“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no
law.”
Gal.5:22,23
As we spoke about this last Sunday, I thought it expedient
to write about it for this article, as well as the fact that it is a time of
the year that we are considering gifts to each other and other people that we
know. Spiritual gifts are gifts of yourself, which God’s Spirit has brought
about in you and your heart. Gifts like
this require us to dig deep within our hearts and cultivate the right
atmosphere for them to grow. When there
are no roots, or in shallow soil, it may initially sprout and look good, but it
doesn't last. The plants wither quickly because they don’t have roots. This is
readily seen in Jesus’ statement regarding the parable of the sower.
“The seeds that fell on rocky ground are the people who gladly hear the
message and accept it. But they don’t have deep roots, and they believe only
for a little while. As soon as life gets hard, they give up”
Many times we hear God’s Word and may even get excited about
it, but we don’t allow it to change us. But we don’t take the time to let it
sink in. How do you develop spiritual roots? There are two ways that I am aware
of
- Taking daily time with God and His Word
- A weekly (or even more often) small group time with other believers.
These are the only ways that the roots can reach your
spirit and at the same time find the nurturing food required to produce the
fruits that the Spirit can bring forth.
If you’re not spending time with God on a daily basis,
you’re going to dry up and blow away when Satan comes around and applies
pressure. Satan knows your weak points and targets them with stealth - you
won’t be able to handle it. You've got to make a daily time with God to listen for
Him and His voice. Whatever it takes to keep the focus on God, do it! Crucial
to this is spending time with people who Love God! Nobody has a complete
perspective on life. Every one of us has blinders on. The people in your weekly
gathering can see things in your life you can’t see. That’s why we need each
other! You learn from the people God’s family as you encourage each other and
your roots go deeper. You want to be a person with deep spiritual roots so that
when a spiritual recession comes and lasts several years, you’re able to keep
bearing fruit and people will find in you a reason for hope.
So, some questions to ask yourself may be:
- How does your schedule need to change so that you can spend more time with God?
- What things do you need to follow through with that will help you not only grow deeper but grow richer in God’s Spirit?
Jim
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