 “The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each morning. I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!’ The Lord is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for him. So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the Lord.” Lamentations 3:22-26 (NLT).
God defines Himself as love, and He also defines His love as faithful and impossible to quench. His faithfulness is incredible, producing mercies for you every morning. God’s love is the reason for His faithfulness. He personally cares for you and loves you. There is nothing that can separate you from His love that has been given to you through Jesus Christ. The reason for this is because God is trustworthy. He is faithful and can be trusted in all situations. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: ‘For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’ 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 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 8:35-39 (NIV). All of your spiritual warfare is based on the faithfulness of God to never stop loving you and never stop protecting you. Through His death, Jesus Christ purchased you and justified you. Because God is faithful, He raised Jesus from the dead. Through His resurrection, Jesus gives you new life and recreates you as a saint inside. Because He loves you, Jesus gives you His authority to command Satanic attackers to leave and to live in mental, emotional, and physical freedom. You can trust God to back you up in battle, just like you can trust God to never stop loving you. As you learn how much God loves you and how faithful He is in His relationship with you, you will begin to produce more faithfulness towards Him and others. As you love God and others more, you will be more dependable in your relationships. The root to being faithful is knowing God’s love and giving that love to Him and others. What is the fruit of faithfulness? The Greek word translated in Galatians 5:23 as “faithfulness” actually means “faith.” The Bible translators use the word “faithfulness” because it is logical that the Spirit produces “trustworthiness” inside of believers. There is a close connection between the fruits of faith and faithfulness. Faith is trust and faithfulness is the action of being trustworthy. Do you believe God? Do you trust His promises? Will He be faithful to you? If the answers are “yes,” then you can pass those blessings on to others. You can be trusted to keep your promises, to forgive others, to keep God’s commandments. Prayer: “Dear Heavenly Father, Please remind me of your faithfulness today. I trust You and know that You love me. Please help me to know your love and give that love to others. Please help me to trust You and be someone who others can trust. In Jesus’ name amen.”
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 “The godly people in the land are my true heroes! I take pleasure in them!” Psalm 16:3 (NLT).
Who are your heroes? Who do you admire? Who do you use as a measurement for success? “The godly people in the land are my true heroes!” Jesus said that there is only one who is good and that is God. I believe that Jesus meant that God is the only Being who is 100% good inside and 100% good in every thought, emotion and action. When you get to Heaven, you will be like this. Your inside being (you) will match your inside thoughts and emotions (your soul) and your actions will always be good, too. Each of us has had a horrific past of being in rebellion against God and sinning. Jesus came to Earth to replace that record of wrongs with His record of good. This path of obedience to God’s will took Jesus to the trauma and death of the Roman trial and crucifixion, where Jesus atoned for your past, present and future wrongs. With all of your wrongs wiped clean, you can now focus on the gift that you’ve been given: You are a saint who can now be good. What happened to the old you who was a bad person and sinner? That person was crucified with Jesus and he has gone away forever. When Jesus arose from the dead, a new person rose with Him and that new person is the new you. The new you is made in Christ’s image and is good, like Christ. The new you has the capacity to be good and to live in Christlikeness. Some people think about sanctification as a process of cleaning sinful habits out of your life. While it is that, sanctification is the positive process of learning how to feel, think, and act according to who you are in Christ: A good person who is created for good works. As a new creature in Christ, you have been recreated by God as good. You are His masterpiece and God has already planned many specific good works for you to accomplish. One of the most powerful ways to be proactive about producing goodness is to practice responding daily life using the mind of Christ. How would Jesus think about this person or situation? How would Jesus respond? “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.” Romans 12:2 (NIV). Intentionally, change how you think about yourself and others. Stop trusting your culture’s mindset and train yourself to think like Jesus. Have God’s perspective, instead of being negative or judgmental. How do you think about disappointments or stresses? Do you frame your thoughts and emotions using God’s perspective? As you garden your soul to produce good things, you will create a bank account of goodness. “A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart.” Luke 6:45 (NLT). “He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8 (NKJV). Prayer: “Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for recreating me into a good person. Please show me where my thoughts are negative and where my emotions hide bitterness. Help me to do justly, love mercy and live in humility with You. In Jesus’ name amen.”  “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” Ephesians 4:32 (NKJV).
Have you ever encountered a person who was hard hearted and unkind? What’s inside of his heart? Bitterness, unforgiveness, disappointment, cruelty? Think about the opposite type of person. This person is tender hearted and kind. Inside of his heart is the capacity to forgive and overlook offenses. Which type of person do you want to be? As a saint, by nature, you are a loving and kind person. Through the Holy Spirit, you have immense potential for kindness. “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” Ezekiel 36:26 (NKJV). You no longer have a heart of stone. Your heart is soft and pliable, ready soil for sprouting and growing kindness. Your heart has God’s laws of love written inside of it and your mind is preprogrammed for kindness because of the work of the Holy Spirit. “This is the new covenant I will make with my people on that day, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” Now, you are able to intentionally follow God’s laws of love and kindness. Ephesians 4:32 says that you should be kind, compassionate and forgiving, following the example of God who forgave you. Reflect on the many times that God has been kind and forgiving to you. What was God’s attitude when He was kind to you? Copy His attitude and use your mind and emotions to intentionally give kindness to others. “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.” Proverbs 4:23 (NLT). Kindness is a fruit that can become rotten, if the emotions are not guarded and gardened. There are a couple of things that you can do to keep the soil of your heart full of nutrition to feed the plant that produces kindness. “Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many.” Hebrews 12:15b (NLT). Bitterness kills kindness. If you have bitterness, you need to give the injustice to Jesus. What are you bitter about? That shouldn’t have happened to you, but it did. Release the person who hurt you from their debt from the injustice that they did to you. Say, “I choose to forgive (name of person who hurt you) and I release him to Jesus. In Jesus’ name, spirit of bitterness and spirit of injustice leave me now.” This will free you to be kind from a place of healing. “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). Kindness can be quenched by tiredness. If you are tired of doing good, then give that burden to Jesus. Say, “Jesus, I give you the burden of these good works that I’m doing. Please take this burden away. I rest in You, Jesus. Please give me strength to continue to be good and kind. "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud." 1 Corinthians 13:4 (NIV). Pride poisons kindness and turns it into selfishness. Love is kind and doesn’t expect a repayment for the kindness. Examine your motives for being kind. Have a simple motivation, which is to bless others with kindness because God has blessed you. Prayer: “Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for giving me freedom from guilt. Thank you for being kind to me and adopting me into your family. Please help me be healed inside and able to live in an attitude of kindness. In Jesus’ name amen.”  “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (NIV).
How do you define patience? What do you do, think, or say that makes you a patient person? Are there situations where being patient is very difficult? Let’s begin with the source of patience. God defines Himself as the Being of Love. God’s love is the source of all of His patience. Think about some of the times in your past when God was patient with you. Why was He patient with you? It is because He looks at you through the lens of grace. When God sees you, He sees Christ’s perfection and He sees your potential to learn how to be more Christlike. He chooses to be kind and patient with you, not giving you a harsh response. He chooses not to be frustrated with you, and He instead gives you grace. The reason why patience is difficult is because patience requires you to adjust your expectations. You expected a different result, action, or circumstance. So, to be patient, you have to release your control and adjust your expectations. Why would you do this? Because God has done this for you. He knew you couldn’t be perfect, so He became human and perfectly obeyed all of the law’s expectations for you. He adjusted His expectations so that you have time to grow in your obedience. Not only that, but God also sent His Holy Spirit to mentor, teach and grow you, specifically in the area of becoming like Jesus. Not only is God patient with you, He is also helping you become a better person. Love fulfills the law of God. Jesus demonstrated love and fulfilled the law of God. The law of God is important because love is important to God. Can you see how God’s love through Jesus has set you free to be loving without being perfect? Of course, you want to be perfect. God forgives you and is patient with you when you make big mistakes. God waits patiently for you when you become stubborn and won’t listen. God is patient with you because it is a fruit of His love for you, and that love is a free gift. You don’t have to earn His patience. He gives it to you because He loves you. If you are receiving God’s love, forgiveness and patience, can you be loving, forgiving and patient towards yourself and others? Many of us are experiential learners. Can you learn to be patient with others because you’ve experienced God’s patience with you? Do you have a button on your soul that is connected to frustration or anger? How do you turn off that button and respond in patience? Say this out loud, “In Jesus’ mighty name, I renounce my responses of frustration and anger when people (the action that ignites your anger). I have received God’s patience with me because He loves me. I choose to love others and be patient with them.” If you want to be patient, focus on being who you already are in Christ. You are a new creation who shares in the divine nature, which is love. You are filled with the Holy Spirit, who is love. Be you. Be loving. Be forgiving. Be patient. Give grace to others. Prayer: “Dear Heavenly Father, Please forgive my sins of anger, frustration, and control of others. Please fill me with love for You and love for others. Please give me Your patience to forgive and be understanding of other people. In Jesus’ name, amen.”  “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” John 14:27 (NIV).
The peace of Jesus is the antidote for stress and fear. As a believer, you already have the peace of Jesus with you. The Holy Spirit, who produces peace, lives inside of you. All of your peace flows from having a right relationship with God. Through His life and death, Jesus purchased your position of good standing with God. You are pardoned and are at peace with your Creator. “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 5:1 (NKJV). You are 100% accepted. As God’s child, you are living in His favor and under His power and protection. Your future is secure. You can trust all of life’s unknowns to Him because He knows your future. There are several avenues by which God gives you peace. One of them is through your prayers. “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7 (NKJV). The Holy Spirit will produce peace inside of you when you communicate with God and when you are thankful. As you thank God, something happens inside of your emotions and mind. The peace of God guards against attackers, stress, and worry. Another way that God gives you peace is when you use His perspective to think about your life. As you intentionally have a godly perspective, you will experience God’s peace. “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!” Isaiah 26:3 (NLT). As you consider God’s character, you will find His peace. As you depend on God’s goodness and trust His wisdom, you will feel His peace. Jesus is called the Prince of Peace in Isaiah 9:6. As the king of the Kingdom of Heaven, Jesus’s rule is designed to bring peace on Earth, specifically into the hearts, minds, and lives of believers. The love of Jesus should now characterize your lifestyle, which results in you being filled with His peace. In fact, God’s peace will reign in your heart, as you emulate Jesus who is the Prince of Peace. “Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.” Colossians 3:12-15 (NLT). Finally, when you clothe yourself in love, your soul will be ruled by Christ’s peace. The peace will also permeate the fellowship that you have with other believers. Be like Jesus and forgive others, while loving God and loving others. Let the peace of God guard your mind and rule your heart. Prayer: “Dear Heavenly Father, I receive Your peace and I rest in Your acceptance of me as Your holy child. Please guard my heart and mind with Your peace. I surrender stress and choose to trust in You. Please surround me with Your peace. In Jesus’ name amen.”  “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23 (NKJV).
Joy is possible when you have a combination of contentment, trust, and hope. No matter what the circumstance, you can choose to be content in God’s plans, trust in God’s purpose, and hope for His deliverance. When you practice these three things, you can have joy. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit, which grows out of your inner being. Joy comes from inside of you when you view life through the lens of Jesus’ perspective. “Through the victories you gave, his glory is great; you have bestowed on him splendor and majesty. Surely you have granted him unending blessings and made him glad with the joy of your presence. For the king trusts in the Lord; through the unfailing love of the Most High he will not be shaken.” Psalm 21:5-7 (NIV). There are several ingredients for joy in Psalm 21:5-7. First, this text is prophetic about Jesus and His victories for you. The perspective of Heaven is that you are no longer required to be perfect. Now, you can learn and grow in your godliness. Forgiving yourself for making mistakes because Jesus didn’t make any mistakes gives you joy. Next, Jesus has great glory and majesty. As His sibling, you share in His glory and majesty. You get to think like Him. You get to emulate Him. You get to sit next to Jesus and He shares His authority with you. Living out this purpose brings you joy. One more thing to see in these verses is that Jesus find joy in God’s presence. Through all of life’s situations, God is with you and He is for you. When you’re in His presence, you will find the source of your joy. Let your face smile on us, Lord. You have given me greater joy than those who have abundant harvests of grain and new wine. In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, O Lord, will keep me safe.” Psalm 4:6b-8 (NLT). In God’s presence, you will find the blessing of His smile. The joy that you encounter in God’s presence is characterized by trust, hope and contentment. When you spend time with God, you can receive His rest. When you feel anxious or stressed, say this out loud, “Jesus, I receive your rest. I find my joy in your presence.” Remember, the joy of the Lord comes from spending time with Him and from having His perspective about your life’s journey. Since joy is a fruit of the Spirit, every believer can experience joy, even when you are not feeling your best. “Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength!” Nehemiah 8:10b (NLT). How do you invite God into your daily life? Do you talk to Him or ask His will? Do you read His Bible? What is your usual perspective on life? Do you view your experiences through a lens of hope? Prayer: “Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for your smile and for being pleased with me. Please fill my heart with joy and fill my soul with your presence. I trust you and rest in your tender care. In Jesus’ name amen.”  “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” 1 John 4:7-8 (NKJV).
God defines Himself as love. The Greek word for “love” is “agape,” which means a love without conditions. God does not require you to meet any conditions before He will love you. You don’t have to measure up to His expectations before He will love you. Agape love is given freely and is undeserved. What kind of person do you have to be in order for God to love you? The answer is you need to just be you. Believe that God is love and accept His love. “In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” 1 John 4:9-11 (NKJV). God expressed Himself by loving you and sending His Son Jesus to absorb all of His wrath and justice for your sins. God loved you more than He valued for His own Son’s life. That is an accurate expression of agape love. Sin is essentially not loving God or not loving others. Over your lifetime, you have repeatedly broken God’s commands, which can be summarized in two commands: Love God and love others. Since God’s character is composed of love, He made up for your lack of love and purchased your position of acceptance through the life and death of Jesus Christ. While living on Earth, Jesus perfectly obeyed God’s laws by loving God and loving others in every situation. His life exemplified how to initiate love and how to respond to others in love. Jesus did what you can’t do. He perfectly implemented God’s laws, living out God’s character of love every day. Jesus’ perfect record of love is credited to you and your imperfect record was taken by Him to the cross. He became sin, so that you can become love, too. If God defines Himself as love, then Jesus Christ is 100% love because He is God. How do you view yourself? Do you know that you are 100% loved by God? “For we are God’s (Love’s) handiwork, created in Christ Jesus (Love) to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10 (NIV). As a believer, you get to be you. But, who are you really? “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ (Love), he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV). You are a new creation in Love (Christ). Love is wired into your character. Your identity is that you are 100% loved and that you are a loving person. To love God and to love other people is your nature. This is one reason why a fruit of the Spirit in your life is LOVE. Prayer: “Dear Heavenly Father, Thank You that You love me. Thank you that I am already loved and accepted by You. Thank you that you have created me as a loving person. Please help me love without expectations or conditions. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”  “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23 (NKJV).
When you were a child, your parent probably warned you not to be around naughty friends. Your dad or mom did not want you to pick up any of their bad habits, attitudes or bad language. The opposite was true, as well. Your parent wanted you to have friends who were a good influence on you. To grow spiritual fruit, you must be in close contact with the Friend who is a very good influence for you. Something to notice is that each of the fruits of the Spirit are produced by one of God’s attributes. As you meditate on and experience God’s attributes, you will grow spiritually and produce more fruit. God is love! Before time began, He chose you to be the object of His love. As your heart begins to fill up on the realization of how much God loves and accepts you, you will produce the fruit of love in your life. You will love and appreciate God more. You will love, forgive, and appreciate other people more. Invest in your relationship with God and you will produce more love. God’s personality produces joy. If you spend time in God’s presence, you will feel joy. “You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Psalm 16:11 (NKJV). Joy is a fruit of the Spirit that produces more other fruit. “Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10b (NKJV). As you experience fellowship with God through worship, prayer, His church, and abiding in Him, you will be filled with joy and strength. God calls His Son the Prince of Peace. When King Jesus reigns in your soul, you will know peace. Jesus paid for your peace by redeeming you from your sin, the curse, Satan’s kingdom, Hell and God’s wrath. Your soul can live at peace with your past and at peace with your God. Jesus also gives you peace in your current situation. You can trade your anxiety and stress for His peace. If you apply His precepts to your lifestyle, you will experience more financial, spiritual and relational peace. The Personality, work and words of Jesus produce peace in your soul and in your lifestyle. God is patient. Have you experienced His patience? Patience, by definition, is extending grace to the world around you. If your plans are interrupted, show undeserved kindness and be patient. When your neighbor gossips against you, be patient and don’t retaliate. Kindness and patience are fruits of grace that you give as free gifts to others. Think about which situations make you most impatient. How can you give grace to those people or those situations? A key to producing patience is to meditate on God’s goodness. None of us deserve His goodness because of our sin and continued sinful tendencies. How has God been good to you? Has He forgiven you for a lot of things? Has He covered up mistakes that you’ve made? Has God given you provision when you didn’t deserve it? Has God answered your prayers? God’s goodness comes from His inner being. He is, by nature, good. Meditate on God’s personality of goodness. Think about His goodness in action. Give that to someone else by being patient. Prayer: “Dear Heavenly Father, Please remind me of how good You have been to me. Let me be like You. Let me experience your goodness and give that to others. In Jesus’ name amen.”  “So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.” Deuteronomy 8:3 (NKJV).
This verse reveals two key components to connecting with God. First, God responds favorably to humility. Also, God reaches in and feeds your spirit through His words. To connect with God, learn how to be humble and learn to listen to His words. “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” James 4:6b (NKJV). To grow in grace and produce spiritual fruit, you must grow in humility. Humility is like the soil from which spiritual fruit sprouts. Humility invites the rain of God’s grace into your soul, producing His fruits in your heart, mind and life. What is humility? Let’s begin with what it is not. It is not proud and it is not manipulative. True humility is knowing who you are and acting accordingly. You realize that you are helpless without God’s help. You know that you are dependent on God for everything, from your heart beating to your success. If you are humble, you know that God created you and is infinitely more worthy than you. Humility is understanding who you are and being true to that identity. Where would you be without God and His grace? Who are you now because of God and His grace? The second component in Deuteronomy 8:3 for connecting with God is to “know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.” You must consume God’s word daily or you will become malnourished and unfruitful. How do you satisfy your spirit’s nutritional needs with God’s word? There are many tables at which to dine on God’s word. First, you can read, memorize, and meditate on God’s words in the Bible. A balanced diet of God’s word must include daily ingesting His Scriptures. When do you read the Bible? Is it every morning, at lunch, or every evening? The second way that you can partake of God’s delicious word is through a relationship with Jesus because Jesus is the Word of God. The Bible is God’s written word and Jesus is God’s word personified. “Then Jesus said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’ Then they said to Him, ‘Lord, give us this bread always.’ And Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. John 6:32-36 (NKJV). To learn from Jesus, you must believe that He is God in the flesh and you must trust that He knows the Father’s will for every part of your life. In John 6, Jesus connects the Deuteronomy text about God’s word to Himself. He states that He is the word of God. How do you feed on Jesus? Trust Him. Watch Him. Learn from Him. Mimic Him. Obey Him. Talk to Him. Trust Jesus enough to apply His words to your daily life. Trust Jesus enough to satisfy your soul with His thoughts. Prayer: “Dear Heavenly Father, I want to know you better. I want know your words and know your ways. Please help me to trust in Jesus and learn from Him. In Jesus’ name amen.”  “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23 (NKJV).
You were created to produce these fruits! When you became a new creature in Christ, you began to think, feel and act more like Jesus. The Holy Spirit moved into your soul and you became the temple of God. One of the Holy Spirit’s primary jobs is to produce His fruit in your heart, mind, and life. Producing spiritual fruit requires a combination of factors. First, you must be a new creation in Christ, which means that you are a saint and created to desire holiness. Second, you must have the source of spiritual fruit, the Holy Spirit, living inside of you. He works to give you a longing for godliness. He also creates a discontentment for sin inside of you. Third, you must invite into your soul the elements that are necessary for growing fruit by reading the Bible, praying, and fellowshipping with the family of God. You must participate in the means of grace. The first two of these factors depend on God. He is the one that changes you inside from a sinner into a saint. And, He is the one who lives inside of you and grows your desires to be fruitful. The last factor depends on you! You are the one who must respond to God’s offer of grace by opening the valve on the pipelines of grace. Imagine huge pipes coming down from Heaven and ending right in your home. When you want to grow spiritually, you reach over and turn on the valve of prayer. You spend time talking to God and also listening to Him. After praying, you turn on the spigot of Biblical wisdom and you read the Bible, asking God to show you how to apply it. Can you see how meditating about how to apply the Bible could produce the fruits of the Spirit in your life? “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17 (NKJV). Faith is knowing God’s truth and depending in its validity enough to apply the truth in your life. How can you know God’s truth? By reading the Bible. How can you trust Him enough to live according to His instructions? The answer is that the you need to participate in God’s plan to give you faith by daily reading the Bible. “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” James 5:16 (NIV). Prayer and rejecting personal sin can lead to being healed, inside and out. Prayer also promotes more righteousness in you. The more you apply God’s word and pray for righteousness, the more fruit you will see in your life. Participating in the means of grace creates a synergy that produces spiritual fruits. Prayer focuses your attention to God’s will and creates a partnership with Jesus. Meditating on the Bible aligns your thoughts with the mind of Christ, resulting in you being proactive, making decisions to be godly. As you experience God’s power and provision, you dig deeper into His character and discover more of His faithfulness and goodness. From all of this comes more fruit. Which of the pipelines of grace are you opening up most often in your life? Prayer: “Dear Heavenly Father, Please make me very fruitful. Please give me a hunger for your Bible. Please help me to give you my time and attention. Please become better friends with me and teach me to be fruitful. In Jesus’ name amen.” |
