Fruiting

Matt.7:²⁰ “Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.”

Gal. 5:^22-23 “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” (emphasis added). Just like the growing fruit on a natural tree is visible to everyone, when the fruit of the Spirit is growing in us, it is also visible to everyone. The fruit on the orange tree may not be ripe and ready to eat, but the oranges can be seen on the tree. Likewise, once you have the Holy Spirit, the fruit may not be mature, but we can see that this fruit is growing. What I am saying is this, you do not get one part of the fruit of the Holy Spirit growing without all the other parts growing as well. It does not happen. It is a single fruit, all-encompassing, everything together and complete.

I want you to say out loud;  “I have love, I have joy, I have peace, I have patience, I have kindness, I have goodness, I have faithfulness, I have gentleness, and I have self-control. I have the fruit of the Holy Spirit; I am not looking for it. I have it; not in me but in God”. Amen! We have the fruit, not in ourselves but in the Holy Spirit who produces this fruit in us. We draw these virtues from Him. We can love because He is love and so we draw love from Him. We have joy because He is joy in His essence, so we draw from Him. We have peace because He is the Prince of peace, we draw peace from Him. We have patience because He is patient. We have kindness because He is kind in His nature, so we draw from Him. We have goodness because He is good, and His mercy endures forever and so we draw from Him.

We have faithfulness because He is faithful. Even when we are not faithful, God remains faithful. We are gentle not because we are gentle but because He is gentle, and we draw from Him. Sometimes, I bump into people who knew me in the past and they have a really hard time accepting the new me. The old me was far from gentle but because of the Holy Ghost, I am now gentle. Not because he is gentle but because we draw from Him. We have self-control because as powerful as He is, yet His power is under control. Do you know the number of people that have raised their hands to curse God? If we were God, we would have slapped them. My grandmother would say, “We hail God for His patience.” So, because He is controlled, we have self-control.

Acts 17:²⁸ “For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’” So, if God is love, in essence, we are love. If He is joy, we are joy. If He is kind, we are kind. Do you know what it means to be His offspring and to have His life birthed in you? There is no time like now. Lift your voice to Jesus and ask Him to come into your heart.

Prayer: Father, I thank You for the fruit of the Spirit. I have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, in Jesus Name. Amen!