The Daily Dose

Spiritual Fruit

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.”  Galatians 5:22-23

The fruit of the Spirit.  Many of us are familiar with this list of spiritual fruit here in Galatians 5.  It is commonly referred to as things that Christian people should do and how we should behave.  However, if you take a closer look, some of the characteristics on this list are not always so easy to do, things like peace.  With all the turmoil in the world and even in day to day living, peace can be very elusive. Worry and fear can be our constant companion if we let them.  Longsuffering can also be challenging because we live in a demanding, “right now” world that doesn’t want to wait for anything let alone suffer for it.  Self-control??  That is almost unheard of these days.  From credit card debt to road rage, self-control is not something that is popular in today’s culture.  Most would rather talk about how they told somebody off or got the best of someone rather than how they humbled themselves in a situation. 

Having said all that, is it even possible to live by the fruit of the Spirit?  The answer is in a seed.  In a natural seed, there is every part of a plant within it.  The stem, the branches, the leaves and if it is a fruit plant, then the fruit is in the seed, too.  When it is planted and cultivated, the things that are already inside the seed will automatically come out, including the fruit.

The spiritual life is the same.  The fruit of the Spirit is not something you attain to or try to accomplish in life by being a good Christian.  It is merely the produce of the measure of the Spirit inside of you.  If you find that fruit doesn’t come out of you easily and that you are working hard at living by a set of rules to try to produce fruit, then it is an indication that there isn’t much of the Holy Spirit inside you.  As you fill your life up with the things of God and His Spirit, such as personal time with Him, pursuing a deeper understanding of the Holy Spirit, fellow-shipping with other believers, and separating from worldly distractions, then the fruit will be the result or evidence of these spiritual habits and it will be easy for others to see the fruit you are bearing.  It is the Holy Spirit within you that produces the fruit, not you.  You may not even realize you are displaying fruit just because you have become so close to God by hanging out with Him so much, and developed the spiritual habits that result and automatically produce spiritual fruit.

Today I encourage you to consider how much time you spend focusing on spiritual things and how much time you could be spending growing closer to God.  Make a shift in your activities to give God’s Spirit a great place inside of you.  Then fill that space up with His presence each day before you let any other influence in.  Let the fruit of God’s Spirit be the evidence of who you have become in Christ Jesus.

Today’s scripture reading:  Galatians 5:22-26

Walk in the Spirit

Walk in the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh.  Galatians 5:16

Walk in the Spirit.  What exactly does that look like?  It doesn’t mean you go around as a ghost and it doesn’t mean that you see things beyond the physical.  It does mean that you live your life in line with the Kingdom of Heaven.  How do you do that?  By lining up with the Word of God.  All through out the scripture, our heavenly Father shows and tells us the kingdom principles to live by.  Jesus especially spent a lot of His teaching on how the kingdom of Heaven works and how it was designed to be the same in this world.  It is basically lining up every area of your life and submitting it to God and His order of doing things.  This is not about keeping rules and regulations although that is part of the process.  It is not about controlling your behavior, although that is one of the results.  It is about living life successfully by the way that God created us to live.

For example, in verse 17 of this chapter it talks about how our flesh wars against our spirit man.  It wants to control our life by what it “feels like” doing.  A simple illustration would be when your body doesn’t “feel like” getting out of bed in the morning to go to work.  Your spirit man takes over and says, I am getting up because it is the right thing to do.  If you don’t take your authority over your physical body (flesh) it will lead you to a lot of wrong places in life.  In the verses following (19-21) there is an extensive list of the works your flesh will take you to if you do not exercise your authority over it.

I know this is a little confusing because we are one person, but we do have three parts.  The body, soul (which is the mind, will and emotions) and our spirit.  The spirit man should be the part of you that is in charge of all you do and your spirit’s primary responsibility is to be lined up with God’s ways and led by His Spirit!

Today I want to encourage you to walk in the Spirit!  If you are unsure how to line up with the Kingdom of heaven, spend some time looking in the scripture.  Especially look at how Jesus taught us to live.  He gives us so many examples on how to handle all areas of life. He told us in Matthew 6:33 that the order of our lives starts with God Kingdom and look for God’s kingdom first in every area of life, then everything else gets into place. (But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Matthew 6:33)

Today’s scripture reading: Galatians 5:16-21

Love your neighbor

For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.  Galatians 5:14

In this verse, Paul says that in loving your neighbor as yourself, you are fulfilling the requirement of the whole law.  (That is everything that is required under the old covenant)  This brings me to the question how do I “love my neighbor as myself”?  It has always been something hard for me to grasp.  Almost like a vapor, very cloudy, because I think I didn’t feel it was attainable or I just didn’t know how.  Then God showed me a practical way to view my neighbor so I would know how to love them with the God kind of love.  When I see my neighbor, I see myself.  If I see my neighbor struggling with something, what would I do if it were myself or what would I want someone to do for me if I was the one struggling with the same thing?  If I see my neighbor rejoicing about something, how would I want others to rejoice with me if I were celebrating something?

Now that I looked at it from this angle, it seemed very simple to understand, but not so simple to follow through. The first thing to identify is, who is my neighbor?  Is it those who live next door to me or in my neighborhood?  What if I live in the country and don’t have anyone living close to me?  Secondly, how do I know what to do to “love” them? In Luke 10:25-37 Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan to illustrate loving your neighbor as yourself.  In this parable, there were strangers who passed by a man that had fallen among thieves, and yet He calls the man who showed mercy his neighbor.  The Samaritan didn’t even know the guy and he certainly didn’t live next door to him. I also want to make the point that this was not a fellow believer, this was a dirty, hurting, dying, helpless, and hopeless sinner. The point is that anyone you can do good for is your neighbor.

The last thing I want to consider is why does God want me to love my neighbor as myself?  Is it only to make rules for me to keep me in line?  Is it to make me look like a good person?  No, the reason is to show others the very heart of God!  The only way others can know God is if they see His heart in our actions.  The other part of that is, we can see God’s heart in action when we are showing it to others.  If you want to see a great act of God, then watch it play out in your love for your “neighbor”.

Today and every day I encourage you to look for those God will send across your path to “love” as you love yourself and do good to them as you would do for yourself.  Let your actions toward others reflect the heart of God’s love for them.

Today’s scripture reading: Galatians 5:7-15

Entangled

Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.  Galatians 5:1

I love how the Apostle Paul repeatedly talks about being free in Christ Jesus.  He continues here in the 5^th Chapter to tell the people in Galatia how vital it is not to entangle themselves in the things of the world.  He says that you are a slave without Salvation in Christ Jesus.  Yet he qualifies that he is actually talking about being bound by the laws of the old covenant as opposed to sinful habits. He tells them that if they insist on their salvation being based on one of the old laws, then they are obligated to keep all the law (which they could never do) and that eliminates their need for their Savior Jesus.

I have heard people say in our time that it is hard to be a Christian.  That you have to give so much up and live this kind of impoverished life.  My response to that is, in this day and age how can you live this life without Jesus. Who do you turn to when you have trouble?  Who do you call on when you’ve got yourself in a mess and where do you go when you are without hope? 

It’s the same thing that the Galatians were facing.  They felt that to follow Jesus, they had to give up their false sense of security that they had in the old testament law.  They were feeling like to follow Jesus took away what was most important to them.  However, that’s just not the case!  Salvation in Christ Jesus is the only place to have security.  When you put your trust in the one who perfectly lived in this world and died a sinless death to free all from the bonds of sin, the work to gain freedom is done.  You no longer have to strive and struggle to try to be perfect because the perfect one perfected the work of salvation for you.  All you have to do is fall in love with Him and walk with Him each day.  It’s not difficult, in fact it’s so much easier to live this life in clearness and with the blinders of the world gone.  There is no more gray area, now you can see what living is really all about.  It’s not about keeping a bunch of rules and regulations, now its about a love story that never ends.

Today I want to encourage you to receive freedom in Christ Jesus.  Don’t let the lies of the world keep you in bondage to it.  Instead, turn a blind eye to the worlds ways and see clearly how to live through the lens of the love of God demonstrated in His Son’s sacrifice to make you a child too.

Pray this prayer today to receive your salvation in Him: :  God in heaven, I know I’m a sinner and I need a Savior.  I want to turn away from my sinful life to the life You have planned for me.  Please forgive me for my sins, cleanse me from my past, and make me new.  I know you Son, Jesus died for me.  I believe in my heart that You raised Him form the dead.  At this very moment, I accept, confess, and proclaim Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior . . . to be Lord of my life from this day forward.  I now have a right relationship with God my Father. I also ask for Your Holy Spirit to guide me and to empower me to do the things that You have planned for my life in Jesus name, Amen

Today’s scripture reading: Galatians 5:1-6

The family business

Before you Gentiles knew God, you were slaves to so-called gods that do not even exist. So now that you know God (or should I say, now that God knows you), why do you want to go back again and become slaves once more to the weak and useless spiritual principles of this world? Galatians 4:8&9

Yesterday I talked about being a slave or orphan vs. being a child of God.  In today’s verse, Paul talking to the Galatians, asks:  Why, after you have become a child of God, are you still living like you did as a slave?  It seems the group of Christians there were accepting Jesus as their savior, but not as their LORD.  The difference is in how you live.  They were receiving Jesus to rescue them from an eternity of separation from God, to save them.  However, they didn’t recognize that He was their LORD right here and now in this world.  They went right back into their old lifestyles and ways of living.  Paul says that they were still slaves to “gods” that didn’t really exist.  They were giving more importance to everything else in life instead of putting God in first place.

In Galatians 3:11 Paul says that the just live by faith.  Here in chapter four, he is trying to show the people of Galatia what that looks like.  He says that your life is different now and you have a Father.  Now you live your life by the Fathers ways.  These are not burdensome.  They are success principles.  Fundamentals that the Kingdom of Heaven was build on.  They are God’s ways and they are what works in this life.  We don’t follow them because we are obeying a set of rules and regulations, we live by them because we live in His house and His kingdom and they are the truths that work in this life.  This is how we honor our Heavenly Father, by living by faith a successful and virtuous life.  Not because we are forced to, but because we are His family and we work together with our Father and His ways to get His business accomplished!  We love our Father and are part of the family business.

Today I want to encourage you to live your life by faith.  Learn the success principles of the Kingdom of Heaven and then do them.  Take your place in God’s plans and be a part of the things your Father is doing in the world right now.  Not because you are following a set of rules and laws, but because you are a functioning part of your Father’s will and plan.  Make your life all about His work and not the worlds.

Today’s scripture reading: Galatians 4:8-31

Orphans?

Therefore, you are no longer a slave/orphan but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. Galatians 4:7

I was an orphan.  I ran out into the world to act and live like the world.  I did my own thing and didn’t listen to anyone or answer to anyone for that matter.  Not that I didn’t cry out for help many times when I got in a bind.  God always came running to my rescue.  Actually, I wasn’t an orphan, but I acted like one.  God had adopted me into His family years before, but my understanding of that was limited at best.  When He adopted me, He didn’t look at my past to see if I would make a good child of God.  He didn’t look at my future and think I had a lot of potential.  He didn’t even look at my present and say “She needs a Father, so I will take her in”.   The only one He looked at was His son and said “I want many more Children like Him!”

Today’s verse talks about being a slave or an orphan.  I was a slave to the world’s way of doing things.  Even though I thought I was living life my way, it was a trap into living life the way those without a Father live.  One day, I turned back to my Father and said “I don’t want to do things my way anymore, I just keep making a mess of things.”  Of course He came running to my rescue.  He didn’t say, “No, I don’t want to be your adopted Father anymore, you are too messed up.”  He didn’t even mention the adopted part.  In His eyes, I was His child coming back into His home, His kingdom and His world.  I was now in a place where I was safe, protected and clean from the stains of the world’s sin.  Now instead of living like everyone else in the world, I began to live by the Kingdom of Heaven’s ways that are laid out in scripture.  Just because you have been adopted into the family, doesn’t mean you are automatically living His ways.

The fact is, that God’s ways are what work in this world.  It is the way He originally created this world.  To function just like Heaven does, but when sin entered the world, it was knocked off balance and Heavens ways were quickly forgotten about.  Today, we can bring heaven back to earth when we begin to live by Heaven’s principles.  When we take the time to get close to our Father, develop that personal relationship with Him through talking to Him and reading His Word, we will soon be taking Heaven with us wherever we are.

Today I want to encourage you to think about your adoption in Christ Jesus.  Just what does that mean to you and what does it mean to God.  Then ask yourself if you are living by the house rules or the worlds rules.  Even though you may not have gotten into trouble like I did, you can still be far from the Father right where you live.  Take time each day to grow your relationship with Him by talking to and listen to Him.  Lastly, remember where you came from.  You were once an orphan.  Even though your loving Father will never remind you of that, stay submitted to Him with the determination never to live as an orphan again.

Today’s scripture reading: Galatians 4:1-7

            Faith or Fear

just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.  Galatians 3:6

This is pretty interesting. . . Have you ever heard someone say or maybe you have said it yourself, “I’m afraid ____________ is going to happen.”  Maybe it’s something like cold weather or rain.  Maybe something a little more personal and serious like sickness or even disease.  Maybe it’s something you’re afraid for yourself or for someone else, but here’s the thing, when you speak the things you are afraid of (whether you are actually afraid or just considering) you are actually giving life to them.

Today’s scripture is about Abraham and how God made him the father of many nations long before he even had one child.  God made the promise to Abraham and then Abraham believed it and began speaking it.   Abraham didn’t go around saying, “God said it would happen but I’m afraid we just can’t have children, let alone a whole nation.”  Abraham believed God and so he began to speak what God promised him.  In fact, the scriptures says that Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”  Abraham not only believed God, but he showed his belief by speaking what God had promised.  God changed his name from Abram to Abraham which literally meant “father of nations.”  He didn’t go around saying I can’t call myself Abraham because I am not a father of nations yet.  He took the promise of God and gave life to it by speaking it every time he said his own name.  It grew so big in him until one day he believed it enough to open the door for God to come in and do a miracle.

Here’s the point . . . today we can speak what we fear or what we believe.  It is up to us to give “voice” to the promises of God both from His Word and from His Spirit.  We cannot be intimidated by the world’s philosophy of speaking doubt and unbelief.  We must take our stand on the Word of God for it to become evident in our lives.  This also applies to our current circumstances. God and His Word (Jesus) are more real than any circumstance but we cannot continue to agree with the seen, temporary, present things.      (2 Corinthians 4:8)  We have to ask God for the wisdom to speak what He is about to do in the situation, the changes He is going to make, and then speak the promises that He gives us.  2 Corinthians 4:13 says, “And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed and therefore I spoke,” we also believe and therefore speak.”  Now is when we make the decision, “do I speak what I see and what I fear the outcome will be or do I speak and agree with what God sees the outcome can be if I trust Him?”  The choice is up to us.

Today I encourage you to consider your words over your circumstances.  Pay attention to the words you are saying over the details of your life and over the struggles of your life.  Consider if you are agreeing with your circumstances or if you are agreeing with God and His Word on every level.  Here’s the thing, you are saying something anyway that probably hasn’t happened yet, why not take the God side of the issue and speak His Word over it instead of the fear side?  Not only will His Words bring peace of mind, they will bring the results you desire for all the concerns surrounding your life.

Today’s scripture reading: Galatians 3:1-9

Redeemed from the curse

“Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”),” Galatians 3:13

Today’s verse is a New Testament verse that tells us that once we are in Christ Jesus, we are redeemed from that curse!  Glory to God!!!  Redeemed means to be made free from captivity by payment.  Jesus paid the price and penalty for our sins so we could be free from captivity and that also includes being set free from the curse of the law.

In Deuteronomy 28 there is quite an extensive list of the curse.  The curse even includes such things a mildew, locust, and diseases that weren’t even recognized yet, diseases that are in the world today.  It is an incredibly terrible list and one that I am so thankful to be redeemed from.

The scripture in Deuteronomy says that God would bring these things on His people for not obeying His Word.  However, when Jesus was on the cross, God, the Father, poured out all His wrath on Jesus, so He no longer brings these things on people.  These terrible things are in the world still today because of the curse that resulted from the fall of man.  When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, the world was brought under a curse, so today’s cursed things are a remaining result of the original sin, but they are not for those who have been saved by the blood of the Lamb.  Even though the curse may try to come on us, we have the power and authority in the name of Jesus to stand up and say “No!”  However, God’s promise still stands and if we listen to and obey His Word, He will keep, protect, and bring us through every struggle.

Today I want to encourage you to examine your own life.  Is there any area where deception may have crept in and brought the curse along with it?  Turn those things over to God and get the devil under your feet.  He is God’s defeated enemy and has no authority to bring his evil curse on you, a child of the Most High God!!  Press into God and get into His Word then He will show you how to overcome all of life’s struggles!

Today’s scripture reading:  Galatians 3

Crucified with Christ

“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who lives, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”  Galatians 2:20

As I began reading Galatians 2, I knew this verse was coming up at the end of the chapter.  So, I was looking for it and, of course thought, “I know this one”.  When I got to the verse, suddenly I saw it completely different than I ever had before.  When I read the first line “I have been crucified with Christ”, in my mind I could see Saul of Tarsus being knocked off his horse by a blinding light on the Damascus road.  Immediately, that fall from his horse to the ground represented to me his death to himself.  That’s when he met Jesus for the first time.  That meeting was when he was crucified with Christ.  When he got up off the ground, those who were with him helped him to get to a place where he could wait until he regained his sight (which he lost when he was knocked to the ground).  It was three days and he didn’t eat or drink . . . his burial time.  Then a disciple named Ananias came and laid hands on him, he regained his vision, and was baptized and began the ministry God had for him.  Now it was no longer Saul that lived in that body but Christ Jesus now lived in him.  He gave Jesus the space in his life that he himself used to occupy and became the minister of God.  The ministry was the way he demonstrated living by faith in the Son of God.

This revelation may seem like a no brainer to some people, but seeing this picture gave me a whole new perspective of my salvation in Christ Jesus.  Yes, I have always known that when I received Jesus I died and gave my life to him, but the reality of it was something I struggled to see.  Seeing the picture of Paul on the horse really brought the reality of salvation home to me.  Now I realize that at the point of my salvation, I died to my selfish desires and gave Jesus the space in my life that used to be full of what I wanted to have and do.

Today I want to encourage you to ask yourself, “Have I fully given my savior that space I once occupied?”  “Am I letting the Holy Spirit of God navigate and direct me daily?”  “Have I truly been crucified with Christ Jesus, or do I still allow that “dead” person to control my life?”  These are hard questions, I know, but if you will answer them honestly and try not to justify your actions, you will be able to go so much deeper in your relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  That is when you will truly be on the road God has planned for you and live your life to the extreme fullest!

Today’s scripture reading:  Galatians 2

Wilderness?

“nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter and remained with him fifteen days.”  Galatians 1:17-18

Today’s scripture is about the Apostle Paul after his conversion on the road to Damascus  It says that he didn’t go right into ministry.  He had a “wilderness” time. Many people believe that as soon as he was converted, he went right into full-time ministry.  However, that just wasn’t the case. He spent three years growing in his spiritual walk with the Lord. This “wilderness” time no doubt, prepared him for the writing and teaching that he would do throughout his ministry.

There are many other examples of those who have gone through “wilderness” times as they prepared for ministry. Elisha served Elijah for several years before he was ready to step into the leadership position.   David was pretty much an outlaw for several years before he became king even though he was anointed when he was still in his father’s house.  Joseph spent 13 years in Egypt as a slave. Some of those years he spent in prison before he sat next to the pharaoh. The scripture is full of examples of those who went through the refining time and years of training.  Their “wilderness” time was meant for refining, building up strength, and receiving the power of God for effective ministry.

Today I want to encourage you if you are going through a “wilderness” time to recognize it as a time of refining or growing.  If it seems like you keep facing the same tests repeatedly, it could be because you haven’t passed them yet.  As you recognize your “wilderness” time, begin to rejoice that God has a plan for you. Even though it may seem burdensome and weary, spend that time learning and growing as much as you possibly can.  Then recognize this time is preparing you for the calling on your life.  God is getting ready to accomplish many things for the kingdom of heaven through what He has called you to do!  Ask the Lord to show you any areas where you need to grow so that you can move out of the wilderness into your promised land.

Today’s scripture reading:  Galatians 1:17-24