OF ARMOR AND FRUIT ~ part 1 ~

I pray that by now, you have read and re-read the passages in Galatians, Matthew, Ephesians and 1 Corinthians a few times and are very familiar with them. Let us add one more passage to these.
 
“…as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. And beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity, and let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.” Colossians 3:12-15
 
Let us pull out the words from this section of Scripture that we also see within the previous passages – KINDNESS, GENTLENESS, PATIENCE, PEACE, LOVE – from these five words we have confirmation that our Christian walk is not complete without ‘armor’ (peace), ‘fruit’ (kindness, gentleness, patience), and the ‘glue’ that holds it all together – love (also the first ‘fruit’)!
 
Armor – this is something that we put on, for protection, as we head into battle. Now we need to remember that our life, in Christ, IS a battle – but our battle is NOT with one another! Satan does use people to distract, wound and attack, but many times the person or persons who are being used in such a way are in their own spiritual battle and completely unaware that they are being used. Every one of us needs to keep our eyes open, our ears attuned, and our hearts focused on God’s Word; on Who He IS in us and who we are in Him! That way, as stated in Ephesians, we can stand firm.
 
FRUIT – this (from Galatians) is a singular thing. It is what is produced from/in the one who abides in Christ (see Matthew 15). As we turn our hearts and minds to the Author and Finisher of our faith; trust in Holy Spirit’s guidance, completely, the FRUIT will be the by-product. People will see it in us and experience it from us!
 
          LOVE – without this ‘glue’ none of the above apply! Notice that when there is a reference anywhere in Scripture to aspects of a Christian’s identity, purpose, or personality, where love is mentioned along with other ‘fruit’, love ALWAYS is listed first. It supersedes everything else. Only as we totally lose ourselves in God’s love, allow Him to fill us to overflowing with it, and allow it to govern our lives, can we see the fruit of our obedience blossom and grow! We obey because we love. We love because we have obeyed. It is an unending cycle of God’s grace that is always more than enough for all things. BUT… we still live in this world and have warfare every day against the enemy of our soul – and God has amply supplied everything we need to conquer – this brings us back to our ARMOR.
 
          Before the next lesson, please write out various areas that the enemy continues to attack you. We are going to look for ‘weak links’ in our armor. We will look at each piece of armor and see which ones we need to work on. All soldiers prepare their armor – they make sure that it is well oiled, secure, in good working order. Are we aware of every piece of armor and its purposes? We will be!