OF ARMOR AND FRUIT ~ part 6 (Fruit – what it is.) ~

Here is a question for you, posed to me back in Bible School – “when is the last time you put your ear up next to an apple tree, or a grape vine, and heard it ‘straining’ to produce?” A very silly question, correct? Not if you really stop and ponder it. We, as Christians, have been heard to say things like, “It’s so hard!” or, “I don’t know if I can do this.” So, if we are living our lives as productive Christians, if we have the fruit of the Spirit developing within us, working through us, how dare we think that this is something we have to strive towards?
 
There is only ONE way to have this fruit producing itself in us – John 15 explains, “I am the True Vine, and My Father is the Vinedresser. Every branch that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it, that it may bear more fruit.” (vs 1-2) and, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the Vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.” (vs 4-5)
 
          According to the The New Oxford Dictionary fruit is, “the sweet and fleshly product of a tree or other plant that contains seed and can be eaten as food.”
 
“Contains seed” – it has the ability to reproduce! This is NOT something we can do apart from being IN The Word of God, in prayer, and in fellowship with other believers. It is only through the sanctification process that we understand how imperative it is to stay connected to The Vine – AND – how to learn to ‘embrace’ the times of pruning by our Father! The fruit produced in and through us by ‘abiding in the Vine’ is that which reproduces . . . we ‘go and make disciples’!
 
“Can be eaten” – it nourishes the body! It is then, as we continue to abide that the fruit begins to nourish others – the people around us. Let us look again, at the exact fruit of the Spirit: LOVE, JOY, PEACE, PATIENCE, KINDNESS, GOODNESS, FAITHFULNESS, GENTLENESS and SELF-CONTROL (Galatians 5:22) Every one of us can understand that any one of these attributes can help nurture another person! Most of us can recall a time in our lives when the kindness of another, the gentleness of another, someone’s patience, touched our hearts deeply and helped us along our journey.
 
As we will see over the next few lessons that this fruit (singular) IS evidence of every one of these components AS we live our lives set-apart to Christ! It is a process . . . that is why there is pruning . . . and, as we mature, the fruit becomes larger, juicer, more beautiful to behold. It becomes better able to reproduce and provide nourishment.
 
In our notebooks, let us make a section for each word listed. Then, after each one of the nine, write out two parts…1) how this has impacted my life from another, and 2) is this a normal part of my walk with the Lord?