By Faith

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.

—Galatians 5:22-24 (NLT)

You can’t produce love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control in your life. Only the Holy Spirit can produce the genuine article. Only He produces fruit. When you strive to produce these things, human effort fails. You might sustain them for a while, but you will fail at some point. For Him to produce these things in your life, you must remain in Him, and allow Him to produce fruit. Surrender to the work of the Holy Spirit is necessary.

“If you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law,” Paul told the Galatians, “you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace” (Galatians 5:4, NLT). Quit striving to keep the law that will produce nothing in you. It cuts you off from Christ. Why do you turn from the grace He has lovingly bestowed, and seek to make your life your own? You don’t own you. You have been bought with the greatest love. Allow the Holy Spirit to produce the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Choose to surrender your struggle to change yourself by meeting the requirements of the law He came to fulfill.

Are you tired of not being “good enough”? Do you wish to catch the promise of His love that held nothing back? Seek full understanding of the unconditional love that took your sin to the cross. Choose to add in your life what only He can produce. Choose to live by His Spirit. “We who live by the Spirit,” Paul continued, “eagerly wait to receive by faith the righteousness God has promised to us. When we place our faith in Christ Jesus, there is no benefit in being circumcised or being uncircumcised” (Galatians 5:5-6a, NLT). Have faith. When you choose to believe that He has crucified the passions and desires of your old nature, He brings His power to your surrender. You grow to understand you can’t win His love by keeping the law. “What is important is faith expressing itself in love,” Paul concluded (Galatians 5:6b, NLT).

Do you realize that in His eyes you have been made righteous? He sees you through the eyes of grace. You can’t see it, but He knows your potential and sees the completed work which, through surrender He can bring forth fruit in your life. “You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you,” Jesus told His disciplines. “Remain in me, and I will remain in you” John 15:3, NLT). There is no law greater than this promise!

The veil has been torn by His love! By faith you are free to enter His presence—not by works less you boast of your own accomplishments, but by His grace that held nothing back!

© 2018 Lynn Lacher

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