Episode 56: The Holy Spirit's Fruit in Our Lives, Part 1
Sunday, March 06, 2016
Peace to Live By Episode 56: The Holy Spirit's Fruit in Our Lives, Part 1 - Daniel Litton
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[Transcript may not match broadcasted sermon word for word, and contains extra material that was cut from the broadcast due to time constraints]
Today I am beginning a new series on the Fruit of the Spirit, and we are going to be consider each fruit individually over the next three weeks. Since there are nine fruits, we will consider three fruits in each message. I believe it is really important to understand each of these characteristics that God wants us to be displaying in our lives. These are the attitudes in life that are good attitudes that have no law against them. When we display these fruits, it gives us better lives, more enjoyable for ourselves and lives that are a blessing to others. Now, some of these areas you may already have a good grasp and practice in, but there are others that need a lot of work. Indeed, we all have work that needs to be accomplished. None of us are perfect in our thoughts, our words, or our behaviors, and we all have room to improve in each of these areas.
It seems reasonable to presume that when we believed in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, that is, each of us individually, we were given the seeds of these fruits. After all, God said we are new creations in Christ, that the old has passed away, that the new has come. The terminology in that verse in 2 Corinthians 5 makes it clear that this process has already taken place, that of the old passing away and the new coming. But, I think all of us will admit, that if we look at our lives or if we were able to stand outside of ourselves for a second, we would see that we are lacking in a lot of areas when it comes to character development. Some of us are more developed than others, and each of us have our strong traits and our weak traits. So, we all have room to grow; we all need to participate in spiritual growth. We are either moving forward in life at becoming more like Jesus, or we are moving backwards in becoming less and less like Jesus. If you think you are neutral right now, you are moving backwards and today is a good day to start growing forward again.
But before we dive headfirst into this, let’s review the passage from Galatians 5, which talks about the Fruit of the Spirit. Turn in your Bibles, or tap in your Bible apps on your mobile devices, and go to Galatians 5, starting in verse 16. I want us to consider this last half of Galatians chapter 5 because really it all relates to the Fruit of the Spirit which we are talking about today. So, starting in verse 16:
“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 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” (Galatians 5:16-26, ESV).
Now, verses 22 and 23 are going to be our focus today and for this three part series. Let’s consider each Fruit of the Spirit and try to have a better understanding of them.
Love
Love is foundational to all of our actions. We are to do all things that we do in life through an attitude to love. Paul told us the most excellent way we could live life is doing all things through love, and this is no matter what we do (see 1 Corinthians 13). Any work for the Lord we are doing day-to-day, any ability God has given us, any step of faith that we take, all is to be done through love. Even sacrifice in our lives needs to have love in it. Legalism and asceticism are not part a proper equation for us. If we live like monks, we aren’t exercising love in our lives. Without doing things through love, we really do not get anything out of life, and others around us just aren’t helped. Love is greater for us than any faith that we have, and even greater than our hopes for ourselves and others for the future.
We are to love God with our whole beings, and also love our neighbors as we already love ourselves. Mark recorded for us the following in Mark 12, starting in verse 29:
Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:29-31 ESV).
So, the most important person in our lives is God. First, we love him with all our hearts, which means with our whole being, with every part of us. And so, we have surrendered all to him, and this makes him pleased and happy. It doesn’t mean we don’t have peace, happiness, and joy in our lives; it means that everything we do, we do it through Christ. Second, we love God with all of our souls. We are obedient to him in all areas of our lives—not just some of the parts of our lives. God’s Word is to have say in all areas, not just the the areas we want Him to have say in. In other words, we keep God in perspective in everything we do. Third, we love God with all our strength which means we live in a way that shows love for God with good effort. We are not half-hearted or lazy in our love for God. We find time to spend with him daily; we read his Word daily. Lastly, we love God with all of our minds, which means what we are thinking about throughout the day. We eliminate incorrect and sinful thoughts, and we focus on ‘now’ and good things. We keep God at the forefront of our minds, and stay in continual conversation with him.
For the second greatest commandment, that of loving our neighbors as ourselves, part of this includes loving those who are in the body of Christ, our fellow brothers and sisters in our church. Now, this can be accomplished in different ways, as we don’t all love each other in the same way. But God teaches us individually how to love one another (see (1 Thessalonians 4:9). Really, our love for one another works in connection with the spiritual gifts given to us from the Holy Spirit. Think of your gifts when thinking of how you should love others. And we don’t just love our fellow Christians belonging to our particular church, but we love others that are part of the body of Christ but that do not belong to our church. Nonetheless, love can be about what we do for others, and it can also be about what we do not do. Each of us should live quiet lives, and we should keep our focus on our own lives, and not get into other people’s business when unwarranted or unneeded. Now, we do good for others in the body and help them, and we consider what is in the best interest for them. Paul also said, “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10, ESV).
Also included in Paul’s “everyone” from the verse we just read is unbelievers. It is good for us to help unbelievers by guiding them toward Jesus. When people ask us for advice in this or that situation or about what the Bible says, we are to lead them in the right direction. We are to let our lights shine before others, and by this they will see our good works, and this causes them to look toward God. If we aren’t shining our lights in the first place, but have put our lamps underneath something, unbelievers wont even know we are followers of Christ and therefore we cannot help them (see Matthew 5:14-16, ESV). They will not seek us out. We each work our own careers, and most of us with unbelievers, and we do this gladly. So, we are to live lives before them in a way that is different, a way that is special, one that will make us stick out against others. This shows a good model of Jesus. We should not have double-sided lives, or be two-faced, but have lives that are lived through the same attitude of love when we are at church and when we are at our workplace. Some folks just want to think about God on Sunday mornings, and then go throughout the rest of the week with no influence from Him. But this is not how a true, born-again Christian lives.
We also love our spouses in the Lord, the person whom God has blessed us with in our lives, if we are married. For wives first, probably the chief way they show their love toward their husbands is by submitting to them in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Paul said that “as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands” (Ephesians 5:23, ESV). So, she lets her husband have ultimate say in the things in life that really matter. She provides her insight, her side to something of course, but she does not force her way on her husband. She let’s him have the final decision. By doing this, the wife shows respect for her husband. And, she does not punish her husband in open or secret ways when she does not get her way. She is not argumentative with him, or holding things against him. She does not insist on her own way only.
The husband is indeed the leader of the wife and children according to God’s Word. Some reasons for this are provided by the Apostle Paul in 1 Timothy. He said one reason is that Adam was created by God first before Eve. That is the order that God chose to create humans. A second reason is that Eve sinned first before Adam. Nevertheless, the woman does gain an advantage over the man, for she is the one who gives birth to new persons brought into this world, children. Someone might question whether this is really an advantage, but I think it really is. She has the privilege and honor of motherhood, so much as God blesses her and gives her a child or children. This is something a man cannot experience in the same way. It is a deeper experience for the woman.
Now, husbands are to show love for their wives. In fact, husbands are to show so much love for their wives that they are willing to give themselves up for them. Now, this doesn’t mean the wife always gets her way—far from that as we just discussed with the wife submitting to her husband. It means that the husband values the quality of his wife’s life over the quality of his own life. He wants to see her perfected in spiritual maturity, so that she is pleasing and perfect before the Lord. He wants to see her strong in her knowledge of the Word of God. Really, the husband is to love his wife more than himself. And the husband through loving his wife shows that he indeed loves himself. For if he doesn’t love his wife, he really doesn’t love himself, and really cannot truly love anyone in the case. Just as a Christian man does not neglect himself—he doesn’t neglect his physical needs or his spiritual needs—so he should do the same for his wife. Husband and wife should spend time studying the Word together, praying together so that they can grow closer to each other and grow closer to the Lord at the same time. The two have become one flesh the Bible tells us. And while we really don’t know all that entails, for the Apostle Paul said he didn’t even know, for he called it a mystery, the reality is that the two are spiritually one. That is why sex between a man and a woman is sacred, and is not something that is to be shared with anybody. And so, the summarize, each husband should show love for his wife as he indeed loves himself (see Ephesians 5:25-33, ESV).
Now what are some other ways the husband shows love for his wife? One thing that comes to mind right away is the fact that what a husband says to his wife is very important. He needs to be kind toward her, and not harsh, negative, or critical towards her. He should treat her in a way that is fair, and listen to what she needs and what she wants. Listening is really important, and a lot of husbands don't listen to their wives. Often, they don't even let them finish a sentence, and this can be shameful when it becomes a reoccurring problem. The husband needs to listen to his wife, and listen whole heartedly. If your used to interrupting your wife, thinking you know the better thing to say, your going to have to learn to listen and not just be thinking in your mind what you're going to say next. Forget what you have, in your mind, to say and listen to her. Remember that your wife has physical needs also, as touch is really important to a woman. Husbands need to show affection for their wives. If you are not use to doing that, you need to make a change.
Joy
First and foremost, we should state that God gives us joy in our lives. He fills us with all of our joy as we believe in Him, as we live out our lives in Him, though the power of the Holy Spirit (see Romans 15:13, ESV). King David said to God, “You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound” (Psalms 4:7, ESV). Now, he was comparing himself with unbelievers, in that unbelievers gain joy from the work of their hands, and from drinking. But the Christian’s joy is greater than these earthly, temporal joys. God’s presence becomes our joy in our lives. For again, David said, “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalms 16:11, ESV). You see, God truly fulfills our lives. Living in fellowship with him is the only way a person can truly experience a satisfying life, for he created us. If we want to experience true joy, it is found in him. And he even gives us things we want, the desires of our hearts (more on this in a little bit).
King Solomon, David’s son, took it a step further when he said, “For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind” (Ecclesiastes 2:26, ESV). We, as Christians, again have been given joy from God, and now along with wisdom and knowledge as pertains to things of life and God. Joy is present inside us. It is our underlying trust in God regardless of our external circumstances in life. The unbeliever just goes through the motions in life without anything truly deep, truly profound in life. He or she lives for him or herself only, just seeking the next pleasure or event that will make him or her happy. Even what the unbeliever does, his work with his hands, benefits the believer. But what the believer has internally, in God, does not benefit the unbeliever. What he say externally may benefit him, but nothing he has internally does. Paul would backup Solomon in what he said, when he said, “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17, ESV). We have the greater things of life given to us by God.
Even though we cannot see God with our own eyes in our lives, for we do not see him physically standing next to us, we still believe in him. And this belief, Peter tells us, causes us to abound in joy, to rejoice, with a joy that is indescribable, something that we really cannot put our finger on or even explain to others (see 1 Peter 1:8, 9). Sometimes it is hard to express. We say we just know what we know. We know that we belong to God, that he is present within us, and that we have communion with him. And this joy we have is filled with glory, and ultimately leads to us inheriting our salvation by the faith of our souls, going to Heaven when we die. And so we worship God as a result of our joy (see Luke 24:52, 53). We bless God with the things that we speak to him and about him. And our joy in our lives, which comes from God, gives us strength. For it is written, “The joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10, ESV). When we spend time in prayer with God, when we fellowship with him, our hearts rejoice, and as Jesus said, “no one will take your joy from you” (John 16:22, ESV).
And following God’s ways in our lives gives us joy in our hearts. As we love the Lord, we learn to hate evil, the evil in our world around us. And God preserves our lives, we who are his. We don't have to worry about the people who don't follow God, people who practice lawlessness, because God keeps us safe from them. As a matter of fact, good is given to us from God. God gives us his joy because we have right standing in him through Jesus. So, therefore, we rejoice in the Lord, as we are righteous, and give thanks to God (see Psalms 97:10-12, ESV). One psalmist wrote, "Your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart. I incline my heart to perform your statutes forever, to the end" (Psalms 119:111, 112 ESV). You see, when we see the right things occurring in our world, when we see justice accomplished, this provides joy for us as Christians. But the people who practice the wrong things which are against God, justice is their dread; it makes them angry (see Proverbs 21:15, ESV). They want to practice their evil ways.
Jesus has taught us: "If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full" (John 15:10, 11, ESV). So, God's Word not only gives us joy, but it makes our joy full and complete. On the flip side of this, when we don't keep God's commandments, we can lose our joy. David noted the following after he sinned by committing adultery with Bathsheba: "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit" (Psalms 51:7-12, ESV). Unbelievers have joy also, but their’s is temporary, pertaining only to the things of this life (see Job 20:4-11). As Solomon also said, "Folly is a joy to him who lacks sense, but a man of understanding walks straight ahead" (Proverbs 15:21, ESV).
Now doing the Lord’s Work gives us joy. Remember after Jesus sent out the seventy-two in Luke 10, the text says they returned with joy. In Acts 15, it says that the brothers had great joy in learning about the fact that the Gentiles were now being brought into the kingdom of God. The Apostle John penned, "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth" (3 John 4, ESV). So, doing the Lord’s Work and hearing about it definitely gives us joy in our hearts as Christians.
And we should count our trials as joy to us when they come upon us. We all face difficulties in our lives from time to time, things that are hard to bear up under. When we have afflictions in our lives, we should really respond with an overflow with joy, even though our flesh definitely doesn't want to do this (see 2 Corinthians 7:4, ESV). This is like what our Lord Jesus Christ modeled for us, being the founder and perfecter of our faith. He saw the joy that was to be his after his suffering, and in view of that he endured the cross, despising the shame, and now, today, he is seated at God's right hand in the throne room of Heaven (see Hebrews 12:2, ESV). Finally, James probably sums up our joy in our suffering the best when he said, "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing" (James 1:2-4, ESV). We have to have trails in our lives in order to develop our patience. And when we go through them with a proper attitude of joy, we come out on the other end with what we were wanting, the desire of our heart.
Our hope in obtaining Heaven one day in the future gives us joy inside us. We have this hope which unbelievers don't have because they are only focused on the earth, on the material, on those people who are around them. We as believers know that soon we will be with Jesus, and our bodies will be transformed and made perfect. That includes our getting rid of our sin natures. That includes getting rid of any sicknesses or struggles we may have. We will have perfect minds. It is noted in Proverbs: "The hope of the righteous brings joy, but the expectation of the wicked will perish" (10:28, ESV). Now God, in our lives, keeps us from stumbling so that he can present us blameless before him, and this gives God great joy (see Jude 1:24, 25, ESV). Even though we do have struggles, he helps us with them. And the thought of obtaining our rewards when we get to Heaven, our future possessions, for our obedience and enduring persecution here on earth, also gives us joy. Jesus told us, "Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets" (Luke 6:23, ESV).
And possessions and gifts given to us by God, in the here and now, blessings from him, give us joy. I want us to consider a couple passages from King Solomon.
First: “Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God. For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart” (Ecclesiastes 5:19, 20, ESV).
And second: “Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do. Let your garments be always white. Let not oil be lacking on your head. Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might” (Ecclesiastes 9:7-10a, ESV).
And remember, Jesus told us, "Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full" (John 16:24, ESV). God wants to give us good things while we are here on the earth.
Peace
Probably one of the greatest things people lack in their lives is peace, whether peace of mind or external peace in our situations around us. But really, for the Christian, this should not be the case. God wants us to have peace in our minds and in our lives, but often we have to chose to have that peace. The Prophet Isaiah has told us, "You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you" (Isaiah 26:3, ESV). And what a great verse that is; what a tremendous promise. Indeed, at the foundation of peace, whether internal peace or external peace, is our trust in God, our trust that he is working all things in our lives for the good because we love him and are called according to his purpose (see Romans 8:28, ESV).
Paul did say that God is the one who gives us our peace in our lives. He wrote to the Thessalonians, “Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all” (2 Thessalonians 3:16, ESV). You see, there is peace that comes naturally from God for us. We receive this peace when we are close to him and when we are walking in obedience to his Word in our lives. Following the what the Word of God says—following the Bible’s way of living—gives us peace. When we go our own way and do our own things, often times there isn’t a blessing from God on it. We are just working through our own flesh—our fleshly efforts instead of by God’s power and anointing—and before long we will realize this. We need the power of the Spirit of God to help us in our lives. He helps us with our weakness, that of dealing with our human flesh which is still corrupted by the sin nature, and he helps us by giving us needed strength. So, when we follow God’s way and do things through His power, we have a clear conscience which yields peace of mind.
When we follow God in our lives which gives us peace, this leads to us obtaining the things we really want in and out of life. Job 22:21 tells us, ““Agree with God, and be at peace; thereby good will come to you” (ESV). It is only through following God’s ways, which yields peace in our minds, that brings about good things in our lives. We get good things because God’s ways are always the best ways of doing things. In other words, God knows best. He leads us down the right path in whatever situation we are thinking about or going through. Plus, when we walk in God’s ways, in obedience to him, it is only then natural for him to reward us in the here and now. A parent will reward his child for good behavior. A grade-school teacher rewards his class when they perform well. And so it is with God. And really, we don’t even have to wait for his rewards for us to get a reward, for the peace he gives us in our following him is a great reward in and of itself. Having peace of mind is a gift, and it’s something that most other people in this world don’t have. But we can have it anytime and all the time, really.
We can also have peace in our lives with people who don’t like us, whom we might call our enemies. Proverbs 16:7 states, “When a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him” (ESV). Remember Jesus told us to turn the other cheek when wrongs have been done against us, and certainly this is a hard thing to do. But when we do this, it causes peace in our minds and it begets peace with the person who is hurting us. Consider what the Apostle Paul told the Romans, in Romans 12. He said, staring in verse 19:
“Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (19-21, ESV)
By being kind to our enemies, we work peace where there should have been the opposite. We work good out of a bad situation. And, over time we may even win them over to Jesus. We overcome the evil that Satan wanted for us with the good that God wants. Recall also what the writer of Hebrews has told us, “Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled” (Hebrews 12:14, 15, ESV).
We can also have peace in the negative situations that come to us in our lives, those situations we have no control over which come to us. Again, the Apostle Paul has given us great advice. He said, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6, 7, ESV). What a good promise for us from God’s Word. No matter what we face in life, whatever trouble or worry comes to us, whether real or even hypothetical, we can cast it on God, and he will give us his peace. We can be like Jesus, of whom it was said he slept through the storm. In fact, let’s look at that passage for observation. Turn to Mark 4:37:
“And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he [Jesus] was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they [the disciples] woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith” (37-40, ESV).
Take this event from our Lord’s life as an illustration for your own. Whatever problem you are facing is the storm, but you can be like Jesus and be asleep inside the boat, trusting in God. And, you can cast your concern on God and let him rebuke your problem. And while you are waiting on him to do that, you need to have faith that everything is going to be good in the end, and that God knows what he is doing—that he has allowed your problem to come—and even though it is there, there is nothing to worry about because it will come to pass in due time. By exercising faith in our situation, we allow God to work on our behalf. Everything will be fine.
Conclusion
In conclusion today, perhaps you’ve been listening to all of this I’ve been talking about in regard to the Fruit of the Spirit, but you feel you lack love, joy, and peace in your life. Maybe your someone who finds yourself worrying about problems on a constant basis? Do you find yourself having a continual, underlying feeling of dread or doom presiding over your thoughts and mind? Maybe you would admit your not a believer in God, but what I’ve said today has caught your attention. Perhaps you’re not in close fellowship with God, but what I have said has been interesting to you. Well, no matter who you are, God wants you today to come into a personal relationship with him. He wants you to believe that he really is God and he wants to make available to you the freedom from worry and anxiety about your situations in your own life. God wants you to accept his provided payment for your sins, so that you can come into personal relationship with him today.
You see, some 2,000 years ago, Jesus came to the earth as a human and died on a cross to provide the ultimate sacrifice for sins that God's righteousness requires. Since we as humans have all sinned against God, we have to be made right with him to be approved by him. Jesus makes this possible. You can have a personal relationship with God today through Jesus Christ. God will guarantee that you will escape any of his wrath to come, which includes hell, and that you will always have the choice of peace today and you will always live with him in peace in Heaven in the future. God doesn't want to have to send anyone to hell, but in his righteousness and justice he must do so for people who will not accept Jesus.
If you would like to believe in Jesus today for the forgiveness of our sins and eternal life, then follow my lead in this prayer:
God, I have sinned against you in my life. I have not lived following what you want, but I have done what I have wanted. I believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sins, and that he rose from the dead so that I might have a new life with you. I give my life over to you so you will give me your peace and accept me. Please make me a new creation, and make me more pleasing to you, like Jesus. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.
Let's pray:
Heavenly Father, I thank you for the opportunity today to learn about the Fruit of the Spirit, the fact that you have given us these fruits and will help us cultivate them in our lives. Father, we do not have to worry about things in our lives because of your control. We can have joy that is present within us, regardless of our circumstances, while we love you, ourselves, and love our neighbors as ourselves.
Help us, Father, as Christians to be pleasing to you—to show the Fruit of the Spirit in our lives. I pray for those who have accepted Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior today, that you will build them up in the newfound faith that they have in you and that you will teach them your truth, so that they might be at peace in their own minds, and now, pleasing to you. Father, please bless us as we go about the rest of this day. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
-Daniel Litton
Today I am beginning a new series on the Fruit of the Spirit, and we are going to be consider each fruit individually over the next three weeks. Since there are nine fruits, we will consider three fruits in each message. I believe it is really important to understand each of these characteristics that God wants us to be displaying in our lives. These are the attitudes in life that are good attitudes that have no law against them. When we display these fruits, it gives us better lives, more enjoyable for ourselves and lives that are a blessing to others. Now, some of these areas you may already have a good grasp and practice in, but there are others that need a lot of work. Indeed, we all have work that needs to be accomplished. None of us are perfect in our thoughts, our words, or our behaviors, and we all have room to improve in each of these areas.
It seems reasonable to presume that when we believed in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, that is, each of us individually, we were given the seeds of these fruits. After all, God said we are new creations in Christ, that the old has passed away, that the new has come. The terminology in that verse in 2 Corinthians 5 makes it clear that this process has already taken place, that of the old passing away and the new coming. But, I think all of us will admit, that if we look at our lives or if we were able to stand outside of ourselves for a second, we would see that we are lacking in a lot of areas when it comes to character development. Some of us are more developed than others, and each of us have our strong traits and our weak traits. So, we all have room to grow; we all need to participate in spiritual growth. We are either moving forward in life at becoming more like Jesus, or we are moving backwards in becoming less and less like Jesus. If you think you are neutral right now, you are moving backwards and today is a good day to start growing forward again.
But before we dive headfirst into this, let’s review the passage from Galatians 5, which talks about the Fruit of the Spirit. Turn in your Bibles, or tap in your Bible apps on your mobile devices, and go to Galatians 5, starting in verse 16. I want us to consider this last half of Galatians chapter 5 because really it all relates to the Fruit of the Spirit which we are talking about today. So, starting in verse 16:
“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 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” (Galatians 5:16-26, ESV).
Now, verses 22 and 23 are going to be our focus today and for this three part series. Let’s consider each Fruit of the Spirit and try to have a better understanding of them.
Love
Love is foundational to all of our actions. We are to do all things that we do in life through an attitude to love. Paul told us the most excellent way we could live life is doing all things through love, and this is no matter what we do (see 1 Corinthians 13). Any work for the Lord we are doing day-to-day, any ability God has given us, any step of faith that we take, all is to be done through love. Even sacrifice in our lives needs to have love in it. Legalism and asceticism are not part a proper equation for us. If we live like monks, we aren’t exercising love in our lives. Without doing things through love, we really do not get anything out of life, and others around us just aren’t helped. Love is greater for us than any faith that we have, and even greater than our hopes for ourselves and others for the future.
We are to love God with our whole beings, and also love our neighbors as we already love ourselves. Mark recorded for us the following in Mark 12, starting in verse 29:
Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:29-31 ESV).
So, the most important person in our lives is God. First, we love him with all our hearts, which means with our whole being, with every part of us. And so, we have surrendered all to him, and this makes him pleased and happy. It doesn’t mean we don’t have peace, happiness, and joy in our lives; it means that everything we do, we do it through Christ. Second, we love God with all of our souls. We are obedient to him in all areas of our lives—not just some of the parts of our lives. God’s Word is to have say in all areas, not just the the areas we want Him to have say in. In other words, we keep God in perspective in everything we do. Third, we love God with all our strength which means we live in a way that shows love for God with good effort. We are not half-hearted or lazy in our love for God. We find time to spend with him daily; we read his Word daily. Lastly, we love God with all of our minds, which means what we are thinking about throughout the day. We eliminate incorrect and sinful thoughts, and we focus on ‘now’ and good things. We keep God at the forefront of our minds, and stay in continual conversation with him.
For the second greatest commandment, that of loving our neighbors as ourselves, part of this includes loving those who are in the body of Christ, our fellow brothers and sisters in our church. Now, this can be accomplished in different ways, as we don’t all love each other in the same way. But God teaches us individually how to love one another (see (1 Thessalonians 4:9). Really, our love for one another works in connection with the spiritual gifts given to us from the Holy Spirit. Think of your gifts when thinking of how you should love others. And we don’t just love our fellow Christians belonging to our particular church, but we love others that are part of the body of Christ but that do not belong to our church. Nonetheless, love can be about what we do for others, and it can also be about what we do not do. Each of us should live quiet lives, and we should keep our focus on our own lives, and not get into other people’s business when unwarranted or unneeded. Now, we do good for others in the body and help them, and we consider what is in the best interest for them. Paul also said, “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10, ESV).
Also included in Paul’s “everyone” from the verse we just read is unbelievers. It is good for us to help unbelievers by guiding them toward Jesus. When people ask us for advice in this or that situation or about what the Bible says, we are to lead them in the right direction. We are to let our lights shine before others, and by this they will see our good works, and this causes them to look toward God. If we aren’t shining our lights in the first place, but have put our lamps underneath something, unbelievers wont even know we are followers of Christ and therefore we cannot help them (see Matthew 5:14-16, ESV). They will not seek us out. We each work our own careers, and most of us with unbelievers, and we do this gladly. So, we are to live lives before them in a way that is different, a way that is special, one that will make us stick out against others. This shows a good model of Jesus. We should not have double-sided lives, or be two-faced, but have lives that are lived through the same attitude of love when we are at church and when we are at our workplace. Some folks just want to think about God on Sunday mornings, and then go throughout the rest of the week with no influence from Him. But this is not how a true, born-again Christian lives.
We also love our spouses in the Lord, the person whom God has blessed us with in our lives, if we are married. For wives first, probably the chief way they show their love toward their husbands is by submitting to them in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Paul said that “as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands” (Ephesians 5:23, ESV). So, she lets her husband have ultimate say in the things in life that really matter. She provides her insight, her side to something of course, but she does not force her way on her husband. She let’s him have the final decision. By doing this, the wife shows respect for her husband. And, she does not punish her husband in open or secret ways when she does not get her way. She is not argumentative with him, or holding things against him. She does not insist on her own way only.
The husband is indeed the leader of the wife and children according to God’s Word. Some reasons for this are provided by the Apostle Paul in 1 Timothy. He said one reason is that Adam was created by God first before Eve. That is the order that God chose to create humans. A second reason is that Eve sinned first before Adam. Nevertheless, the woman does gain an advantage over the man, for she is the one who gives birth to new persons brought into this world, children. Someone might question whether this is really an advantage, but I think it really is. She has the privilege and honor of motherhood, so much as God blesses her and gives her a child or children. This is something a man cannot experience in the same way. It is a deeper experience for the woman.
Now, husbands are to show love for their wives. In fact, husbands are to show so much love for their wives that they are willing to give themselves up for them. Now, this doesn’t mean the wife always gets her way—far from that as we just discussed with the wife submitting to her husband. It means that the husband values the quality of his wife’s life over the quality of his own life. He wants to see her perfected in spiritual maturity, so that she is pleasing and perfect before the Lord. He wants to see her strong in her knowledge of the Word of God. Really, the husband is to love his wife more than himself. And the husband through loving his wife shows that he indeed loves himself. For if he doesn’t love his wife, he really doesn’t love himself, and really cannot truly love anyone in the case. Just as a Christian man does not neglect himself—he doesn’t neglect his physical needs or his spiritual needs—so he should do the same for his wife. Husband and wife should spend time studying the Word together, praying together so that they can grow closer to each other and grow closer to the Lord at the same time. The two have become one flesh the Bible tells us. And while we really don’t know all that entails, for the Apostle Paul said he didn’t even know, for he called it a mystery, the reality is that the two are spiritually one. That is why sex between a man and a woman is sacred, and is not something that is to be shared with anybody. And so, the summarize, each husband should show love for his wife as he indeed loves himself (see Ephesians 5:25-33, ESV).
Now what are some other ways the husband shows love for his wife? One thing that comes to mind right away is the fact that what a husband says to his wife is very important. He needs to be kind toward her, and not harsh, negative, or critical towards her. He should treat her in a way that is fair, and listen to what she needs and what she wants. Listening is really important, and a lot of husbands don't listen to their wives. Often, they don't even let them finish a sentence, and this can be shameful when it becomes a reoccurring problem. The husband needs to listen to his wife, and listen whole heartedly. If your used to interrupting your wife, thinking you know the better thing to say, your going to have to learn to listen and not just be thinking in your mind what you're going to say next. Forget what you have, in your mind, to say and listen to her. Remember that your wife has physical needs also, as touch is really important to a woman. Husbands need to show affection for their wives. If you are not use to doing that, you need to make a change.
Joy
First and foremost, we should state that God gives us joy in our lives. He fills us with all of our joy as we believe in Him, as we live out our lives in Him, though the power of the Holy Spirit (see Romans 15:13, ESV). King David said to God, “You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound” (Psalms 4:7, ESV). Now, he was comparing himself with unbelievers, in that unbelievers gain joy from the work of their hands, and from drinking. But the Christian’s joy is greater than these earthly, temporal joys. God’s presence becomes our joy in our lives. For again, David said, “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalms 16:11, ESV). You see, God truly fulfills our lives. Living in fellowship with him is the only way a person can truly experience a satisfying life, for he created us. If we want to experience true joy, it is found in him. And he even gives us things we want, the desires of our hearts (more on this in a little bit).
King Solomon, David’s son, took it a step further when he said, “For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind” (Ecclesiastes 2:26, ESV). We, as Christians, again have been given joy from God, and now along with wisdom and knowledge as pertains to things of life and God. Joy is present inside us. It is our underlying trust in God regardless of our external circumstances in life. The unbeliever just goes through the motions in life without anything truly deep, truly profound in life. He or she lives for him or herself only, just seeking the next pleasure or event that will make him or her happy. Even what the unbeliever does, his work with his hands, benefits the believer. But what the believer has internally, in God, does not benefit the unbeliever. What he say externally may benefit him, but nothing he has internally does. Paul would backup Solomon in what he said, when he said, “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17, ESV). We have the greater things of life given to us by God.
Even though we cannot see God with our own eyes in our lives, for we do not see him physically standing next to us, we still believe in him. And this belief, Peter tells us, causes us to abound in joy, to rejoice, with a joy that is indescribable, something that we really cannot put our finger on or even explain to others (see 1 Peter 1:8, 9). Sometimes it is hard to express. We say we just know what we know. We know that we belong to God, that he is present within us, and that we have communion with him. And this joy we have is filled with glory, and ultimately leads to us inheriting our salvation by the faith of our souls, going to Heaven when we die. And so we worship God as a result of our joy (see Luke 24:52, 53). We bless God with the things that we speak to him and about him. And our joy in our lives, which comes from God, gives us strength. For it is written, “The joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10, ESV). When we spend time in prayer with God, when we fellowship with him, our hearts rejoice, and as Jesus said, “no one will take your joy from you” (John 16:22, ESV).
And following God’s ways in our lives gives us joy in our hearts. As we love the Lord, we learn to hate evil, the evil in our world around us. And God preserves our lives, we who are his. We don't have to worry about the people who don't follow God, people who practice lawlessness, because God keeps us safe from them. As a matter of fact, good is given to us from God. God gives us his joy because we have right standing in him through Jesus. So, therefore, we rejoice in the Lord, as we are righteous, and give thanks to God (see Psalms 97:10-12, ESV). One psalmist wrote, "Your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart. I incline my heart to perform your statutes forever, to the end" (Psalms 119:111, 112 ESV). You see, when we see the right things occurring in our world, when we see justice accomplished, this provides joy for us as Christians. But the people who practice the wrong things which are against God, justice is their dread; it makes them angry (see Proverbs 21:15, ESV). They want to practice their evil ways.
Jesus has taught us: "If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full" (John 15:10, 11, ESV). So, God's Word not only gives us joy, but it makes our joy full and complete. On the flip side of this, when we don't keep God's commandments, we can lose our joy. David noted the following after he sinned by committing adultery with Bathsheba: "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit" (Psalms 51:7-12, ESV). Unbelievers have joy also, but their’s is temporary, pertaining only to the things of this life (see Job 20:4-11). As Solomon also said, "Folly is a joy to him who lacks sense, but a man of understanding walks straight ahead" (Proverbs 15:21, ESV).
Now doing the Lord’s Work gives us joy. Remember after Jesus sent out the seventy-two in Luke 10, the text says they returned with joy. In Acts 15, it says that the brothers had great joy in learning about the fact that the Gentiles were now being brought into the kingdom of God. The Apostle John penned, "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth" (3 John 4, ESV). So, doing the Lord’s Work and hearing about it definitely gives us joy in our hearts as Christians.
And we should count our trials as joy to us when they come upon us. We all face difficulties in our lives from time to time, things that are hard to bear up under. When we have afflictions in our lives, we should really respond with an overflow with joy, even though our flesh definitely doesn't want to do this (see 2 Corinthians 7:4, ESV). This is like what our Lord Jesus Christ modeled for us, being the founder and perfecter of our faith. He saw the joy that was to be his after his suffering, and in view of that he endured the cross, despising the shame, and now, today, he is seated at God's right hand in the throne room of Heaven (see Hebrews 12:2, ESV). Finally, James probably sums up our joy in our suffering the best when he said, "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing" (James 1:2-4, ESV). We have to have trails in our lives in order to develop our patience. And when we go through them with a proper attitude of joy, we come out on the other end with what we were wanting, the desire of our heart.
Our hope in obtaining Heaven one day in the future gives us joy inside us. We have this hope which unbelievers don't have because they are only focused on the earth, on the material, on those people who are around them. We as believers know that soon we will be with Jesus, and our bodies will be transformed and made perfect. That includes our getting rid of our sin natures. That includes getting rid of any sicknesses or struggles we may have. We will have perfect minds. It is noted in Proverbs: "The hope of the righteous brings joy, but the expectation of the wicked will perish" (10:28, ESV). Now God, in our lives, keeps us from stumbling so that he can present us blameless before him, and this gives God great joy (see Jude 1:24, 25, ESV). Even though we do have struggles, he helps us with them. And the thought of obtaining our rewards when we get to Heaven, our future possessions, for our obedience and enduring persecution here on earth, also gives us joy. Jesus told us, "Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets" (Luke 6:23, ESV).
And possessions and gifts given to us by God, in the here and now, blessings from him, give us joy. I want us to consider a couple passages from King Solomon.
First: “Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God. For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart” (Ecclesiastes 5:19, 20, ESV).
And second: “Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do. Let your garments be always white. Let not oil be lacking on your head. Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might” (Ecclesiastes 9:7-10a, ESV).
And remember, Jesus told us, "Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full" (John 16:24, ESV). God wants to give us good things while we are here on the earth.
Peace
Probably one of the greatest things people lack in their lives is peace, whether peace of mind or external peace in our situations around us. But really, for the Christian, this should not be the case. God wants us to have peace in our minds and in our lives, but often we have to chose to have that peace. The Prophet Isaiah has told us, "You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you" (Isaiah 26:3, ESV). And what a great verse that is; what a tremendous promise. Indeed, at the foundation of peace, whether internal peace or external peace, is our trust in God, our trust that he is working all things in our lives for the good because we love him and are called according to his purpose (see Romans 8:28, ESV).
Paul did say that God is the one who gives us our peace in our lives. He wrote to the Thessalonians, “Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all” (2 Thessalonians 3:16, ESV). You see, there is peace that comes naturally from God for us. We receive this peace when we are close to him and when we are walking in obedience to his Word in our lives. Following the what the Word of God says—following the Bible’s way of living—gives us peace. When we go our own way and do our own things, often times there isn’t a blessing from God on it. We are just working through our own flesh—our fleshly efforts instead of by God’s power and anointing—and before long we will realize this. We need the power of the Spirit of God to help us in our lives. He helps us with our weakness, that of dealing with our human flesh which is still corrupted by the sin nature, and he helps us by giving us needed strength. So, when we follow God’s way and do things through His power, we have a clear conscience which yields peace of mind.
When we follow God in our lives which gives us peace, this leads to us obtaining the things we really want in and out of life. Job 22:21 tells us, ““Agree with God, and be at peace; thereby good will come to you” (ESV). It is only through following God’s ways, which yields peace in our minds, that brings about good things in our lives. We get good things because God’s ways are always the best ways of doing things. In other words, God knows best. He leads us down the right path in whatever situation we are thinking about or going through. Plus, when we walk in God’s ways, in obedience to him, it is only then natural for him to reward us in the here and now. A parent will reward his child for good behavior. A grade-school teacher rewards his class when they perform well. And so it is with God. And really, we don’t even have to wait for his rewards for us to get a reward, for the peace he gives us in our following him is a great reward in and of itself. Having peace of mind is a gift, and it’s something that most other people in this world don’t have. But we can have it anytime and all the time, really.
We can also have peace in our lives with people who don’t like us, whom we might call our enemies. Proverbs 16:7 states, “When a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him” (ESV). Remember Jesus told us to turn the other cheek when wrongs have been done against us, and certainly this is a hard thing to do. But when we do this, it causes peace in our minds and it begets peace with the person who is hurting us. Consider what the Apostle Paul told the Romans, in Romans 12. He said, staring in verse 19:
“Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (19-21, ESV)
By being kind to our enemies, we work peace where there should have been the opposite. We work good out of a bad situation. And, over time we may even win them over to Jesus. We overcome the evil that Satan wanted for us with the good that God wants. Recall also what the writer of Hebrews has told us, “Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled” (Hebrews 12:14, 15, ESV).
We can also have peace in the negative situations that come to us in our lives, those situations we have no control over which come to us. Again, the Apostle Paul has given us great advice. He said, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6, 7, ESV). What a good promise for us from God’s Word. No matter what we face in life, whatever trouble or worry comes to us, whether real or even hypothetical, we can cast it on God, and he will give us his peace. We can be like Jesus, of whom it was said he slept through the storm. In fact, let’s look at that passage for observation. Turn to Mark 4:37:
“And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he [Jesus] was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they [the disciples] woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith” (37-40, ESV).
Take this event from our Lord’s life as an illustration for your own. Whatever problem you are facing is the storm, but you can be like Jesus and be asleep inside the boat, trusting in God. And, you can cast your concern on God and let him rebuke your problem. And while you are waiting on him to do that, you need to have faith that everything is going to be good in the end, and that God knows what he is doing—that he has allowed your problem to come—and even though it is there, there is nothing to worry about because it will come to pass in due time. By exercising faith in our situation, we allow God to work on our behalf. Everything will be fine.
Conclusion
In conclusion today, perhaps you’ve been listening to all of this I’ve been talking about in regard to the Fruit of the Spirit, but you feel you lack love, joy, and peace in your life. Maybe your someone who finds yourself worrying about problems on a constant basis? Do you find yourself having a continual, underlying feeling of dread or doom presiding over your thoughts and mind? Maybe you would admit your not a believer in God, but what I’ve said today has caught your attention. Perhaps you’re not in close fellowship with God, but what I have said has been interesting to you. Well, no matter who you are, God wants you today to come into a personal relationship with him. He wants you to believe that he really is God and he wants to make available to you the freedom from worry and anxiety about your situations in your own life. God wants you to accept his provided payment for your sins, so that you can come into personal relationship with him today.
You see, some 2,000 years ago, Jesus came to the earth as a human and died on a cross to provide the ultimate sacrifice for sins that God's righteousness requires. Since we as humans have all sinned against God, we have to be made right with him to be approved by him. Jesus makes this possible. You can have a personal relationship with God today through Jesus Christ. God will guarantee that you will escape any of his wrath to come, which includes hell, and that you will always have the choice of peace today and you will always live with him in peace in Heaven in the future. God doesn't want to have to send anyone to hell, but in his righteousness and justice he must do so for people who will not accept Jesus.
If you would like to believe in Jesus today for the forgiveness of our sins and eternal life, then follow my lead in this prayer:
God, I have sinned against you in my life. I have not lived following what you want, but I have done what I have wanted. I believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sins, and that he rose from the dead so that I might have a new life with you. I give my life over to you so you will give me your peace and accept me. Please make me a new creation, and make me more pleasing to you, like Jesus. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.
Let's pray:
Heavenly Father, I thank you for the opportunity today to learn about the Fruit of the Spirit, the fact that you have given us these fruits and will help us cultivate them in our lives. Father, we do not have to worry about things in our lives because of your control. We can have joy that is present within us, regardless of our circumstances, while we love you, ourselves, and love our neighbors as ourselves.
Help us, Father, as Christians to be pleasing to you—to show the Fruit of the Spirit in our lives. I pray for those who have accepted Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior today, that you will build them up in the newfound faith that they have in you and that you will teach them your truth, so that they might be at peace in their own minds, and now, pleasing to you. Father, please bless us as we go about the rest of this day. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
-Daniel Litton