Let's delve a little deeper into the twenty fifth verse of Galatians 5 which says that, "If we live by the Holy Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit (If by the Holy Spirit we have our life in God), let us go forward walking in line, our conduct controlled by the Spirit."
Even though the Holy Spirit lives in us and is actually God in us, we still have to yield to His promptings in order to do and carry out God's will in our lives. The Seed (Jesus), has perfectly reproduced within us the same kind of being that He is. Remember the Law in Genesis 1:12 (Amplified) says, "The earth brought forth vegetation; plants yielding seed according to its own kind and trees bearing fruit in which was their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good (suitable, admirable) and He approved." We also read in Genesis 1:26 (Amplified) that, "God said, Let Us (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) make mankind in Our Image, after Our likeness, and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the (tame) beasts, and over all the earth, and over everything that creeps upon the earth."
According to the Law of Genesis, everything produces after its kind. We have watched this law in motion our entire lives. Horses produce horses, dogs produce dogs, corn produces corn and flies produce flies. This is a law of the Creator of all things. This is also a reason that evolution is a false theory. We didn't evolve from something else and become men and women. We were created that way. And, now God has brought about the new birth from "The Seed---Jesus." We are produced after kind just like He is. We were born again after the Spirit of God. John 4:24 (Amplified) tells us that, "God is a Spirit (a Spiritual Being) and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and truth (reality)."
So you see that we're born again by the Seed of God to reproduce us in His Own Image. We have walked in the flesh for so long that now we have to learn over again to walk in the Spirit. The only way to produce any fruit from this new seed, is to allow the seed to produce after kind. We can't duplicate the fruit of the Spirit by our own will and works. The seed is able to produce fruit if we give it what it needs to produce.
We've tried to make it a hybrid seed and force it to produce the way we want it too. But, it doesn't work that way. This seed in us is designed by God to produce His Own family, just like Jesus. John 6:63 (Amplified) says that, "It is the Spirit Who gives life (He is the Life Giver); the flesh conveys no benefit whatever (there is no profit in it) the Words (truths) that I have been speaking to you are Spirit and life."
This fruit will come if we allow it to produce after kind. You don't have to make an apple tree produce apples. You just have to take care of it and it does the work by itself. Mark 4:18-19 (Amplified) says that, "The ones (seeds) sown among the thorns are others who hear the Word." Verse 19 goes on, "Then the cares and anxieties of the world and the distractions of the age, and the pleasure and delight and false glamour and deceitfulness of riches, and the craving and passionate desire for other things creep in and choke and suffocate the Word (Seed), and it becomes fruitless."
We've tried producing the fruit of the Spirit by the flesh. We've tried being good and kind to other people, and that's a good things, but it's not the real fruit. I remember when my great grandson took a wax apple out of the fruit bowl at my daughter's house. It looked real and he believed it was real, but the look of disappointment on his face was proof enough that it wasn't the real thing.
The fruit of the Spirit is just that; it's the fruit of the Spirit. Only the Spirit can produce it. It's produced through our own spirit as we yield to Him. The fruit of the Spirit is the very nature and character of our Father. It's His love, His joy, His grace and His mercy being reflected in us from glory to glory.
1Corinthians 2:12-13 (Amplified) says that, "Now we have not received the spirit (that belongs to) the world, but the (Holy) Spirit Who is from God, (given to us) that we might realize and comprehend and appreciate the gifts (of divine favor and blessing so freely and lavishly) bestowed on us by God." Verse 13 says, "And we are setting these truths forth in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the (Holy) Spirit, combining and interpreting spiritual truths with spiritual language (to those who possess the Holy Spirit)."
What we must do first to bring forth the fruit of the Spirit is to find out who we are. We have an identity crisis in the Body of Christ for quite some time. If you could confuse the carnal mind and shut out the mind of Christ, then we'd never know what kind of seed (Spirit) we are. That's why it's so vitally important to be in the Word and listen to the Father's voice.
Many in the Church still walk under the Law and try to perform by the flesh. Some have taken grace to the point that it's no longer grace. The Holy Spirit keeps the Word of truth in context to the Word of God. The Word speaks about not sowing mixed seed in the Word. If we cannot distinguish between the Father and the Holy Spirit from the enemy and the world, then it's hard to produce anything but the flesh.
2Corinthians 3:17-18 (Amplified) says, "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty (emancipation from bondage, freedom) and all of us, as with unveiled face (because we) continued to behold (in the Word of God) as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very Own Image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another; (for this comes) from the Lord (Who is) the Spirit."
For some, it seems to be boasting or blasphemous to say we're like Him. To others, they still try identifying with the old man they were more than the new man they are. For others, they continue walking in the religion of others instead of relationship with the Holy Spirit. We've been taught in some circles that the fruits of the Spirit have passed away. We've done what those in the old covenant did and tried being righteous and walking in love by acts of the flesh.
The seed will produce the fruit or the character of the Holy Spirit if we will allow Him to show us Who He is. In every garden I've ever planted, I put a seed packet on a stick at the end of each row. I did this because once the seed is sown, you can forget what you planted in that row. I could look at the packet and could confidently say I planted corn or beans in this row because I had a picture so I wouldn't forget. You must keep the Word before you as a picture of who you are in order to know. Once the seed is sown in your heart, your job is to know what Spirit you are of and it will produce after kind.
The reason for our being in the Word is to show and remind us who we are; not who we were. We don't need to be reminded of our old sinful man because God doesn't remember our sins anymore. We're to be reminded of who and how we are now through Him. The Seed Who gave us life (The Holy Spirit) has everything in the seed to produce the fruit. If you plant a kernel of corn, inside that kernel is the shoot, the stalk, the ear and the corn in the ear. It's all in there.
In the seed if the Word is everything you are including a new being, a baby in Christ, a young man, an elder, an heir of God and a joint-heir with Christ. It's all in that seed you received. Help it to produce by yielding to the Spirit of God and He will produce the nature of God in you. When the fruit is genuine, then it's pleasant to those who are hungry. As you're changed into His Image from glory to glory, the fruit will manifest itself on its own. There's no effort to producing the fruit if we will simply allow Him to reveal Himself to us. Jesus said that, "When you have seen Me, you have seen the Father." An apple has no problem being an apple because that's what it was meant to be and so that's what it is. A child of God has no problem being a child of God because that's what he was meant to be so that's what he is. Just let the seed produce after kind. Let the Holy Spirit produce His fruit in your heart and it will show in your life.
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