Fruit of the Spirit
He is the vine we are the branches
But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! Galatians 5:22-23 NLT
You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Matthew 7:16 NLT
"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." John 13:34-35 NASB
Let love be your highest goal! But you should also desire the special abilities the Spirit gives--especially the ability to prophesy. 1 Corinthians 14:1 NLT
"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. John 15:4 NASB
"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. John 12:24 NASB
And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. Mark 8:34 NASB
You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Matthew 7:16 NLT
"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." John 13:34-35 NASB
Let love be your highest goal! But you should also desire the special abilities the Spirit gives--especially the ability to prophesy. 1 Corinthians 14:1 NLT
"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. John 15:4 NASB
"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. John 12:24 NASB
And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. Mark 8:34 NASB
People say what they think, but they do what they believe.
As the scripture says above let love be our highest goal, but do not forsake the other gifts that God gives us. I want to share my understanding on the fruit of the Spirit. First, this is the Spirit's fruit not ours. This means that only by following the Spirit's lead in our lives will the stuff listed below show up.
Love, joy, and peace in our lives come from our relationship with God. When we are in right relationship with Him these three naturaly come out of us.
Patience, kindness, and goodness refer to how we interact, feel and think about others. These three are produced in our lives when we have the peace, joy and love relationship with God.
Faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control refer to how we interact, feel and think about ourselves. Again these come from the loving, joy filled, and peaceful relationship we have with God.
Love, joy, and peace in our lives come from our relationship with God. When we are in right relationship with Him these three naturaly come out of us.
Patience, kindness, and goodness refer to how we interact, feel and think about others. These three are produced in our lives when we have the peace, joy and love relationship with God.
Faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control refer to how we interact, feel and think about ourselves. Again these come from the loving, joy filled, and peaceful relationship we have with God.
Love
Agape, unconditional love, love your friends and your enemies. (Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. From NIV 1 Corinthians 13)
Know, experience the love God has for you. All the other fruits are forms of this fruit.
Know, experience the love God has for you. All the other fruits are forms of this fruit.
Joy
This is not happiness as we commonly think of it. This is the sureness we have that the Father is pleased with us, in Christ Jesus. This sureness often does cause happiness, but it is not dependent on our situation in life but our position in heaven.
Peace
Jesus said He was leaving us with the gift of peace, but not peace as the world gives it. Peace from the world is short lived. But the peace we have with God is based on the sacrifice of Jesus. Nothing can change the sacrifice Jesus made for us, so as long as we remain in Christ our peace with God can never leave. This peace gives us a confidence and a calmness about what is happening in the world, because we know we can trust God to bring good out of all things.
Jesus told us that we would suffer for His name sake. So, don't expect the peace to be the kind of peace the world offers. You will not recieve peace from the world. But everything is right between you and God.
Jesus told us that we would suffer for His name sake. So, don't expect the peace to be the kind of peace the world offers. You will not recieve peace from the world. But everything is right between you and God.
Patience
Holding back punishment or harsh correction against others. This is also known as long suffering and mercy.
Kindness
To be respectful towards others. Thinking the best of others so that you will be polite and considerate of others. Just as God thinks the best of us.
Goodness
Treating others better than what they have earned by their behavior. This is not always seen as a possitive thing by the person that recieves it. What I mean is that sometimes goodness requires us to correct and even discipline others because we want the best for them. But, notice it comes from the desire for others to have the best.
Faithfulness
Being responsibile, trustworthy, and dependable.
Gentleness
The ability to not attack back after others attack you, but instead to respond from love for them. The ability to see others as children of God that He loves, even when they are acting ungodly.
Self-Control
To control yourself; to see past the desires of the flesh and follow God's will.