he Fruit Of The Holy Spirit

Galatians 5:22-23

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Because the Fruit of the Spirit are supernatural, from God, they increase as our obedience and faith increases, they give us a gage to check the areas that we need to improve. When we received salvation (See our salvation prayer page if you have not yet been born again) the Fruit of the Spirit was established in our heart as seeds. The Fruit in a person's heart grows more rapidly after receiving the fullness or baptism of the Holy Spirit, as in the Book of Acts. Through that fullness, He (The Holy Spirit) has the ability to teach us, in more precise detail, how each fruit is to be used in different situations. When we seek the fullness of the Holy Spirit, we show God that we have a desire for His ability to teach us better and quicker about everything, giving us greater understanding of His ways.

Godly love is the first fruit to grow because we experience it first when God's love washed our sins away, when we received His great salvation. We must nurture it carefully! Without love toward all people the other fruits will not have a foundation strong enough to support them in hard times. They will be unstable and not flow continuously in all situations. When we love others as Jesus did, with unconditional love, we learn self-control which increases, the outward fruits, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and gentleness. When we produce the outward fruit, showing others the love of God, then they establish an abundance of the inward fruit for our lives, which are peace and joy.

Using each fruit when opportunity arises will nurture them into their fullness. As we train ourselves to use these fruits daily, the Holy Spirit strengthens us in allowing them to work in perfection, as Jesus did. It pleases God to see us live life as He desires us to and pours extra blessings on us for our efforts. Much of our protection, from Satan's torment, trials and temptations come from producing an abundance of heavenly, spiritual fruit. We are told to:

Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves...(2 Corinthians 13: 5)

We must continually measure ourselves by the Fruit of the Spirit. If they are growing then Satan has a hard time getting us to do anything his way. In fact God uses the Fruit of The Spirit as the standard for us to recognize others who are really in His family.

Matthew 7:15-23 "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire (Hell). Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. (Those who bear good fruit) Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

Works don't count when they're done by anyone else other than the Holy Spirit through us; and He won't work where a person refuses to yield to God's spirit of love for others. Once we are born again into His family, God expects us to be obedient to the leadership of His Holy Spirit, increasing in supernatural fruit. It's His way of producing a vessel, which is us empty of our selfish nature, so He can work through us to draw others out of darkness into His holy light.