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In concluding this study, it is interesting to me that fruit just grows naturally when all the right elements are in place.  When you plant a peach seed, you get years and years of fruit.  We should be fruitful not only day after day, but year after year!  To get a continual harvest, we have to be continually planting. We are farmers for LIFE! That means that our life is all about daily planting (through words, deeds, finances, etc.).  What is so cool about daily planting is that you get to affect everyone who is around you.  When fruit is growing, it naturally is shared with others.  So your family gets to see your fruit at work. They get to see the best you, and hear your best words, and be recipients of your best behavior. Most the time we do it all backwards.  We put our best self out for strangers and let our family have our worst. YIKES! Let’s be our best self always!  Not because we’re trying to be good, but because we are letting the goodness of God show in us. It is the goodness of God that draws men to salvation.  We can be magnets for the lost, to see them come to know Jesus. What they see in us is what they want. That is the best kind of fruit we could ever have!

 

Fruitful living is: Consistent giving, Perpetual planting, Continual reaping, God pleasing, life changing and most of all…..Kingdom expanding!

 

This one point can truly make living a fruitful life more natural and effortless than you can imagine.  Living fruitfully shouldn’t be a strain!  It should be a natural outflow of Christ in us, as familiar to us as taking our next breath.

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We’ve made it to the last fruit listed in Galatians 5:22-23. This may be the hardest one too!  If we get the first one (love) and the last one (self-control) in order, the rest fall into place pretty naturally. Another word for self-control is temperance, and I think we all could agree that being in control of our “temper” is definitely part of temperance.  Being temperate means saying no to any excess, in any realm….. from appetite, to physical urges, to passions and desires.  To be temperate means to be “in power or in control, or to have power over one’s self.”  When we are in adverse situations, Jesus admonishes us to maintain control and choose how we respond.  That takes self-control!  When we choose to bless instead of curse, that is self-control. When we choose broccoli over Snickers….that is self-control! When we are wronged and we choose to respond in love, that is self-control! Without self-control, we are like a city with a broken down wall.  Proverbs 25:28 says exactly that.  The cities of old were walled for protection.  Self-control is like our wall of protection!  It fortifies all that is within.  Self-control is operating within the boundaries of victory.  Any “out of control” area is an open invitation to the enemy.  Let’s lock him out of our lives, by operating always “in power” over ourselves through the power of the Holy Spirit within.

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Fruitful Living –Faithfulness. We are benefactors of God’s faithfulness.  I’m sure each of you can look back over your life, and think about the many times that God has demonstrated His faithfulness to you.  There are probably too many incidents to count!  The greatest act of the faithfulness of God was on the cross when a sinless lamb became the sacrifice for the sins of the entire world.  What a faithful God! He is completely dependable, unwavering, committed, reliable, steadfast and loyal.  What He promises He does deliver!  The promise way back in Genesis 3:15 (when God spoke about the seed of a woman bringing deliverance to His people), was faithfully fulfilled in birth, death and resurrection of Jesus.  What I have noticed more than anything while studying Fruitful Living is that for each fruit to operate in my life, a starting point is to actively respond to that attribute of God.  I can mirror His faithfulness to me, by remaining faithful to Him. (It works with all the other fruit too!) When we determine to emulate Christ and be faithful, there are three things that are important.

 

We must:

Stay true to God, stay close, and give Him your full attention and all of your heart

Stay true to others, be a true friend, be reliable, steadfast, and constant.

Stay true to yourself, be authentic, the real deal, totally sincere.

 

If we want to be called faithful at the end of our life, we must run the race, and finish the course.  There may even be some fighting along the way. We do fight the good fight of faith! We recognize that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but are mighty through God and can even pull down strongholds. Most importantly we can outlast the devil! We win, he loses! We are more than conquerors.  God will always be faithful!

 

My God has been faithful to me, His goodness and mercies I’ve seen

When hearing well done, your race has been won,

I’ll know I’ve been faithful

His Word has proved faithful,

He has been so faithful to me

 

I encourage you to mirror God’s faithfulness!

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As we finish looking at fruitful living with peace and patience, let me give you an illustration about patience that Max Lucado shared in his book, A Love worthy Giving.  He uses the definition of patience as taking a long time to boil.  When it comes to a boiling pot of water, oatmeal or whatever, what factor determines the speed at which it boils?  It is not the stove, and not the pot, or even the ingredients in the pot, but it is the intensity of the flame.  The pot boils over when the flame is high, and it doesn’t boil over when the flame is low. That’s not a heavy revelations, but it does get a point across!  He brings out the point that a patient person keeps the burner down, they keeps the flame low.  They wait.  They listen. God treats us with patience, and that is how we should treat others.  If we really want to be fruitful in live and learn to operate in peace and patience, we need to keep the flame low.  We must learn to respond patiently. Hebrews 10:36 reminds us that if we want to receive the promise, we must live patiently.  We can run this race with patience, just like Jesus did.  We can lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily throws us off course, and run with patience, as we look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Now that’s fruitful living!

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Busy, busy, busy, working everyday, take a moment now and then to simply rest or play

The world will keep on spinning, it’s time you start beginning

To quiet down and still your hands, a restful life is God’s best plan

So take a breath, and breathe in deep, have peaceful days, and restful sleep

With peace that passes all we know, God’s rest is yours – just let stress go.

 

Are you facing huge stress or conflict? My prayer is that you will know God’s peace.  The word peace comes from the Greek work “eirene”, which is the Hebrew equivalent for shalom, which expresses the idea of wholeness, completeness, tranquility in the soul, that is unaffected by outward circumstances or pressures.  My favorite definition of shalom is nothing missing, and nothing broken.  What is very true of a shalom filled, peaceful person is that even through difficulties and pressure of life try to break them, they are possessed “with peace that makes them whole, complete, orderly, stable and poised for blessing.” (from Sparkling Gems from the Greek, by Rick Renner) Is that who you are?  Let God’s peace rule in your heart, and live at peace even in the midst of a world filled with pressures.  That’s living fruitfully!

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Peace is the result of resting in God.  Rest is what restores our physical bodies, and peace is what restores our spirits. Rest and peace are often foreign to us in our busy lives. Busy is what we’re all too good at.  Rest is what we need to be good at!   My good friend once said, Busy isn’t of the devil, it is the devil!  Often when I ask someone how they are, their answer is “busy”.  Wouldn’t it be great to answer that question with – peaceful, tranquil, and totally rested.  For believers, we should live there!  Life shouldn’t be a busy irritation, it should be peaceful, rest-filled, and restoring to our souls. How do we get there in the midst of the daily hassles we must deal with?  Peace comes when we choose love over hate, joy over frustration, patience over irritability, kindness over meanness, goodness over revenge, faithfulness over manipulation, gentleness over harshness, and self-control over indulgence. Peace is the result! The other fruit surround the fruit of peace so perfectly.  Peace is what we want in our homes, for our communities, for our nation and for the world.  It can start with your response the next time you have the opportunity to operate in the fruit or in the flesh! Choose fruit over flesh!

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Wonderful Peace. Is there anything more wonderful than a peaceful environment, completely void of irritation and stress?  For me that could be a beautiful sunset on a beach, or a lovely hike (or horse ride) in the mountains next to a gurgling brook surrounded by flower covered valleys.  That seems like tranquility, peace and rest at its best.  It could also mean just a restful afternoon at my own house, some classical or worship music on the stereo, a great book, a warm fire, and a tasty cup of peppermint tea lightly sweetened with honey in total tranquility. In John 14:27, Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, not as the world gives, give I unto you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”  He was speaking of the Holy Spirit who was soon to come. He sent the Holy Spirit as the comforter so we could have peace even in the midst of stress, strain, irritation or uncertainty.  In the world you shall have tribulation (we live in a fallen world where there will be persecution), but be of Good Cheer, I have overcome the world. (John 16:33) Can you be fruitful even in with uncertainty in your future?  We must let the peace of God reign in us.  We can allow the peace of God to live in our hearts.  Remember this that peace is not the absence of conflict, but the presence of God, no matter what the conflict.

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This week we are talking about the fruit of peace and patience as we are living fruitfully. Have you ever heard the phrase Random Acts of Kindness?  I haven’t heard anybody say it for a few years, but a short while back,it was a common phrase for a while.  Somehow, somewhere, someone suggested that people do nice things for others, just out of the blue.  Well, this week I’m going to give you a challenge.  Is there anybody in your life that you are running out of patience with? Is there someone in your life, who it is hard to live at peace with? Your assignment this week is to do something nice for them, out of the blue.  Your opportunity to do a random act of kindness will not only bless you, it might surprise them, but it will demonstrate the fruit of the spirit that we as Christians should be cultivating.

 

It’s hard to always react in the right way, (I’ve done it wrong—lots), but we do have a power on the inside of us that can give us control when we get impatient.  That same power will help us be fruitful on every level of our life.  We can progress, and get better because God’s seed of fruitfulness is on the inside of us, and His seed produces good fruit!  So find someone to be kind to, we can be patient, and we can live in peace.  Do something unexpected.  Then know that God is smiling, because He’s seeing Himself in you!

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Love is Patient and Kind Ok, I didn’t pass the patience test I was in today.  I flunked miserably, in fact, I wasn’t even kind and I had to apologize for my behavior and ask for forgiveness. My humanity showed through in the flesh. I forgot to do what I’ve been telling my Bible Study gals to do – that we have to choose fruit over flesh.  Fruit is much sweeter and leaves no bad after taste.  In fact, it makes life so much better on every level.  Well, the teacher is learning, just rather slowly!

 

Our goal in life, isn’t to flunk, but to pass!  We don’t just want to barely make the grade, we want flying colors. The same test will keep coming until we pass – HELLO! What we all could use is a little “Miracle- Grow” on the fruit of our life. I really do believe that’s what the Spirit of God does for us. We have the power to witness and to “live out” our Christian life, but we have to activate it by our actions. We have to remember to depend on the power within to have control when we need it, to have patience when we’d rather pass judgment, and to respond in kindness in all situations.

 

God is being patient with you.  He certainly has been patient with me! Thank God for His patience!  Shouldn’t we be able to pass along some of that same patience to others?  Of course we can! And we should!  Not only is God patient and kind, Jesus exemplified both of these fruit of the Spirit when he walked the earth.  We obtained mercy because of the patience Jesus showed to us before salvation. (I Tim 1:15-17)  Jesus demonstrated kindness when He caught a woman in adultery (John 8:1-11) and when He blessed the children (Matt 19:13-15.  We can act like our Lord and Savior, because…..the seed is within…that incorruptible seed that will produce good fruit in our life (I Peter 1:23). The poem for today is:

 

Fruit Like You

Forgive us Lord, when we fall short, of all you have for us

We give in quickly to the flesh, instead of simply trust

Your will and Word they are one, our words and will can become

Fruitful evidence in our life, that’s void of sorrow, and void of strife

It’s fruit that looks just like You, through what we say and what we do.

How about putting some action to our words as we finish talking about gentleness and goodness? If we really want to live fruitfully, actions and words are connected.  What we say and what we do, is evidence of our faith in action.  James 1:22 tells us to be doers of the word and not hearers only.  Another way to say that is to be people of action, not just of intention!  So how can you put action to the fruit of goodness and gentleness?  How about asking God to lead you to someone this week who needs to be loved in a real practical way?  Then ask God to show you a way to demonstrate His goodness and gentleness to this person.  Maybe a good place to start is in your own home.  Can you show gentleness and goodness to your spouse if you are married?  To your kids?  To your pet?  Let’s live goodness and gentleness 24/7.  Let’s not act this way to receive anything….let’s just make it a part of who we are.  If none of your kindness and goodness is reciprocated, continue anyway.  We don’t act “like God” to get something in return, we act “like God” because we are called to imitate Him as it says in Eph 5:1,  We are called to be His hands and feet in this world. So speak a kind word.  Act gently in situations.  Practice goodness.  Make everything move you make, every word you say, fruitful for thekingdomofGod. Every day is filled with moments that have the power to influence others.  Embrace the opportunities you are given to be gentle and good to others. That’s living fruitfully.

 

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