Where the Spirit of the Lord Is

"A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it. And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit a hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. And his disciples asked him, saying, What might this parable be? And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand. Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away. And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection. But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience. No man, when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed; but setteth it on a candlestick, that they which enter in may see the light. For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad. Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have."

Luke 8:5-18

What kind of ground are you for the Word of God? Has the Word truly taken root in your heart or has it been choked out by other stuff in your life? If the Word is inplanted within your heart then there should be sure evidence of fruit within your life. If there is not much evidence of fruit then you are probably lacking the Word of God in you. In order for the Word of God to be within you, you must read it and meditate on it daily. The Word should be a MUST for you. Without the Word, how can you truly find things such as peace and joy in your life? You cannot, because these are fruits of the Spirit.

"In the begginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

John 1:1

"Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."

2Corinthians 3:17

If the Spirit of the Lord is living within you and the Word of God which is God, himself, is present within your life then there is no excuse for the fruit of the Spirit to not be evident within you. This is a tough word, but we all need to hear this. If you are living depressed, or angry, or hurt, or anything else that goes against 'the fruit', you need to search yourself and make sure that God and the Spirit are working within you. This is a big one for anyone in the ministry. If there is no fruit of the Spirit within a ministry, then God and the Spirit of God is not present in it. Take a few moments and do a check to see what is being manifested in your life. Are they things of God? If not, then there is a problem. There is not condemnation...but, just like 2 Cor. says, "...where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is (freedom)." If you are bound by anything that is not of God...just think about it. Freedom should be evident. If there is no freedom, then the Spirit of God is not moving in your life. This is serious stuff. But, we are not called to the "wisdom of this world, but to God's secret wisdom." If we are so filled with the World and we are lacking the Word, there needs to be some serious rearranging done there. Just think about it.