The right way – fruitful living

GALATIANS 5 v. 22 – 26
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
Let us not become conceited,provoking and envying each other.’

There’s a purity about the Spirit-led, Spirit-filled life which exudes the Spiritual fruit – grammatically here, it suggests we’re looking at one fruit with many segments, rather than nine different fruits which we can pick and choose from. The one fruit is tasted in nine different ways.
The purity of this life makes no room for conceit, provocation or envy, but perfects ‘serving one another in love’, and is born out of allowing all our sinfulness, our fleshly desires, to be crucified with Christ, nailed to the cross, and defeated once and for all.

PRAYER
Abundant God,
may my soil of my heart
be good soil
for Your fruitfulness to flourish.
May I do nothing out of selfish desire, pride, or to score point over others.

Lord Jesus,
THANK YOU for the cross
where all my sinful desires and deeds are sacrificed for the ability
to walk the true path of righteousness.

Holy Spirit,
fill me, and flow through me,
grow Your fruitfulness in me,
for the sake of the kingdom on earth.
AMEN.

CHALLENGE
Are we able to rate ourselves on a ‘fruitfulness’ scale?
Where are we ‘out of step with the Spirit’? Patience? Kindness? Self-control?
Seek more of God for that fruit – and, again, accountability to others helps created the good soil for fruit to go – who can you recruit to help you,  pray for you, encourage you?