Fruit You Do Not Have To Force

You cannot squeeze love, joy or patience out of yourself on a bad day. Good news, you were never supposed to.

Jesus said in John 7:38, "He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." Rivers flow. Nobody pumps them.

Galatians 5:22-23 lists what flows: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law." It is called the fruit of the Spirit, not the fruit of your discipline. Whose name is on it tells you who produces it.

Jesus was blunt about the alternative in John 15:5: "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." A branch does not manufacture fruit. It stays connected and fruit happens.

1 Corinthians 6:17 says, "But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit." So the fruit is in your spirit even on days your emotions are flat. Feeling low or heavy is not proof that something broke between you and God, and it is not something to hide. It means your soul has not caught the memo yet.

Your part is to yield, His part is to produce. Let the Holy Spirit release what He already put in you, and stop auditioning for something you already have.