A year to abound in fruitfulness
Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God (Phil. 1:11 KJV)
Galatians 5:22-23 is the reference passage in scripture to teach on the fruit of the Spirit. You will find the word “fruit” or “fruitfulness” used repeatedly in the scripture to describe specific aspects of our Christian lives. God uses figurative language extensively in the scriptures to teach us spiritual realities. Let me briefly share an intriguing insight to help you understand the word “fruit.”
Your life, as a human being, is both spirit and flesh as one. The flesh is the seat of your earthly experience and expression of spirit or Spirit. As I have taught before, flesh in this context is not merely the body but the entire human person viewed from the physical perspective. Your flesh is your body and your inner faculties of emotions, thoughts, and will. Your flesh expresses spiritual virtues or vices.
The Spirit of God dwells in your spirit. He is seeking expression in you. He wants you, soul and body, to grant Him access to express Himself. The term “fruit” in general refers to the results produced when the Spirit has expression in our personality or character. For example, when you are joyful( your emotions full of joy), you have allowed the Spirit of God to express Himself through your flesh. That result is called “joy” or a fruit of the Spirit. The same is true when choosing to act or speak righteously than sinfully. When we do this, we bear fruit, a precious one, called righteousness, as noted in Phil. 1:11 above.
Be fruitful this year!
MEDITATE
Take a moment to ponder over the verse above in light of the devotional text. Ponder and mutter the Word.
APPLY THE WORD
You need to plant a seed for you to harvest fruit. In Phi. 1:11 above, we are told that seed is Jesus or by extension, the Word of God! Plant the Word in your heart and yield to the Spirit to bear abundant fruit this year.
PRAY
Ask the Lord to help bear fruit and not be a barren tree this year.
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Would like to draw closer to our God
Wonderful desire. A good place to start is to build up your devotional life and learn to feed on God’s Word and spend time in prayer consistently. Please see this article which explains what a devotional life is https://patrickoben.com/daily-devotional-life-1/