Strength of Spirit – Fruit of the Spirit Part 11

Scripture: Galatians 5:16-26 22 But the fruit produced by the Holy Spirit within you is divine love in all its varied expressions: joy that overflows, peace that subdues, patience that endures, kindness in action, a life full of virtue, faith that prevails, 23 gentleness of heart, and strength of spirit. Never set the law above these qualities, for they are meant to be limitless. (Galatians 5:22-23 TPT) In GN 04-17-20 Spirit-Life and Self-Life, we talked about the two natures in us. 17 For your self-life craves the things that offend the Holy Spirit and hinder him from living free within you! And the Holy Spirit’s intense cravings hinder your old self-life from dominating you! So then, the two incompatible and conflicting forces within you are your self-life of the flesh and the new creation life of the Spirit. 18 But when you are brought into the full freedom of the Spirit of grace, you will no longer be living under the domination of the law, but soaring above it! (Galatians 5:17-18 TPT) When our spirit-life is strong, because we feed it, cultivate it, say “Yes” to the Spirit, the Fruit of the Spirit grows fuller and sweeter with every spirit-life thought we think, every spirit-life word we speak, every spirit-life choice we make, and every spirit-life action we do. This is not the same as trying to keep the laws and rules, and abide by the restrictions imposed by religions. This is going above and beyond the demands of laws and rules and religion. This is letting the Spirit of Jesus change our hearts so that we think, say, and do the right things because our hearts are becoming like Jesus’ heart. Even when we do right things by sheer willpower, by the strength of our self-life, it doesn’t change us. It makes us feel proud and superior when we win and ashamed and jealous when we fail. All the good things we can do in self-strength don’t make God love us any more. And all the wrong things we do out of our self-life don’t make God love us any less. God loves us not because we are good, but because he is good! And God simply wants us to allow our hearts to be made new by the love of Jesus and the life of the Spirit within us. Then we can begin to grow strong in spirit and weaker in self and become more like Jesus with every spirit-prompted thought, word, and action. Prayer: Father, Thank you for loving me! I say “Yes” to Jesus and I yield my whole life to your mercy and grace. Make me strong in Spirit so I can be more like Jesus each day! Amen.