Kingdom Principle: The Spirit of God flows from the “root” to the “fruit” by means of “gifts”.

To be a giving tree, we must: tend to the roots, live into the gifts and give the fruit away.

Unfortunately, most Christians tend to the fruit, give the roots away (which isn’t ours to give), and wonder why we are not living in to the gifts.

When the roots are tended to and nourished the tree shall not be shaken. (Hebrews 12:28) However, just because the roots are set, does not mean fruit will be produced. Since God is doing the “work” when it comes the roots, it is our “job” to respond to this work, and focus our efforts elsewhere.  When we place our focus on the fruit, we are hijacking the process of our development. The fruit will be a by-product of a flourishing tree.  This flourishing is marked by the flow of that which the roots produce having a way to become expressed as fruit, this flow and movement is established by the Gifts of the Spirit. Therefore, our focus is to be the body of Christ living into the gifts of the Spirit. Most Christians strive for the Fruit of the Spirit while being complacent or even avoiding of the Gifts of the Spirit. Below we will address the roots, you can read this post about the gifts, and a couple of quick points on the fruit are:

1. God is love. God is Spirit. Love is the fruit of God’s Spirit fully flowing through us and love is expressed in our joy, peace, patience….
2. Believers either have all of the Spirit in the roots, or they have none…. If you lack fruit, it is not a lack of the Spirit. It can be said that it is not a that you don’t have all the Spirit, rather it is that the Spirit does not have all of you.
3. The fruit is expressed in our whole being – our body, soul and spirit. The 9 expressions of fruit can be seen distinctly as they correspond to each aspect of our life. The spirit expresses love, joy and peace, the soul expresses patience, kindness, goodness, and the body expresses faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

The roots of the Spirit grow out of the deposit or seed of the Spirit. This deposit is a work of God as an act of Grace. The quality of the soil (our hearts), the environment and the nourishment the seed all impact the health of the roots. (Matt 13:1-23) Meaning – we can and must take care of the roots of the Spirit.  Here are the roots:

• John 16:8, 1 Thess 1:5 –               Conviction of Ways (Sin, Righteousness & Judgments)
• Romans 8:26, 2 Cor. 1:5,12–       Comfort in Weakness
• John 14:26, 16:13 –                       Counsel to Truth
• Luke 12:12,1 Cor. 2:13 –               Clarity of Speech
• 1:13-14, 2 Cor. 1:21-22 –               Commitment to Future
• Philippians 3:3, 2 Tim 1:13-14 – Contentment of Heart
• Galatians 5:25-26, Eph 4:1-3 –   Confidence in Humility

To focus on the roots, we must give energy to the soil of our hearts through:

• Exposure to the Son – Spending time in relationship with Jesus.
• The right nutrients –  Feeding your heart the truth of the Scriptures and life giving worship.
• The right environment – Fellowship with people of encouragement and edification.

The link between the Roots and the Fruit of the Spirit is created by the expression of the Gifts of the Spirit in our lives. Where we have the roots, but no expression of Gifts, we are required to wear the mask control verses expressing self-control as an expression of the Spirit. This mask is what often produces the hypocritical label from non-believers when they look beneath the surface of our lives.

What does all this have to do with the Scriptures this week:

1. Elisha tended to the roots of the Spirit learning from Elijah, which gave him a hunger for the spiritual gifts.
2. In the Psalm we see the work of God, and leading to deposit the roots.
3. In Galatians we learn the expression of the fruit of the Spirit, which is contrasted with being a slave to the law. We must move in Freedom to express such fruit. This freedom is a work of the Spirit – which leads us back the roots and the gifts.
4. In Luke we see the impact of our choices and our investments. Fruit of the Spirit is not a given in our lives, just because we know Jesus. Our Faith will be the measure by which we live into the gifts, which will increase the flow of the fruit.

Anything that leads to good other than following Jesus is a burden and a yoke of slavery, this is why His burden is easy and His yoke is light (Matt 11:29-30)