Of all the passages in the Bible which sketch the character of Christ and the fruit which the Spirit brings to our lives, none is more compact and challenging that Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”.. We can divide these nine characteristics into three “clusters.” The first of these “love, joy peace” speaks of our God-ward relationship. The second cluster, “longsuffering, gentleness, goodness” are seen in our man-ward relationship. And the third cluster “faith, meekness, temperance” seems to focus on our inward relationship. When the Bible talks about the believer producing fruit, it is not necessarily talking about “good works” rather it is an indication that we are to allow this fruit to be manifest in our lives. If these areas are not growing and developing on our lives, we need to re-evaluate our relationship with the Lord. Fruit is the natural product of being attached to the main trunk of the tree. If we are truly apart of the family of God, and therefore, connected to God by the Holy Spirit we will see these characteristics manifested in our lives. As … READ MORE

If we are to develop the fruit of the Spirit, how does that happen. Psalm 1 compares the godly man to a tree planted by a river (v2-3) Here the bearing of Spiritual fruit, is clearly related to the place the Word of God has in our lives. Notice that it does not say “read” it says meditate. As we meditate on the Word of God, the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin which needs to be purged and directs us to God’s standard for our lives. Apart from the Word of God there will be no lasting spiritual growth or fruit-bearing in our lives. We are also told in John 15 That we can only bear fruit if we abide in Christ. It may be possible for us to make use of the gifts of the Spirit even when we are out of fellowship with the Lord, but we cannot display the fruit of the Spirit all the time when our fellowship with Christ has been interrupted. The secret of abiding is obedience. As we, through obedient living, abide in Christ, the life of Christ flows into us, producing fruit to the glory of the Father and the nourishment … READ MORE

Galatians 5:22-23 shares with us the “Fruit of the Spirit,” and the difference between the gifts of the Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit is that unlike the gifts of the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit is not divided among believers. All believers should be marked by each of these characteristics. The Bible tells us we need the Spirit to bring fruit into our lives because we cannot produce godliness apart from the Spirit. Two things need to happen in our lives as believers. The sin in our lives need to be thrust out, and the Holy Spirit needs to fill our lives, which will produce this fruit on our lives. We could illustrate this with a gate in our back yard. The gate can be used for two purposes: It can be opened to let people in, and it can be shut to keep people out. Spiritually our lives are like a gate, inside our lives are all sorts of things that are wrong and unpleasing to God. We need to let these things out, and allow the Holy Spirit to come in and control the very center of our lives. The Holy Spirit not only makes … READ MORE