Fearlessly Courageous
Desk of Dennis Piller
6 2 2023  

Audio Version

Is the Fruit of your Spirit man-made or God-made?

Have you ever seen an apple tree, shaking and quivering to push out apples as it produces its fruit? Is the fruit a natural result of a tree that was planted correctly, watered and fed, and properly tended and pruned? How many of us have thought about our fruit as our ministry or the work of our hands? I have. For example, self-control is a fruit of the spirit.. Is that something that we will and press hard to create? … that we push forth as a discipline in our spiritual lives to create fruit?

Can we talk about that for a minute John 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. If you remain in me, and I and you, you will bear much fruit…Apart from me, you can do nothing”.
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What does that say to you? Is our focus supposed to be on bearing fruit or abiding in Christ? Where the fruit just happens naturally. I have often said when assessing some matter: Where is the fruit…right?

I was reading a wonderful blog by Frank Viola, and one of the comments was from a mom who had two different experiences of childbirth. The first one she remembers is the doctor yelling at her: “You have to just dig deep down inside you and find the strength beyond your own natural ability to push”.
When she told a midwife for her second child about this, she said something completely different. She said, we are just going to keep you comfortable until your body decides it’s ready and then your body will take over and just do it”. And that really was what happened. It was like… all of a sudden, I knew, and it just happened. The difference was amazing”.

So, if we are pushing to manifest these fruits of the spirit by our own will and efforts, is it really a fruit of the spirit or one of the flesh that could be corrupted along the way? Doesn’t it have the danger of being a counterfeit or a half-truth in that struggle between the flesh, wanting to do good, and the spirit-led portion that is an overflow of God’s love? Think about that would you?

It seems my whole life has been about pushing, pressing in to do better, to be better. And in honing in on understanding the natural flow of a tree that is bearing fruit out of the overabundance of life, has caused me to think deeper about how the fruit of the spirit would work exactly the same way, as we abide in his love. Just like a tree bears fruit through its overabundance of life, we are the same. We are the branch of the Vine. We are abiding in his love and bearing fruit out of his matrix, not ours.

Look at Galatians 5 and the fruit of the spirit. It is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
I think, for the most part, I have spent most of my life, being persuaded by preachers, teachers, and people along with the understanding within myself, that bearing this type of truth… this fruit is at least with some of my own effort and discipline…isn’t it?

Meaning, if you are not getting, gentle, kind, patient, and self-control,
then you’re not trying hard enough.
But when we dig into God’s word and understand his creation, when we look at creation closely…then we see, that isn’t the way that a tree bears fruit. Frank Viola said: “A tree bears fruit out of the over-abundance of life… Not by grunting, straining, or striving. The fruit emerges naturally out of the life of the tree or the person”.

Frank said, “In fact, the fruit of the spirit is just another way of saying the nature of divine life – the New Testament calls it – LOVE. Look at 1 Corinthians 13 the fruit is in the singular, “LOVE”, which is the nature of divine life. And when we’re walking in love. You are gentle, you are kind, and you are self-controlled. These attributes are all manifestations of love – the nature of God‘s life.

This is why learning to live by the Lord’s indwelling life is the central thing you and I should be focused on in this life. Our focus is not supposed to be on bearing fruit but on abiding in Christ…Where the fruit just happens naturally. I know this… when I love Jesus more, I love others more. I am more understanding. I have more patience. I automatically have more self-control. It is the OVERFLOW of the abundance of a Godly life…Godly love! The more I love Jesus…the more the fruit of the spirit just flows naturally.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlTJyHox-_A
Fall Like Rain // Passion //

Excerpts are taken from Frank Viola’s “Rethinking the Fruit of the Spirit”