Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another. Gal 5:24-26
Upon conversion, we are enabled by the Holy Spirit to bear spiritual fruit. In our ongoing study in Galatians, we have seen that by the power of God’s grace, we can walk by the Spirit while killing off our fleshly desires. In contrast to God’s grace, the Law cannot help us bear spiritual fruit. The Law only leads to woe because its sole purpose is to convict us of sin so that we may turn to Christ. When it comes to working out our salvation and cultivating spiritual fruit in our lives, everything depends on our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Illumined by this blessed truth, we need to ask ourselves – how do we cultivate the fruit of the Spirit in our lives?
You must know how close you are to Christ to cultivate spiritual fruit. How do you view your relationship to Jesus? Only those who belong to Christ Jesus have the desire to crucify the flesh. All of us have gone astray- before our conversion, we had no interest or love for Christ. We were blinded and led by Satan with the rest of the unbelieving world. (1Jn 2:16) But when we received Christ as our Savior, God gave us new lives- He has transformed us to hate every kind of impurity and captivated us with the love of Jesus.
Do you belong to Christ Jesus? Those who belong to Jesus have surrendered their will to receive Christ on His terms. They hate and deny the self to follow Jesus as their Lord and Savior, desiring to love Him by obeying His word. (Matt 6:24, Acts 20:19, 24) Jesus’ disciples abide in Him, for apart from Christ, they can do nothing. By remaining in the gospel, their relationship with Christ deepen, and they are steadfastly engaged in searching out and crucifying the flesh. Crucifixion was an agonizing and drawn-out way of execution int he Roman times, and crucifying the flesh is just as painful and slow. But we know that as we starve the flesh of its desires through godly habits, we weaken its influence in our lives. We must recognize Satan’s schemes, His temptations, and our own weaknesses in our lives in order to stand firm and resist him. (James 4:7) As we remove all that causes us to be tempted, we must renew our minds and remain in God’s Word continually. (Ps 101:2-3, Job 31:1) When temptations come our way, we are able to flee and depend fully on Christ through prayer. This is the work of cultivating spiritual fruit- removing the power of sin as we surrender to our Lord Jesus Christ.
Having received a new way of life, we are able to cultivate spiritual fruit. Is your life supported by the Holy Spirit? What makes this life worth living? If you live by the Spirit, with His power working in you, you will walk by the Spirit as an outward expression of your heart’s condition. We live by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Zech 4:6) We have been regenerated by Him- we were spiritually dead and depraved, but He has made us alive in Him. The Holy Spirit’s presence in our heart is the only thing that sets Christians apart from the rest of the world, but it is everything that we need. We have the Holy Spirit, and He sanctifies us through His work in us, producing saving faith in us despite our sinful disposition. (Jn 3:8)
Living by the Spirit is living by faith. We were dead, but the life of Christ is now in us. We were blind, but now it is by faith we see and believe. Faith gives us the desire and resilience to fight against sin and unbelief, and it is by faith we are able to go out to wherever God calls us, fully resting upon His Word. Faith assures us of God’s steadfast love for each of His children, and faith is an expression of our love for God. (Dan 3:17-18)
To live by the Spirit is also to live by the Word. A mark of true obedience to Christ is having a hunger and thirst for the Word of God. Furthermore, all Scripture is inspired by the Holy Spirit(2 Tim 3:16), and it is now the only instrument the Holy Spirit uses to speak to us. Therefore, meditating on God’s Word is essential to living by the Spirit. Mediation leads us to have the mind of God, a life saturated with Scripture, and a heart enlivened by His living and active Word.
As we live by the Holy Spirit, may we walk by Him, bearing the fruit of love for Christ and love for man. The fruit of the Spirit is a beautiful gift from God for His children- the world is constantly striving to have love, joy, and peace, but God has freely given it to us in Jesus Christ. Let us, therefore, with thankful hearts, live by the Spirit and walk by Him, testifying to others this free gift of eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
BIBLE COMMUNITY CHURCH 
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