I have covered four of the fruits of the Spirit in previous articles and now will get into the fifth fruit of the Spirit, kindness.
Kindness is one of those virtues of God that is just there. God’s kindness is the opposite of cruelty and exhibits compassion and sympathy. The definition of kindness in the Oxford dictionary is: the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate. Yet people can show the kindness defined in the dictionary and never be compassionate or considerate. God’s compassion is like shoving you out of the way of a bus and letting the bus hit Him instead. That is exactly what Christ did for us on the Cross and there is no greater kindness than that God would take on the flesh of a man and give His life for mankind on the Cross so that we could continue living forever.
The apostle Paul understood Godly kindness and suffered more than any man showing the kindness of Christ through him.
2 Corinthians 11:25, 28 Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; besides the other things, what comes upon me daily:
2 Corinthians 6:4, 6 But in all things we commend ourselves as ministers of God:…, by kindness…
Ephesians 2:4 -7 God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Paul also tells us that we as believers are to follow his example and display the kindness of Christ who lives in us.
Colossians 3:12 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness
Read the Holy Word of God and pray that you understand what the real spiritual kindness of God is all about. Follow His example not the ways of this world.
Preaching the gospel is the most wonderful, scintillating, and powerful way to communicate to another human being. Jesus’ believers know that from the time they wake up till they go to sleep at night, they should seek any opportunity to share the truth about the Grace of Jesus Christ with someone who is lost and is willing to hear. It is truly exciting! The angels in heaven sing praises to God for every one who is saved.
How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. – Romans 10:14, 9-10, 17
There was a time when the Church in Jerusalem was persecuted so severely the believers were driven out of Jerusalem but did that discourage them from preaching the gospel? No! Everywhere that they went they shared the good news of the Kingdom of God and salvation through Jesus Christ.
And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles.Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word.- Acts 8:1, 4
One doesn’t have to be ordained to teach the Word of God. Jesus made it plain enough that we are commanded to teach others what He has taught us. At one time Jesus sent out 70 disciples to teach His word to anyone who would listen.
For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.- Hebrews 5:12-14
Don’t be idle as one on milk! Spread the Gospel! There are literally billions of people on this earth who are not saved especially in China and India, the two most over populated nations in the world. And above all, pray that you be given opportunity as Jesus commands.
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: – Matthew 28:19-20
Jesus is effectually sending all believers out to teach the word of God.
I pray that Jesus blesses you all that you bear much fruit!
Colossians 1:16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.
God will deliver us from those who are our political enemies if we believe in Him.
2 Kings 17:39 But the LORD your God you shall fear; and He will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies.”
Wake up!
God will provide the right person to lead this nation. Now is a time to believe God can do what He says He can do.
On June 4, 2016 I wrote about the first fruit of the Spirit which was love. Now I write about the second fruit of the Spirit which is joy.
The fruits of the Spirit are very important to God and He wants us to know what they are for a reason. They are expressly about the Spirit, the character of the Spirit and we should imitate Him, have His character. The ways of the Spirit are Holy to God and He expects us to reverence the Holiness of the Spirit. Jesus severely chastised the Pharisees about being disrespectful of the holiness of the Spirit inMark 3:29 “but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation”
Believers are temples of the Holy Spirit for the Spirit dwells in them. The fruits of the Spirit should be our nature as we follow the Spirit of Christ in us.Romans 8:11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
What more joyful thing could you want than that? Jesus says inJohn 17:13 “But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves.”
Later after the church had grown in the Spirit and increased in numbers we find inActs 13:52 And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
The Apostle Paul gives us more insight to how joy is an important aspect of our lives when he says inRomans 14:17 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Paul tells us what our joy should be like inPhilippians 2:2 fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
Then Paul sums up the spiritual meaning of our joy as being like a crown in the hope of glory.1 Thessalonians 2:19 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? 20 For you are our glory and joy.
The fruit of the Spirit is Gods holiness in believers and should be on display and shared with everyone.
God wants you to be born again into royalty, to reside in the holy glory of God with a new citizenship, body, mansion, reward, throne, glory, and eternal life.
1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation
Philippians 3:20 For our citizenship is in heaven
1 Corinthians 15:35 But someone will say, “How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?” 38 But God gives it a body as He pleases. 44 It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
John 14:2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
Matthew 5:12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven
Revelation 3:21 To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne
John 17:22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one:
John 10:28 And I give them eternal life,
Your reward is waiting for you! Don’t lose it! It is there for the taking!
♥Receive your reward now by receiving Jesus as your savior!♥
In Galatians 5:22 the first fruit of the Spirit is love.
The world’s idea of love is sensual and lustful but that is a counterfeit love perpetrated by the devil to lead all mankind into an abyss of destructive sin. Jesus taught a different kind of love; love that is neither selfish nor demanding of demonstrations of the flesh. In the counterfeit love people are always trying to satisfy their own desires. They are only serving themselves. The love that Jesus teaches us is totally the opposite. Jesus says that through love we should serve one another. We should be out-going and giving in every sense of the word.
Jesus also teaches us that the second greatest law is that we should love our neighbors as we would love ourselves.
Getting out of one’s comfort zone and giving of their time and service to someone in need or just to be encouraging brings great rewards and satisfaction you will get no other way. That is genuine love by God’s definition. James 1:27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble. That is an act of love that God greatly blesses.
You should begin to understand now that the love that is the first fruit of the Spirit is not the same love that the world lavishes on itself. But Gods love is a love that the world needs to know about and taught about. God’s love is something that lives in you and is manifested through the heart unselfishly.
Those with the greatest love are servants to all.
Godly love comes from the Spirit in you if you first let Jesus into your life and follow Him.
John 14: 21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”
Jesus is standing at your door right now as you read open the door and let Him in!
Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.
My heavenly Father is a Father to me in every way. He is the one and only true God who has created the heavens and the earth and all that is therein. He created me; therefore, He is my physical Father. (Ephesians 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.John 1: 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.)
God is my spiritual Father
God is also my spiritual Father as He has begotten me with His Spirit. (1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 1 Peter 1: 23 having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever,)
God is my adoptive Father
God is my adoptive Father as He has adopted me into his family by His Spirit! (Romans 8:15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” Ephesians 1:5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,)
WE ARE THE BRIDE OF CHRIST
God is my Father-in-law
The Church is the bride of Christ and I am in the church. When Christ marries the Church God becomes my Father-in-law.
Revelation 19: 7 Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.”
8 And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.
9 Then he said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’ ”
Hebrews 11:13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
14 For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland.
16 Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.
Revelations 21:9 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me, saying, “Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.”
10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,
24 And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light,
27 But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
Do you know what is in store for you in the Kingdom of God? God gives us some happy, encouraging bits and pieces of insight to that future. It is good to go over them from time to time to be nudged if you will to remember how important the resurrection really is in context to the Kingdom of God. Jesus said in the gospel of Matthew that we will not marry in the resurrection but will be as the angels of God in heaven. He explains rules for outgoing love toward others as in Luke 14:12-14 “When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”
There have been many Christians slaughtered for their beliefs around the world recently and they will be in the better resurrection.
The early Church in the times of the Apostles must have had a deeper understanding of their reward in heaven because there are records of their powerful faith. One such is in Hebrews 11:35 Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. They did not hesitate to give their lives for Christ.
Not too long ago, twenty one men were beheaded by Muslim extremists because they would not renounce their Christian faith and become Muslims.
Revelations 20:4,6 And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power,but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.
Did you know that not everyone will have the same positions in heaven? There will be ranks! Some will be greater than others.
Matthew 5:19 Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 11:11 “Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
Matthew 18:3-4 “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Here are some sayings of Christ to ponder. These verses give a lot of insight to what the Kingdom of God in heaven is like, how we should seek it and how to increase our reward.
Matthew 13:24 “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field;
31 “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field,
33 “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.”
44 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls,
47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind,
Does the resurrection to the kingdom of heaven have a great draw on your heart?
Matthew 11:6 And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.”
God created the woman from part of the man. He didn’t create a man
from a man or a woman from a woman. God had created the man and woman to marry and by propagation to create children so that the family of man would increase giving God more children for His kingdom. For this reason God especially gets tremendously upset when men pervert this process.
Be warned!
2 Peter 2:20 For if after they have escaped the polutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
Don’t change to the ways man, change man to the ways of God!
John 1:4 Jesus is the light in men… for believers, all others are in darkness.
Are you in the light of the truth or in darkness?
There was a young man filled with faith preaching about Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit in every public place he could find. People found his wisdom and the spirit of which he spoke irresistible.
John 3:34 For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.
But some people couldn’t stand what he was preaching because what he was saying convicted their conscience and made them mad.
Romans 11:8 (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.
They got so carried away that they mobbed him and took him before the court, they produced witnesses who lied about him and accused him of making terrorist threats such as saying their religious temple would be torn down.
Mark 13:9 But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them.
As they looked at him he didn’t appear to be worried at all. If anything, he looked more confident and filled with faith more than ever. He begin to preach to them and point out their sinful ways showing them how much they could be blessed if they would only turn to God and obey Him.
Romans 10:15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
But when they heard what he had to say they were cut to the heart and their faces became terrible to look at as hate poured out of them.
Jude 1:4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
And he said:” Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God”. The mob started screaming at the top of their lungs to shut him out. The mob had had enough and took Stephen and killed him.
Romans 1:21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder.
This is happening over and over again in China, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and India today! This ugly hatred is slowly growing in the United States. It is now a hate crime to preach the truth on some subjects of the Holy Bible, the foundation of Christianity.
We need to rally behind the martyr Stephen and preach the gospel in the face of adversity. Be filled with the spirit of faith!
Matthew 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
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