March 18 – Galatians 5:16-23

March 18 – Galatians 5:16-23

Lesson: Spiritual Fruit’s Part 1

Dear Lord, bless our time with you today.  Meet us where we are at, guide our minds, and hold our hearts as we search for Your truth.

First, do your own quiet time with God and 4R journaling.  When you are complete, come back here for the lesson.

Request Gods’ help

Read Galatians 5:16-23

Record a verse that stands out to you

Respond to God

Today is a bit of a continuation from yesterday because from Spiritual Character comes Spiritual Fruits.  And because this lesson is a bit longer, I am breaking it up into three lessons.  As I mentioned yesterday, we are going to be camped out here in Galatians 5 for a few days.

Let’s get started.  From our verses yesterday, we learned that we are to obtain a new character, a spiritual one, one that sets us apart from those who do not know Hope Himself as their Savior.  These fruits that are the outward visible products of our spiritual character; what others see and, most importantly, what Jesus sees when He looks at us.  These are not fruits of our own doing or making, but purely and solely by the Holy Spirit.

Many of us can rattle these off quickly without much thought, there’s even a children’s song about them.  Today, we are going to park here for a bit and really look into each fruit of the spirit and take a look at the one person who exemplified and embodied each perfectly, Jesus.  I know, we are supposed to learn about how the Holy Spirit provides these fruit’s.  But first, let’s lay some groundwork by studying the Master Fruit Bearer, Jesus!

Let’s take this one step at a time and just work our way down the list!

Love:

Jesus Himself is the definition of love, His whole ministry is based on that.  Everything depends on that love, so much so that He laid down His life so that we mere mortal people could gain the hope of heaven! This is the perfect example of how to love, what it should look like.  We are to love the least of all people as much as Jesus loves them.  When we peel back all our many layers we are left with just our hearts.  Love that heart as Jesus loved you and everything else will work its way to healing and redemption in its time.  But the heart… focus on that.  Each person has been uniquely handcrafted and created into life by one Creator.  No one is too far from His love.  And thus, we should equally love, and then love some more!  No easy task.  We need the Holy Spirit for this one for sure!!!

Joy:

Joy is based on God’s promises, it doesn’t ebb and flow, wax and wane. It’s steady and solid.  Why?  Because we know without a doubt that all is well.  Take a look at 1 Peter 1:8,

“Though you have not seen him, you love him.  Though you do not now see him, you believe in Him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory…”

It truly is indescribable!  And it’s so wonderful that once you have it you never want to loosen your grip on that joy.  Life looks so different when looking through the lens of joy!  Joy is a gift from God so take delight in that!!!!  Joy was created for you!!! That you might have a glimpse of what restoration will be like.  Hebrews 12:2 says to look to Jesus ‘who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross.’  He wanted the joy that comes when doing our Father’s will.

Joy cannot be produced by us, within us, through us.  It is not self-fulfilling.  No!  Joy is rooted firmly in God; let that joy take root firmly and work daily at caring for those roots. You can be sad, but still joy filled.  You can be downhearted, but still joy filled.  What a supernatural thing!  So supernatural, that we need the Holy Spirit to give us this fruit.  We cannot do it on our own!

Peace:

Peace is like a safe harbor in a winter storm that is raging, wind blaring, rain drenching, and the ground flooding.  But you are safely tucked in and cozy in a warm solid house tucked into the bend of a harbor.  You can hear the storm, you may even feel it a bit as it slams into the side of the house.  But you know you are safe, you are confident your walls won’t fall in on you.  That is peace, that is what confidence in our God feels like; the inner calm that results in confidence in God.  There is nothing like it.  That even though life is throwing jarring punches, you know that it is only a blip of time in the huge expanse that is God.

Philippians 4:9:

“what you have learned and received and heart and seen in me – practice these things; and the God of peace will be with you.”

If you keep your whole self turned towards Him and meditate on all that He is, peace will come.  Peace cannot come from you, the things you do or don’t do, or from other people. It can only come from confidence in Jesus.  Isaiah 9:6, He is called Prince of Peace.  Jesus Himself is that peace, without Him life is anything but peaceful.  He wants us so much to have peace, He gives it to us, He leaves it with us.  And while He is not here physically at this present moment, He has left the Holy Spirit to enable that peace.

Patience:

We are called to have patience, and yes, even with those who annoy us to no end. We are to bear with each other in love, to be that solid fence post when the other is tired and weary.  With patience comes also forgiveness, we cannot have one without the other surely! We should be in it for the long haul, for however long it takes, and we need to be steadfast and sure.  So when we pray for patience may we also pray for the endurance that patience requires!  Another fruit that left on our own we couldn’t even begin to grow.  We must rely wholly on the Spirit to give us that fruit.  Otherwise, we would crush under the weight of the enormity of it!

1 Timothy 1: 13

“But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in Him for eternal life.”

Oh my goodness, Jesus has been patient for soooooooo very long!!!!!  May we in our patience learn more and more about who Jesus is and may we strive to perfect our walk in Him.  May His patience with us be fruitful for His glory.

We will break here for today and continue on tomorrow.  In the meantime, know you are not alone.  As you strive to walk in Him and try to grow these fruit’s, know the Spirit is tirelessly working on your behalf.  Dig into Him and allow Him to work, get out of His way and allow Him to show you the amazing things of God that you might be missing.

Dear Heavenly Father, we come before You, our soil well-tended and cared for.  We ask that our fruits be the best they can be, that we may bring glory to You, the Vine.

What’s next?

As the Spirit leads, in the comment section below, share what He has laid on your heart.

Then join us again tomorrow to continue learning about spiritual fruit’s.