Many young believers in Christ, when they first come to the Lord, are passionate about spreading the Good News to everyone they can. Oftentimes, however, their efforts to convert their family and friends are met with frustration, discouragement, and failure.
This is because the best witness to God's transforming power is not simply passion about God, but rather a transformed heart full of the fruits of the Spirit. Without love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self control, passionate believers do not bear witness with their characters that God really does change lives.
Other people focus on the power of God to heal, perform miracles, give prophecy and inspire the gift of speaking in tongues. However, again, without the fruit of the Spirit, the spiritual gifts alone do not attract people to God and do not have the power to accurately represent Jesus to others.
Ironically, it is the nine fruits of the Spirit which provide the most powerful witness to God's power and reality- not miracles. God is seeking believers who will lay down their lives in order to allow God to produce spiritual fruit in their hearts over time, through the process of maturing in Christ. Everyone who ignores this call to become mature in Christ is in danger of becoming disillusioned, either with God's process, which requires suffering, or with God himself, as they see their efforts to transform their sphere of influence repeatedly fail or fall short.
This is because the best witness to God's transforming power is not simply passion about God, but rather a transformed heart full of the fruits of the Spirit. Without love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self control, passionate believers do not bear witness with their characters that God really does change lives.
Other people focus on the power of God to heal, perform miracles, give prophecy and inspire the gift of speaking in tongues. However, again, without the fruit of the Spirit, the spiritual gifts alone do not attract people to God and do not have the power to accurately represent Jesus to others.
Ironically, it is the nine fruits of the Spirit which provide the most powerful witness to God's power and reality- not miracles. God is seeking believers who will lay down their lives in order to allow God to produce spiritual fruit in their hearts over time, through the process of maturing in Christ. Everyone who ignores this call to become mature in Christ is in danger of becoming disillusioned, either with God's process, which requires suffering, or with God himself, as they see their efforts to transform their sphere of influence repeatedly fail or fall short.
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