Fruit of the Spirit
Living by the Spirit produces the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These lessons from the Learn It, Live It Bible Studies are to help you learn about each of these qualities and how you can live by God’s Spirit and grow in fruit. Find a quiet place with a peaceful view or play some soothing music to get you ready to grow in your faith. Journal about or discuss the lessons with a friend or two. Go back to the lesson and take a second look to see if you discover something new or have a change of perspective. It is your journey to take, and the path always leads to a closer relationship with God.
Fruit of the Spirit-Week 7
Galatians 5:22-23 – Peace Cont.
A quotation from Harry Emerson Fosdick, in his book Living Under Tension, is worth considering regarding peace. It was written in 1941 for context.
“Here in this immediate, factual world we see such catastrophe and brutality as will make our generation rememberable for its horror many a century from now. And yet we inhabit a spiritual world as well, with intellectual insights, with ideals of beauty and loveliness, with faiths and friendships, and with aspirations that lay hold on God and goodness. If we could only live all in one world or all in the other, we might have peace, but what tension is involved in having to live in both!”
Consider the horrors and the stresses of the age Fosdick was living in. How do those stresses compare with today’s stresses?
Do you experience the tension Fosdick describes when he writes of living both in the world and in the kingdom of God? How does that tension affect our sense of peace? How can we have peace in these times?
Isaiah 9:2-7, 11:6-9, 32:17-20; Micah 4:2-4; Revelation 21:1-4
What promises do these passages hold for our world? How would it affect a person’s sense of peace if they truly believed this promise?
Luke 2:14; Ephesians 2:14-18
How has God provided peace for us? Describe the peace that comes from God. People worldwide long for peace between nations and a sense of personal, internal peace. Why do you think people long so for peace? Why do you think peace is so elusive in our world? In what ways is one’s personal peace dependent on or independent of external surroundings?
1 Peter 3:8-12
How can we seek peace and pursue it? What is the connection between peace and unity? What is the difference between true peace and “peace at any cost”?
James 3:13-18
Describe what a wise and peaceful person’s life is like. Contrast that with what a “worldly-wise” person is like. How does the Holy Spirit grow the fruit of peace in our lives? What is our role in that process? You may want to look at Philippians 4:6-7.
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