The fruit of the Spirit
One of the big things that the Holy Spirit does in our lives is empowering us to be more like Jesus, in other words to be more holy.
In the natural world, fruit trees that are well watered, fed right and get enough sunlight produce fruit that is good. It takes time, but they do produce fruit.
As we follow Jesus and keep asking the Spirit to fill and empower us we grow fruit too. The passage in Galatians shows us the kind of fruit we can expect to grow. Typically, the fruit of the Spirit grows most when we are in the midst of the opposite – so patience grows in us as we have things we need to be patient about and we allow the Spirit to develop patience in us. It’s easy to love the lovely, we need the power of the Spirit to love the unlovely. We need the power of the Spirit to choke out the weeds and rotten fruit in our lives that are the opposite of these 9 fruit.
Here’s the list of fruit…
- Love is a choice not a feeling
- Joy is a deep gladness and delight
- Peace in every circumstance (Phil 4:7)
- Patience when there is much to be impatient about
- Kindness is when we express in our actions God’s kindness to us
- Goodness is similar to kindness but relates to making moral choices
- Faithfulness is to be reliable and trustworthy and good as our word even when it costs.
- Gentleness is strength under control
- Self-control is saying no to sinful desires.
Pray: Ask the Lord which fruit you need to grow in and for strength to do so.
Recommended extra reading
Enemies of the heart (Andy Stanley)
