a bit painful at times, since none of us likes to admit that we have anything that needs to be changed, let the Holy Spirit take you as far as He will want to go with you in this realm – and I guarantee you that your life and your state of well-being will all be changed for the better – much better!
1-29-2024
Deb Miller Robinsons
Highlights - Michael Bradley 8-23, 9 Fruits of the Spirit/ Sanctification https://prayway.com/articles/9_Fruits_of_the_Holy.html
Fruit of the Spirit https://www.christianity.com/wiki/bible/how-is-love-a-fruit-of- the-spirit.html