Fruit Basket

Fruit Basket

Have you ever heard the saying "send em' a fruit basket"? It was a phrase used when someone has done you wrong in some way. It is supposed to be used as a peace offering. A way to right the wrong. However, It usually gets said jokingly to get back at someone. But isn't it so ironic that the word used is FRUIT?!

Galatians 5:16 says:
Walk and live (habitually)(form a habit of it) in the Holy Spirit (responsive to and controlled and guided by the Spirit) then you will certainly not gratify the cravings and desires of the flesh.

Notice here in parentheses it says we are to be controlled and guided by the Holy Spirit in order to bear fruit in our lives. When we walk by the flesh, we cannot and will not be led by the Spirit of God. This is dangerous territory. How can we know if we are being led by the Spirit and not our flesh? We will bear fruit! The kind of fruit we want to have is mentioned in Galatians 5:22. "The fruit of the Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control".

Paul also mentions the doings of the flesh in Galatians 5:19. They are easy to see and I can assure you that most people know when they are operating in them. Some examples are: envy, jealousy, strife, anger, idolatry and selfishness. Yuck!!! How can we stop this ugly fruit from continually showing up in our lives, by praying in the Holy Spirit. We can quickly move ourselves back into being controlled by our spirit and not by our flesh this way.

We have two choices here. Remember the Bible says whatever we sow to is what we will reap. If we continually sow to our flesh we will continually reap the fruits of the flesh but if we continue to sow to the spirit, we will continually reap the fruits of the spirit.

Galatians 6:8 says that sowing to the flesh will cause us to reap decay, ruin, and destruction, but sowing to the spirit will cause us to reap eternal life. This is a no-brainer to me. I am so thankful that God so graciously gave us the Holy Spirit to help us to bear fruit. Praying in the spirit builds up our inner man and helps us make the right choices. We don't have to yield to our flesh and let it rule.

Galatians 5:25 says: "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit"
The two are connected. Living in the Spirit is being guided by Him daily. So let's
start today and each day by praying in the Spirit and allowing Him to direct us to opportunities to bear fruit in others lives around us. Let's be mindful to be a blessing (a fruit bearer) to others and not a stumbling block.