The Fruit of The Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is God. He expresses the Character of God in all He does and guides Christians to express the Character of God in all they do.
The fruit of a Christian is the result of the attitudes they have and when these attitudes align with those of The Holy Spirit they will then express the Fruit of The Holy Spirit (the Character and attitudes of God) in their life.
Love is the basis from which all the other fruit flows According to your degree of love for someone (God, yourself, family etc.,) will be the demonstration of this fruit!
The hard part is to demonstrate this fruit when the person is obnoxious, rejects you or is hard to love for some other reason, This is when the The Holy Spirit strengthens us to love them, as the Father and Jesus loves them and to also demonstrate The Fruit of The Holy Spirit to them.
Until you can love people as The Father and Jesus loves them you cannot really minister as God desires you too. It is as you are truly le by The Holy Spirit in you that you will love others and minister to them as The Father and Jesus desire you to.
(Gal 5:1921 NCV) The wrong things the sinful self does are clear: being sexually unfaithful, not being pure, taking part in sexual sins, worshiping gods, doing witchcraft, hating, making trouble, being jealous, being angry, being selfish, making people angry with each other, causing divisions among people, feeling envy, being drunk, having wild and wasteful parties, and doing other things like these. I warn you now as I warned you before: Those who do these things will not inherit God’s kingdom.
(Gal 5:22,23 NRSV) By contrast, the Fruit of the Spirit …
(Gal 5:22,23 KJV) But the Fruit of The Spirit is Love, Joy, Peace Longsuffering, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law!
The ‘Fruit of The Spirit’ is the evidence of The Holy Spirit in you who guides you in your expressing the Love and character of God to others. These are an expression of your degree of love to Jesus and The Father and are a sign you belong to them.
The NRSV states one thing the some other translations do not clearly bring out, the Contrast of the ‘Fruit of the Spirit’ to the ‘Fruit of the World!’ Having just stated the attitudes of worldliness, Paul then contrasts them with what should be the attitude of a Christian! It is to be noted that the more time you spend with intimately with Jesus the more you will show His Love and as a consequence, the Fruit of The Spirit in all you do in your life.
‘Fruit’ in this verse is singular tense so there is only one type of Fruit (because there is only one Spirit behind it) but it has many colours. A Christian should show this one Fruit (love) in their life as it is the Character of God who lives in them and whose image they are being conformed too. Every Christian has The Holy Spirit in them so the Fruit is in them but how much of it they show in their life is up to them and the more they understand and show God’s Love the more of this Fruit will be shown to the world.
It is only as you are led by The Holy Spirit to develop The Fruit of The Spirit in you will you live the Christian life as God desires you to live it!
Love (1 Cor. 13:4-7)
The Fruit that is mentioned first, which should be the hallmark (most noticeable attitude) of a Christian, from which all the other facets of this Fruit flow and which also contrasts a Christian with the world, is love - not just any type of love - but the love that marks God and His relationship with people. A Love that caused Him to forsake all, come to a Godless world (where His enemy rules) and die for the people in it so that those people could gain eternal life, be with Him in a wonderful relationship and enjoy the delights He has prepared for them if they accepted Him and His teachings
The example of Jesus is our example of Love - the giving up of things far greater than we can ever imagine to come to earth and die for those who would reject Him.
Phi 2:5-10 (WEY) Let the same disposition be in you which was in Christ Jesus. Although from the beginning He had the nature of God (i.e. was God) He did not reckon His equality with God a treasure to be tightly grasped. Nay, He stripped Himself of His glory, and took on Him the nature of a bondservant by becoming a man like other men. And being recognized as truly human, He humbled Himself and even stooped to die; yes, to die on a cross. It is in consequence of this that God has also so highly exalted Him, and has conferred on Him the Name which is supreme above every other, in order that in the Name of JESUS every knee should bow, of beings in Heaven, of those on the earth, and of those in the underworld,
The love of God is explained in 1 Cor 13:4-7 and is self explanatory:
1 Cor 13:4-8a is as follows (ESV):
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends…
Joy
Not just any joy, but the joy of having a personal relationship with Jesus, of being delivered from the evil kingdom of Satan and hell, of being counted worthy of doing the work of Jesus, of knowing what His love for you really means! Of knowing who you are (a child of The Kingdom) and knowing where you will go when you die. The joy of not having to worry about anything (Mat 6:33) as you do His Will, as you trust God’s Love, Purposes, Plans and Control over all your circumstances.
Remember, God is in control of everything or He cannot be God. His purposes and plans perfect or He cannot be God. If He is not Love He is a hypocrite so cannot be gone. Either He is God and these things or He is not!
Peace
Not just rest but a peace that pervades all we do because we know The Father is in control of all our circumstances, loves us and meets our every need and that all things work out for our good! This is a peace that does not have a care as it casts all its worry on the Saviour and trusts Him fully to deal in any matter concerning us in a way that is most advantageous for us and for the task God has called us too.
It is peace resulting from the Love relationship we have with God because we are at peace with Him.
Long-suffering (Patience in suffering 1 Cor 15:58)
This attitude of ‘patience in suffering’ results from knowing that our reward is in Jesus and that at the end of the suffering is rest in the Kingdom of God with Jesus. It also is suffering while doing the work of Jesus. Because of our love for Jesus we willingly bear any suffering for His purposes because of the resulting benefit it will bring to others and to The Kingdom of God. We should not care what happens to us as we trust Him for whatever happens to us. We know He will never do us any wrong but will always work only for our best.
Gentleness (kindness out of compassion and love)
People who love as Jesus loves cannot willingly hurt another or be harsh with them. This term ‘gentleness’ portrays this. It is kindness and compassion to others out of love for them. It is the attitude Jesus has with sinners and the unlovely that the world discards and that many have difficulty relating too. It is an expression of the Love Jesus has to all.
Goodness
This person is virtuous and honest in all they do. Their character expresses the goodness of God. They are pure in their motives and seek evil for none, esteeming the values of God above all the world values so that God’s values permeate their nature and they reflect the goodness of God in all they do.
Faith
This is an active belief and trust in what Jesus asks them to do, because of whom Jesus is, what Jesus has done and said as well as all that Jesus has promised. This belief permeates everything they think and do. They are assured of whom they have believed in and the promises made by Him (Jesus). The faith of this person cannot be shaken and they will die rather than deny their belief in Jesus, whom He is, what He has done and what He has promised to do for them (Heb 11:6. ) It is an expression, like all the other fruit, of their love for Him.
Meekness (Humility)
The meek person realizes that he is only what he is by God’s grace and takes no credit for what God has done or is doing . He has a true estimation of himself before God and knows that all comes from God. He knows he lives only because God keeps him alive and that He is able to work and serve God only because God allows him to do this and also that God gives him what he needs to serve Him. He has no doubt as to his complete reliance on God and as a result does not declare his own greatness or achievements! He cannot! As he realizes he has only done what God has asked because God has prepared these for him and allowed him to do them and that there is nothing in what he has done that he can claim any ‘glory’ or originality for!
Because of this attitude, he has the heart of a servant and God can use him greatly.
God does not Love us for what we can do for Him. He can do it all Himself. He Loves us because He made us and is our ‘Father’. Those who respond in Love towards Him He will use to serve Him and they will be with Him in heaven. Those who reject His Love will be with His enemy in hell when they die. Remember, enemies are placed in prison where they cannot harm the good citizens of the kingdom. This is one reason hell is necessary.
Temperance (self-controlled in all things)
This person controls themself in all things so that they never abuse anything God allows them to have control over (what they are stewards of in other words) and are also able to control themself so that they can express the ‘Fruit of the Spirit’ in all they do. While all the ‘Fruit’ flows from love, self-control is what allows a person to express them properly. These are the faithful and good stewards of all God has entrusted them with.
‘against such there is no law’
Against such that love as God Loves us there can be no law as Love fulfils God’s requirements of The Law and the ‘Fruit of the Spirit’ is the expression of God’s Love, through us, to all.
The above attitudes and way of thinking are designed to remove worry and fear from our minds as these cloud our thinking and make it hard for us to hear God. They also ensure we have the correct attitudes and habits to be a good citizen of The Kingdom of Heaven and to be able to fearlessly do the work of The Kingdom. In a sense they are Mat 6:33 in action!
Worry and fear are attitudes Satan tries to make us have so we doubt God’s Love for us and His control over our circumstances so that we will be more hesitant to serve Jesus and trust His will and control.
The more we are led by the Holy Spirit, the more we will express the character of God and serve Him on a daily basis in the way He desires you to serve him.
How is the character of God expressed?
The Character of God is expressed in the Fruit of The Holy Spirit flowing from Him to your life as well as in the way you respond and show it to those around you.
Love
God is Love and all He does for us is out of this Love He has for his created people. All he does is out of His Perfect Love for we and others. This is the attitude we should show to all around us.
Joy
The Joy of seeing people growing into His Image as a result of His Love being expressed to them as well as the delight He has in the relationship we Have with Him and His people
Peace
The Peace that occurs because He is in charge of our life and which flows to us because He is our Lord. This is the peace we should have with all and which can only result if we are in a correct relationship with Him.
Longsuffering
The patience He shows like a Father does to His errant children as He works to draw them back to Himself. It is also the patience He shows when He provides the events and trials that mature us to His image. He does not rush things but patiently builds them up in a perfect way that is best for us and He will take years to do something we want finished in a minute. This is the patience we need to have that does not want things done quickly but in His time and in His way.
Gentleness
He is like a loving parent and does act in a harsh way to us but always in an encouraging loving manner to encourage us to keep going in what He has given us to do. God is an encourager and so should we be.
Goodness
The characteristic of desiring what is best for all because He loves them just as we should desire what is best for all we interact with as we too should love them as He does. His character is such that goodness naturally flows from it as it should from our character.
Faith
He puts faith in us that we will do His Will and Love Him just as we should and that we will trust what happens to us if only because He is in control and all things that occur to us are for our best in some way so we should not complain but trust Him in all things.
Meekness
The Servant Heart of God that humbles Himself to put the need of others before His own need. He is our Lord but relates to us and serves us in this humility just as we should in humility serve all that God brings to us to serve. The more authority you have the higher the call to serve others and lead by the example of this service just as God leads us by His example of service.
Temperance
God is economical and only does what He needs to. He never over indulges in anything or in the way He expresses himself. We too should be moderate in all we do, doing only what He tells us to do and buying or gathering only what He wants us to buy or gather so that Satan cannot take our time from what God wants us to do by having us look after things we should not have.
God is our example to follow and we should have these attitudes to all, just as He does to them.
To love others as God does
To Joy in the spiritual progress and maturity of others and the relationship we have with God and them
To be at peace with all through helping then be at peace with God and throng not worrying what happens to us because God has allowed for our best.
To patiently endure in serving God others as we desire to serve them on behalf of Jesus and are willing to suffer and endure to help them be like Him because we love Jesus and desire others To have the same relationship with Him that we have.
To show gentleness to all just as God is gentle with us so that people do not fear us but are attracted to Jesus because they see His Love in us expressed toward them
To do good all man and never evil of any kind so that they see our servant heart and the love in it that only desires what is best for them.
To show Jesus is worth following no matter what happens because we trust Him and His love for us regardless of what happens to us.
To be humble man in all we do not trying to control others but treating them as equals and as worth knowing and not inferior as they are all children of the Father and should bee treated as such.
To do all things in moderation to that people see our lives are not controller big possessions or activity but we use what we have for the purposes of God and are not driven by the world and its peer pressure to conform to it.
As we do these things we show God is worthy to be followed and the demonstration of the Fruit of The Spirit in our life becomes an act of worship to the Father and to Jesus!
The Attitudes of the world (to be avoided)
In a sense this ia check list of wrong attitudes to avoid and if you have any of them you need to repent of them as quickly as possible.
Attitudes of a sinful man
Pro 6:12 A naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with a froward mouth.
Pro 6:13 He winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers;
Pro 6:14 Frowardness is in his heart, he deviseth mischief continually; he soweth discord.
Pro 6:15 Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly; suddenly shall he be broken without remedy.
Some Wrong attitudes to avoid
The seven deadly sins
In the 5th century, AD, Evagrius of Pontus (349-399), a Greek theologian, introduced the concept of eight offenses and passions that a human could fall victim to while on earth. They were the result of an abnormal obsession with self. The cure for each of these was an adoption of selfless attitudes towards the world. These became the Seven deadly Sins. They are not in The Bible.
There is this list in the old testament thought
KJV
Pro 6:16 These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:
Pro 6:17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
Pro 6:18 A heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,
Pro 6:19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.
Literal Bible
Pro 6:16 These six things Jehovah hates; yea, seven are hateful to his soul;
Pro 6:17 a proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
Pro 6:18 a heart that plots evil plans, feet hurrying to run to mischief,
Pro 6:19 A false witness who doth breathe out lies -- And one sending forth contentions between brethren.
Note: While God detest and hates these sins He still love the people and desires them to repent of them.
Each of these attitudes explained:
A proud look: literally one who exalts themselves (pride) above what God has anointed them and appointed them too.
A lying tongue: literally purposely deceiving another for no Godly reason by what they tell them
Hands that shed innocent blood: literally someone who knowingly causes the death of someone innocent of any act causing them to be murdered. (Examples are revenge, murder, causing a war of any kind. Manslaughter is not included in this as it is accidental)
An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations: literally someone who in their heart willingly devises wicked things (and these do not necessarily need to be carried out as the heart attitude determines if there is a sin or not).
Feet that be swift in running to mischief: literally one who knowingly rushes to harm another and who deliberately does not show God’s type of Love to another.
A false witness that speaketh lies: literally someone who knowingly causes strife or perverts justice through lies about something that happened
He that soweth discord among brethren: One who knowingly separates people through their actions (as happens often in churches and ministries, denominations
The list given to Paul by The holy Spirit in Galatians
Gal 5
19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Each of these attitudes explained:
Sexual sins
Adultery: Sex or wrong sexual thoughts about another of the opposite sex that you are not married too. You do not have to carry out these wrong thoughts you only need to accept them in your heart. In other words you know they should not be thought about but they give you pleasure so you don’t reject them as quickly as you should (Math 5:29-32).
fornication: Literally ‘pornea’ from which pornography is derived. Wrong sexual thoughts or activities outside of marriage or activities in marriage that are ungodly.
uncleanness: things that are impure morally. Doing things that spiritually defile a person and makes them unfit to approach God.
lasciviousness: literally unbridled sensuality (not just sexual but in other areas of sensuality such as drugs, food etc). Anything in excess could qualify.
Sins or worship
Idolatry: Anything knowingly put before the Will of God
witchcraft: Anyone using drugs or demons to control another in any way.
Sins of disorder
hatred: One who unreasonably opposes another or is hostile to them.
variance: One who knowingly opposes the truth and causes dissension and strife by this.
emulations: fiery jealousy of another
wrath: uncontrolled, unforgiving anger of another.
strife: one who knowingly causes division or factions in an assembly
seditions: One who causes others to reject lawful authority either spiritual, moral or legal
heresies: One who promotes their own beliefs about God at the expense of the truth
envyings: One who has ill will towards another because of jealousy over something as they are covetous of what the person has been given by God.
murders: One who kills another ( and remember it may only be the desire of your heart but you are guilty as if you had done it physically).
Sins of sensual pleasure
drunkenness: One who is intoxicated through indulgence and not necessarily from just alcohol. Lasciviousness is emotional drunkenness while this is physical drunkenness.
revellings: Excessive ungodly behaviour for the sake of pleasure.
and such like: Anything like the above that puts your wrong desires before God. A wrong attitude is idolatry if you place your desires before that of God.
And the warning is:
of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
The list given to John by Jesus in the book of Revelation
Rev 21: 8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
fearful: Those who do not have the courage to believe in Jesus and the promises He gives us in The Bible.
unbelieving: Those who knowingly do not believe in Jesus
the abominable: Those that knowingly do things God hates
murderers: One who premeditates to kills another
whoremongers: One who promotes any type of sexual sin and prostitutes a person in some way sexually either directly or indirectly.
sorcerers: One who uses drugs or magic (demons do the magic) to control another Witches fall into this category. Satanists and New Agers are caught in the category of unbelieving .
idolaters: One who knowingly puts anything before God by worshipping it instead of God.
all liars: Those who willingly deceive others in any matter
Anyone not repenting of the sins listed above sins will go to hell.
Abomination: Extreme hatred, detestable
There wrong attitudes are to preserve a person’s pride which is idolatry of self, usually from trying to find worth in yourself and not because of what God thinks of you.
The Sermon on The Mount - What Jesus advised
In the Sermon on The Mount Jesus gave us attitudes to have. This not a list as such of deadly sins but advice as to attitudes to have to live as a child of the Kingdom of God:
5:1-12: The first 12 are the beatitudes.
In summary: Do not value the things of the world but reject them. Learn to see yourself as God sees you and you will have a correct perspective on these things. Desire God and the relationship with Him above all things as well as to do the work of The kingdom. Let God use you to reconcile people to Him and His salvation and no matter what happens, make your stand for God and His Things so you will be a good citizen of His kingdom.
5:13-20 Hiding the truths of God because of fear of any kind.
5:22 Anger at anyone without a just (Godly cause. In other words it is not righteous anger).
5:27 Lusting after women either married or single.
5:33-37 Lying and deception of any kind in your speech.
5:38-42 Loving the things of the world more than people.
5:43-48 Not loving all people as God Love’s them. (Hate the sin but love the sinner).
6:1-4 Give from your heart because you want to not because you want people to see you do it.
6:5-15 from the Lord’s Prayer
Pray and worship to God alone and no one else
Desire His things (His Kingdom)
Do not pray so man will approve it but to God alone
Let your needs come from God and not from your own reasonings as to what you need.
Do not have unforgiveness or you may lose your salvation.
Seek to do God’s Will and not your own
6:16-18 Do things to please God not to obtain man’s approval
6:19-33 Don’t aim to be rich on earth but set your desires and objective to the things of God.
6:24 You should not try to obey God while at the same time doing what you desire to do that is not Godly or in His Will. You cannot serve two masters: yourself and God!
6:25-34 Don’t worry about anything. Trust God’s Love and Provision. Serve Him and His Kingdom and He will provide all you need.
7:1-6 Do not judge others condemning them. God does not do that (Jn 3:17) and He alone is the one who has the right to judge others! We judge ourself by our lifestyle and all He does is give us the reward for the way we lived; either heaven or hell.
7:7-12 Treat others with the love you would have them treat you with.
7:13-14 Discipline yourself to follow the path God has prepared for you.
7:15-23 Do not listen to people who claim to represent God but whose lifestyle show they do not follow Him.
7:24-28 Build your life on the truths of Jesus.
The way to avoid these traps of Satan is to show the fruit of The Spirit in all you so.