March 19 – Galatians 5:16-23
Lesson: Spiritual Fruit’s; Part 2
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 continuation from yesterday, so let’s just jump right in!
Kindness:
Kindness in this sense is not a synonym for nice. No, it’s a synonym for tenderness. Ohhhh… soft hearts, yes that can be so hard! With the barrage of information being forced upon us we can easily grow hardish hearts, closed eyes and ears. But this is completely counter to what we are called to be like. Have you ever been with someone who just leaves you feeling so rested after being with them? Like my mom does, I bet they too have that tender heart, the heart who leans so close to Jesus at every moment. This is not a natural state of being for most people, it’s something that needs to be practiced and tended to. We need the Holy Spirit here too! Because our human nature will try and thrust out that kindness even when we don’t want it to.
2 Timothy 2:24
“And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil.”
Jesus was all of that. His kindness was known throughout the land and people longed to just be in the same space as Him. They broke through ceilings, crawled through crowds to touch His hem, and they gathered by the thousands for longer than their food and water lasted.
If we are anything but kind, how can we possibly be expected to share the hope that is Jesus with other people? If we are quarreling and God blockers, how are we any different than those who lack the Holy Spirit within them? We are set apart, we are different, our lives and our attitudes are supposed to showcase that. There are just so many examples of Jesus’ kindness towards others. It’s that persistent kindness that made people take notice that He was different. And got them curious!
Goodness:
Goodness isn’t just doing good things, being good, and choosing the lesser of the two evils.
2 Thessalonians 1:11
“To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of His calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by His power…”
Our choosing goodness should be so that every good work is an act of faith and points to our very good God. May we be in such constant prayer over ourselves and our fellow Jesus followers that goodness oozes out of us, that others around us can see just how good our heavenly Father is! That the good news is good!!! Our moral compass must be dialed in perfectly, we must hold ourselves accountable for our actions and choices. And we cannot even remotely do this on our own. Our own sin nature won’t allow for that. But Jesus can! He gave us the Holy Spirit to be that prompt, to be that goodness. Don’t for a second think that anything good comes from you. Because it doesn’t, it comes from God! Acts 10:38 talk about Jesus going about doing good everywhere He went. Jesus’ entire ministry was about good news! It only makes sense that we should strive for that as well!
Faithfulness:
1 Thessalonians 5:24
“He who calls you is faithful; He will surely do it.”
He Himself who cannot not be faithful is requiring us to do the same. Just as Jesus is faithful with us we must put our faith in Him. John 12 shows us that even Jesus is faithful to God. When faced with the impending death on the cross He still inquired after God’s will and He faithfully obeyed. If Jesus was faithful, so should we be faithful as well. This is not a request, not a suggestion, it’s a directive.
Gentleness:
When we have a gentle heart it means that we are in a posture of submitting to God, we are teachable and considerate. It means that we are open to pruning and discipline so that our hearts are in a steady existence of His goodness. Ready to receive His work that saves us. In other words … be humble. Know your place. Even Jesus Himself, the Son of God was humble (Matthew 11). Who are we to think we could be anything other than that ourselves?
Self Control:
Jesus showed us in the most amazing way how much control of self He had: when He went to the cross for us. So much control it took to do the will of the Father. Are we as ready and able to do that? To control our self-desires in order to do the will that God has called for us to do?
So, dear ones, I will leave this lesson with this verse:
John 15:4
“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.”
Dear Heavenly Father, we stand in awe of Your greatness. You are such a tender and loving God and we children, we often are like… children. We thank You for your kindness, and we thank You for Your love.
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 the ministry of providing spiritual character.
1 Comment. Leave new
My verse: Galatians 5:20 “idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division”
My response: Having to read this passage again led me to this part of the “bad list” this morning. We all can be guilty of many of the things listed, but the one the Lord brought to my attention was “outbursts of anger.” Looking back at the times I’ve let my anger build into a “self-righteous” tirade, I see again that the lack of the Spirit’s fruit of self-control leads us to say things in anger that are anything but filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. The fruit of the Spirit does not co-exist with outbursts of anger. They are diametrically opposed. Lord, when I am not yielded to You, I see how self-centered I can become. Teach me to yield – especially when angry – to Your Spirit who will give me the self-control to not damage with my tongue!