What is The Fruit of the Spirit?
God’s Holy Spirit Within Us
Is the Holy Spirit within us showing the Fruit of the Spirit? A question one may ask when reading Galatians.
Salvation comes by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Period. No other manner of works or rituals will bring you closer to God. Faith is the key to salvation. The key yes, but we must emotionally and spiritually turn the knob, open the door, and allow the Holy Spirit in our lives so He can work His miracle in our hearts.
Faith or Works
The Galatians, led by Paul, learned this. However, false Jewish apostles later fed false doctrine to the people regarding salvation and questioned Paul’s Apostleship to Jesus. Since Christian and Jewish believers worship the same God, they felt that the people who didn’t follow traditional Jewish rituals could not be saved. Regardless of what they felt in their hearts. These false teachers taught that without Jewish rituals, salvation was unattainable. They taught salvation was earned by works and not by faith.
In short, the Galatians didn’t follow “The Law,” so, in the eyes of the Jewish traditionalists, they couldn’t have salvation.
The evil fruit of this false doctrine had to be met head-on by Paul. The arrival, death, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ fulfilled the law of Moses. The moral standards set by God still holds true to this day; however, how we, as the body of Christ, show our worship is by the fruit of the Holy Spirit and not by the recitation of mindless rituals.
In The Bible
(v.16) say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. (v.17) For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. (v.18) But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
(v.19) now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, (v.20) idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, (v.21) envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I told you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
(v.22) but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering (patience), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, (v.23) gentleness, self-control.
Against such there is no law. (v.24) And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (v.25) If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. (v.26) Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. (Galatians ch.5)
“Walk the Walk”
Evidence of the Spirit within a person is clear. A person who is filled with Spirit will walk in the Spirit. The Holy Spirit produces the fruit of righteousness. If you walk in the flesh, you will produce fruit that is not of God. Do you remember the saying, “If you’re going to talk the talk, you had better walk the walk,” makes you wonder where it came from, Huh?
Please don’t let yourself get wrapped up in the mindless habit of the motions. Arriving at church to worship your Lord and Savior with fellow believers is a wonderful thing. Place God first in your heart every day.
Open the Door
However, if you attend a church and you feel it’s a chore, you do this because its expected, or you rather be mowing the lawn instead, please remember, works without faith are dead. The flesh is selfish. A Godly and wise man once said to me, “take your eyes off yourself and place them on the needs of others; your own needs will be met as well.” In Christ, spread the Holy Spirit to others. Show the fruit of the Spirit. Open the door to others just as God opened the door to you through Jesus.
You are a creation of God. He made you with a purpose for Him and His Glory. Please become a child of God and ask Jesus into your heart every day. Read your Bible, fill your heart, and grow your knowledge of God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Show the fruit of the Spirit that grows within you. Shine your light of God.
God Bless.