VIDEO Root and Fruit

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

 

Every gardener knows two things: The fruit depends on the root, and fruit happens naturally—fruit cannot be “willed” to appear. “Root” refers to the kind of plant it is—tomato, squash, bean, or other plant. Plants naturally produce their own kind of fruit, not the fruit of a different plant. And healthy plants naturally produce their fruit; it cannot be forced to appear.

In spiritual terms, the New Testament speaks of both root and fruit. In Colossians 2:7, Paul wrote that we are “rooted and built up in [Christ].” In other words, we are in Christ, born again to become different beings than we were before. In plant terms, whatever fruit Christ produced in His life, we should reproduce in our life. Paul also wrote of that fruit, calling it “the fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22-23). That fruit cannot be willed into existence by us. It is the result of the Spirit living in us.

If you want to manifest love, joy, peace, and other attributes of Christ, you must be rooted in Him by faith. From the root comes the supernatural fruit. Make it a priority to demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit to others today.

Fruit is evidence of the root. John Blanchard

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Galatians 5:22 – In Depth – Pastor Chuck Smith – Bible Studies

Better Together

All the believers were together and had everything in common. Acts 2:44

Marie, a single working mom, rarely missed church or Bible study. Each week, she rode the bus to and from church with her five children and helped with set up and clean up.

One Sunday, the pastor told Marie that some church members had donated gifts for the family. One couple provided the family a house with reduced rent. Another couple offered her a job with benefits at their coffee shop. A young man gave her an old car he’d rebuilt and promised to serve as her personal mechanic. Marie thanked God for the joy of living in a community devoted to serving God and each other.

Though we may not all be able to give as generously as Marie’s church family, God’s people are designed to help each other. The gospel writer Luke described believers in Jesus as “devoted” to the “apostles’ teaching and to fellowship” (Acts 2:42). When we combine our resources, we can work together to help those in need like the first believers in Jesus did (vv. 44–45). As we grow closer to God and each other, we can care for one another. Witnessing God’s love demonstrated through His people’s actions can lead others to a saving relationship with Jesus (vv. 46–47).

We can serve others with a smile or a kind deed. We can offer a financial gift or a prayer. As God works in and through us, we’re simply better together.

By:  Xochitl Dixon

Reflect & Pray

Why is it important to experience a community devoted to serving God and each other? How can you serve someone selflessly and generously this week?

Loving Father, please help me see those in need and serve You by serving others.

For further study, read Understanding the Bible: The Book of Acts.

The Promises of God

Because it is impossible for our holy God to lie, we can trust Him completely. Hebrews 6:10-20

Have you ever felt as if there’s a promise God failed to keep? If so, then today’s passage is for you. Let’s look at three things we can learn from it.

1. There is no one greater than the Lord. He has infinite power, knowledge, and wisdom. Nothing can thwart His purposes, so everything He commits to do, He will do. Today’s passage reassures us that the Lord never fails His children, even if we have to wait for His answer.
2. God is unchangeable. That means His Word and His plans for the ultimate good of His children do not change. You can count on Him to do whatever He says He will do. Though everything around us changes, our heavenly Father never wavers.
3. It’s impossible for God to lie. He is true and the source of all truth. Because He’s holy, there is no sin in Him. All His commitments are based on His truthfulness.

A promise is valuable only if the one making it is trustworthy. Since God alone perfectly meets this qualification, we can base our entire life on the certainty of His promises. What’s more, His absolute faithfulness means we can also be sure of His devotion and unconditional love.

Praising Yahweh at All Times

“And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison….At midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God.” (Acts 16:23, 25)

In this world, we live every day with trouble (Job 5:7). How should believers in Christ cope with this reality?

In Paul’s missionary travels recorded in Acts 16, God directed Silas and him to Philippi, where they found themselves beaten, tortured, and left for dead in a dungeon. Yet, they reacted to this trouble by singing praises to God! What enabled them to respond this way? The answer—they filtered their dire situation through two awesome realities found in Psalm 100: “Know ye that the LORD he is God” (v. 3) and “the LORD is good” (v. 5).

The full verse of Psalm 100:3 reads, “Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.” Paul lived life knowing that Yahweh was the potter and he was the clay, just an earthen vessel employed in the Lord’s service (2 Corinthians 4:7). Although Paul faced countless trials, he didn’t “fear” evil, for the Shepherd’s “rod and staff” comforted him (Psalm 23:4). Our Shepherd, like Paul’s, is a loving and caring Shepherd (Psalm 78:13).

Not only did Paul know that Yahweh is God, he also knew that “the LORD is good” (Psalm 100:5). God’s steadfast love motivates all He does. Both truths are preceded with the following injunctions to praise God: “Make a joyful noise” (v. 1), “serve the LORD with gladness” (v. 2), “come before his presence with singing” (v. 2), “enter into his gates with thanksgiving” (v. 4), and “be thankful unto him” (v. 4).

Like with Paul and Silas in prison, praise and thanksgiving should characterize all believers who truly know that Yahweh is God and Yahweh is good. CM

Pressure on the Heart

Thus shall ye do in the fear of the Lord, faithfully, and with a perfect heart…Deal courageously, and the Lord shall be with the good. —2 Chronicles 19:9, 11

Now how does this power operate? At its purest it is an unmediated force directly applied by the Spirit of God to the spirit of man.

The wrestler achieves his ends by the pressure of his physical body upon the body of his opponent; the teacher by the pressure of ideas upon the mind of the student; the moralist by the pressure of duty upon the conscience of the disciple. So the Holy Spirit performs His blessed work by direct contact with the human spirit….

The Spirit of God may use a song, a sermon, a good deed, a text or the mystery and majesty of nature, but always the final work will be done by the pressure of the inliving Spirit upon the human heart. POM090-091

The Spirit’s first work is to cleanse us, to separate us, to sanctify us, to dedicate us wholly to God. Then as the property of God, He takes possession of us for God and uses us for His service and glory alone. HS071

“Flaming Arrows”

The Lord stood with me and strengthened me … So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth.—2 Timothy 4:17

The main purpose of the Roman shield was to protect soldiers from the fiery darts thrown at them by the enemy. These darts, made either of wood or metal, were covered with inflammable material and set alight immediately before being thrown. Enemies would throw these at each other in great numbers and from all directions so as to produce confusion. When thus attacked, a soldier would hold up the shield in front of him, allowing the fiery darts to land on the fireproof metal surface, from which they would drop away harmlessly.

The apostle says that we Christians need a “shield of faith”—in order “to extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one.” An understanding of what these “flaming arrows” are is essential if we are to stand firm against the adversary. Have you ever gone to bed at night feeling perfectly happy, only to wake in a sad mood? If there was no obvious physical or psychological reason for this, the chances are that you have experienced one of Satan’s “flaming arrows.”

Sometimes they come as evil thoughts that intrude suddenly into our thinking, often at the most incongruous times. We may be reading the Bible, we may be praying, when all of a sudden some filthy thought flashes into our mind. It is a “flaming arrow” from the Devil. These do not come from inside us but from outside us. They strike us. Some thoughts do arise from within our carnal nature, but these of which I am speaking come from without—from Satan. And we are foolish if we do not recognize this and deal with them in this light.

Prayer

O Father, help me to be alert and able to recognize the “flaming arrows” of Satan when they are hurled at me. For I see that it is only when I recognize them that I can deal effectively with them. Give me insight and understanding. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Further Study

Jms 1:1-22; 1Co 10:13; 2Co 11:3

What is the progression in temptation?

What was Paul’s concern?

Grace, Mercy, and Peace

To Timothy, my true child in the faith.

Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.—1 Timothy 1:2

How you pray for your family members and friends is important. There is no better way to pray for someone you love than by following the example found in Scripture. Paul often asked for specific gifts from God for those He cared about. On Timothy’s behalf, Paul requested grace, mercy, and peace.

Grace is the unearned gifts the Father bestows on His children. The Lord relates to us only by His grace. His grace provided salvation though we deserved destruction (Eph. 2:8). His grace blesses us with the riches of heaven. His grace brings us peace in troublesome times. His grace brings us good things every day (1 Tim. 1:14).Mercy is God withholding the punishment we deserve because of our sinfulness. The consequences of our sin is death, yet Jesus paid this penalty for us (Rom. 6:23). God is long-suffering and will delay giving us our just punishment in order for us to have every opportunity to repent and to receive His gift of salvation (2 Pet. 3:9). Peace is the state of mind and heart we experience when we are confident of God’s grace and mercy toward us. Peace comes in knowing that God’s grace will sustain us, even in our most difficult crises (Phil. 4:7). God assures us that even when we fail miserably in our commitments to Him, He will show mercy upon us. This assurance gives us peace.

The peace God gives is fundamentally different from the peace the world offers (John 14:27). The world seeks to sedate us from the problems we face through counseling or drugs or temporary pleasures. The peace that God gives goes right to the soul, relieving the heart and mind.

How are you praying for your loved ones? There could be no better request than asking the Lord to give them an abundance of His grace, His mercy, and His peace.