> General Discussions
Living in the Spirit vs. Walking in the Spirit
rocky:
--- Quote from: Kat on September 27, 2007, 11:33:41 PM ---
Living and walking in the spirit, that is what I think of as bearing the fruit of the spirit.
Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
v. 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
When the Holy Spirit is indwelling it will lead us to resist the pulls of the flesh and in so doing the fruits of the spirit become apparent in the way we live our lives.
Titus 3:14 And let our people also learn to maintain good works, to meet urgent needs, that they may not be unfruitful.
Luke 6:43 "For a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.
v. 44 For every tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush.
v. 45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
It is the Holy Spirit which will guide us by the grace of God (divine influence on the heart) to serve and obey Him.
John 16:13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
So living and walking in the spirit, is bearing the fruit of good works, by the way we think, how we treat others. But most importantly knowing that God is in control of all things and will do the works He so desire in us.
Eph 3:20 Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,
Eph 1:11 in whom also we have been chosen to an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His own will,
mercy, peace and love
Kat
--- End quote ---
What i don't understand is how come atheists, non believers, etc. can bear fruits of the spirit. I know many people who are exhibit love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
So how can these good traits come from a corrupt heart?? We are told that we will know the heart/tree by the fruits.
44 For every tree is known by its own fruit.
???
chuckt:
--- Quote ---What i don't understand is how come atheists, non believers, etc. can bear fruits of the spirit. I know many people who are exhibit love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
So how can these good traits come from a corrupt heart?? We are told that we will know the heart/tree by the fruits.
44 For every tree is known by its own fruit.
--- End quote ---
ive thought about this same thing!! look forward to some responses!!
chuckt
Kat:
What I understand about humanity, is that God has given us all to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This is the experiences of life that we all have, before we receive His Spirit. We have all these experiences to learn about life, the good and the bad.
We all are capable of doing some good, but we usually have ulterior carnal motives, such as if I'm nice they will be nice back to me or if I buy her/him a expensive gift she/he will give me something big in return. That's our human nature to act like that. We do good deeds, but in the back of our minds it's to get something in return.
The difference I see in having the fruit of God's Spirit, is we do what we do to please God. That becomes our main objective. The Holy Spirit guides our thoughts and actions, not the carnal mind. The benefits are still there (getting something in return), but that is no longer the objective.
Well that's the way I see it, I hope it helped :)
mercy, peace and love
Kat
chuckt:
--- Quote from: Kat on September 28, 2007, 09:16:13 AM ---
What I understand about humanity, is that God has given us all to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This is the experiences of life that we all have, before we receive His Spirit. We have all these experiences to learn about life, the good and the bad.
We all are capable of doing some good, but we usually have ulterior carnal motives, such as if I'm nice they will be nice back to me or if I buy her/him a expensive gift she/he will give me something big in return. That's our human nature to act like that. We do good deeds, but in the back of our minds it's to get something in return.
The difference I see in having the fruit of God's Spirit, is we do what we do to please God. That becomes our main objective. The Holy Spirit guides our thoughts and actions, not the carnal mind. The benefits are still there (getting something in return), but that is no longer the objective.
Well that's the way I see it, I hope it helped :)
mercy, peace and love
Kat
--- End quote ---
interesting ..thanks.
this is tuff for me because it seems that when ""I"" try and do things to please God it still seems motivated by "carnality"
i seem to look back and see things that God does thru me that i didnt know about at the time that means the most or bares fruit.
for me if I try and walk in love i fail but when i die to self so to speak Christ's LOVE seems to automatically chine thru.
but then yesterday i got real frustrated and upset at work and those old carnal feeling started rising up, but when i steped back and went out of my way to
be of help to others all seemed to fall in place?? how much is me and how much is CHRIST???
its seems a conundrum :P
its wacky :-*
God bless
chuckt
Kat:
Hi chuckt,
We do not become spiritually mature at first. We start out as babes and have to grow up, learning our lessons along the way, to become like Christ.
1Peter 2:2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up to salvation--
It's a process ;)
mercy, peace and love
Kat
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