The Christian Letter, Volume One: Chapter 16
Have you ever gone to the grocery store and bought a big bag of delicious looking fruit, only to be disappointed? Sure, that peach looked like a peach, but it tasted more like an old softball. Of course, the lemon was extra bright, but its juice was bland. And while it has always been assumed that watermelons are watery, this one seemed a wee bit dry. Since I live in Wyoming this happens quite a bit with fruit; however, it doesn’t seem to matter where you live, or where you look, there has become a spiritual dryness all across the world. There are fields of grain, but the heads are empty; there are orchards of fruit, but their hearts have no sweetness; there is wind in the rocky land, but it does not come with rain.
A spiritual life isn’t mystical emotions, but peaceful, and nourishing, and full of the Word manifested in our actions and thoughts through the reality of the fruit of the Spirit. The message of the fruit of the Spirit, for some, is harder than obeying Torah; yet, to truly obey the Torah in heart and action, the Spirit must be fully accepted in humility. To understand this, Whom better to learn it from than the Master Gardener:
“I am the true vine, and My Father is the gardener. Every branch in Me that bears no fruit He takes away. And every branch that bears fruit He prunes, so that it bears more fruit. You are already clean because of the Word which I have spoken to you. Stay in Me, and I stay in you. As the branch is unable to bear fruit of itself, unless it stays in the vine, so neither you, unless you stay in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who stays in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit. Because without Me you are able to do naught! If anyone does not stay in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up. And they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.” (John 15:1-6).
Pruning removes diseased, dead, crossing, rubbing, or broken branches. While this gives the plant new beauty, the main reason behind pruning a plant is to rejuvenate its health and to set more fruit. Another method to setting fruit is to scar the branch at the right time and in the right place. Yahoweh is the Master Gardener who can do so with our lives, if we but accept His Pruning Spirit.
The vine needs to be able to send all of its life to the branches that are producing. We cannot afford to have non-fruit-bearing things in our lives, sapping the life out of us. Ah, but before one can prune, one must plant. No one would ever plant stickers and expect corn, or plant thorns and plan on an oak grove. Corn seeds grow corn, and acorns grow oak trees, but sin grows sin. Men and women often find themselves pulling the stickers of sin, but then leaving the sticker seeds upon the ground. They fight the effect but not the heart of the matter. They try to bridle the tongue, but ignore the heart; they try to close their stomachs, but will not shut their eyes; they try to frown at their lust, but will not smile at the beauty. This is the finery of gardening, of procuring fruit.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit.” (John 12:24). To truly accept the Vine, we must love Yahoshuah so much that we desire His Life above our former love: what we thought was ourselves.
What is it that the Gardener wants to trim out of your life, and how far back need He prune? What is holding you back from serving Him? Nothing is cleaner or sharper than His Word, so read His Word daily and become who He created you to be by letting Him prune all the dead branches away, as well as some of the ones we thought were alive. Balance brings us into harmony with the Spirit. The Gardener doesn’t want His tree all one-sided. Bible reading, prayer, fasting, and the whole spiritual life needs to be put into balance byYahoweh.
“to walk worthily of the Master, pleasing all, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of Elohim, being empowered with all power, according to the might of His esteem, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father who has made us fit to share in the inheritance of the set-apart ones in the light,” (Colossians 1:10-12).
However, without the ground of faith, the seed will not have good ground to grow upon. “And that on the good soil are those who, having heard the Word with a noble and good heart, retain it, and bear fruit with endurance.” (Luke 8:15). The Seed? “And this is the parable: The seed is the Word of Elohim.” (Luke 8:11).
“You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, for all teachings which I heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in My Name He might give you. These words I command you, so that you love one another.” (John 15:14-17). We are His friends if we do what He commanded us to do (Torah), and in this we will bear much fruit (Spirit).
The fruit of the Spirit can be clearly seen in the Good Samaritan, or when Mary washed the feet of the Messiah. Often when reading the Scriptures the fruit of the Spirit is before us, but we seldom associate the acts of obedience radiating with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustworthiness, gentleness, and self-control, as such.
If we don’t eat physical food we die physically. If we don’t eat Spiritual food by living His Word, we die spiritually. This starvation causes the worm of the flesh, that which is against Torah, while being filled with His Word causes the fruit of the Spirit, that which has no Torah against it. However, sometimes we meet people who seem to love Elohim, yet have no fruit, or they have what merely looks like fruit. Could it be that some try to get the fruit of the Spirit on their own, apart from our Father’s Laws? Our fields of grain must be the Seed of His Word; our orchards of fruit must be watered with Living Water; our earthen foundation of His Love must be the good soil of His Voice. We cannot have the fruit of the Spirit by our own spirit, for if we attempt to do this we will simply look like the fruit, but will not have the sweetness.
Many people think they need to feel something, others that they need to be able to speak a language they do not know, and some think this voice tells you to disobey your Father, but that is not what His gift of the Holy Spirit is for: “And I shall sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean—from all your filthiness and from all your idols I cleanse you. And I shall give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. And I shall take the heart of stone out of your flesh, and I shall give you a heart of flesh, and put My Spirit within you. And I shall cause you to walk in My laws and guard My right-rulings and shall do them.” (Ezekiel 36:25-27).
“For a good tree does not yield rotten fruit, nor does a rotten tree yield good fruit. For each tree is known by its own fruit. For they do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush. The good man brings forth what is good out of the good treasure of his heart, and the wicked man brings forth what is wicked out of the wicked treasure of his heart. For out of the overflow of the heart his mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:43-45).
When we squeeze an orange, we get orange juice, because that is all that can be inside of it. When someone squeezes you, metaphorically speaking: what comes out? Is it the fruit of the Spirit, or is it rottenness, or just artificial sugar? What is inside you? The Letters I am sending you will have a fraction of the whole in them. The whole is His Word, and all that He has made. While I hope these letters will help you in His Spirit, do not forsake seeking Him on your own. Study the Bible daily, pray while walking along His beach, sing to Him while watching the butterflies, or perhaps speak of Him to your grandson while you paint a picture, as my grandmother did. Seek His powerful face of judgment and grace in the Holy Spirit, and seek after Him to produce the only true fruit, the fruit of the Spirit, in you, and those around you.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustworthiness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no Torah.” (Galatians 5:22-23). The fruit of His Spirit is the sweet return of keeping His Word.
Be Blessed and be a Blessing
Shalom
-Valentine Thalken Billingsley
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Additional Scripture References:
1 Corinthians 3:6, James 3:17-18, Leviticus 19:23-25, Romans 8:9-17
