Episode #49 – Bearing the Fruit of the Holy Spirit

Transcript:

Welcome to Soulish Femme. Soulish Femme is a channel solely dedicated for you where I help focus in prospering body, spirit and soul. Life is a journey and I am glad that you can be a part of mine. As you explore my vlogs and my real talk episodes, I hope you will find inspirations and motivation you are looking for. Remember that life is not going to wait around for you. Therefore, live a life with intentionality and curate the life you’ve always dreamed of. Hello everybody. Welcome back to another podcast. In today’s topic is about bearing the fruit of the Holy Spirit. I usually talk about prospering body, spirit and soul.

Believers vs. Nonbelievers

And today is a segue way of what I said the last talk, “The harsh truth about growth.” Yes, many people think that growing is just about physical. We go to the gym. We lose pounds. We eat the right kind of food. We drink the kinds of beverages that is good for our body. However, we never talk about bearing the fruit of the Holy Spirit. The difference between the Christians and the non-believers. The non-believers, they are actually are blind and depraved. They are not aware that they’re actually sinning against God because they don’t have the spirit of God. Jesus said in his word, “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.” That is John 15:4-5. Abiding is what you call being one with the father. When Jesus said, “I and the father are one,” they have the same mindset. They have the same spirit, one principle, one baptism, one God.

When you are not a believer or have been converted genuinely in the spirit of God, I do not think you’re capable of loving people. People cannot love others unless they have loved God. How can you possibly love your neighbor as you love yourself if you have not yet loved God with all your heart, with all your might, with all your soul? Jesus summed it up when Jesus was asked, “What are the greatest commandments in the Bible?” And Jesus said to love God with all your heart, with all your might, with all your soul, and to love your neighbor as you love yourself, bearing the fruit of the spirit only will manifest when you are actually been born again and you have surrendered yourself to the living God. When Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life, apart from me, you cannot go to the Father.”

To abide is to obey, to follow, to act in accordance with the law of God. So, ask yourself the question, what is the main purpose of my life? Am I really living for Jesus or for God? Or am I living because of the dictates of my own punitive little mind based on the lust of the flesh, the pride of life, which is what John wrote, the world and God. God is actually not pleased with the world. He doesn’t say that he hates the world. Actually, for God so loved the world that He gave his one and only son that to those who believe in him will not perish but have everlasting life. However, to those who does not believe, this is what Jesus said that these people are actually are going to do what their father. The father of the world is Satan. He is the Father of all lies, the murderer from the beginning. So there is this distinction between Jesus follower and the ungodly.

The Spirit of God

So, if you ask yourself this question, “How can I tell whether I have the fruit of the spirit?” Are you loving? Are you kind? Are you patient? Are you faithful? Self-control, goodness, godliness. These are in Galatians 5:25. However, I’m not necessarily speaking of perfection because perfection is very hard to grasp in this side of the world. However, if you’re not a not a believer, you are going to justify your bad behavior. As C.S. Lewis once said, the difference between Christians and non-Christians are Christians are not people that have not made mistakes. Christians are people who will fall, will make mistakes, they will get up, take accountability, repent of their sins, apologize about it, and they will do their best not to do it over and over again. However, the non-believer are the people who are blind and they will wipe their mouth and they will say, “I have done nothing wrong. Nobody sees. Nobody knows.”

And so they are oblivious to the things that they’re doing and they themselves will justify their behavior. So the fruit of the spirit is something that is supernatural. In the book of the Acts, when Jesus came and told the disciples that you must not go anywhere until the holy spirit is what you call our comforter. He comforts us in our affliction. He is convictor. He convicts us when we fall into sin. This is why for many people who have been born again Christian who have the spirit of God will always fell into this guilt. You cannot sleep good at night because God wants you to really confess with your mouth that you have sinned because he is faithful to forgive you of your sins. He is not going to allow you to get off the hook.

And this is why when you have not listened to the Holy Spirit, you will make your conscience seared to a point where you’re going to tune out the spirit’s voice. And you have to be careful with that. And we are also told that we must not grieve the spirit because the spirit is also grieved by constantly sinning against God. So the Holy Spirit is the bearing of the fruit. We cannot bear fruit apart from the Holy Spirit. This is what the acts uh called. They come with a fire, the tongues of fire. He comes into this being that is like a dove when Jesus was baptized in the water. And people saw that there was a dove appearing like a dove in Jesus’ head representing peace and probably hope and love. And when you are going to bear the fruit of the spirit, there must be a transformation that occurred in your life from the very beginning. You were converted to Christianity. It is not religiosity.

Many people go to church every Sunday. But it doesn’t mean that they have the spirit in them. If you ask yourself the question honestly, are you better now than before? Have you truly forsaken the things of this world? as what Paul said, I have counted everything as loss. I’ve counted everything as rubbish. For the world is nothing compared to what awaits for me in the glory to come. So Jesus also is required for us to abide in my words. Abide in you. You will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you. The thing about God is that when we obey him and we delight in him, he gives us the desire of our hearts. Not necessarily the things that we want that is contrary to his will because what that’s what Jesus said nevertheless let your will be done and my life not my will but yours will be done.

Put God First

So when we abide in God, when we ask him something, we ask him because we desire something. If God says it is my will, then he will grant you something that you wish. But if it’s not something out of his will, he’s going to protect you as a good father. He will not going to give you something that’s going to kill you. And sometimes he will also say no because he is trying to prevent us from making the biggest mistakes of our lives. And sometimes Jesus or God would say shut the door because it’s not for you or you have to wait. And we also have to be able to abide in God’s love and his commandments. So to bear the fruit of God is that our first option of the day is that we hunger for God. How do you know if you’re abiding in God and you have the spirit of God in you? How about your desires in life? Seek first the kingdom of God and all his righteousness and everything shall be added unto you.

The first thing in your mind in the morning should be to praise God to give thanks to his blessings that he has given you. The fact that he wake you up this morning. It is not that you woken up by yourself. You cannot wake up on your own. The matter of the fact that you’re awakened today is because God is not done with you yet. And it is the gift that he has bestowed upon us. So we have to be grateful for the little things that he has given us. The breath in our lungs, our family, our bed, our home, the food that we have in our table and anything that you think it’s very insignificant. So also we have to think that bearing the fruit of the Holy Spirit is learning that the addictions that we are also very indulgence before. Are you willing to let them go or are you still doing the same thing over and over again?

There are many addictions in my life that God have set me free. It was not my own volition. It was not with my own willpower. It was the supernatural power of God that allowed me to break those patterns. These are what you call sanctification. We have been sanctified. Glorification from glory to glory. When you are being glorified to the image of God, you are never going to be perfect as I said, but you are going to have at least transformation that you can say to yourself that looking back, I am not the same person as I was. The things that I used to be addicted, I no longer crave for them. The things that I usually gravitate, these are the things I no longer, you know, have fond of doing or I do not like them anymore.

The Ancient Foe

So another thing is Galatians 5:1. Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free. Do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage, but faith as a working through love. So in order for you to also have the the spirit of God in you which is bearing the fruit of the spirit is that we have to stand fast and to be able to not go back to the same pattern and we also have to be vigilant and be aware. That’s why be prayerful as what Jesus said be alert be on guard because you have an enemy. He is a lion that prowls around. He is waiting for someone to be devoured. In order for you to bear fruit in the spirit, you have to be sensitive to the leading of the spirit. If the spirit says do not go there and do not do that, do not watch that and be careful the kind of people that you hang out with because evil company corrupts good moral. It’s very true.

It doesn’t matter how hard you try to be good, but if the people around you are infected with poisonous bitterness and resentment and they have no love and forgiveness in them, most likely you’re just going to end up like them. And that’s why you have to pray for these people and you need to have discernment in order for you to not fall prey of the kind of toxicity that they have been doing in themselves or also to other people and attest all his in John 1 to what Jesus said. uh he said that for you brethren have been called to liberty in Galatians 5:13 only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh but through love serve one another for the law is fulfilled none word even this you shall love your neighbor as yourself. So another significance in your life to see whether you have the fruit of the spirit.

Are you are are you a person who loves to naturally give or serve or do you constantly keep the tab? I know some people they keep tabs of I did this for you therefore I expect you to do this for me. I served you today therefore I will expect you to serve me tomorrow. That is not the fruit of the spirit. Jesus said I have come to serve not being served. When Jesus said you must learn to be the first so that you those who are the last will be the first and the last the first will be the last and that’s why for many people who are not unbeliever who are not believer rather they usually keep tabs of what they do for you. But if you truly have the spirit of God, your nature is to serve other people without keeping tabs, without keeping notes, without keeping track of what you did to the person because you are just a natural giver. You have this innate ability to serve other people without expecting back in return.

Set A Healthy Boundary

However, I’m not saying that you should constantly be overly committed to people, overly extending yourself without boundaries. That is not what Jesus even did because Jesus also had time to go out in out go out in the mountain when people were asking too much of him. Jesus also put boundaries. Remember what Jesus said to the people who have chasing after him after he had multiplied five loaves and two fishes and there’s flocks of people chasing after him because they want them to perform another miracle. And Jesus said you did not come to get to know me really but you came because of what I could do for you. And there are many people unfortunately in our lives are takers. They are going to drain you of your energy. They’re going to drain you of the light that God has given. They’re going to suck the daylight out of you. These are people. They’re always taking something out of you, but they don’t want to give back.

And when they do give, they will always keep the tab and they will always keep this thing in their head that maybe the next time I’m going to get back at you. But Jesus also was willing to give of himself, but he also was not willing to lay down his life for the people. And he went to the mountaintop by himself with his disciples. He usually like to be alone in the mountaintop and pray with the father. And so the spirit doesn’t mean that you constantly be available to people around you. The Holy Spirit, the bearer of the fruit of the spirit is also have the ability to repent of your sin. They have the ability to feel sorry for your sin and then to grieve about it. This is exactly when you know the difference between non-believers and the believers.

The believers are the ones who’s going to apologize and is going to take accountability of the mistakes that they have done against you. But the non-believers, they have no remorse. They don’t feel sorry about what they have done towards you, disrespect you or belittle you or maybe lied about you or maybe run your name through the mud. They have nothing but no shame. So the bearing of the spirit, it takes a lot of consciousness. It takes a lot of humbling before God. You cannot be broken. You cannot have the spirit of God unless you are broken. You must be willing to surrender as Jesus like to say. You must be able to deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow me. If you truly are lover, lovers of God, you must also bear your cross.

And this cross maybe your spouse that is unbeliever. Maybe your spouse doesn’t love God. Maybe your cross is have to also bear the burdens of your children. The wayward sons and daughters that you have to pray for their salvation. Our crosses are the challenges of our health. Our crosses could be financial problem. Our crosses could be in our workplace or maybe the people in our family. Our crosses are what you call these are challenges and tribulation that Jesus said in this life you will have tribulation. But we but be of good cheer for he has overcome the world. So you are not exempted from the trials of life just because you are a follower of Christ just because you do have the spirit of God in you. But you have to bear fruit through trials and through challenges.

Bear Fruit of the Spirit

This is exactly how we can know that we have bear fruit. How can you know that you’re maturing in God? Do you pray to God when problems arises or do you run away from him? Do you curse God when you are facing with temptation or challenges? Or do you humble yourself and kneel before the cross and ask him to bear the cross with you and to be his defender and to be your defender rather or to be your confident or to be your strength in the midst of trials. These are the factors that you will know the difference between the non-Christians and the Christians because the Christians are going to run to the cross and they they’re not going to run away from it. The Christians are going to humble themselves and ask God to forgive them and to guide them and to give them wisdom and understanding.

The unbelievers, however, are going to look to the world. They’re going to look to other vices. It could be the trinkets, the shiny objects, entertainment, substance abuse, alcohol, consumerism, shopaholic, and different kinds of addictions like gaming. So the difference between the ungodly and the godly, the ungodly will usually look to the world for answers and solutions for their problems. They’re never going to look up to God. They’re never going to consider and ask God’s for guidance. That’s why the Bible is clear. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not in your own understanding but in everything acknowledge him and he will direct your path. But the world or people that are not of God, they are going to look into the world instead of looking and asking for God’s advice or guidance.

So this is why growing is the difference between the non-believers and to those who are bearing the fruit of God is that they are not worldly. They are not just going to get caught up in the materialism or the materialistic. They are not going to be brought down into this idea that this is what life is all about. We always have to be reminded that this is not our home. This home is not truly the permanent that we have. We have to be reminded that we are all sojourners. We are pilgrims. We are just passing by. This is why we cannot be attached to this world. And many people might consider you as you don’t have ambition. How come you’re not chasing like the world? How come you are not the most ambitious person in the world? How come you don’t love what the world loves? Because you don’t have the same spirit.

So the difference also with people who are not believers, the non-believers, they are always grabbing with too much luxury. They only think about today. They don’t really think about what’s coming next. They do not invest on the hereafter. They are more concerned about the daily necessities today. They only think about the here and now. But they don’t really consider about eternity which is absurd because the eternity that is forever is infinite. This is exactly what you must prepare of not today because today is the only have the only guarantee that we have but tomorrow you never know whether you’re going to wake up or not. So we must always be prepared of coming after this life. Everything that we have today is temporary. Everything that we have now can be gone in an instant because nothing is guaranteed.

Nothing is permanent and we have to keep that in mind. And so the difference between the un-worldly and the world is always caught up in today. They’re not worried about eternity. They’re not worried about the future. That’s why Jesus said, “Do not lay up your treasures here on earth where thieves and rust and moth will destroy and steal. But lay up your treasures in heaven where there is no thieves nor moth, nor rust will destroy and steal because where your heart is there is your treasure.” So many people laying their treasure here on this earth and they think that this is it. This is what’s good as it gets when in fact it’s not what good as it gets. This world is nothing but fading away. This world is going to be deteriorated in a blink of in your eye.

It’s going to explode someday. And that’s what the Bible says. It will melt like a fire. And that’s what the Bible is clear that this life that we have is only a borrowed time. This life is not our own. It is not something that we actually own. We only manage this life. We only manage our time. We are nothing but stewards. We are given time and we are allotted a specific time to live in this world. And someday your master, your maker will take that away from you. Even your own life or your family, your money, your business, whatever you have in this life. So you have to be concerned that not only you have to focus on the temporary things in this life but what is the world that is to come.

Another point that I would like to make and I’m going to leave you with this is that the difference between the bearing of the spirit and without the fruit of the spirit is that when you bear the fruit of the spirit you have this grieving part of you. Many people think that Christians should not be depressed that Christians should not feel bad or they don’t have the right to mourn or to be forlorn because that’s not Christian, right? Christianity is supposed to be always happy singing kumbaya, you know, dancing all the time. But in reality, that is not the truth. When you read the Bible, David was so depressed that he actually was lamenting in the dark places trying to ask God to remove the burden out of him. There was a point when David said, “My soul was in Sheol like the deepest pit of hell.” He paralleled it with. That he’s because of his suffering. Because of the distress. Because of his enemies.

Embrace Each Season

He was grieving that he saw something that is so wicked in his time. He is not going to just pretend like everything is happy. Unfortunately, in this world, we are been told that being sad is bad. You have to take medication because for some reason, if you’re depressed, something’s wrong with you. So, we have to medicate you so that you can be happy. It is full of baloney and full of nonsense because even the Bible will allow you to grieve and to mourn and to cry. If you’re not be able to cry and mourn and have tears then you are not a human being. People wants you to be inhumane. Unfortunately, in this world they want to medicate you to numb you of your pain so that you don’t have the ability to feel what you feel. And that is not what human beings are.

That’s why God made tears for you and I to cry. For you and I to really just let it out when we feel sad and sorry of your mourning about the loss of your loved ones. It’s okay to cry and to grieve. Even Jesus grieved and He was sorrowful when his best friend Lazarus died. Remember what Lazarus when he passed away, Jesus cried and he wept because it is what human beings do. You cannot just pretend like everybody’s just going to be happy and everybody’s just going to have be jumping around like everything is okay. It’s okay not to be okay. And that’s part of being a human being. So do not buy into a lie that the world will tell you and sell you that just because you’re a Christian, you are not supposed to be hap you’re not supposed to be sad. You’re just always to be happy all the time. And God forbid if you cry and you’re going to mourn about the things that you’re mourning, you’re actually are something’s wrong with you.

So please, you have to be careful of the deception of the devil himself to make you believe that just because you’re a Christian, you’re not supposed to cry. You’re not supposed to be sad. You’re not supposed to have a bad days. Because when you look at the Bible, the lamentations, that’s why it calls lamentation is because he was lamenting of the sins of the world. He was lamenting with his own sinful ways. He was lamenting of the wickedness that he sees and he saw in his generation. The same thing with me today. When I am sad is because I really truly am sad for the things that are happening that is bad in the world. And you are not just going to pretend like everything is okay even though you know it’s not okay. You’re not just going to pretend like people love you even though deep down inside they don’t really love you.

You cannot pretend like your family loves you even though they have constantly disrespect you and gaslitted you. You cannot just pretend. That’s what you called in denial. And we don’t want to be in denial because Jesus said you must be to speak the truth in love so that the truth will set you free. Many people are not set free because they rather want to live a lie. They rather want to live a masquerade and facade to pretend and to paint this picture of perfection and everything is okay that if somehow I’m sad or I’m not happy today then probably I am not truly saved which is full of lies and it is not from heaven. It is the pit of hell because the world as you see it we live in a fallen world where many people are truly broken many people are wounded.

That’s why Jesus came so that he could bear up our wounds. He would be able to heal our brokenness. Why do you think Jesus had to die? Is because of the brokenness of the world. Because of the sinful things of the world. And that’s why it’s okay to grieve. It’s okay to be sorry sometimes. It’s okay to admit that I’m not okay. It’s okay to admit that I don’t have it all figured out. It’s okay to admit that I need help, too, even though I’m a Christian. So this also is the difference between non-Christians and the Christians. The Christians are not going to pretend like they’re okay. The Christians are not going to pretend like they have it all figured out. The Christians are the ones who’s going to say and admit to themselves and says, “Yes, I have a bad day today and yes, I have made a mess today and I’m going to try again tomorrow.” The non-Christians, they pretend.

And however, the non-Christians are so good at pretending. This is why they’re never going to grow up because they’re never willing to admit. And that’s why they get stuck in their old mental cycle of justifying their behavior. And that’s why they have addictions. And that’s why they are still running in circles like in the wilderness. They can never go further because they’re stuck in the loop of saying, “I’m okay.” Even though they’re not okay because they’re in denial. They’re lying to themselves more than anybody else.

And so when you look at the difference between the people who are the Christians who bear fruit of the of God, they are not liars. They don’t pretend. They will not going to just pretend like all is well. They are going to say everything is actually working for my good to those whom God called for his purpose and for his glory and for his honor because whatever the devil meant to harm me, God will turn it around for good. So the difference is that you and I between the believers and unbelievers is that we also have to pray for them and to love them and to just hopefully that they’re going to be like the wayward son dust off their feet and repent of their sins and get back to reality. [Music]