How Do We Grow The Fruit of the Spirit.....

I started a personal study on the Fruit of the Spirit a couple of weeks ago & it is stretching me. I thought we could pick up where I left off on January 24th.

Galatians 5:22-23 says, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law."

I was looking at some questions like....What is spiritual fruit? Will I like it.....do I need it......how do I grow this in my life and what is the purpose of spiritual fruit?

The fruit of the Spirit are those God-like qualities that make us look like Him. They are His nature flowing through our personalities. The truth is that being fruit-filled is about being like Jesus. Letting His Love, His Kindness, His Peace invade my life so that it overflows into the lives of my family and those I meet every day.

It is about living a life connected to God. You see our genetics determine the results of our physical bodies. We can influence the outcome with our efforts, but in the end what we look like - height, shoe size, eye color - is up to how we're designed. Similarly, while we have a role in the growing process, our spiritual growth is up to God. That is why it is so important to stay connected to Him & remain in the Word. Our best efforts wont grow godliness, because the fruit of the Spirit comes forth only from godly seeds. We can't make ourselves look like God. Only God can do that. Only God can reproduce His nature in us.

Think of it this way - just as we can't grow spiritual fruit without God. God can't grow spiritual fruit in us without us. Our job in spiritual growth is to cooperate with the Gardener.

Cooperation means:
1. We are receptive
- a seed can grow in hard, clay-packed soil
- we need to stay soft so that we can recieve the seeds God wants to plant in our lives

2. We endure pruning
- this is part of the growing process, the cutting off of what is diseased or no longer necessary
or even what is taking nutrients that are needed elsewhere
- pruning can be painful!
- we don't want to part with some things that may actually need to go from our lives
(you think...sarcasm can be fun, gossip tastes so sweet, complaining & nagging can keep people at a distance, grudges keep me in control and can feel so self-vindicating but these are not God-like qualities)

Someone once said "You're not in a growth zone if you're in a comfort zone, and you're not in a
comfort zone if your're in agrowth zone."

3. We stay connected
- we can't grow if we detatch from the source of our growth....JESUS
- a leaf doesn't continue to grow once it is pulled from the branch
- we have to stay in the Word with our quiet time, stay connected to friends that help us
grow & stay connected to the church to celebrate collectively what God is doing in our lives.

Are you ready to get growing? It's up to God to grow His fruit in our lives but it's up to us to cooperate with Him.


Luke 8:5-8 says, "A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. Some fell on rock, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown." When he said this, he called out, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

Lord, thank you that growing spiritual fruit in our lives is a two-way mutual process. You don't ask that I lay down who I am and become robotic in my responses. You invite me to join You as You work in me and through me as I choose to cooperate with You.