We started this week wanting to lift up the name of Jesus. We've looked at His goodness and His faithfulness so far and have you noticed how when we lift up Jesus and make much of Him, we're then lifted up with Him? It lifts our spirits. It's because our eyes are on Him and not on ourselves.
The Lord reminded me this morning that the Holy Spirit is reproducing His lovely attributes in us because He wants us to be like Him. That's good news don't you think?
Gal 5:22 tells us But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, v.23 gentleness, and self-control.... .
Notice it's the Holy Spirit who produces these things in us. As we stay connected to the Lord Jesus, the Vine, we will automatically produce these things. He will cause us to be good to others, He will cause us to be faithful, to be loving and produce His joy and peace and all the other fruit.
Have you ever fallen into the trap of thinking you have to do it all? That you have to make yourself be these things? As long as a grape is still attached to the vine it just can't help growing plump and juicy. The moment you cut it off it withers and dies.
No amount of self effort on our part can produce God's fruit, only as we stay connected to Him will we do it and we wont even have to try. It will just happen. I hope that takes the pressure off us. It's not all about us, it's all about Him, His finished work on the cross and what He is doing in us.
It comes back to faith again! It's not about our works! When we trust and 'rest' in what Jesus has done and the Holy Spirit is doing in us then we will be all that God wants us to be.
However, we do have our part to play and our part is to stay connected, and the way we do that is to read the Word daily, listen for His voice and do as He says. God gave the children of Israel their manna 'daily', it was fresh each day and we need the same thing. If we'll do that I believe we'll find juicy fruit popping out all over us. 😊
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