Jesus said:
“When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.”
John 15:8 NLT
Our spiritual fruitfulness brings glory and honor to God, the Father. It is the only way that the unsaved world and the devil, recognizes those who truly belong to God. Miracles, signs and wonders follow us as the disciples of Jesus Christ; but it is really in our ability to bear spiritual fruit that God takes the glory.
Spiritual development begins with the manifestation of each of the nine fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives as Christians (Galatians 5:22-23).
Each one of the manifestations of the fruit of the Holy Spirit, does has a significant role to play in the development of our total man (spirit, soul and body).
But as Christians we must acknowledge that, we do also need the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit, for us to be able to function in the offices, or in the callings of God over our lives.
No matter what we are doing in the Kingdom of God, we do need the gifts of the Holy Spirit to function in it effectively. The nine gifts of the Holy Spirit are available in boosting our level of productivity in the Kingdom of God.
Our ability to stand in the offices or callings of God, is what positions us for God’s glory.
As Jesus said in the above scripture text (John 15:8), this is only possible as we are becoming fruitful while abiding in Him.
But it’s the gifts of the Holy Spirit that helps us, to stand in the callings or offices of God for our lives.
Are you an Apostle, Prophet, Pastor, Teacher or an Evangelist? You can’t stand in the call of God over your life, without the manifestation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit in your calling.
But even then, none of the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit, can be imparted to you, without your ability to bear the fruit of the Spirit.
Spiritual growth is normal for any Christian. A believer in Christ who is not growing is spiritually unhealthy.
When a child is sick, we do have enough sense to get a medical Doctor involved with the situation concerning the child. And when a Christian is spiritually sick or unhealthy, we don’t go to anyone else but to God Almighty alone for help. Only God can fix the unhealthy situation in the life of any Christian.
In most cases when a Christian is spiritually unhealthy, it is evident to us that such a Christian is still holding on, to certain aspects of his past lifestyle. Such a believer is in need of our help and spiritual support to be able to stand boldly before God.
Righteous living helps us to bear spiritual fruit. As mentioned last week an unrighteous lifestyle, is what often drags a Christian back and forth between the Church and the unsaved world.
And there are so many who are living this type of lifestyle, on a sloppy plain in the Kingdom of God today. They want to live the triumphant Christian lifestyle, but they can’t seem to break away from the worldly lifestyle of their past.
Many of them do often use the excuse of seeking to be relevant, so as to influence the unsaved world with the gospel of Jesus Christ, as a smokescreen for clinging on to their sinful and unhealthy lifestyles.
They remain spiritually unhealthy, and like the fig tree, which Jesus cursed in Mark chapter 11, they do run the risk of being completely cut off from the body of Christ.
A child of God needs to be spiritually healthy, so as to keep on track with his spiritual growth or development.
Get your spiritual weight in the right direction.
Sometimes spiritual growth can be spontaneous, instant and may be aggressive.
But if the fruit of the Holy Spirit is not being developed simultaneously, as spiritual growth is taking place in the life of a believer in Christ Jesus; the result can be disastrous for that believer.
This is what opens the door for a faulty foundation, in the spiritual life of such a believer.
In many cases Christians with a faulty spiritual foundation, are confused in their faith confessions and in the doctrines of Christ, as they are spiritually unstable or unfocused.
The enemy often uses the confusion in their lives, to create divisions within various congregations, as they move about from one local church to another.
This is why the fruit of the Holy Spirit is very important for any Christian, who desires spiritual growth.
Each one of the nine fruit of the Holy Spirit are essential for the building up of the Christian character in us.
If for any reason at all spiritual growth occurs in a believer, without the fruit of the Holy Spirit, in building up the Christ-like character in the life of such a believer, then it may become catastrophic for such a person. The spiritual weight that is being accumulated with such speed in spiritual development, can cause a spiritual breakdown in his life.
This is due to the fact that the Christian character is not being built up, due to the absence of the fruit of the Holy Spirit, even as spiritual development or growth is taking place in his life.
An unrenewed mind in a believer in Christ Jesus, who is experiencing any spiritual growth or development, is nothing short of a puffed-up mind. This is a scenario for disaster to occur in the life of such a believer.
This was the type of problem that Paul confronted among the Corinthians, as those whose Christian character had not been fully developed went about creating division within the Church. They went about spreading rumors about some people following Apollos and others following Paul.
Apostle Paul had to address the divisiveness among them, when he wrote to them that:
“What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.”
1 Corinthians 2:12-14 NIV
This situation is typical of a believer who is unfruitful with his Christian life, while it may seem to us that he is growing spiritually. There is the need for the gift of the discernment of spirits, to be able to identify this and to deal with it immediately.
The Christian character in us is needed to help us, in carrying the spiritual weight that is being accumulated in our spiritual development or growth. The Christian character in us helps us in carrying the deposits of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
There are certain things that the Holy Spirit will never deposit into our spirit man, because He knows that our Christian character has not been fully developed to carry the spiritual weight of such deposits.
Yield to His love!
Many believers do often backslide as a result of the deficiency of the Christian character in their lives. Jesus pointed this out to us in the Parable of the Sower, when He said:
“Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.”
Mark 4:16-17 NIV
Those who quickly fall away from the body of Christ will do so, because of the lack of spiritual growth in their lives. They have no strong root of God’s word, or in His love for them in growing up spiritually.
We cannot develop the Christian character without the love of God. The love of God is the foundation of the Christian character in all born again Christians.
God’s love will always cause us to grow spiritually. Love (compassion) works on the inner man to do what Paul mentioned in Ephesians 3:14-20, when he wrote that:
“For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us”.
Ephesians 3:14-20 NKJV
When we are able to receive and believe in the love of God, we will become rooted and grounded in Him who is Love (1 John 4:8).
That’s why the devil will always try to steal, the word of God from the heart of any believer in Christ, because he does not want him to be rooted and grounded in Love.
He will try to make such a believer in Christ to take offense at God’s word, with the purpose of preventing the word of God from taking any root in that person’s life (Mark 4:17).
And if the word of God has no root in a believer’s life, then that believer is not going to be rooted and grounded in God’s love.
The devil also knows that it is the word of God’s power, that causes us to be rooted and grounded in God’s love.
He will therefore use his tactics to render the word of God of no effect in a new believer’s life, so as to hinder spiritual growth or development in the life of such a believer.
We must recognize that love is the initial fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives as Christians. When we are growing in God’s love, we are also spiritually growing up into maturity.
But when we begin to see the word of God, as being offensive to our spiritual lifestyle (Mark 4:17), then we can’t grow in God’s love. And if we can’t grow in love, then we can’t experience what Paul said above in Ephesians 3:17.
In other words, if we are not growing in the word of God, then we can’t grow in His love or be established, so as to be rooted and grounded in His love.
Being rooted and grounded in God’s love is what sparks off our spiritual growth or development.
That’s why Jesus said in the Parable of the Sower:
“Listen! Behold, a Sower went out to sow. And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air came and devoured it.”
Mark 4:3-4 NKJV
“The birds of the air” are the forces of the evil one. Their work is to make any believer in Christ Jesus reject God’s word, and thereby hinder his love walk.
The moment we take offense at God’s word, the devil steals that word away from us. He uses it in preventing us from growing in love. And he uses the lack of growth in the love walk, to hinder spiritual development in Christians also.
That’s why Christians who reject some portions of the scriptures, while holding on to others, are never growing up in the love of God. They can’t experience God who is love, if they are rejecting any part of His written word.
The Apostle John said by the Holy Spirit:
“For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.”
Revelation 22:18-19 NKJV
We can’t grow up spiritually if we are not going to accept the whole Bible, as God’s word (His spoken Word) into our lives.
Jesus said in the Parable of the Sower:
“But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”
Mark 4:20 NKJV
Those who accept the whole Bible as the word of God to them, without rejecting any of it are the ones referred to here by Jesus.
They are the ones who are bearing spiritual fruit, and their love walk opens the door for the gifts of the Holy Spirit into their lives, while enabling them to bear more fruit.
The spiritual growth or development of such believers in Christ Jesus is unhindered by the devil. They may have some bumps on the road to spiritual growth or development. But their overall spiritual outlook is great.
They are the ones who will often use the troubles of their lives, to develop more spiritual muscles as they are growing up before the Lord.
It is the root of our strong and solid foundation of love, that empowers us to stand up against the devil, in enjoying the blessing of the Lord.
Walk in the love of God!
In Paul’s writing to the Corinthians about the Macedonian Church, he said:
“There is no need for me to write to you about this service to the Lord’s people. For I know your eagerness to help, and I have been boasting about it to the Macedonians, telling them that since last year you in Achaia were ready to give; and your enthusiasm has stirred most of them to action. But I am sending the brothers in order that our boasting about you in this matter should not prove hollow, but that you may be ready, as I said you would be.”
2 Corinthians 9:1-3 NIV
These believers in Macedonia were going through some spiritual challenges, that were affecting their overall economic outlook outside of the Church. But they never allowed that to affect their giving spirit.
The love of God was strong among them, because they were strong in the word of God.
The Macedonian Church was able to partake in the grace of God, with the abundance of joy, which is another manifestation of the fruit of the Spirit.
They were walking and living with all of the manifestations of the fruit of the Holy Spirit among them, even in the midst of the abundance of trials and tribulations concerning their faith.
Their Christian character had been built up to carry their spiritual weights in the midst of persecutions.
The Macedonians had learnt to develop spiritual muscles in the midst of trials and persecutions.
It is important to note that they never lacked in spiritual gifts or finances. They were able to give themselves to be used of God, and they became a blessing to other Churches across Europe, because of the manifestations of the fruit of the Holy Spirit in their midst.
The gifts of the Holy Spirit were never lacking in this Church. They were rooted and grounded in God’s word. And this had affected their love walk also as they gave money to support other Churches.
Are you growing in God’s love? Or are you allowing the desires for the pleasures of the world, to hinder the growth of God’s love in your life?
Remember what the scripture says:
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world”.
1 John 2:15-16 NKJV
It’s a matter of your own choice concerning your Christian life, even though your spiritual growth is important in your ability, to be able to do anything in God’s Kingdom on the earth.
But be rest assured that we shall all be judged, based on what we are doing with God’s love on the earth, when we eventually appear in Heaven before God.
Everything that we are doing on the earth is just for a season, but our spiritual works will eventually take us into eternity with the Lord.
Choose to grow in God’s love now, so that you won’t have to be bothered about your eternity with God.
