THE SPIRIT versus THE FLESH--4

--''LONGSUFFERING,GENTLENESS,GOODNESS''--''THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT IS LONGSUFFERING.'' And you are lacking in it/ You are quick-tempered and easily provoked/ What are you doing/ You are successfully checkmating the Spirit's aim to develop Christ-likeness in you. Consider your Lord, ''Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not'' [I PETER 2;23]. Hear your Lord proclaiming HIMSELF; ''The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth'' [Exodus 34;6]. The Holy Spirit has taken up residence in you to make you like Him,like Himself. ''But I get so impatient,'' or''Ihad such an exasperating experience and lost my patience'' says one. LOST MY PATIENCE.... Friend, the best of us have very little patience. But WHO gets impatient/ You wouldn't accuse The Holy Spirit of being impatient. No, it's YOU. There is just one remedy--only one. Confessing that you, left to yourself, will always fail. Don't try to be patient;then you might be at times. Live on God's Side, availing yourself of HIS STRENGTHENING. LISTEN.... ''Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power''--one might think he was being equipped for some great undertaking, but no--''unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness'' [COLOSSIANS 1;11]. A double fruitage of the Spirit is ours; His patience, and His joy along with whatever suffering we are called to endure. ''THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT IS GENTLENESS [kindness].'' Why is there so much unkindness, even among believers/ There is only one explanation. We brush aside the Spirit to indulge in the self-life. We get back on Our Side where the flesh holds sway. ''Love suffers long, and is kind'' [I CORINTHIANS 13;4]. Kindness follows with longsuffering. iN OUR CARE NOT ''TO GRIEVE THE sPIRIT'' WE PUT AWAY THE HARSH THINGS, SUCH AS BITTERNESS, ANGER, AND MALICE, AND MAKE ROOM FOR KINDNESS; ''AND BE YE KIND ONE TO ANOTHER, TENDERHEARTED'' [EPHESIANS 4;;30-32]. ''THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT IS GOODNESS.'' Where shall we go for goodness/ Not to ourselves; ''In me, that is, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing'' [ROMANS 7;18]. How gracious of God to find a way to fit Himself into our lives, that through a vital proocess of appropriation His goodness becomes ours. This is the woork of the Spirit, and is the blessed result of walking in the Spirit. END