As most believers know there is a spiritual war raging. Often that battle is fought internally. Our flesh, our bodies wage a war against the Spirit within us. One wants to please Christ Jesus. The other wants to please the natural, carnal desires of humanity. The battle is intense and often we fall victim to the lusts and desires of the flesh.
The Word of God lists for us the acts or the fruit of the sinful nature so that we know what to look out for in our lives. By listing these things we know what to avoid and what the desires of the flesh look like. Knowing the enemy is half the battle in defeating the enemy. But in contrast, to the fruits of the flesh, are the fruits of the Spirit; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control come from
The Word of God lists for us the acts or the fruit of the sinful nature so that we know what to look out for in our lives. By listing these things we know what to avoid and what the desires of the flesh look like. Knowing the enemy is half the battle in defeating the enemy. But in contrast, to the fruits of the flesh, are the fruits of the Spirit; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control come from living in step with the Holy Spirit.
Each day we have a choice to feed the lusts of the flesh or the desires of the Spirit. That which we feed grows and matures while the other shrinks and slowly dies out. You can understand what’s really happening if you picture a rich, sweet, juicy apple tree grafted onto a sour crab apple root stock. We are that root stock - by nature a sour small crab apple that is good for nothing and bound for the compost heap. But God grafted into us a rich, sweet juicy apple. The graft marks the point at which we came to Christ Jesus. Any branches below the graft will grow fruit from the old stock. That’s the small bitter crab apple. As we allow the lusts of the flesh into our lives and we chase those lusts or feed them (by indulging them) we are allowing the fruit below the graft to feed and to grow. Naturally the fruit above the graft will not grow and mature. It will slowly die and be reduced to nothing. But if we break off the branches below the graft and refuse to feed them we allow the fruit above the graft (the fruit of the Spirit) to grow and thrive. As we fertilise the soil (by prayer, reading the Word, fellowship etc) and continue to break off new growth below the graft we are ensuring that the fruit of the Spirit grows and matures within us. Each day we have a choice to feed the lusts of the flesh or the desires of the Spirit.
Some days that choice will be easy. On other days that battle will rage violently and constantly within you. On those days you need to have a mature Christian friend you can get together with to pray, to read the word and to confess to. You need to have the loving support of a mature Christian believer who can walk with you, cry with you and support you through the toughest battles.
As we grow in Christ as a community sharing our struggles and victories we will individually crucify our passions and desires more and more. It was never meant to be a solo struggle, a fight behind closed doors. God has given us community to help us, to strengthen us and to edify us. God has given us each other so that we can fight together.
Prayer:-
- Pray that God will equip you and empower you to grow the fruit of the Spirit more in your life. Read through the list in Galatians 5:22-23 and ask particularly for the fruit that is missing in your life.
- Pray that a full and rich sense of community and support will grow up in your congregation. Pray that pride and self promotion will die out as individuals take up genuine love and concern for each other.
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