Experiencing The Power of God

On Day Four, we look closer at the Fruit of the Spirit and discover the only way we can bear fruit in our own lives. Are you ready to bloom? Let’s get started.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Galatians 5:22-24

What sticks out to you in this verse? 

Notice that Paul doesn’t say the works or byproducts of the spirit; he says fruit. 

Fruit is singular on purpose because it is a manifestation of one thing: Christlikeness. Developed and demonstrated over time, the more we yield to look like Jesus, the more we manifest these characteristics. 

While we are not passive in this process, we can’t produce this fruit on our own. That is the work of God. 

Dr. Loritts reminded us that the development and demonstration of this fruit in our lives take time. We aren’t bound by a perfectionistic model, so take a deep breath. No, instead, God has seen fit to allow us to look more and more like Jesus the more and more we yield our lives to Him.

What incredible grace. 

“You can work as hard as you want to work for your whole life and not produce this kind of fruit. It is a fruit that is produced BY the spirit of God. It presupposes submission and yieldedness to the Spirit of God!”

This is an incredible truth. There is no boot-strap mentality that can replace your need to humble yourself in order to develop Godliness. As Dr. Loritts says, “You can rearrange the furniture on the deck, and you can spackle the cracks in the wall, but you aren’t going to fix the foundation yourself.”

So here is the ultimate question: have you humbled yourself before God? Have you submitted to the Spirit of God? You were made to produce fruit, but only by the supernatural power of God. Have you turned over that responsibility to the only one who can rightfully execute it?