Brother Paul
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- Aug 1, 2012
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The fruit of the Holy Spirit
In my time with the Lord I have heard a couple of different views on the Fruit of the Holy Spirit, and would love to hear what the Lord has given each of us at our different places on the journey with Him.
So the first thing I found is that the Scriptures are replete with metaphors and parables about the producing of fruit, the bearing of fruit, being fruitless, and so on. Food trees produce good fruit and bad trees produce bad fruit (so there are different kinds of fruit). When Jesus found the fruitless fig tree in Matthew 21 we see His view that fruitlessness is not desirable to Him. In another place He tells us how we can tell the true from the false by their fruit (that which their experience with the Lord has produced). In the Tares and the Wheat parable we see how both true wheat and darnel wheat look almost identical at first but over time one can discern the difference.
Secondly, there is a major difference between gifts and fruit. As for gifts, among those who have His Spirit in them (Romans 8:9) the Spirit administers them severally as He wills. But as for fruit, is it the product of sowing to the Spirit or just something that manifests without our cooperation and yielding? Fruit after all must be planted and cultivated and different fruits take different lengths of time to give their yield. But one thing of sowing that any farmer or gardener knows is that what seed you plant is the fruit you obtain. If I plant a Pear tree I will not get Oranges or Apples, I will only get Pears. Next, if cultivated properly and we wait patiently, watering it daily, in due season we reap and the fruit contains many more of the same seed which is then spread further.
So I believe the Lord has shown me that this is also true of the Fruit of the Holy Spirit. We each need to sow to the Spirit for each of these fruit and water them daily by prayer and study and by our actions. Each of these whether agapeo or patience or self-control can be sown, And if we do this, in due season we shall reap.
So please share your thoughts and perspectives that we all may edify one another. Be blessed...
In my time with the Lord I have heard a couple of different views on the Fruit of the Holy Spirit, and would love to hear what the Lord has given each of us at our different places on the journey with Him.
So the first thing I found is that the Scriptures are replete with metaphors and parables about the producing of fruit, the bearing of fruit, being fruitless, and so on. Food trees produce good fruit and bad trees produce bad fruit (so there are different kinds of fruit). When Jesus found the fruitless fig tree in Matthew 21 we see His view that fruitlessness is not desirable to Him. In another place He tells us how we can tell the true from the false by their fruit (that which their experience with the Lord has produced). In the Tares and the Wheat parable we see how both true wheat and darnel wheat look almost identical at first but over time one can discern the difference.
Secondly, there is a major difference between gifts and fruit. As for gifts, among those who have His Spirit in them (Romans 8:9) the Spirit administers them severally as He wills. But as for fruit, is it the product of sowing to the Spirit or just something that manifests without our cooperation and yielding? Fruit after all must be planted and cultivated and different fruits take different lengths of time to give their yield. But one thing of sowing that any farmer or gardener knows is that what seed you plant is the fruit you obtain. If I plant a Pear tree I will not get Oranges or Apples, I will only get Pears. Next, if cultivated properly and we wait patiently, watering it daily, in due season we reap and the fruit contains many more of the same seed which is then spread further.
So I believe the Lord has shown me that this is also true of the Fruit of the Holy Spirit. We each need to sow to the Spirit for each of these fruit and water them daily by prayer and study and by our actions. Each of these whether agapeo or patience or self-control can be sown, And if we do this, in due season we shall reap.
So please share your thoughts and perspectives that we all may edify one another. Be blessed...
