BY JESSICA LANDMON
You will often hear me talk about the power of the Holy Spirit that is alive and available to us as believers. I fully encourage us, like Paul did, to eagerly pursue the greater gifts – to become in step with the Holy Spirit so that we can partner with Him to do amazing things for the Kingdom of God. There are so many lost and hurting people who truly need a special touch from the Lord, and God wants to use us to bring it to them.
But before we can have the Holy Spirit operate through us, we need to first allow Him to work in us. We need to let Him have His way in us so that we create an environment that welcomes the Holy Spirit. We are just a vessel that He uses to do His work. So, with that said, we need to clean up our vessel to make sure there is nothing in it that grieves or dishonors Him.
The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Galatians 5:19-23
Now before we go any further with this scripture, I want to talk about fruit. If you ever have picked apples, or any other fruit for that matter, you know what bad fruit looks like – bruised, wormy, or rotten. If you are anything like me, you avoid picking these fruits at all cost. You certainly don’t want to use a worm-infested apple for baking an apple pie, do you? Of course not. The same is true of the Holy Spirit. He is looking for women who are bearing good fruit to use for His purposes.
If the Holy Spirit is in us, the fruit we bear should prove that. Obviously, this is a work in progress, but what does that look like? We should:
· Show love to a difficult family member.
· Find joy in the midst of trial.
· Have peace when everything around you is crumbling.
· Be patient with people who truly test it.
· Do good works even when you don’t feel like it.
· Say the kind word.
· Be gentle when bringing correction.
· Be a faithful person that glorifies God’s faithfulness.
· Exhibit self-control and not succumb to the desires of the flesh.
To take it a step further, we shouldn’t be having sex outside of marriage or entertaining ourselves with things that our eyes shouldn’t see. We shouldn’t be getting drunk, reading our horoscope, or sowing discord, to name a few. Once we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior and allow the Holy Spirit to have His way, the bad fruit should be a thing of the past.
To bear good fruit, we need to start with good soil, which is submission and obedience to the Lord. Add a steady food source like the Word of God and sound Biblical teaching, and mix it with plenty of “son-shine” or time with Jesus. Make sure you add plenty of water or fellowship with other believers, and you are off to a good start. But remember, it is the supernatural working power of the Holy Spirit that prunes us to bear the best fruit.
If we want the Holy Spirit to work through us, if we want to be part of God’s plans here on earth, we must first allow the Holy Spirit to work in us.