The Fruits of the Holy Spirit
The fruits of the Holy Spirit are given in 3 sections:
- Love, joy and peace - These are received from God as we wait in Him
- Patience, kindness and goodness - These come as a result of waiting on Him
- Faithfulness, gentleness and self-control - These are carried out into the world
- Love, Joy, and Peace
Galatians5:16-24
When one receives the Holy Spirit they become full of the Lord’s love, joy and peace. These treasures replace the negative things of the flesh like anger, hurt, guilt etc. Read Galatians 5:16-18, “But I say walk in the Spirit and do not gratify the desires of the flesh, for the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, both are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you would. But if you are led by the Spirit you are not under the law.”
How do we walk in the Spirit?
We need to spend time in the Lord’s presence daily to be refilled daily with his love, joy and peace. How do we do this?
a) Ask the Holy Spirit to search your heart for any negative things in your life. Do we get angry? Have we hurt someone with negative words? Have we been selfish, become jealous or thought wrong things? Confess these things, turn from them, receive the Lord’s forgiveness and seek to become more filled with the Holy Spirit that we may overcome every negative thing.
b) Wait in His presence to receive His love, His joy, His peace that changes us and enables us to live and walk in the Holy Spirit, as we ought to.
The Holy Spirit will change us from the inside so that we can love as we ought to outwardly. If we spend time in seeking the things of the flesh we will be filled with the fruits of the flesh. If we spend time seeking the things of the Holy Spirit we will become full of the fruits of the Holy Spirit.
c) Begin to practice living and walking in the Spirit 24 hours a day. You will be amazed how this will change your life.1Thessalonians 2:23-24 says “May the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly, and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful. And he will do it.”
Jesus came to save man, not just souls. He came to save:
- i. The spirit from death
- ii. The soul from sin
- iii. The body from sickness, giving:
- The spirit eternal life
- The soul peace
- The body healing
3 John 2, “Beloved, I wish above all these things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as the soul prospereth”
- Pneumatology – is the knowledge if the spirit and its activities and
forces (spirit)
- Psychology – is the knowledge of the mind and its powers (soul)
- Physiology – is the knowledge of the human body and its
functions (body)
- Ontology – is the highest manifestations of man, body, soul
and spirit. God does not demonstrate mind over
matter as the mental scientists do but a higher fact
demonstrates power of the spirit over mind and
matter.
i. The spirit is renewed by our relationship with God through prayer and receiving His life, His love, His joy, His peace, daily into our being
ii. The soul puts away sin which is essential so that the heart of man can become
one with the heart of Christ
iii. Healing to the body is as natural as peace is to the mind, or rest to the spirit
declaring that Christ has become our ‘all in all’
God said in Genesis 2:17, “but the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day you eat of it you shall die”. Immediately Adam and Eve ate of this fruit they became spiritually dead to eternal life. But when Jesus came, those who receive Him become spiritually alive to eternal life. Now the soul has to therefore take on the fruits of the Holy Spirit and no longer yield to the desires of the flesh. Spending time in god’s presence will enable the wonderful transformation of dying to the fruits of the flesh which are evil and to receive the fruits of the Holy Spirit which will enable man to live and walk in the Holy Spirit. Once man achieves this the gifts of the Holy Spirit are able to manifest through His life in great power and effect. James 4:16 says, “Therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects.”
- 2. Patience Kindness Goodness
If we are filled with God’s love, joy and peace on a daily basis this will have a powerful effect on our lives:
i. If we are filled with the peace of Christ, we will be calm, quiet in spirit, unpressured, this will enable us to be patient as there will no longer be stress within that causes us to be impatient. God’s peace causes patience.
ii. If we are filled with the love of Christ we will begin to love others also. This will make us want to be kind to them and less selfish or hardened. We will begin to feel more for others and treat them as we ourselves would like to be treated.
iii. If we are filled with the joy of Christ this joy will free us and enable us to find joy in giving to others. Good deeds will then follow us and people will come to know us by our fruit.
QUESTIONS
1. What did the Fall do to Man?
2. What does the Lord gives us through the Holy Spirit?
3. How do we receive from God in order to produce the fruit of the Holy Spirit?
4. How is God’s way better than Man’s way in science?