The Fruit of the Spirit (Summary)
“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 5:22,23 NLT).
All the fruit—one gift
I’ve included the Scripture and one thought from each post in this series. I hope that you find it useful.
Sent from the Father
“But when the Father sends the advocate as my representative--that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you” (John 14:26 NLT).
”Along with the Holy Spirit, we received fruit, that is, the Fruit of the Spirit.”
The Fruit of the Spirit (Love)
“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38,39 NIV).
“That’s right, God loves each and every one of us, and He always will, no matter what.”
The Fruit of the Spirit (Joy)
“Nehemiah said, ‘Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve. For the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10 NIV).
“Keith Moore ends his article with this: ‘That’s what the body of Christ is supposed to do—have fun and rejoice in our salvation. We’re supposed to enjoy the goodness of God. We’re supposed to be so blessed and happy that sinners look at us and say, ‘I want that! I want that kind of Christianity.’”
The Fruit of the Spirit (Peace)
“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth,
give I unto you” (John 14:27 KJV).
“Jesus leaves us peace, and His peace is not like the world’s peace. His peace is personal and it lasts forever.”
The Fruit of the Spirit (Patience)
“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time, we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9 NIV).
“Chances to grow in patience may be uncomfortable, but they do draw us closer to our Lord, so I thank Him for them.”
The Fruit of the Spirit (Kindness)
“She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue” (Proverbs 31:26 ESV).
“The teaching of kindness by the “wife of noble character” has grown from kindness within the family to the entire population of the world.”
The Fruit of the Spirit (Goodness)
“As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. ‘Good teacher,’ he asked, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life.’ “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good–except God alone.” (Mark 19:17,18 NIV).
“Make no mistake, we as Christians are being watched by non-Christians to see if we really do walk our talk. Those are the silent sermons we preach.”
Fruit of the Spirit (Faithfulness)
“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22,23 NIV).
“As surely as we know that the Sun will rise tomorrow; as surely as we know that Mt Rainier will still be there tomorrow; as surely as we know that the stars will fill the sky tonight; we can be more sure that God is faithful to love us.”
The Fruit of the Spirit (Gentleness)
“Come to me all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30 NIV).
“So let us be gentle and bring one more soul into the Kingdom of God.”
The Fruit of the Spirit (Self-control)
“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we are imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly, I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27 ESV).
“When my first act of self-control is to turn control over to Him by accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior, I am GUARANTEED eternity with Him. No athlete has ever won a prize better than that!”
All these things were given to us when we accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior. So we can say that we have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. All we have to do is use them!
Remember, my new book, "The Magnet of God: Creation Draws Us to Him," is available on Amazon as a KIndle book. Go there and read a sample of the 366 devotionals. If you like what you read, I ask you to consider purchasing a copy and telling all your friends about it! Thank you, and God bless you!
Ed Croyle
The Fruit of the Spirit (Self-control)
“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we are imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly, I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27 ESV).
The Christian's self-control
We are familiar with athletes and the necessity of keeping their bodies, their appetite, and their exercise routine under control. The time of an out-of-shape, overweight athlete able to compete with those who train has passed. Native ability isn’t enough to get it done--to be number one. So we, as Christians, must keep our lives, not just our bodies under, control. We need to also keep our minds, our emotions, our thoughts, and our spirits under control. And the way to do that most effectively is to submit our lives to Jesus Christ. So, for the Christian, self-control means to give control to our Lord. How can it be “self-control” if we give control to another? The first step in controlling ourselves is to decide who is best able to obtain for us the best outcome and the best way of living for our lives. The obvious answer is Jesus Christ. Once we have answered that question, the next step in “self-control” is to turn it over to Him. He is the only one who can give us eternal life in heaven, and we can agree that that is the best outcome for our lives. That’s the greatest prize ever given, and it is ours when we surrender control of ourselves to Him. An additional “prize” for giving Him control is that He will provide us with blessings while we are here on earth, our preparation place for eternity.
I don’t mean to say that we will always do as the Lord asks us. The Apostle Paul relates His difficulty with this in Romans 7:15: “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, and what I hate I do” (NIV). If Paul has difficulty with this, what chance do I have of always doing my Lord’s will? I, like Paul, am a human being, and I have a rebellious nature that rears its ugly head periodically. I know what’s right, and I don’t do it. BUT, and it’s a big but, I can repent and ask God for forgiveness. When I do that, Jesus erases, that’s right, erases, my sin—makes it as if it never happened--and I am not disqualified from receiving the eternal prize, heaven with Him. When my first act of self-control is to turn control over to Him by accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior, I am GUARANTEED eternity with Him. No athlete has ever won a prize better than that!
Thank you, Lord, for your patience with me.
We are familiar with athletes and the necessity of keeping their bodies, their appetite, and their exercise routine, under control. The time of an out of shape, overweight athlete able to compete with those who train has passed. Native ability isn’t enough to get it done--to be number one. So we, as Christians, must keep our lives, not just our bodies under, control. We need to also keep our minds, our emotions, our thoughts, and our spirits under control. And the way to do that most effectively is to submit our lives to Jesus Christ. So, for the Christian, self-control means to give control to our Lord. How can it be “self-control” if we give control to another? The first step in controlling ourselves is to decide who is best able to obtain for us the best outcome and the best way of living for our lives. The obvious answer is Jesus Christ. Once we have answered that question, the next step in “self-control” is to turn it over to Him. He is the only one who can give us eternal life in heaven, and we can agree, that that is the best outcome for our lives. That’s the greatest prize ever given, and it is ours when we surrender control of ourselves to Him. An additional “prize” for giving Him control is that He will provide us with blessings while we are here on earth, our preparation place for eternity.
I don’t mean to say that we will always do as the Lord asks us. The Apostle Paul relates His difficulty with this in Romans 7:15: “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, and what I hate I do” (NIV). If Paul has difficulty with this, what chance do I have of always doing my Lord’s will? I, like Paul, am a human being, and I have a rebellious nature that rears its ugly head periodically. I know what’s right, and I don’t do it. BUT, and it’s a big but, I can repent and ask God for forgiveness. When I do that, Jesus erases, that’s right, erases, my sin—makes it as if it never happened--and I am not disqualified from receiving the eternal prize, heaven with Him. When my first act of self-control is to turn control over to Him by accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior, I am GUARANTEED eternity with Him. No athlete has ever won a prize better than that!
Thank you, Lord, for your patience with me.
Don't forget my new book, "The Magnet of God: Creation draws Us to Him," an ebook now available on Amazon.com. Just type my name, Edwin Croyle, in the search box, and the book will appear. Thanks for checking it out. I was blessed greatly by writing it, and I pray that you will be equally blessed when you read it.
The Fruit of the Spirit (Gentleness)
“Come to me all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30 NIV).
Jesus tells us in Matthew 11:29 that He is gentle, and that if we follow His leading, He will give us rest. When life is difficult, Jeus calls us to Himself, and He will give us rest if we will learn from Him. When we allow ourselves to be yoked to Him, we learn from Him just as a younger ox learns from the older and stronger ox when they are yoked together. By being yoked to Jesus, we learn by example, and when we stay yoked to Him, the learning becomes imprinted in our hearts and minds, and we reflect His love to others.
Paul reinforces the learning of gentleness from our Lord in Philippians 4:5: “Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near” (NIV). In this section, Paul also tells us to rejoice and to present our petitions to God with thanksgiving. Rejoicing in the Lord and showing our trust in Him are both excellent witnesses of His faithfulness to us. A faithful witness can result in drawing others to Christ. Peter also reinforces this with his words in 1 Peter 3:15: “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect” (NIV). When we speak the message of Jesus Christ with gentleness, we show respect for other people’s thoughts and ideas. We do need to insist that Jesus Christ is the only answer to sin, but we can do so in a manner that does not speak down to others, but invites them to learn about His great love for all of us, and to accept His gift of forgiveness. If we shout and scream and demand, then we may engender an attitude of defensiveness that closes the ears of the listener. So let us be gentle and bring one more soul into the Kingdom of God.
Check out my new book, "The Magnet of God: Creation Draws us to Him," is now available as an ebook on Amazon and on Kobo. Type my name, "Edwin Croyle" in the search space on either Amazon or Kobo and my book will show up. Please take a few moments to preview this 366 day devotional with Scripture, message and appropriate photograph in each days message. I hope you enjoy what you read and will consider purchasing the book. And, if you like it, tell your freiends about it. Thank you, and may God bless you abundantly today!
The Fruit of the Spirit (Faithfulness)
“Because of the Lords’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22,23 N IV).
Mount Rainier, 1971
His compassions NEVER fail! No matter what we did yesterday, God still loves us today. His salvation is always available to us. He is faithful to love us every day. Hebrews 13:8 tells us, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (NIV). His love for us does not depend upon our love for Him, and His love for us does not depend on how much we strive to please Him. He loves each of us the same no matter how we behave. We can’t earn His love. We can’t lose His love. God IS faithful.
Was He faithful to love me on the day I was born? YES!, Was He faithful to love me on the day I accepted Jesus as Savior? YES! Was He faithful to love me the day I was baptized? YES! Was He faithful to love me the day that I questioned His faithfulness? YES! Was He faithful to love me the day I had choice words for the person who cut me off in traffic? YES! Was He faithful to love me on the day that I questioned His love for me? YES! Was He faithful to love me on the day that I ___________________________________________. You can fill in the blank with any day, any time, good or bad, and the answer is always YES! YES! YES! God is the embodiment of faithfulness. As surely as we know that the Sun will rise tomorrow; as surely as we know that Mt. Rainier will still be there tomorrow; as surely as we know that the stars will fill the sky tonight, we can be more sure that God is faithful to love us. There is no time that God does not love us, as unlovable as we may be.
I think I have made the point that God is faithful, but what about us? Are we faithful? Well, yes, to a point, we are faithful. You see, we were made in the image of God, so faithfulness is in us. God expects us to be faithful. Sometimes we disappoint Him, but He still expects us to be faithful. We are required to be faithful. Paul tells us that in I Corinthians 4:2: “Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful” (NIV). Each of us has been given a gift, a trust, that we are to use to forward the Kingdom of God. We are human and we fail at times. God understands that, and when we fail, because of His faithfulness, He still expects that we will be faithful tomorrow. It is my desire that I disappoint my Lord less as I grow in the knowledge of Him, and He believes that I will. If God expects me to do better in serving Him, then I can believe it too. The joy of the Lord is my strength, and knowing that I give Him joy when I am obedient to His commands, I can grow in obedience.
Thank you, Lord, for your unbounded faithfulness. It gives me joy and peace and comfort and confidence.
Reminder to checkout my book "The Magnet of God: Creation Draws Us to HIm" at Amazon.com. 366 daily devotions withScripture, message, and photography taken by Norma and me. Enter my name, Edwin Croyle, at the search box on Amazon.
The Fruit of the Spirit (Goodness)
“As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. ‘Good teacher,’ he asked, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life.’ “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good–except God alone.” (Mark 10:17,18 NIV).
Yes, God is good. We all know that. We’ve known that since we were little children--“God is great. God is good. Let us thank Him for our food. Amen.” I’m sure you remember that children’s prayer of blessing before a meal. We also remember from memorizing Psalm 23. Verse six says, “Surely your goodness and love shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (NIV). David tells us that the goodness of the Lord is always with us, and we get to live in His house. A lesser-known Scripture, Nahum 1:7, says, “The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him” (NIV). This verse promises that through the goodness of God, He is our refuge--a safe place to be when trouble strikes. David tells us in Psalm 27:13, “I remain confident of this: "I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living” (NIV). The goodness of the Lord is bestowed upon us now, as Christians, while we are living on the earth. We don’t have to wait until we die to experience it.
The goodness of God is a great joy and comfort for us, and it comes from His love for us. That is never going away.
But what about us, how can we be good, and does God expect us to be good? I can never be as good as God, but I can reflect His love and His goodness. Just like the moon shines by reflecting the light of the Sun, we can shine by reflecting the light of the Son. Ephesians 2:10 tells us that God prepared us to do good: “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (NIV). God prepared good works for us even before we were born. He has faith that we will do them. Even though we may sometimes disappoint Him by our actions, He expects that we will do good works. Make no mistake, we as Christians are being watched by non-Christians to see if we really do walk our talk. Those are the silent sermons we preach.
We are directed by Romans 12:2: “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will” (NIV). When we are attentive to God’s Word, living by its precepts, we are good witnesses of His goodness, and we can then draw people to Him, and that’s what we are told to do in the Great Commission--Matthew 28:18-20. In fact, God requires us to do good as it says in Micah 6:8: “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (NIV).
Okay, we know that God is good and that He requires us to follow His lead and reflect His goodness by showing His love. All we have to do is to love mercy and walk humbly with our Lord.
Don't forget my new book, "The Magnet of God: Creation Draws Us to Him," is now available on Amazon as a Kindle book. The book contains 366 devotionals similar in form to this one--Scripture, photograph, and message. To preview or buy the book go to Amazon and enter my name, "Edwin Croyle" in the search box. The book will appear, and you can preview it there. I hope that you like it.
