The Fruit of the Spirit or the Works of the Flesh

I say then: Walk in the spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh (Galatians 5:16).

  

Walking in the spirit is allowing your human spirit to govern your life. Walking in the flesh is giving in to your natural appetites and desires.  Galatians 5: 19-21 gives a list of the lusts of the flesh and Galatians 5: 22-23 gives a list of the nine fruit of the recreated human spirit.

  

The lusts of the flesh can be broken down into two categories, inward sins and outward sins. Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, drunkenness, and revelries are outward sins of the flesh. Idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, and murders are inward sins of the mind, emotions, and motives.

  

The fruit of the spirit are the byproducts of the love of God being placed in us by the Holy Spirit when we’re born again. They are all connected much like the segments of a tangerine. Love, joy peace longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and self-control are placed in your spirit at the new birth.

  

Our daily choices determine which fruit our tree of life bears. If we with our will choose to focus on the daily happenings around us then we will probably walk in the flesh and the flesh works will surface in our lives. What occupies our minds will eventually fill our lives.

 

If we keep our minds on things above, and filter out the flesh things that the world and the enemy dangles at us each day, then we will walk in the spirit. The mind is the doorway to spirituality or carnality. Protect your mind. Allow nothing in it that would tarnish your spirit life. Carefully watch what you allow yourself to read, look at, hear, and dwell upon.

 

Flesh lusts never satisfy. They demand more and more of your time and attention and then leave you empty. Spirit fruit gives total satisfaction to life from the inside out. If you find yourself ill-at-ease, ask yourself what you have had your mental and emotional attention and outward actions focused upon.

 

At any time during your day today, you are either exhibiting the lusts of the flesh or the fruit of the spirit. The fruit you bear determines what you’re focusing on today. If you don’t like the fruit, then change your focus!

 

Spending time daily in the Word and in prayer are spiritual exercises that will allow the fruit of the spirit to surface in your life. Spiritual fruit generated by your human spirit through the Word and through being prayerful will challenge every wrong thought, word, action, and motive of your life.

 

Your bearing flesh lusts or spirit fruit today will be determined by what you giver your attention to with you mind. Keep it clean!

    

A Great Way to Pray for Your Christian Friends

There are three specific prayers from the Apostle Paul that can be used to pray for fellow believers. You may sometimes hear a person pray, Lord bless so and so. And the truth is that God has already blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ! What we really need is to become aware of what has already been provided for us in Christ!

Here’s the first prayer in Ephesians: That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all (Ephesians 1: 17-23).

This is a prayer that the Father will open our spiritual eyes to truth, and that we will see who we are and what we have in Christ.

 

Here’s the second prayer Paul prayed for believers: For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height — to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:14-19).

 

This is a prayer for the love of God to be stirred up in a believer’s life. This produces spiritual strength! There is no real spiritual growth without growth in love.

Here’s the third prayer Paul prayed for believers: For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;  strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light (Colossians 1:9-12).

 

This is a prayer for the believer to filled with the wisdom of God through the Word. Walking worthy of the Lord from the Greek literally means that a person’s life carries the same weight as Jesus’ life. That is, they have the same impact on others as Jesus has on us! That’s powerful!

 

Let me encourage you to start praying these prayers for your fellow believer and for yourself! As you pray them in faith, you’ll see results!

Put God's Word First in Your Life!

And Moses was not able to enter the tabernacle of meeting, because the cloud rested above it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Whenever the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle, the children of Israel would go onward in all their journeys. But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not journey till the day that it was taken up. For the cloud of the Lord was above the tabernacle by day, and fire was over it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys (Exodus 40:35-38).

 

Old Testament saints did not have the Holy Spirit living in them and guiding them as we do today. They had a cloud over the tabernacle that they followed by day and a fire over it by night. The tabernacle was where the presence of God remained. The cloud and the fire reminded them that they were not to go alone or just go as they pleased. They must wait and follow God’s direction by day with the cloud and at night by the fire.

Today, we are the tabernacle! We are where the presence dwells. In our spirit dwells the Spirit of God. And we are to be led by the Spirit from the inside. The Holy Spirit guides us first of all through the Word and them through the witness of our human spirit as the Holy Spirit bears witness with the Word.

 

I see so many today that are making choices to do things that directly contradict the Word! And then they say that the Lord led them to go that direction. It is absolute deception to do something that contradicts the Word. Some say, well, I have peace about it, and I going this way anyway!  Any peace that you have to do something that contradicts the Word is a false peace!  It’s a deception! This kind of peace is an emotional satisfaction that is separate from the peace that comes through obedience to the Word, and will be temporary.

To be led by the Holy Spirit means first of all to obey God’s Word. Obedience to the Word produces peace in our spirit. The moment we disobey the Word, we leave the Holy Spirit behind and follow our own way and lose the peace of God within.

  

Colossians 3:15 tells us to let the peace of God rule us as we make decisions. But the peace of God must be preceded by obedience to the Word or the peace is a false peace!    

  

Our cloud by day and fire by night is the witness of our human spirit to the Word and to the prompting of the Holy Spirit in obedience to the Word! Let’s determine today to be people of the Word!

Tuning in to Hear From God

The spirit of a man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all the inner depths of his heart (Proverbs 20:27).

 

When you need direction, don’t look to circumstances or even to your thoughts and feelings. You must go much deeper than that. Look to your human spirit.

  

Holy Spirit dwells in your spirit, not in your mind. In your spirit is the needed direction for every area of life.

  

As a pastor, I look to my human spirit for direction and guidance. I usually know intuitively many things about people and about our direction in ministry.

  

Information comes to us from our spirit in the form of a “nudge,” an inner witness, an intuition, or we sometimes call it a “gut feeling” or a “hunch.” This witness could also be referred to as conscience. This is deeper than logical thought. This is the Holy Spirit bearing witness in our human spirit (Romans 8:16).

 

If you want to make good choices and decisions, learn to listen to this inward witness. Throughout the years of my life, I’ve learned to depend on this inward witness for guidance, and it has never once led me the wrong way! All that we are doing in our ministry today is the results of leaning on and trusting this inward witness to have the final say in my decision making processes.

  

To become sensitive to your spirit and to this inward witness, you must take time to meditate the word. Meditation will cause you to become keen in spiritual perception. Take some time regularly to get quiet with the Lord and muse in the Word. If you do, He will begin to bear witness about things to your human spirit.

  

Praying in the spirit, in other tongues, is an excellent way to become spiritually sensitive. Taking time daily to pray in the spirit will also help keep you spiritually sharp. Then, when decisions must be made, you can look to your spirit for this inner sense, this inner knowing, this witness, and you’ll be perceptive enough to pick up a yes or a no, or a just wait a bit. It’s wise not to make decisions in haste, but to take time and wait until you’re sure about a matter before you act.

  

I suggest that you read Kenneth Hagin’s book How You Can Be Led By The Spirit of God if you haven’t. This is probably the best book I’ve ever read on the subject of being led by the Spirit and following the inward witness.

  

The Father wants us to be successful in all of life’s endeavors. And we will be if we learn to follow and obey the inward witness. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God (Romans 8:14). Allow the lamp of the Lord to burn brightly in your life today!

 

Jesus Revealed in the Gospels

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham (Matthew 1:1)

Matthew 1 begins with the genealogy of Jesus. The book of Matthew presents Jesus as the king of the Jews. It shows Him through this genealogy as the legal heir of the throne of David through Joseph.

 

All of the gospels depict Jesus differently. And here is the background. In the Old Testament tabernacle and temple stood the figure of the Cherubim. There were four faces on these Cherubim; the face of a lion; the face of an ox; the face of a man; and the face of an eagle. The early church fathers applied these four symbols to the four Gospels as they reveal different perspectives of Jesus’ life.

 

The Lion represents Jesus, the King of the Jews. The kingship of Jesus is the theme of the book of Matthew.

  

The ox represents Jesus as the suffering servant, and this is typified in the book of Mark. Mark represents Jesus as the worker, serving mankind by preaching, teaching, healing, and delivering form satanic bondage.

  

The human face represents Jesus the son of man and He is typified in the book of Luke. In Luke we have a display of the humanity of Jesus and He is represented as the Son of man. Details of his birth are given in Luke, showing that He was both God and man. Mary clothed Jesus with a body of flesh so that He could identify with our weakness, show His strength, and set us free.

 

The face of the eagle on the cherubim represents Jesus’ Divinity. The gospel of John reveals Jesus as the Son of God. John looks at Jesus from the aspect of his Divine nature. In John we see Jesus as the Living Word, pre-existing the body that Mary gave Him. We see Him as the Son from eternity past who came to give us light and to set us free!

 

In the genealogy of Matthew 1, four women are mentioned that had nothing to do with God’s covenant with Abraham. Tamar and Rahab are mentioned and they were both prostitutes. Ruth is mentioned, and she is from the cursed race of the Moabites. Bathsheba is mentioned, and of course she is the woman who committed adultery with David.

 

Why did God add these women to the genealogy? I believe that He wanted us to know that we are accepted into the family of God regardless of our background. Jesus was a friend of sinners, and when He cleanses from sin, it is so thorough that He is glad to include us in His family tree!

  

Neither race, gender, social place, nor political persuasion can keep us from the love and forgiveness that Jesus offers if we will simply humble ourselves. He will be to us everything we need. The face of the lion, the ox, the man, and the eagle all represent the fact that Jesus came as the king; not too mighty or proud to work; willing to identify with our humanness; yet being Sovereign Deity who reigns over all.

 

As member of His body, let’s identify with Jesus and see every person through His eyes. Every person is precious to Him. He love and forgives if we simply yield and accept His freely given grace and mercy. Let’s look beyond the flesh when we see others, and place on them the value that God places on them. For God so loved the world!

The Greatest Gift!

Merry Christmas! We’re enjoying a family day today, with lots of food and fellowship with our four children and their spouses. We give gifts to each other on Christmas day in the way the wise men presented their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh in honor of Jesus’ birth. Take time today to reflect on God’s free gift of salvation given to us through the sacrifice of the virgin born Son!

I’ll leave you with Luke 2: 1-20 in the New Living Translation which follows. God’s Blessings on you and your family today!

Luke 2:1-20 -NLT

At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census. And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David's ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. He took with him Mary, his fiancée, who was now obviously pregnant. And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them. The Shepherds and Angels. That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord's glory surrounded them. They were terrified, but the angel reassured them. "Don't be afraid!" he said. "I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger." Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying, "Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased." When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, "Let's go to Bethlehem! Let's see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about." They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. All who heard the shepherds' story were astonished, but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them.

Holy Bible, New Living Translation ®, copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.

 

For Unto Us A Child Is Born, Unto Us A Son Is Given

For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6).

 

The implications of the virgin birth are far reaching. First, Jesus Christ existed from eternity past as the second member of the Trinity. Before Abraham was, I am (John 8:58). He had all the attributes of Deity prior to His birth in the manger because He was God; all – power (omnipotence), all-knowing (omniscience), everywhere at all times (omnipresence), righteousness, justice, love, etc. He is co-eternal and co-equal with God. Jesus said if you’ve seen Me you’ve seen the Father (John 14:9)!

  

When the Son of God was born, He laid aside His Divine powers, and lived the way we must live, by the power of the Holy Spirit (see Philippians 2: 5-11). He did not rely on His God powers to do anything as a man. He showed us that it is possible to live above the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil!

  

Jesus was born with total authority over Satan and his demons. Because He was born with God as His Father, He was not subject to Satan’s rule. He was born as Satan’s master! Also, Jesus was not subject physical death when He was born. He was not mortal (death doomed). Physical death is a result of sin. Because Jesus was not born as a sinner, He was not subject to death. He died only when He became our sin and allowed death to seize Him.

  

So here’s the picture. Jesus was born as a full human being that was also Deity. He was the God Man! He was just like Adam before He sinned. Satan tried to have Jesus killed as a child because he knew that Jesus was his master. As Jesus grew up, He came to realize who He was. Jewish boys had to memorize the first five Old Testament books by age twelve. As Jesus read, He came to know who He was! He came to see His mission in life.

  

At age thirty, the power of the Holy Spirit came upon Him, and in that power He ministered for three and a half years. He healed sickness and disease through the gifts of healings; He multiplied food through the working of miracles; He calmed the storm through the gift of faith; He knew what was in man by the word of knowledge; He knew what would happen in the future by the word of wisdom; He saw demonic forces and took authority over them through the discerning of spirits.

  

He developed His prayer life the way we must, through perseverance and diligence. He put His flesh under by fasting. He exercised His faith the way the Father expects us to exercise faith.

  

When Jesus allowed Himself to die, He brought many sons unto glory! What He possessed became ours. He took our sins to give us His righteousness. He took our sickness to give us His health. He took our poverty to give us His prosperity. He defeated Satan to give us His authority. He is seated at the right hand of the Father to give us the same standing in heaven as He! We’re seated with Him in heavenly places in Christ. What He was, we are! As He is, so are we in this world!

  

The works He did, we are to perform (John 14:12). We are the branches, He is the vine. His life flows through us today. He took the sting out of death for us. We are those that live unafraid of anything! We are more than conquerors! Nothing can separate us from His love! No foe can defeat us. We are kings and priests unto God because of Him. We can do all things through Him who strengthens us! Our past is forgotten, our present is blessed, and our future is bright! And in eternity we will rule and reign with Him! Thank God for the virgin birth!

The Virgin Birth Gave Us Back Our Relationship With The Father!

Then Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I do not know a man?" And the angel answered and said to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God (Luke 1:34-35).

 

After Adam and Eve sinned, God had to find a way to bring man back to Himself. He couldn’t just forgive his sin. That would violate God’s morality and would be unjust. All sin must be judged. Psalm 89:14 says that justice and judgment are the foundation of the throne of God.

 

God must be fair to Himself, to man, and to Satan His enemy. After Adam’s sin, God could not make another man from the dust of the ground and use him to redeem the human race. The dust of the ground was tainted by sin after the fall. Satan legally obtained the temporary control over the earth that God gave Adam. And besides that, if God could have created a human from the dirt the way he did Adam, that human would not be blood related to Adam and Eve.

 

So here’s God’s problem. Adam, a man, sinned. Now a man must pay the legal price for the mistakes of Adam and Eve. It’s not an issue of whether God loves man or not. Of course He does. But because God is just and fair, all sin must be judged. He has to judge sin to be fair to Satan and fair to His own moral law.

 

Satan knew this. Satan was kicked out of heaven because iniquity was found in Him. There is no redemption available for Satan. He was a perfect spirit being created by God and he sinned. The payment for his sin is eternity in the lake of fire. Satan is an eternal spirit rebel. If he was allowed to freely travel in the universe he would corrupt it. So his eternal judgment is being confined to the lake of fire.

  

Adam’s judgment for sin had to equal Satan’s for God to be fair. So Adam’s sin penalty is likewise hell, the final judgment, and then being cast into the lake of fire.

 

Because Jesus was God incarnate, the problem of God finding a suitable sacrifice for sin has been solved! This is the wisdom of God in our redemption! Jesus, born of a virgin, was not tainted with sin. His flesh was sinless, yet He was a man. Satan had no legal control over Jesus. Jesus was a pure Man. He is a spotless Man. Jesus was born in fellowship with God and out from under Satan’s control and out from under the curse. Jesus had the same relationship with God that Adam had before He sinned.

  

Because of all of this, Jesus could legally bear man’s sin penalty. So Jesus lived a perfect life. He faced successfully every temptation that man faces without sinning. Then, Jesus was somehow made to be man’s sin (2 Corinthians 5:21). Then, Jesus experienced physical death. When He died, He went to hell. He stayed there until God was satisfied that man’s sin penalty was legally and completely paid.

 

Then God raised Him from the dead and set Jesus at His right hand as man’s eternal lawyer. The penalty for mankind’s sin has been eternally paid by the innocent Son of God. Satan’s mouth of condemnation toward man has been stripped of power. The Father has proved His loved for us based on His absolute justice. The Virgin Birth gave us back our relationship with the Father!

Why Was the Virgin Birth Necessary?

Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14).

  

December is the month the world celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. Without the virgin birth, we would be doomed to spend eternity in the lake of fire. The very foundation of our redemption from sin and its catastrophic effects on all of creation is in the virgin birth.

  

The reason for the virgin birth is something we all need to understand. When Adam and Eve sinned, the entire human race was immediately severed from fellowship with God. Satan, God’s arch-enemy, became the temporary god of this world.

  

The “lease” that God gave Adam over the earth to take care of it and “keep” it was transferred to Satan (see Luke 4:5). He became the “prince of the power of the air,” and set up a system of control over this planet and over humanity. Satan was kicked out of heaven because of a desire to control God. When Adam sinned, Satan took advantage of his failure and fulfilled his desire to control by dominating this planet.

  

Satan may have thought that he had finally done something here that God was helpless to change. He may have thought that his control over the earth and over humanity was beyond God’s ability to reverse, but Satan underestimated the love of God for the human race.

 

The only way for us to be redeemed was through a virgin birth. You see, a man got us into sin, and a man must pay our sin penalty for us. Satan knew that God was just, and that sin’s penalty must be paid. And he knew that humanity was now a fallen race, and that every human born of two human parents would be born under his control. From Satan’s viewpoint, our redemption was not possible.

 

But Satan did not understand the deep love that God has for human beings. His corrupted wisdom never considered the price that God was willing to pay to remove sin and the curse from man. The virgin birth was God’s answer for man’s sin from His heart of love.

  

God’s wisdom before the creation of Adam and Eve was that if they failed the test of Eden and sinned, God would incarnate Himself in the body of a human, and pay man’s sin penalty for him.

No person born of two human parents could pay man’s sin penalty because that person would likewise be a fallen, sin bound, Satan dominated being. But the virgin birth meant that Jesus was not born according to the laws of natural generation. He was a human because Mary His mother clothed Him with sinless flesh. The sperm that fertilized the ovum in Mary’s womb came from God Himself! That made Jesus Christ the God-man! He was 100% God and 100% man. That meant that Jesus was born as the first sinless human since the creation of Adam before the fall; the last Adam as He is called in 1 Corinthians.

  

And since Jesus was born sinless and free from Satan’s rule, He could legitimately pay the sin debt of mankind! Without the virgin birth, this would not be possible!

 

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16).