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"Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 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." "Our life must come from the parent vine. It is only by personal union with Christ, by communion with Him daily, hourly, that we can bear the fruits of the Spirit." "If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; and so prove to be my disciples. " "Christ abiding in the soul exerts a transforming power, and the outward aspect bears witness to the peace and joy that reign within. We drink in the love of Christ, as the branch draws nourishment from the vine. If we are grafted in Christ, if fiber by fiber we have been united with the Living Vine, we shall give evidence of the fact by bearing rich clusters of living fruit." "Ye shall know them by their fruits. " "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control." "When we live by faith on the Son of God, the fruits of the Spirit will be seen in our life; not one will be missing. . . . The life of Christ in you produces the same fruits as in Him." "Are you in a position where you do not possess these graces? Just as soon as anyone crosses you, or offends you, does there arise in your heart a feeling of bitterness, a spirit of rebellion? If this is the spirit you have, bear in mind that you have not the spirit of Christ. It is another spirit. " "The Spirit of Christ will be revealed in all who are born of God. Strife and contention cannot arise among those who are controlled by His Spirit." '"By their fruits ye shall know them.' Either God or Satan controls the mind; and the life shows so clearly that none need mistake to which power you yield allegiance." "When we give way to impatience, we drive the Spirit of God out of the heart, and give place to the attributes of Satan." '"To whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey. ' If we indulge anger, lust, covetousness, hatred, selfishness, or any other sin, we become servants of sin. 'No man can serve two masters. ' If we serve sin, we cannot serve Christ." "Christ does not say that man will not or shall not serve two masters, but that he cannot. " Think of it this way. If I get angry with my child, where are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control? They are not there. You cannot serve two masters, when you test yourself by the fruit of the Spirit. You could do much work and think you are really a good Christian, but if in your home you are irritated and unkind to your family, something is wrong. You may not know how to submit the heart to be controlled by God, or you may not want to. "We cannot be fretful and impatient, and still be Christians, for a fretful, impatient spirit is not the Spirit of Christ." "Impatience brings the enemy of God and man into your family and drives out the angels of God. If you are abiding in Christ, and Christ in you, you cannot speak angry words." "For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth." "But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. "But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace." "You cannot indulge your own temper, and have your own way, and still remain the children of God. We shall have to struggle with our hereditary tendencies, that we may not yield to temptation, and become angry under provocation." "The man who yields to impatience is serving Satan. 'To whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey.'" "Satan takes the control of every mind that is not decidedly under the control of the Spirit of God." "Let no one deceive his own soul in this matter. If you harbor pride, self-esteem, a love for the supremacy, vainglory, unholy ambition, murmuring, discontent, bitterness, evil-speaking, lying, deception, slandering, you have not Christ abiding in your heart, and the evidence shows that you have the mind and character of Satan, not of Jesus Christ, who was meek and lowly of heart." "Pride and selfishness can find no place in the character without crowding out Him who is meek and lowly of heart." "Examine yourselves, to see whether you are holding to your faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you? - unless indeed you fail to meet the test! " "But you will say, How am I to know that Christ is in my heart? If, when you are criticised or corrected in your way, and things do not go just as you think they ought to go, - if then you let your passion arise instead of bearing the correction and being patient and kind, Christ is not abiding in the heart." "This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." "What is lying against the truth? It is claiming to believe the truth while the spirit, the words, the deportment, represent not Christ but Satan. To surmise evil, to be impatient and unforgiving, is lying against the truth, but love, patience, and long forbearance are in accordance with the principles of truth. Truth is ever pure, ever kind, breathing a heavenly fragrance un-mingled with selfishness." "Selfishness can no more live in the heart that is exercising faith in Christ than light and darkness can exist together." "God is light and in him is no darkness at all." "While pride, variance, and strife for the supremacy are cherished, the heart cannot enter into fellowship with Christ. " "Only as they were willing to be purged from sin could they enter into fellowship with Him. Only the pure in heart could abide in His presence." "Our Lord is put to shame by those who claim to serve Him, but who misrepresent His character; and multitudes are deceived, and led into false paths." "Little children, let no one deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother." "The greatest insult we can inflict upon Him, is to pretend to be His disciples while manifesting the spirit of Satan in our words, our dispositions and our actions." "Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love." "Unless you accept in your own life the principle of self-sacrificing love, which is the principle of His character, you cannot know God." "Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfulling of the law." "And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his command-ments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby we know that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked." '"O' you may say. 'I do keep the commandments.' Do you? . . . Do you carry out the principles of God's commandments in your home, in your family? Do you never manifest rudeness, unkindness, and impoliteness in the family circle? If you do manifest unkindness at your home, no matter how high your profession, you are breaking God's commandments. No matter how much you may preach the commandments to others, if you fail to manifest the love of Christ in your home life, you are a transgressor of the law." "Men and women, children and youth, are measured in the scales of heaven in accordance with that which they reveal in their home life. A Christian in the home is a Christian anywhere." "The meekness of Christ, manifested in the home, will make the inmates happy; it provokes no quarrel, gives back no angry answer, but soothes the irritated temper and diffuses a gentleness that is felt by all within its charmed circle. Wherever cherished, it makes the families of earth a part of the one great family above." "Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit." "If we have the love of Christ in our souls, it will be a natural con-sequence for us to have all the other graces: joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." "There are many who have never felt the necessity of subduing self, and overcoming wicked tempers. They cherish bitterness and wrath in their hearts, and these evil traits defile the soul. They thus deny Christ, and darken the pathway of others. None will be excused for the exhibition of uncontrollable tempers; thousands will miss of Heaven through their want of self-control." "When persons profess to be Christians, and their religion does not make them better men and better women in all the relations of life - living representatives of Christ in disposition and character - they are none of His." But many people tell me, even if we disobey our parents and do wrong, we are still their children! Yes, physically, but not spiritually! There is a big difference. "He who is united to the Lord is one spirit with him. " "A spirit contrary to the spirit of Christ would deny Him, whatever the profession. Men may deny Christ by evil speaking, by foolish talking, by words that are untruthful or unkind. They may deny Him by shunning life's burdens, by the pursuit of sinful pleasures. They may deny Him by con-forming to the world, by uncourteous behaviour, by the love of their opinions, by justifying self, by cherishing doubt, borrowing trouble, and dwelling in darkness. In all these ways they declare that Christ is not in them. " "Jesus came not to save men in their sins, but from their sins. 'Sin is the transgression of the law,' and if we fail to obey the law, we do not accept our Saviour. The only hope we have of salvation is through Christ. If His Spirit abides in the heart, sin cannot dwell there. " What must we do to keep sin out? |