John 15:4 Abide in Me, and I in you.  As the branch
cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine,
neither can you, unless you abide in Me. (NKJV)

Galatians 5: 18
18) But when you are directed by the Holy Spirit,
you are no longer subject to the law.

Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness,
self-control. Against such there is no law.

Ephesians 5:9
(for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness,
and truth),

Do you want to know how to be a powerful effective person for
Christ, effecting and ‘infecting’ the world with Gods changing power in your life?

When you submit and surrender to God, your own will, thoughts and ideas,
these attributes, actions and attitudes, will become the characteristics
 you will bear through the power of the Holy Spirit in your life.
 
The old sinful nature loves to do evil, which is just
opposite from what the Holy Spirit wants.  And the
Spirit gives us desires that are opposite from what the
sinful nature desires.  These two forces are constantly
combating each other, and your choices are never free from
this conflict.

This is why Jesus said in the Gospels that we are to be grafted into the
Vine (Jesus) if we are to stay alive on the branch and able
to bear fruit through the power that comes through Christ within us,
through yielding and surrendering our hearts to Him. 
Our part is to have faith in God and believe, that what
His Word says is true and then the Holy Spirit will take control
and work out of us, the things of the flesh that so easily trip us up.
This is out of our “new” hearts and transformed lives, so we can
“bear the fruit” of the Spirit of God in us,
which is the work of Jesus Christ in our lives.
 
Fruit bearing, on the tree, is not instant.  It takes time for the
fruit to develop and mature on the branch.
We see buds emerge on the branch, from the life in the
vine on the trunk of the tree.

On that branch connected to the tree, we notice development of the fruit,
being transformed from a little bud into an immature fruit that
will take place through the “process” of growing and ripening.
It will mature from that first little bud, to produce that sweet
pleasant taste that mature fruit becomes through ripening.
This takes time and also need watering and sunshine and right
soil conditions to support the tree from the roots on up.

This ripening development of the fruit growing on the vine,
 is what draws us to want to pick it, eat it and taste it’s wonderful flavor, when
we see it ripened on the branch.  This is how we appear to others as we “ripen” on
the “branch” of Jesus who is the tree of life for us.
We become “rooted”, grounded in the Word of God, through
the power of the Spirit within us, and as we trust and pray
and seek His will, we “ripen” and start to bear fruit of The
Spirit and not the fruit of our old sinful man, that
comes out of the “soulish” part of us.

How would it look, if you passed a fruit tree and saw a big trunk standing
there, rooted in the ground and all the branches were on the ground and you
heard the moaning and groaning of the branches trying to produce it’s
fruit disconnected to the trunk of the tree?

Sounds silly, I know, however, this is what we do all the time.  Branches that are
disconnected from the trunk of the tree wither and dry up and die.  We think
that we don’t need to be connected to Jesus, or fellowship with others to be
accountable to others and attend church.
We think we can do it all on our own.
We think we don’t need to or pray or read our bibles every day.
This will lead us to a place of self sufficiency and our lives will
produce the “fruit” of our own righteousness, not that of Christ
in us and through us.
 
We must learn to trust HIM, to do the work in us so we can bear
fruit through the work of the Holy Spirit and not of our own efforts.

When we recognize our need for God dependency, and then
focus our thoughts on Jesus and His
power through the Holy Spirit in us and through us, then
this is when we will bear the fruit of the Spirit in our lives.

We are disobedient, by nature, to authority and in our
sinful state, we want things are own way and in our
own time.

Jeremiah 17:9
“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and
desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?

But, we are empowered when we yield to God, all those areas of our will,
that fight against the will of the Holy Spirit in us, to do what we know is

right and pleasing to God.  When we stay connected to the “Branch”,
(Jesus), and not go our own way, then we will produce the
attributes out of us that will effect
people, and when they see the changes in our hearts and minds,
 being transformed through what Jesus is doing in our own lives, (our
fruit), then they may want to taste and see for themselves.
Jesus’ transforming power changes us and we bear the
fruit from the life giving power of the trunk of the
tree we are connected to.

On any fruit tree, it is the fruit that entices us to check out the
tree.  It looks good, it draws us over to it, by what we see and observe
and then we develop an appetite for the produce of the tree.

”Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the
man who trusts in Him!”  Psalm 34:8

When you “taste” of the sweetness of what the Holy Spirit has for
you in your life, you will bear the fruit of that sweet tasting way of living
out your life, so that others will want to “taste and see” what it is that is
going on in your life.  Your attitude will change, your spirit will feel lighter,
your soul will rejoice inside of how happy and joyful you feel in doing
what God is calling you to do, in obedience to His will and what His Word says.

God delights in us when we obey Him and try to do
His will in our lives.  We are a pleasant aroma in His nostrils.
Bear the fruit for Jesus. 
Be the pleasant aroma that draws others to Jesus.
 The “produce” in your life, will cause people
to draw near to you to ask you, what it is about your life that
they see in your kindness, patience, joy, peace and self-control.

You will be a sweet aroma in His nostrils like a fragrant perfume, pleasing
in His sight, desiring to be pure in heart and walking right with Him.

Ephesians 5:8-10 (NKJV)
8 For you were once darkness, but now you are
light in the Lord. Walk as children of light
9 (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness,
righteousness, and truth),
10 finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.

[©Michelle L. Bjorkman – 01-07-05]

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