Elizabeth George - A Womans Walk with God: Growing in the Fruit of the Spirit

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS

EUGENE, OREGON

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture verses are taken from the New American Standard Bible, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

Scripture verses marked KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Bible, The New Scofield Reference Bible, Oxford University Press, Inc., 1967.

Scripture verses marked PHILLIPS are taken from J.B. Phillips: The New Testament in Modern English, Revised Edition. J.B. Phillips 1958, 1960, 1972. Used by permission of Macmillan Publishing Company.

Cover design by Dugan Design Group, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Cover photos Dugan Design Group; iStockphoto/wwing

A WOMANS WALK WITH GOD

Copyright 2000 by Harvest House Publishers

Eugene, Oregon 97402

www.harvesthousepublishers.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

George, Elizabeth, 1944

[Gods garden of grace]

A womans walk with God / Elizabeth George

p. cm.

Originally published: Gods garden of grace. Eugene, Or.: Harvest House Publishers, 1996.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-0-7369-5091-6 (pbk.)

ISBN 978-0-7369-5092-3 (eBook)

1. Christian womenReligious life. I. Title

BV4527.G459 2000

All rights reserved. No part of this electronic publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any otherwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The authorized purchaser has been granted a nontransferable, nonexclusive, and noncommercial right to access and view this electronic publication, and purchaser agrees to do so only in accordance with the terms of use under which it was purchased or transmitted. Participation in or encouragement of piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of authors and publishers rights is strictly prohibited.

For my parents Henry and Ruth White

whose home has always been a rich garden of virtues.

Contents

S everal years ago when I spoke at a womens retreat in Bellingham, Washington, I stayed overnight in the home of a warm and gracious couple. After parking the car in the garage behind their house, we walked through their backyard garden and right past an exquisite apple tree. Being from Southern California where all we know is orange trees, I commented on how beautiful the tree was. With that, my hostess Jennifer began telling me the story of their apple tree.

Since moving into their home, Jennifers husband, Tom, has tended this magnificent tree. Wanting to enjoy its Golden Russet apples, Tom has worked hard to improve the trees production. After doing some research, he even grafted on some branches from their older Gravenstein apple tree as well as several new shoots from a Spartan apple tree. Through the years, Tom has nurtured, fertilized, watered, pruned, trained, sprayed, and protected this tree, and his efforts have paid off as hes seen the tree improve over time.

And that trees yield is quite incredible. Tom has to prop up the branches to keep them from breaking when theyre loaded with apples! Then, when the fruit is ripe, its Jennifers turn. She takes the trees three kinds of apples and cooks, cans, mashes, sauces, dries, stews, slices, dices, and freezes them. Anything you can do with apples, she does! In fact, for dessert the evening I was there, Jennifer served apple crisp, and when I left the next morning she handed me a plastic bag full of dried apples to eat on the plane.

As I think of this couples apple tree, I cant help but wonder about the fruit of our lives as Christian women. Should you and I as women of God pay any less attention to our own fruitfulness, in our case the spiritual kind, than Jennifer and Tom do to their apple tree? Shouldnt we be actively cultivating the fruit of the Spirit in our lives in order to reflect the glory of God and the beauty of Christ? But what exactly can you and I do to grow these spiritual fruit? What practical steps can we take toward becoming more like Christ as we walk alongside Him day by day?

Understanding the Fruit of the Spirit

Well, my friend, just as Tom studied to learn more about his apple tree and the fruit it bears, you and I need to study Gods Word so we can better understand the fruit of the Holy Spirit and how it grows. Throughout the Bible, the word fruit refers to evidence of what is within. If whats inside a person is good, then the fruit of that persons life will be good. But if whats inside is rotten, the fruit of that persons life will be bad. Any person who has received Jesus as Savior and Lord and has Christ living within will bear good fruitthe fruit of righteousness (Philippians 1:11)as God shines forth in his or her life.

In Galatians 5:22-23, the apostle Paul lists these gracious habits: The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, [and] self-control. Im sure that, like me, youve undoubtedly longed for these noble traits to be characteristic of your lifebut how can we make that happen? Perhaps if I just try harder we may find ourselves thinking. But Jesus teaches and models that such individual, do-it-yourself effort isnt the answer. Instead, its exciting (and comforting!) to realize that the fruit of the Spirit can be produced in our lives in the same way that it was produced in Jesus life! We will enjoy a harvest of spirituality when we yield to God and allow His Spirit to work in us as we walk through life.

As you and I walk together through Gods list of the fruit He deserves in our life, well look not only at their beauty and bounty but also at each individual fruit. But we must never forget that all nine fruit stand together: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control make up our walk with God. They are like a string of Christmas lightsthere is one string with many lights that, when plugged into the electrical socket, all light up at once. However, if one bulb goes out, the entire string goes out. Thats how Gods fruit is borne in our lives. No one of them can be missing, and all must be evident to be Gods fruit.

We also need to remember that because these fruit act as one, they are each borne in our lives in the same way. They are like a watch, which contains many parts. A watch can be taken apart for cleaning and repair, but each piece must be in place for the watch to run. In this book, you and I will carefully take apart each fruit of the Spirit, and then well see how they all work together to present a whole.

And as a whole, these characteristics are all produced in the same way. Everything that is said of one characteristic is true of the other eight. They are one and the same fruit, interwoven and related to one another, produced as we look to God.

Walking by the Spirit and cultivating the fruit of the Spirit is what this book is all about. You and I can enjoy a closer walk with God and bear much fruit as we surrender our lives to Him. As we examine each fruit of the Spirit, well also be looking at Jesus life to see its expression in His life. As we follow the real-life example of Gods Son, and walk in obedience, we will indeed bear fruit that glorifies our Creator and Lord.

Understanding the Problems

Before we begin learning about our walk with God, we would do well to acknowledge a couple of stumbling stones well encounter along the path. First, legalism is a problem for us Christians today just as it was for believers in Pauls day. Legalism is the careful keeping of a set of rules which exceeds what is written in Scripture (1 Corinthians 4:6). In fact, Paul wrote to the Galatians because some false teachers (called Judaizers) were teaching that, despite their faith in Christ, they must follow the Old Testament laws. This teaching ran counter to all that Jesus taught and to the fundamental truth that people come to God by faith alone. It also fostered an ugly form of legalism and religion based strictly on works. So Paul called believers to allow the Spirit of God to fulfill the Law for and through them. If they would only walk by the Spirit (Galatians 5:16,25), they would be abiding by the Law in a natural and beautiful way.