Fruit

Had a great service today, and I have a group that I minister to and so many battle depression and negativity and with that (which is the root) so many have lost the joy of the Lord. I think over the years they have lost the joy of salvation and forget just what it means to be saved. If I have nothing else I am happy with the fact that I am redeemed. Everything else is just icing on the cake. But God never just leaves it there, he gives abundantly. Lessons are never easy but they can be EASIER if I attack them as such and just realize that my hope and joy are in Him alone. God wants us to bear fruit, but what is fruit and how do we produce it when we are so spiritually empty. Well first of all there has been a serious misunderstanding of just what the fruit is that we are to produce. Many people and ministers have equated fruit to be a physical thing that can be measured and looked at and admired (ie. church building, big group, etc...). Fruit is actually listed in Galatians 5:22 as love, peace, joy, longsuffering, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness. When these are displayed and truly lived out through the spirit, (God knows we don't have these on our own) then people are naturally attracted to you and them. We can try to compete with the world all we want to woo people to God, but these things the world just cannot offer no matter how much it thinks it can. But the Lord gives them freely. We have a tendency to try and overcomplicate the gifts of God and the salvation of God. He says "my yoke is easy, my burden is light" Matt. 11:30. Living for Him should be that way. It's when we try and please others and our own selfish desires that we muck it up and complicate it. Freedom is so...well, FREEING, for lack of a better term. The Lord bless you.