Fruit of the Spirit - Love, Joy and Peace
Fruit of the Spirit – Love, Joy and Peace

Spiritual gifts are not the same as the fruit of the Spirit. Spiritual fruit is produced from within; spiritual gifts are imparted from without. Fruit relates to a Christlike character; gifts relate to Christian service. The fruit of the Spirit, especially love, should be the context for the operation of the gifts of the Spirit. Paul made it clear in 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 that spiritual gifts without spiritual fruit are worthless. Fruit is eternal, but gifts are temporal (1 Corinthians 13:8); the former is a true measure of spirituality, but the latter is not. According to bible.org:

“Spiritual gifts are not the same as natural talents. Unlike the natural abilities which everyone has from birth, spiritual gifts belong exclusively to believers in Christ. In some cases, the gifts of the Spirit coincide with natural endowments, but they transcend these natural abilities by adding a supernatural quality. Both are given by God (James 1:17), and should be developed and used according to their purpose for the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31)”

Main Texts: 1 Corinthians 12:1-11, Galatians 5:22-26

In my opinion, spiritual gifts and fruits should be working together in the life of a believer. Having one without the other can make a Christian life unfruitful and hypocritical.

We will focus on Love, joy and peace in this outline (Galatians 5:22).

Love

Love has many definitions but Romans 5:5 is our text for the love that we should have first: The love of God.

Without loving God we can’t love men. Anybody that does not love others is a hater of God.

Joy

Joy can be described as the assurance and confidence that we have concerning an issue even without evidence. Nehemiah 8:10 – the joy of the lord is our strength.

We rejoice in the Lord even if we cannot see Jesus face to face yet we rejoice in hope.

Peace

Peace – Philippians 4:6  John 14:27. Jesus said peace I leave with you, My peace I give it you not as the world gives.

Romans 14:17, Romans 5:5 – The source of this joy, peace, and love is from the Holy Spirit.

It is good to note that all the components of the fruit are described with God in them, the love of God, the Joy of the lord, the peace of God, which points to the fact that we need to abide in Him if we will be fruitful in our Christian walk.

Conclusion

Every believer should aspire to develop Godly character as stated in Galatian 5:22.  The body of Christ is under watch by unbelievers and our character and Behaviour should reflect what we profess to the world.  Every believer should seek God and cleaved to the Holy Spirit that produced the Joy, Peace, and Love.

Question

How would a Christian know that he or she is exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit?

How to Overcome Worry
How to Overcome Worry

Our lives are directly affected by what takes place in our minds. What we think affects our feelings and these affect our actions and behaviour. When these thoughts focus on the negative they produce feelings of anxiety and worry begins to form in our minds. So, how does one overcome worry? Let’s first look at what worry means.

What is Worry?

Worry has been defined in many ways and some of them are listed below:

“Worry is to think about problems or unpleasant things that might happen or has happened in a way that makes you feel unhappy and frightened”.

“To feel or experience concern or anxiety”

“To fret about a situation, future, tomorrow”

“Fear of uncertainty, change unpleasantness discomfort death sickness pain”

Worry essentially occurs in the mind and it takes place almost unconsciously. Worry destroys creativity and paints a bad picture of situations. The process of pushing thoughts around in our head might be considered by some as planning but in reality, it is worrying. It is good to know and spot the differences in order to avoid the worry trap.

Planning involves a structured approach to an issue with targets set to follow to achieve a goal but worry has no scheduled timing, it is unending and impractical.

Worry has symptoms including fear, sleeplessness, disorientation, hallucination, misconception, confusion, anger, aggression, and lack of motivation. It can lead to Obsessions and depression.

Ways to Overcome Worry

Jesus Christ has a word for chronic worriers in Matthew 6: 25: “Therefore I tell you do not worry about your life …” He also advised that worry has no benefit whatsoever in verse 27: ”Can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your life”. He recommended happiness and cheerfulness – John 16: 33b: “Be of good cheer I have overcome the world”

Solutions to persistent worry include Biblical counselling and prayer.

Prayer: Philippians 4:6 -7: “Do not be anxious about anything but in every situation by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your request to God and the peace of God which passes all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus”.

The Doctrine of the Trinity
The Doctrine of the Trinity

The doctrine of the Trinity has been in the churches for centuries, the early churches and the elders came together to this agreement because there was an ongoing debate about the deity of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit even in prayers. (Nicaea council AD 325) (Nicene Creed).

What is the Trinity?

Trinity is the state of being three, a word used to describe a group of three and a union. In the Godhead, there is constant unity, equality and eternity, no beginning and no end. Trinity is not the name of God but a relational dimension, an explanation of relativity and the relationship between the Triune God according to their specific and peculiar manifestation.

There will never be an adequate human explanation for the existence or the origin of the God in the Trinity as man will forever be mystified by the very nature of the Godhead. It is beyond theology, philosophy, religion or politics. It is the mystery of godliness and spirituality, the very foundation of our faith. It is not a position that God occupies but His nature, how he operates. Jesus Christ is the only member of the Trinity that humans have seen with the physical eye.

How Can We Relate to the Trinity?

  1. We are not to pray to the Trinity but pray to the father God in Jesus’ name by the power of the holy spirit. Zech 4:6b – “Not by might nor by power but by my Spirit says the Lord”.
  2. We must relate and respond to every member of the Trinity in equal measure.
  3. We need help from all the members of the Trinity.
  4. We have to live by faith.
  5. Learn to understand the inner witness of the Spirit to avoid being duped.

God the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit

Is that so bad? Some say that it means God is three. He is one God eternally manifested in three and purposely remaining as the father God. Jesus referred to God as His father in a few places in the Scriptures -John 4:34.

The doctrine of the Trinity has sparked a few debates in theological circles and churches. However, we affirm that God exists and so is Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. The more room we give to each one of them in our hearts, homes, and churches, the more influence they will have on our daily experiences.

God is a spirit and God has a spirit. When this spirit came on Mary the Virgin, Jesus Christ was conceived. Divinity and humanity came together. Jesus was both man and God, He died and rose by the Spirit of God and He went up to heaven because He couldn’t live on earth anymore. Then the Holy Spirit came on the Day of Pentecost and came on them all, no longer priests, special persons and apostles alone but everyone.

When we say in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, we confirm that we are a vessel of the Holy Spirit just like on the Day of the Pentecost and so we carry the trinity.
Stay blessed.