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EDWARD D. ANDREWS (AS in Criminal Justice, BS in Religion, MA in Biblical Studies, and MDiv in Theology) is CEO and President of Christian Publishing House. He has authored over 100 books. Andrews is the Chief Translator of the Updated American Standard Version (UASV).
Galatians 5:22-26 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another
“Walking by the Spirit” means that we allow the Holy Spirit in our lives, allowing the Holy Spirit to influence and guide us. This means that we are governed by the Holy Spirit in our everyday activities. Galatians chapter 5 helps us to see the contrast between being under the influence of the Holy Spirit as opposed to being controlled by the flesh. – Galatians 5:17-18.
Romans 8:5, 13 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)
5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 13 for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
As the Holy Spirit works upon us, we evidence godly qualities, “the fruit of the Spirit.” (Gal. 5:22-23) Of course, this means much effort on our part. Let us illustrate this way. A farmer gets up very early to cultivate his land, which requires much effort on his part. However, the farmer realizes that there is no amount of effort that is going to bring him high-quality fruit in the end, for sunshine and water are an absolute necessity; without such powerful involvement, there will be no harvest. Like the sunshine, without the Holy Spirit, no matter how much effort we put into trying to avoid fleshly desires, there will be no success. The Holy Spirit is absolutely needed if we are going to harvest the fruit of the Spirit. Yet, what would actually be produced if there were only sunshine and water and no farmer to cultivate the land? The irony is, God makes it very clear within his word the Bible and he even credits the human effort that goes into the harvest of good fruit. (Prov. 10:4) Think about it this way, how we cultivate the soil of our hearts makes every difference in the quality and the quantity the fruit of the Holy Spirit that we are going to harvest.
In addition, if a farmer is going to have a good harvest, the crops also need water. In order to take in a bountiful harvest of the fruit of the Spirit, we need to water the fruit. In order to cultivate the fruit of the Spirit, We need the waters of truth, which can only be found in the Bible and all study tool that we use personally and in order to prepare for our Christian meetings. (Isa. 55:1) We have all likely had many opportunities to inform people that the Holy Scriptures are actually a product of the Holy Spirit. (2 Tim. 3:16) We would be living in a world of denial if we did not acknowledge the fact that Bible study tools help us to better understand the Bible itself. Bible dictionaries, Bible commentaries, and so much more can enable us to have a better understanding of what the Bible authors meant by the words that they penned.
Think about it, how many Christians can fully understand biblical Hebrew and biblical Greek in order to read the Word of God as it was originally written? Rather, almost all Christians benefit from the work of Bible translators and textual scholars. So, by extension, commentaries and Bible dictionaries or encyclopedias are no different. How many Christians have spent years listening to their pastor or minister expound on the Scriptures in their sermons each Sunday? What do we think the pastor or minister used to get his seminary degree and to prepare his sermons every Sunday? What about the professors that taught the pastors or ministers of your church, what did they study to get their degrees to become a professor? Finally, if we are going to be guided by the Holy Spirit, we must read and meditate on God’s Word daily, as well as using quality Bible study tools. – 1 Peter 1:10-12
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You make it sound so difficult to be in the spirit. It is not. One just has to ask. I have a copyrighted phrase I use that is in my book “Whisper to Me…” and it states once you ask for the spirit you can float in “The River of Love and Knowledge “. It is amazing how much information and spiritual poetry can be received while in the spirit. I have had visits and healing miracles twice from the same angel who saved my life when my relatives where told I’d be dead by dawn. Now I am 70 yrs old and write in the spirit everyday.
Randy cobleigh@ randy.cobleigh@gmail.com. feel free to contact me. I will send you a digital copy of my book.
It isn’t us that makes anything seem difficult. Your complaint isn’t with us, it is with the Bible. All we do is quote the Bible, tell the reader what God says in the original language and then give them the lexical meaning of those words, with a touch of reasoning from the Scriptures. (Ac 17:2-3) Therefore, your complaint is with God for giving you the Bible that you find to be difficult.
Funny: A person told me one time that we can be perfect, so I read them 1 John 1:8: ” If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ” They said, “you are twisting the Scriptures.” I said, “No, I am reading the Scriptures.”
I can comment on your reply but I wont give you a like.i do however appreciate your reply ..though I dont agree with your summation of my thoughts. I have no problem with the bible or its scriptures. Same as any other book. It’s fine. The only point I wanted to make is that getting to know God and his spirit is much easier that collective religious scholars want us to believe. Tragically God has been wrapped and cloaked in mumbo jumbo and technical jargon for eons..
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Yes, I would agree that some can get lost in the jargon of technical speak. However, because some take it too far we need not throw out the good exegesis because of the bad. We do not get rid of surgery because some do plastic surgery. We try to use the words that God inspired his authors to write, to get at what the author meant by those words. The Bible is clear in hundreds of places about the need for deep Bible study. Thus, if you take a look at our articles, we do not get lost in the weeds of wittiness or big words just for the sake of impressing. Our goal is to give the Scripture and highlight and original language words, to gain a deeper insight into what was meant and then reason on what we have learned. HERE look at this commentary on our site to get a sense of what I mean.
That’s okay. I appreciate you comment and actually was a good answer. I was baptized and raised catholic. Went to 8 yrs of catholic grade school. Religion, christ etc was pounded in my head daily. I dont truly think religion is bad. It’s just not for me anymore. I feel I have learned how to be in the spirit and enjoy God s love without other people that may not know more than me how to reach that place where the spirit helps me God has shown his love and mercy to me and an angel has saved my life twice when dr and hospitals said I’d be dead by dawn.
All my life a power or force has protected me.
You make it sound so difficult to be in the spirit. It is not. One just has to ask. I have a copyrighted phrase I use that is in my book “Whisper to Me…” and it states once you ask for the spirit you can float in “The River of Love and Knowledge “. It is amazing how much information and spiritual poetry can be received while in the spirit. I have had visits and healing miracles twice from the same angel who saved my life when my relatives where told I’d be dead by dawn. Now I am 70 yrs old and write in the spirit everyday.
Randy cobleigh@ randy.cobleigh@gmail.com. feel free to contact me. I will send you a digital copy of my book.
It isn’t us that makes anything seem difficult. Your complaint isn’t with us, it is with the Bible. All we do is quote the Bible, tell the reader what God says in the original language and then give them the lexical meaning of those words, with a touch of reasoning from the Scriptures. (Ac 17:2-3) Therefore, your complaint is with God for giving you the Bible that you find to be difficult.
Funny: A person told me one time that we can be perfect, so I read them 1 John 1:8: ” If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ” They said, “you are twisting the Scriptures.” I said, “No, I am reading the Scriptures.”
I can comment on your reply but I wont give you a like.i do however appreciate your reply ..though I dont agree with your summation of my thoughts. I have no problem with the bible or its scriptures. Same as any other book. It’s fine. The only point I wanted to make is that getting to know God and his spirit is much easier that collective religious scholars want us to believe. Tragically God has been wrapped and cloaked in mumbo jumbo and technical jargon for eons..
Yes, I would agree that some can get lost in the jargon of technical speak. However, because some take it too far we need not throw out the good exegesis because of the bad. We do not get rid of surgery because some do plastic surgery. We try to use the words that God inspired his authors to write, to get at what the author meant by those words. The Bible is clear in hundreds of places about the need for deep Bible study. Thus, if you take a look at our articles, we do not get lost in the weeds of wittiness or big words just for the sake of impressing. Our goal is to give the Scripture and highlight and original language words, to gain a deeper insight into what was meant and then reason on what we have learned. HERE look at this commentary on our site to get a sense of what I mean.
https://christianpublishinghouse.co/2019/03/15/the-book-of-proverbs-chapter-12-wisdom-contrasts-righteousness-and-wickedness-02/
That’s okay. I appreciate you comment and actually was a good answer. I was baptized and raised catholic. Went to 8 yrs of catholic grade school. Religion, christ etc was pounded in my head daily. I dont truly think religion is bad. It’s just not for me anymore. I feel I have learned how to be in the spirit and enjoy God s love without other people that may not know more than me how to reach that place where the spirit helps me God has shown his love and mercy to me and an angel has saved my life twice when dr and hospitals said I’d be dead by dawn.
All my life a power or force has protected me.