​ARMOR:
-        Salvation, Faith, Righteousness, Truth, Spirit, Peace
 
FRUIT:

•        Love, Joy, Peace,  Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control

 
Continuing our studying of how they work together:
 
 “for you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all GOODNESS and RIGHTIOUSNESS and TRUTH” Galatians 5:8-9 NASB
 

• This talks about how we are to be (imitators of Christ) now that we have been rescued from the kingdom of darkness (our life before we accepted Christ). Light cannot reside in darkness, because when the light comes on, darkness flees. The words that Paul uses, here, in his letter to the Galatians speaks of fruit, but notice how this particular fruit (of light) consists of armor and a component of the fruit of the Spirit! They are working together to represent the change that Jesus has made in our lives.  

 
This one is long, but bear with me. “but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger, in purity (GOODNESS), in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love, in the word of truth, in the power of God; by weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left, by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report; regarded as deceivers and yet true; as unknown yet well-known, as dying yet  behold we live; as punished yet not put to death, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things.” 2 Corinthians 6:4-10 NASB
 
Notice, again, how the blending of the armor used here several components of the fruit of the spirit, produce a victorious attitude when faced with various hardships in life.  Also note that LOVE is once more a key. “In genuine love.” We must do all things, say all things, with the love of God for others in our hearts! It is imperative that we are IN the Word and that we know how to apply it (use it as a sword, with the power that we have through Holy Spirit being an active part of our lives). We can then exude the GOODNESS, PATIENCE, and KINDNESS (fruit) of God’s LOVE.
 
“And so, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience;” Colossians 3:12 NASB
 

• “put on a heart of compassion” – Jesus had compassion, we are to be like Him. When He saw a need, a woundedness, something that was wrong, His compassion rose up and He spoke out, or reached out with that compassion. It is LOVE – God is love. As we walk in that love/compassion, His attributes of KINDNESS, HUMILITY, GENTLENESS, and PATIENCE will become a part of our existence. Our words and our actions will reflect the likeness to Jesus Christ. They become natural occurrences out of the fruit of the Spirit that is being produced in our lives. 

 
 There is a lot of ‘meat’ here to chew upon, so we will continue in our next lesson. 

“You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you and the trees of the field will clap their hands.” Isaiah 55:12 NIV
 

• Here we see the coin effect again, if you will, joy and peace. They are two in the same, yet have slightly different functions. However, they both bring about that inner wellbeing, that assurance that all is well as we remain in fellowship with the Father.

 
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13
 

• In this passage Holy Spirit is added into the mix (forgive me if that sounds disrespectful, it is not intended to be that). With the Sword of the Spirit, we DO have that ultimate hope overflowing from our hearts, and the fruit produced by that is complete joy and peace.

 
Psalm 85:10 NIV, “Love and faithfulness meet together, righteousness and peace kiss each other.
 

• This is one of my favorites! We have here two words that make up BOTH part of our armor as well as are intrinsic parts of the Fruit of the Spirit (FAITHFULNESS & PEACE). We also observe the ‘glue’ of Love in this verse. They all work together, and in this example, it is with the RIGHTEOUSNESS of Christ! We have our Shield of Faith working with our Breastplate of Righteousness, having our Gospel Boots of Peace on and functioning out of the Love of God within us . . . by having our armor    on and using it, we walk by faith with complete peace in our hearts and lives. Others can literally see and taste the fruit of our lives.

Next lesson we will wrap this series up with some examples from peoples lives.

​Scenario 1 –
 
          A woman is on her way to meet a friend for lunch. She started her day early with prayer and study of God’s Word. She is ready to face whatever comes her way, she knows that God is in control, and He is her protector, provider, King.
 
          She is headed for their favorite restaurant, giving herself an extra 10 minutes, because she hates to be late, to get there. She is on the interstate and low and behold, the traffic is at a standstill. It is like a parking lot with NO movement at all. She figures there must be a really bad accident ahead and so she begins to pray for those involved and their families. She gives glory to the Lord for the privilege to pray for even those she does not know. Picking up her cell phone, she calls her friend and explains that she will be a bit late and why.
 
          About 12 minutes later traffic slowly begins to move ahead in one of the lanes. She offers up thanks to the Lord for His protection and heads off to meet her friend, full of the joy of the Lord, and practically on time.
 
Scenario 2 –
 
          A woman was on her way to a doctor’s appointment – “why did they have to have it be first thing in the morning?” she wonders. She is already upset because she had to rush and miss her time with the Lord. She figured she’d make it up later.
          Everything was going wrong! She gets more frustrated with every little thing that comes along; dropped her keys several times, couldn’t find her cell phone, took the wrong street exit and had to turn around, late for her appointment, and the doctor being delayed due to an emergency at the hospital.
 
          She finds herself waiting in the doctor’s office for over two hours, and then finds out that they must reschedule it. She loses it and yells at the receptionist, letting her have every bit of her frustration of the day. The appointment is rescheduled, apologies made, and she heads home – totally without peace, and certainly without any joy. God is the farthest thing from her thoughts as she continues to stew over all the events that took place since she got up.
 
In the first scenario, we see that the woman has on her full armor – notice that she gave God the first fruit of her day! She slips into those gospel boots of peace, blankets herself in the robes of righteousness (breastplate), assured of that her salvation is real and forever (helmet), she has put on the belt of Truth (by spending time in studying the Word), and she has put the Sword of the Spirit into that belt, ready to use at any time. She has up her shield of faith, fully confident in God meeting her every need.
 
When the enemy tried to get her to ‘lose her Christianity’ (be upset, possibly swear, scream, think ugly thoughts, or act out), she was not phased one bit. In fact, the opposite took place. That sword of the Spirit prompted her to pray . . . she listened to Holy Spirit and took up intercession for people she did not even know. The manifestation of Fruit of the Spirit was love (compassion for others), peace (staying calm, knowing God was in control), self-control (she did not let things affect her attitude or her day), and patience.
 
In the second scenario, there is quite a contrast, isn’t there? This woman was fit to be tied; giving absolutely no time to spend with the Lord before she got into her day. Without that, she went out into battle completely unprotected, so that when the enemy came at her, he succeeded in shaking her faith. As a result, she was not manifesting any components of the Fruit of the Spirit. So much so, in fact, that no one would be able to look at her and think, “Oh, she must be a Christian.” (Think about it!)
 
Dear ones, it takes more than just sitting through one sermon on Sunday morning to keep you going throughout the week. We need to make it a top priority to spend quality time with our Lord – giving Him the FIRST part of our day. He puts you first! He desires to have close fellowship with you during every day of your life. He has given us everything we need to face anything that could possibly come along. If we are faithful to spend time with Him first, allowing Him to help you put on all of the armor, you will walk as a true Christian, someone who reflects Jesus to the world. The Fruit of the Spirit naturally manifests Itself for all to taste and see that the Lord is, indeed, GOOD.
 
 
 
~      *    ~    *    ~  Thank you for sharing in this study of Armor and Fruit. I pray it was enlightening to your heart, and that by application, it will manifest much fruit in your own life.    ~    *    ~    *    ~