Just think of your favorite fruit in the fruit salad. Is it
apple, grapes, banana, kiwi, cherry, mango, papaya, pineapple, melon,
strawberry? All of these fruits are different in color, texture, smell and the seasons
in which they grow. Similarly the nine fruits of the spirit which are different
are seasonal too. They grow at different times in our life. Often we may go
through certain trials in our life in order to prepare for the growth of this
particular fruit in our life. Let us briefly look at the different fruits of
the spirit as seen in Galatians 5:22, 23:
1)
Love:
1 John 4:8 says that ‘whoever does not love does not know God; for God is Love.’
We may try in our human strength to love people but often fall short when we
compare it to the 1Corinthians 13 kind of love. Whenever we fall short, the
best thing to remember is the epitome of love which is Jesus on the Cross. The
Intense Father’s love for us by giving us His only begotten Son. Jesus Pure
Love for us by obeying the Father and willingly giving up His life for us. The
Gentle Love of the Holy Spirit who is with us always to remind us of the love
of God. We can never match that love. It is only the Holy Spirit who empowers
us to love God, ourselves and our neighbor.
Prayer: Blessed Holy Spirit, thank you for
the fruit of love in my life. Fill me with your love so that I can learn to
love.
2)
Joy:
Joy is not the absence of pain or sorrow in life. Joy is the smile in spite of
the tears! Nehemiah 8:10 says: “This day is holy to the Lord , do not grieve, for
the joy of the Lord is your strength.” No life is problem free but when we
choose to say that My God is bigger than my problem, we can be joyful in life.
That will empower us to go ahead victoriously in life and help us to bear a
greater testimony. People will want to know how we do it and that will be the
time for us to share His love to them.
Prayer: Blessed Holy Spirit, Thank you for
the joy in my life. Help me to keep in mind to rejoice in the Lord always by
being thankful for all that you have already done in my life.
3)
Peace:
The rarest thing in today’s stress filled world is Peace. However, it is highly
comforting that we have a Lord who is The Prince of Peace. He is the Lord who
can calm any stormy situation in our life. There is a well known quote “NO GOD,
NO PEACE but KNOW GOD, KNOW PEACE. How truthful this statement is. No matter
how hard we try, we may be spending sleepless nights because of a disturbed
mind but once we learn to make Him the Lord of every area of our life, we can
rest assured that even when we cannot figure it all out, our Lord who is bigger
than us will surely see us through.
Prayer: Blessed Holy Spirit, thank you for that
your peace which passeth all human understanding will guard my heart and mind in
Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:7)
4)
Patience: Many times we may go through a period of
waiting in our life where we may be endlessly waiting and wondering what God is
up to but the truth is that He may actually be cultivating the fruit of
patience in our life which will be essential for us to enjoy what He has in
store for us. The irony is, the quicker we learn to be patient, the sooner will
we get our answer!
Prayer: Blessed Holy Spirit, thank you for
the fruit of patience in my life. Though I may not always like it, I believe
your word in Gal 6:9 which asks me not to become weary of doing good, for I
will reap a harvest in due season if I do not give up.”
5)
Kindness:
All of us have wonderful stories from the pages of our life to tell, stories of
our successes, power, influence, strength, courage but the stories that will
always be fondly remembered will be the stories of our humanity. We live in a
world full of pain, we may never know how badly the person next to us is
suffering and so we need to follow the example of our Lord who went about doing
good to everyone who needed it.
Prayer: Blessed Holy Spirit, thank you for
the fruit of kindness in my life. I will obey your word in Eph 4:32 which
reminds me to be kind, tenderhearted and forgiving as God in Christ also has
forgiven me.”
6)
Goodness:
As mentioned in 2 Peter 1:5
God’s divine power has given us everything we need for a Godly life through our
knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. Praise the Lord
that we are made righteous by the shed blood of Jesus on the Cross of Calvary.
No matter how evil we have been in the past, His blood is sufficient ransom for
us and now we adorn the robe of righteousness which enables us to lead a life
of goodness and be a blessing to those around us.
Prayer: Blessed Holy Spirit, thank you for
the fruit of goodness in my life. I praise you that because of Jesus, I am a
Royal Priesthood, a Holy Nation, God’s very own possession and as a result I
can display the goodness of God who called me out of darkness into His
wonderful light.(1 Pet 2:9)
7)
Faithfulness:
We read in Lam 3:22,23 “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His
mercies never come to an end, they are new every morning, great is His
faithfulness.” Loyalty or faithfulness is quite unheard of nowadays. But the
Lord commends faithfulness even in the smallest of matters.
Prayer: Blessed Holy Spirit, thank you for the
fruit of faithfulness in my life. Help me as your word says in Proverbs 3:3 to
always bind steadfast love and faithfulness around my neck and to write them on
the tablet of my heart.
8) Gentleness: Philippians 4:5 says that “our
gentleness must be evident to all for the Lord’s coming is near.” Another word
for gentleness is meekness ; a highly unpopular if not totally alien trait in
today’s upside down world which preaches the gospel of Survival & Self
preservation at any cost with the modus operandi of blowing one’s own trumpet
and getting rid of anything/ anyone in the way. Contrary
to popular belief, meekness is not weakness. It is absolute power under perfect
control. Numbers 12:3 says that ‘Moses was one of the meekest men on the face
of the earth and hence was used greatly by God.’ If we want to used by God, we
must say as John the Baptist said in John 3:30, “He must increase but I must
decrease.”
Prayer: Blessed Holy Spirit, thank you for the fruit
of gentleness in my life. Help me to learn from you for you are meek and humble
and I will find rest for my soul.(Mathew 11:29)
9) Self Control : Prov 25:28 says that ‘a man without self
control is like a city broken into and left without walls.’ A city without
walls is always vulnerable to attack by the enemy. We have an enemy who prowls
around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8) and so it
is extremely essential for us to Watch and pray lest we be tempted for the
spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.(Mathew 26:41)
Prayer: Blessed Holy Spirit, thank you for the
fruit of Self Control in my life. I praise you that you have not given me a
spirit of fear but of power, love and self control. (2 Tim 1:7)
You may be wondering, this all sounds good but how can we
make this work practically in my life. For understanding this better, let us
take an illustration (from Joyce Meyer) of an apple tree. An apple tree doesn’t
have to try to produce apples. When the season is right, it just automatically
produces the fruit. Provided it is well watered, given proper sunlight,
fertilizer and looked after, it just bears fruit. Similarly when we spend time
in Prayer and the Word, Listening to the Voice of the Father and fellowshipping
with other believers, we will also automatically produce the Fruit of the
Spirit which is the true evidence of Godly Character. Others will then be able
to see that we not only talk the talk, but also walk the talk!
Have a blessed week!
Take care, God bless us,
Sparky Laurie