Colossians 1:10… so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, (NKJV)
Scripture is clear, that ALL Christian’s will bear good fruit of some kind, or they just aren’t Christian’s in God’s eyes… Jesus tells us that we will know men by their fruit, whether good or bad, in…Matthew 7:16-17… You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. (NKJV)
When Jesus was teaching the Parable of the Soils, He tells us that only the 4th seed planted in fertile ground, will produce fruit…Matthew 13:23… “But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.” (NKJV) …I have read other men’s thoughts about what they believe Jesus was trying to tell us with these numbers… But I believe Jesus is telling us that Christian’s will not all produce the same amount of fruit…
The sinner, at the moment they have been forgiven of a lifetime of sins, receives the Holy Spirit as a lifelong Helper by God (John 14:26)… The new Christian is given the fruit of the Spirit at the moment of salvation… This spiritual fruit is the nine “Christ like” attributes that the new Christian is given, to grow and mature; as they grow in spiritual wisdom and “the knowledge of God”… The apostle Paul list’s these godly qualities in…Galatians 5:22-23… But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. (NKJV)
Just take one look around you… How many people do you see that are exhibiting even half of these spiritual fruit; much less all nine of them ?? Not many, for sure… This is because they are not filled with the Holy Spirit… The world (those that are not a Christian) is still living under the rule of their father, Satan… And I believe many Christian’s are less than Spirit filled… Heck, I have admitted so many times, that I had lost my joy and my peace that I once had at the time I was saved… And it was because I had somehow taken back control from the Holy Spirit…
Without the continuous filling of the Holy Spirit by the Christian, on a day by day basis (or even moment by moment), after sins are committed – this by praying a prayer similar to 1 John 1:9…there won’t be this visible spiritual fruit that should be evident in the lives of ALL Christian’s… As Christians, Christ has to be first in our lives…others around us must come second…and we must humbly put ourselves dead last…
Without the full supernatural power of the Holy Spirit to help us, we will have no possible chance of being able to find joy and patience through all of life’s trials (James 1:2-4)… We will not have absolute peace beyond our own mortal understanding (Philippians 4:7)… (A peace that will allow one to bury even their own child, if they are filled with the Holy Spirit – and they know their child has gone to be with the Lord)… And there will be no way we can love even our enemy, when they are screaming in our face (Matthew 5:43-44), as Jesus calls all of His children to be able to do…
No Christian, in their own wisdom or their own power; is capable of showing these “Christ like” emotions under these extreme tests of faith I have listed above…without being totally filled with the Holy Spirit… The apostle Paul himself, reveals this, in…1 Corinthians 2:4-5… And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. (NKJV)
But for the Christian to remain filled with the Holy Spirit, they must be able to resist the devil and his temptations (1 Peter 5:8-9) by wearing God’s full set of spiritual armor that God has given His children to put on for protection from the evil one (Ephesians 6:10-20)… And then, the Christian must do their best to fight their daily battle with their own flesh (Galatians 5:16-18)… This will be a lifelong struggle, because the Christian’s own flesh will always be there trying to pull the Christian down…
Remaining vigilant for attacks from Satan, and staying filled with the Holy Spirit, like the apostle Paul reminds us about, in…Ephesians 5:18-20…can absolutely be accomplished through the power of God… This following scripture is absolutely possible… Philippians 4:13… I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (NKJV) I praise the Lord, and thank Him every day for helping me to hopefully remain being totally controlled by the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit… You can live the same way…through the absolute power the Lord will give to those who choose to live in God’s will and God’s ways, as His obedient children…
Here is a link for a study done by John F. Walvoord; and published by www.bible.org , on “Spiritual Power”… If you don’t have time now to read it now… copy and paste this link to a safe spot for future viewing… http://bible.org/seriespage/spiritual-power
Heavenly Father, I praise You Lord for all that You are… I thank You Lord, for Your mercy and Your grace… I pray Lord, that Your Word will inspire anyone who is less than Spirit filled…to strive for this life changing and mind boggling experience… Open the eyes of those in need; and provide the fullness of the Holy Spirit to those who humbly submit their lives to Your will and Your ways… I pray for this, as always…in Jesus’ most precious name and for His sake…Amen…
written by bruce r mills
God's group 