Fruit of the Spirit: Living well!

Welcome back! Thanks for visiting my blog today! We continue the conversation about scriptures that detail helpful attributes God desires us to have. One of the most important is stated in Galatians 5:22-23 which details the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

As they are a fruit of the Spirit how can they be gained? Last week we learned that in general there are three roles in the Christian’s relationship with the Spirit. These roles can be used to gain the attributes of the fruit of the Spirit as well as other godly characteristics that can improve our lives. Let’s apply these three principles in regard to the fruit of the Spirit.

Non-variable actions of the Spirit:

 A Christian should first realize they possess the Holy Spirit permanently: He dwells inside them with all of His available power (Ephesians 1:13-14; 2 Corinthians 1:22; 5:5); and the Spirit is our seal (guarantee) of salvation and cannot be removed (Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:30).

Variable actions of Christians:

 It is only the believer themselves who can limit the action of the Spirit in their lives. Therefore we are told to “walk” (i.e., lifestyle) in the Spirit and become mature in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16; Ephesians 5:18). We do this by being obedient and seeking the attributes of God through scripture.

Variable actions of the Spirit:

If allowed, the Spirit through the word of God can empower our lives, put to death the deeds of the flesh, and lead and comfort us (Romans 8:13-16), changes us (2 Corinthians 3:18) and helps produce in us the 9 fruits of the Spirit. Not only may these characteristics contribute potentially to better wellbeing personally, but their presence is a measure of our maturity as a believer.

 

Other verses also speak about wonderful attributes the Christian may acquire from the Spirit (Romans 15:13; Romans 8:6; 2 Timothy 1:7; Romans 14:17; Ephesians 5:9).

 

Read more about the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives – 

https://teleiosresearch.com/holy-spirit-power-source-for-the-christian-life/

That’s all for now. Thank you for joining me. Next week we will discuss how a Christian, having gained better wellbeing themselves, can also enhance the wellbeing of their family, friends and colleagues. See you next week!

William C. Stewart, MD

For questions or to view more of our research…

Email - info@teleiosresearch.com 

Website - http://teleiosresearch.com/

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/TeleiosResearch

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Disclaimer - This blog and its content are provided only as information and are intended for visitors 18 and older. No content on the website should be taken as advice or recommendation to any personal or institutional situation. The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily either shared or endorsed by Teleios. Both the blog and the contents are subject to change at any time without notice. Although I endeavor to ensure that the blog and the content are current and accurate, it may contain errors. I do not represent that the blog or the content is current, accurate or complete, or appropriate for your specific requirements. I do not accept any liability from any person for the blog, the content or any other information (or the use of such information) I provide. I do not have a seminary degree, but I have trained myself in the scriptures to teach and provide this information. For any specific question, I suggest you contact experts in that field and or do your own research into the scriptures.

The Holy Spirit and Wellbeing!

Welcome back! Thanks for visiting my blog today! We are exploring together what the Bible says about wellbeing. Otherwise, how can you live a more satisfied, fulfilling life?  

We recently finished our series on five scriptural tools to maturity: praise, prayer, fellowship, outreach and receiving teaching to cultivate the results of biblically based wellbeing in our lives. We discussed four of these results: forgiveness, hope, empathy and gratitude. An important verse with additional results of biblical living is Galatians 5:22-23 which denotes the ‘fruit of the Spirit’: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. What role does the Holy Spirit play?

This is an important issue to understand how the Spirit works in conjunction with the tools to maturity to produce good results in our lives. Consider that the five tools represent the motor for maturity. The Spirit acts as the gasoline, enriching us with power to drive the engine. Both must be present and work in conjunction to each other to create movement.

The Spirit is often misunderstood, and Christians are often unclear how it works in their lives in a biblically based way. We can summarize the Christian's relationship to the Spirit in three basic ways:

• Non-variable actions of the Spirit: These include: convicting the world of sin (John 16:9), regeneration to life of new believers (Titus 3:5), indwelling believers from the time of salvation onwards (Ephesians 1:13-14) and praying for believers (Romans 8:26).
• Variable actions of Christians: As believers we can influence our relationship with the Spirit and so we are told not to quench or grieve the Spirit (I Thessalonians 5:19 and Ephesians 4:30, respectively) but to walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16) and be filled (mature) in the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18).
• Variable actions of the Spirit: If the Christian, being indwelt by the Spirit, allows Him to act then the will teach us (I John 2:20,27; John 16:13), put to death the deeds of the flesh, lead us based on the word of God, comfort us that we are His sons and daughters (Romans 8:13-16) and act to empower our lives through the word of God (Ephesians 6:17).

It is impossible to overestimate importance of the Spirit in our lives. He has given us new life through our faith in Christ and lives in us permanently, making available the full power of God for us based on his Word to mature us providing the fruit of the Spirit and the enhanced wellbeing of our lives. Indeed, it is the Spirit that fuels the engine of our growth as an obedient Christian to God’s Word.

Read more about the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives – 

https://teleiosresearch.com/holy-spirit-power-source-for-the-christian-life/

I hope you come back next Wednesday as we continue this interesting series about the fruits of the Spirit!

William C. Stewart, MD

For questions or to view more of our research…

Email - info@teleiosresearch.com 

Website - http://teleiosresearch.com/

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/TeleiosResearch

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/TeleiosResearch 

Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCh6wIbPgxeP0YvypwAn5-9Q

Disclaimer - This blog and its content are provided only as information and are intended for visitors 18 and older. No content on the website should be taken as advice or recommendation to any personal or institutional situation. The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily either shared or endorsed by Teleios. Both the blog and the contents are subject to change at any time without notice. Although I endeavor to ensure that the blog and the content are current and accurate, it may contain errors. I do not represent that the blog or the content is current, accurate or complete, or appropriate for your specific requirements. I do not accept any liability from any person for the blog, the content or any other information (or the use of such information) I provide. I do not have a seminary degree, but I have trained myself in the scriptures to teach and provide this information. For any specific question, I suggest you contact experts in that field and or do your own research into the scriptures.

Good characteristics to enhance wellbeing

 

Welcome back! Thanks for visiting my blog today!

We are exploring together what the Bible says about wellbeing. Otherwise, how can you live a more satisfied, fulfilling life? Recently we have been discussing the 5 scriptural tools to maturity (Acts 2:42,47) as a means to build robust Biblically based wellbeing into our lives! Today, with these tools in hand we discuss the results of the process!

The fruits of maturing in Christ are multiple and are mentioned throughout the New Testament. Let's begin by focusing on four Bible-based characteristics shown beneficial for wellbeing in the medical literature (forgiveness, gratitude, hope and empathy). To accomplish our goal, we reviewed clinical studies covering these four characteristics in patients from 1966 to present. We included 63 articles in the review. 

Read the full date here https://teleiosresearch.com/the-effect-of-religion-on-individual-wellbeing/.

All four measures evaluated in our study were shown to improve wellbeing, from pre-adolescents to older adults. Further, these measures were associated more specifically with improved social relationships and physical health as well as reduced delinquent behavior.

Although our review focused on the effect of four specific measures on individuals themselves, and not on the recipient, we might speculate that any increase in wellbeing among the evaluated individuals could transmit a greater sense of wellbeing to others.

The source of the four evaluated parameters also was evaluated and only two primary sources were found!  First, forgiveness, gratitude and empathy could be taught, at least to some degree, through classes or a training module. Hope has not been evaluated in a training module to our knowledge.

Second, a person’s religious faith, or their involvement in a community of believers, appeared positively associated with all four evaluated measures. How the measure was developed through religion was not completely clear. We might speculate that forgiveness, gratitude, hope and empathy were produced through knowledge from the religion’s scriptures, through self-learning or sermons, or through interaction with the faith community. Importantly, almost all articles evaluated in our review were from traditionally Christian countries.

Our review suggests that forgiveness, gratitude, hope and empathy may improve general wellbeing, pro-social and positive relational behavior and demonstrate positive health effects. These four measures may be derived from religious instruction and through a faith community. 

I hope you come back next Wednesday for another important blog!

William C. Stewart, MD

For questions or to view more of our research…

Email - info@teleiosresearch.com 

Website - http://teleiosresearch.com/

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/TeleiosResearch

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/TeleiosResearch 

Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCh6wIbPgxeP0YvypwAn5-9Q

Disclaimer - This blog and its content are provided only as information and are intended for visitors 18 and older. No content on the website should be taken as advice or recommendation to any personal or institutional situation. The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily either shared or endorsed by Teleios. Both the blog and the contents are subject to change at any time without notice. Although I endeavor to ensure that the blog and the content are current and accurate, it may contain errors. I do not represent that the blog or the content is current, accurate or complete, or appropriate for your specific requirements. I do not accept any liability from any person for the blog, the content or any other information (or the use of such information) I provide. I do not have a seminary degree, but I have trained myself in the scriptures to teach and provide this information. For any specific question, I suggest you contact experts in that field and or do your own research into the scriptures.

Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations!

 

Thanks for visiting my blog! We are discovering together what the Bible says about wellbeing. Otherwise, how can you live a more satisfied, fulfilling life? Recently we have been discussing the 5 scriptural tools to maturity (Acts 2:42,47) as a means to build a powerful biblically-based wellbeing! Today, we discuss the 5th and final tool: outreach to other believers and non-Christians.

The first 4 characteristics of the early church (prayer, praise, fellowship and receiving biblical teaching) were centered around assisting the individual believer and the faith community itself. However, the 5th principal concerns reaching beyond the established community to those in need, physical or spiritual. This tool was noted in Acts 2:47 ‘And the LORD added to their number daily those who were being saved.’ Since we know that to believe in Christ people have to be told verbally (Romans 10:14), consistent with one of Christ’s last commands on earth to ‘teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit’ (Matthew 28:19), it is highly probable that those in the first church were telling others about their faith.

Further, the Apostle Paul urges us to teach others individuals in the faith (1 Timothy 4:6,11,16; 2 Timothy 2:25). Even more simply we are to encourage one another to love and do good works (Hebrews 10:24) and to speak to others according to their need (Ephesians 4:29).

Beyond this we are told to do good and pray for all men, be good citizens (I Timothy 2:1-2; I Peter 2:13-15), work hard and honestly to the glory of God (2 Thessalonians 3:10-12; 1 Timothy 2:1-2; Colossians 3:17), and within the church provide social help to those in need (1 Timothy 5:1-16).

Why does scripture tell us to reach out to serve and influence others by teaching our beliefs? We do not know for certain, but we might hypothesize several results of teaching and serving others:

• It takes our mind off ourselves and focuses on someone else's needs. This most likely is healthy for us and gives our mind a rest from ruminating over our own troubles.
• It orients our goals under those of the almighty God and recognizes His purposes are greater than ours. Therefore, our personal troubles are set in proper perspective, providing a balance to our own mental health.
• It helps build community, both in numbers and maturity, by encouraging a civil and gracious society.
  

Outreach and service combine as the last of our 5 tools to maturity. When practiced in balance according to God's Word these 5 areas will provide you the opportunity to incorporate the wise characteristics in the Bible that were known by the apostles and the first-generation Christians.

Teleios Research Surveys Young Evangelicals About Teaching the Bible! 

Read results here https://teleiosresearch.com/young-evangelicals-and-teaching-the-bible/

What are these characteristics that are so beneficial to wellbeing? Join me next week as we begin our discussion of the biblical characteristics that can change your life.

William C. Stewart, MD

For questions or to view more of our research…

Email - info@teleiosresearch.com 

Website - http://teleiosresearch.com/

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/TeleiosResearch

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/TeleiosResearch 

Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCh6wIbPgxeP0YvypwAn5-9Q

Disclaimer - This blog and its content are provided only as information and are intended for visitors 18 and older. No content on the website should be taken as advice or recommendation to any personal or institutional situation. The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily either shared or endorsed by Teleios. Both the blog and the contents are subject to change at any time without notice. Although I endeavor to ensure that the blog and the content are current and accurate, it may contain errors. I do not represent that the blog or the content is current, accurate or complete, or appropriate for your specific requirements. I do not accept any liability from any person for the blog, the content or any other information (or the use of such information) I provide. I do not have a seminary degree, but I have trained myself in the scriptures to teach and provide this information. For any specific question, I suggest you contact experts in that field and or do your own research into the scriptures.