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Galatians 5:22-26 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, (23) Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. (24) And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. (25) If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. (26) Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another. (KJV)
While some religious groups and organizations limit being fruitful to just the flesh, thinking that they have to have large families, being fruitful in the spiritual realm is what will be truly pleasing to our heavenly Father. It takes a healthy tree that is nourished on a daily basis to bring forth and bear this fruit, while anything else will leave one dried up and withering. Psalms 1:1-4 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. (2) But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. (3) And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. (4) The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. (KJV) What kind of farmer would you be if all your crops were dried up and withering away? You wouldn’t last very long before you went out of business, because somewhere along the line you got some bad counsel that obviously wasn’t of the Lord. Unless one becomes rooted and grounded in the truth, planted and nourished with living waters from the river of life, you won’t last long in the realm of the Spirit either but will dry up and wither away, eventually to be burned. There are a lot of cheap imitations out there, those that claim they are of God but actually not rooted and established in sound doctrine, but rather holding more to man’s outward interpretations of what should be words that bring spirit and life to the believer. You may not realize it at the time or even in some cases are not that concerned about it, but eventually it is going to manifest what source you have become attached to or rooted in; which is either going to be fertile or sterile ground. John 15:1-3 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. (2) Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. (3) Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. (KJV) Williams New Testament translation of John 15:1-3 1. "I am the real vine, and my Father is the cultivator. 2. He cuts away any branch on me that stops bearing fruit, and He repeatedly prunes every branch that continues to bear fruit, to make it bear more. 3. You are already pruned because of the teaching that I have given you. You know, some of that stuff you keep hanging onto or those so called godly counselors you think are bringing you life are actually pulling you down, not building you up. Rather than letting the Lord have His way, and pruning you the way He sees fit, you end up throwing a fit and are no longer fit for His kingdom. You have a choice in the matter, because one way or another something is going to get cut off, either the dead things in your life or your place in the kingdom of God and the body of Christ, so which will it be? You have been grafted into the tree of life, that being Christ the one true real vine, so as long as you continue rooted and grounded in Him you too will be the real deal as well. John 15:4-6 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. (5) I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. (6) If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. (KJV) Williams New Testament translation of John 15:4-6 4. You must remain in union with me and I will remain in union with you. Just as no branch by itself can bear fruit unless it remains united to the vine, so you cannot unless you remain in union with me. 5. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in union with me and I in union with him will bear abundant fruit, because you cannot do anything cut off from union with me. 6. If anyone does not remain in union with me, he is thrown away as a mere branch and is dried up; then it is picked up and thrown into the fire and burned up. You know, you really have to put on some spiritual blinders to think that this one and done doctrine, this once saved always saved stuff flies with our Lord. Oh there will be plenty of flies, but we all know what attracts flies don’t we? Oh you can get saved and walk with our Lord, but don’t think for one moment that you can’t walk away either; sometimes without the person even aware it happened. Without Him, without knowing who Christ the one true vine is for yourself you can do nothing, notta, zip, zilch, ain’t happening, period. Keep in mind folks, that in the end when someone is gathered and cast into the fire it is on the opposite side of heaven and not the one they should have inherited. You as a child of God are responsible for bearing the fruit of the Spirit, and not just on certain days or during certain periods of time when people say they are holy or special, but being in season, ready to give an answer to any one that would ask of the hope within you. John 15:7-8 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. (8) Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. (KJV) Williams New Testament translation of John 15:7-8 7. If you remain in union with me and my words remain in you, you may ask whatever you please and you shall have it. 8. By your continuously bearing abundant fruit and in this way proving yourselves to be real disciples of mine, my Father is glorified. Whose words really have the most influence on you today? Are they words of life that remain a part of you, or is it something you have departed from? Out of your belly, or heart, should be flowing rivers of living waters bringing life to those around you, because you have remained rooted and grounded in truth, the one true vine that you have become a partaker of. If you truly desire to honor, or worship the Father, which is what the definition of the word glorified means, then for today stay planted and firm in His word bearing much of His fruit letting Him increase as you decrease. God bless and have a prosperous day in Christ Jesus our Lord. Hebrews 5:14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. (KJV)
Full age refers to maturity, one that has grown up and has now learned to walk in the Spirit. We die daily, the outward man perishes and we no longer rely on emotions to dictate our outcome. We learn to walk by faith and not by sight, letting the light of the gospel guide our steps on a spiritual path, instead of looking for things that appeal to the flesh. Proverbs 27:20 Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied. (KJV) All of us have tried the things of this world, seeking something in the outward that we thought would satisfy our inward hunger. Try as we did, no matter how hard we looked, it was just never enough. Once you have accepted the Lord into your life, being reborn into the realm of the Spirit, you now have a new set of eyes that are able to find what is necessary to feed the inward man with the spiritual meat to sustain you. Matthew 5:6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. (KJV) Definition for filled: 5526 chortazo (khor-tad'-zo); from 5528; to fodder, i.e. (generally) to gorge (supply food in abundance): KJV-- feed, fill, satisfy. There is only one thing that will satisfy our spiritual hunger, and that is a spiritual meal. When you go to a restaurant and are hungry, you are not going for crackers and milk, you want a meal that will fill and satisfy your hunger. As you grow in the Lord and mature, just like growing up physically, you find it takes more of a strong solid diet to continue the growth. So what is it that you hunger and thirst after today? Are you looking in the right realm to satisfy the need or will you keep looking in the outward and find yourself still lacking? Psalms 34:10 The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing. (KJV) It is the younger, less mature lions that are lacking because they haven’t learned to exercise their hunting skill and senses, which is why they still hunger. The younger lions seek for prey, but in the wrong areas and end up lacking or wanting. The same holds true with many younger Christians who are seeking things that will satisfy the heart, yet they too end up looking in the wrong places. Matthew 6:31-34 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (32) For after all these things do the Gentiles seek: for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. (33) But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. (34) Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. (KJV) Think of your walk as a training camp, or should I say a retraining program. All of our life we are taught to look for things in the physical realm to satisfy our need, when in fact the Lord is pointing us in the opposite direction first. But how many of us are truly willing to trust in Him and build that confidence, knowing that if we seek Him first and look for our answer in His realm, it’s only then that He is able to respond and supply all our need? When situations arise in your life is your first thought prayer, asking God what to do, or do you run in circles chasing your tail in this realm? Like with the younger lions, they make many unsuccessful hunting attempts before they realize that unless they get it right they will die of starvation. Christians are the same way, they keep trying to do things the old way and then wonder why they don’t get new results. In order to operate in the new realm and become successful in your spiritual hunting, you need to rely on your spiritual senses in order to get the meat of the word of God. Remember the term ‘the last shall be first and the first last’? Well, the first place the world seeks after is the last place we should look. And the last place mankind would look too, is the first place we should be seeking for all our need. The just shall live by faith. It is a spiritual path that we walk now, and it takes our spiritual senses to lead and guide us on this path if we wish to endure to the end. Galatians 5:16-18 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. (17) For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. (18) But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. (KJV) Talk about complete opposites, two completely different realms, with two different outcomes. Call it a tug of war; like Paul wrote, he had to die daily, keeping his body in subjection to the Spirit. Otherwise you will end up misled and walking a dead end path of darkness. What you thought was leading you closer to the Lord was actually misleading you further and further from the truth. Many begin in the Spirit with good intentions, but end up trying to perfect their walk in the flesh and end up dying from malnutrition. Proverbs 4:18-19 But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. (19) The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble. (KJV) Are you able to see God’s plan of salvation for yourself? Do you know how to walk in the Spirit, and how to seek first the things of God that will fill the heart and illuminate the path of life? The more you stay on this path, the clearer it becomes. The more one walks in the Spirit, the more they continue to exercise their spiritual senses so that they can grow strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Like with reading a book, the more you look into it, the more of an understanding you will have as to its contents and the author. The more you look into God’s realm, the more He is willing to show you His insights. God bless and have a prosperous day in Christ Jesus our Lord. Hebrews 5:11-14 Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. (12) For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. (13) For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. (14) But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. (KJV)
Did you ever stop and think about your senses, and what their purpose is? We have these senses that allow us to see, hear, touch, smell, and taste things in the outward realm, but did you know that you also have spiritual sensibility that gives you the same opportunity for the inward? As we see in verse 11 the writer refers to His spiritual insight, in the fact that the people had become dull in their spiritual hearing, and rather than teaching and leading by example, they needed to start over again. A child can only last so long on milk and then they need to be weaned and given solid food if they are going to grow. The same pattern holds true spiritually. If you are going to mature in the Lord then you need to taste the things of God that will provide the growth or you will end up malnourished. Verse 14 shows us that we need to exercise our senses so that we don’t let any unhealthy doctrine into our heart. As your physical body requires exercise to maintain good health, the same holds true with our spirit man, and being the fact that it is our inward man that will live on forever, would you not think it is time to attend to these senses, or should I say doesn’t that make sense? Psalms 34:8-9 O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him. (9) O fear the LORD, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him. (KJV) You wouldn’t eat rotten food; and watching someone eat out of a garbage can is not to pleasant either, so why would you do that spiritually? Have you ever been told to eat your carrots so that you could see better? Well the Lord has a diet for the heart which requires a daily dose of healthy doctrine, as well as an exercise regimen for those that want to grow strong and healthy. So take the taste test and make sure it is of the Lord, and then partake of His meat which will keep you strong and confident in the realm of the Spirit. Psalms 119:103-104 How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth! (104) Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way. (KJV) Once you have tasted the things of God, you find that it is the only thing that will satisfy the heart and fill the void in our lives with an abundance of peace. Don’t be fooled by drive through fast food doctrines of man, which look good to the outward, but are unhealthy to the inward. Luke 14:16-24 Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: (17) And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready. (18) And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. (19) And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. (20) And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. (21) So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. (22) And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. (23) And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. (24) For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper. (KJV) What are your priorities? What excuse have you come up with for not partaking of the spiritual meal the Lord has prepared for all His people? Ever wonder why people become weak, sickly, and end up on their backside? In the physical realm the first thing a doctor will tell you is diet and exercise. In the spiritual realm the same holds true. How much of the meat of God’s word are you partaking of, as well as working your spiritual body to keep it healthy on a daily basis? Sometimes things that are healthy for us may not always taste as good as things that are not, and that is where it is up to each of us to discern and base our decisions on what is best for us and not on what is the most appealing. If you were to give a child a choice the menu would most likely consist of candy, ice cream, cakes and other colorful items that although they are the most appealing, would provide the least nourishment. As one matures though, they realize they will need to change their diet if they plan on living a healthy lifestyle. Remember the spirit is willing, it’s the flesh that is weak and would rather have what it wants and not what it needs. John 8:52 Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death. (KJV) The Lord ran into opposition Himself; letting the people know that if they kept His saying and relied on His word to feed their spirit man, then they would never have to taste of death, which means separation from Him. Of course the problem arose with the people here, and still arises with many today because they looked at this from the outward sense and not the inward, which is why the confusion set in. Hebrews 2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. (KJV) Our Lord paid the price for us and took upon Himself the sins of the whole world. Because the wages of sin is death, He spent three days and three nights in the belly of the earth separated from the Father so that we could be reconciled to Him and not have to spend an eternity tasting death ourselves. Mark 16:17-18 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; (18) They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. (KJV) So even if you happen to drink of something unhealthy and it just doesn’t taste right spiritually, you will be able to filter it out and not let it harm you because you have kept your spiritual immune system healthy by exercising your spiritual senses, discerning between what is good and what is evil. Today, exercise your spiritual senses so that you operate in the sensibility which leads to life. God bless and have a prosperous day in Christ Jesus our Lord. Psalm 34:8 O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him. (KJV)
Thayer’s definition for ‘taste’: to taste
Psalm 119:103 How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth! (KJV) Song of Solomon 2:3 As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. (KJV) Proverbs 16:24 Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones. (KJV) Proverbs 30:5 Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. (KJV) The wisdom from above is first pure, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits; and oh how sweet it is to the taste when you partake of it. The pure river of the water of life is as clear as crystal and proceeds out of the throne of God and of the Lamb; and oh how sweet it is to the taste when you partake of it. Can you taste it? Can you see that it is good? Proverbs 4:20-22 My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. (21) Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. (22) For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh. (KJV) My beloved brethren, taste and see for yourself that the Lord is good; trust in Him with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding; and may you prosper and be in health even as your soul prospers this day by partaking of, experiencing, and perceiving all that is good in you, which is Christ the sweetsmelling savour of God. Ephesians 5:2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour. (KJV) 2 Corinthians 2:15 For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ… God bless and have a prosperous day in Christ Jesus our Lord. |
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