Today's Passage - Galatians 5:22-26

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Galatians 5: 22-26     "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.  If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another."                 Since these nine kinds of fruit are of the Spirit, it means they don't live out of natural lives. The fruit of love - Some people are compassionate, eager to help others, but it's simply their natural personalities and they would be unhappy if told not to do so; but this is different from the "fruit of love" mentioned in the bible. The love that is fruit of the Spirit is your willingness to pray for the people who persecute you, and to love your enemies. This love is not from people, not lived out by human nature, but in Christ, we can love the enemies, pray for the ones that persecute us, this is the fruit of the Spirit.                  The fruit of joy - it's not about the innate happy-go-lucky type, but having joy in adversity and trials, even the unspeakable glorious joy untenable of human nature. The fruit of peace - it's not affability with everyone, but the reconciliation mentioned in the bible, being able to forgive each other even though they were enemies in the past, and confessing their own sins. This is the fruit of the Spirit that people reconciled with each other and with God. The fruit of patience - it's not the mild mannerism; there is a limit to people's patience that one can only endure until the last straw. But the patience given by the Spirit can give people hope to face the road ahead of them with confidence.                  The fruit of kindness - it's not vengeance; and it's love full of kindness. The fruit of goodness - the fruit of the Spirit must have a perfect and good motive. The fruit of faithfulness - faithfulness is trustworthy, and man's faithfulness cannot compare to God's faithfulness. Man's faithfulness is conditional, only God's faithfulness does not come with any conditions and God is absolutely trustworthy. The fruit of gentleness - it's not the patsies that people think about, it is principle-driven, Jesus is a gentle person, but his gentleness is principle-driven. The fruit of self-control - it's not indulgence, the work of the Spirit is certainly not to gratify the desires of the flesh, there is joy and real freedom in self-control.                  We need the fruit of the Spirit to follow God; our natural lives can live up to none of these fruit. We need to welcome the Spirit working in our lives in power.                                                                             Pray with Pastor Tong           Lord, may the Spirit work in our lives, prepare and mold us, so we can bear your fruit, not living by our flesh, yet testifying your glory in our lives. We give thanks and pray in the victorious name of Jesus, Amen!