Friday, May 29, 2015

MY DEFENSE


 The Fruit of the Spirit is?

On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. John 7:37-39

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.  And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. Galatians 5:22-26

 God’s love is the gist of the whole gospel. And we need to grow in His love and to walk in love by yielding to the Holy Spirit who is inside of us and letting Him flow from us! When we were born again and Baptized with the Spirit God not only cleansed us from all our filthiness and from all our idols, He gave us a new heart and put a new spirit within us; He took the heart of stone out of our flesh and gave us a heart of flesh.  He put His Spirit within us and enabled us to walk in His commandments and to do them (Ezekiel 36:25-27) because we became a new creation. God’s word is unchanging:

 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5:17-19

But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. Galatians 4:20-24

But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.  For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.   And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God. Galatians 6:15-16

Yes, through the new birth we have put off the old man with his deeds,  and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all. As the elect of God, holy and beloved, we put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering;  bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave us, we do also. And above all these things we put on love, which is the bond of perfection.  And let the peace of God rule in our hearts, to which also we were called in one body; and we are thankful. We let the word of Christ dwell in us richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in our hearts to the Lord.

But if we are not continually praying in the Spirit and staying in the Word of God, the devil and the old man will deceive us and we will revert back to our old ways! God doesn’t judge us on what we know but on what we do. We are to do His word and to make sure that the new man in us is demonstrating love, compassion tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering, patience, endurance and forgiveness and not the old man demonstrating bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,  idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, etc.

So how do we know whether we are in the kingdom of God or in the kingdom of the devil? By love; love is the test, love is the fruit. We have been saved out of the kingdom of darkness into God’s marvelous light. We are strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy. We give thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light (Colossians 1:10-14).  Our inheritance the promises of God dwells in the kingdom of light. The kingdom of Jesus is called the kingdom of love; it is called the kingdom of light. He has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son. And the love of God is now shining out through us when we are walking in the Spirit and not in the flesh. God’s word is unchanging:

I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.  For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.  But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Galatians 5:16-18

Walking in the Spirit is also being led by the Spirit.  Our inheritance is prosperity, health and abundant life. That is our inheritance. Goodness and mercy flowing in our life. Our inheritance is the land of milk and honey in Christ. But the inheritance cannot come to some people? Those who walk in the flesh will not taste health. They will taste sickness. Those who walk in flesh will not taste prosperity; they will taste poverty. Those who walk in the flesh they will not taste abundant life. They will taste a miserable life. They will not inherit the things of God. It may be theirs but their inheritance cannot come to them.

 We live in a world that is hostile to the things of God. And the devil will have every opportunity to bring disaster on our life. But there is a way where we could attract the blessings of God. Where in our life things just flow.  But in some people sometimes without effort they get blessed here blessed there blessed everywhere. They just get blessed. What are they receiving? The inheritance of God.

When we receive an inheritance we do not deserve it. We did not work for the inheritance. Somebody worked at it. Somebody accumulated it. And then because of our position they pass it to you. That’s an inheritance. Jesus conquered for us. Jesus paid the price for us. Then He says “it is ours now.”  Do you know that inheritance cannot come to people because they are not walking in the Spirit, they are not walking in love? When we walk in love the inheritance comes forth. We are in right relationship with God’s family. The inheritance is the family blessing of God.

There are so much blessings God has blessed us with. But it’s not coming to people because they are not walking in the Spirit; walking in love. They are walking in the flesh. Paul says those who walk in the flesh who do such things cannot partake of the inheritance of the saints. It may be theirs but they cannot taste it. Walking in the Spirit means walking in love, walking in joy, walking in peace, walking in long suffering, walking in kindness, walking in goodness, walking in gentleness, walking in self-control, all these fruit of the Spirit we  walk in them. And then we walk in our inheritance, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints (Ephesians 1:17-18

Evangelist Billy Graham said that 90 percent of all Christians in America live defeated lives. Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, added, "You may have a heart for God. You read your Bible faithfully, you pray, you witness, you are active in your church; yet year after year you continue to fight a losing battle."

In his book The Holy Spirit, Billy Graham acknowledged the constant state of leaving our lives in the Holy Spirit's control. "We must surrender ourselves to Him daily," he writes, "and everyday we must choose to remain surrendered."  Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade, described this regular act of surrender as "spiritual breathing." By faith, we confess our sins to God, agreeing that we have missed the mark of His perfection. This, Bill explains, is like exhaling. The next step is to accept God's forgiveness and ask the Holy Spirit to fill us with His power; Bill compares that to inhaling. Bill Bright taught

"There are three kinds of people in the world," The Bible tells us there is the 'natural man,' the 'spiritual man,' and the 'carnal man.' The natural man is one who hasn't received the Lord Jesus as Savior. The carnal man is one who has received Christ, but lives a defeated life." "But the spiritual man  places Christ on the throne of his life, and his own ego steps aside to allow God's Holy Spirit to control his life. The fruits of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, and goodness—are the obvious benefits."”

 

EXTRACT FROM Let God Arise
http://walthope.tripod.com/arise.htm
http://walthope.wordpress.com
https://plus.google.com/u/0/100302133262254344211/posts

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