The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law (Galatians 5.222-23 NKJV)
If we are going to discuss the fruit of the Spirit, you need to know two simple truths about the fruit of the Spirit that are foundational truths.
- You already have the fruit of the Spirit inside your spirit once you are born again.
- They will not just flow out of you by accident, you have to realize they are yours and learn how to live from them.
Really, the fruit of the spirit are just the outworking of God’s nature inside you – you have the nature of God inside you the moment you got born again. The fruit of the spirit are not a list of things you do, it is what you are – it’s the nature of God inside you.
Our job is outlined in Romans 8.4-5.
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
The first named fruit of the spirit is love, and we know God is love, so the fruit are a reflection of God and His spirit. Your spirit has the fruit of love because it is recreated in the image and likeness of God. Read through the whole list – it’s all the attributes of God.
All the fruit of the spirit are found in God – they are His nature, and now we have been re-created in His image and likeness, they are our nature too! We are the fruit!
But, sadly, being of the nature of the fruit, does not mean that they just flow out of your spirit with no effort, you need to think, meditate, consider and develop your understanding of the fruit so you can grow in them and live in them. Your spirit was miraculously transformed into the image and likeness of God the day you were born again, but your flesh was not. It did not change at all when you were saved, it has the same sinful, selfish attitudes.
These attitudes – and habits – do not reflect our new nature, but we are still influenced by them until we renew our mind. Let your mind renewal start with this truth – I have the fruit of the spirit in me – my spirit is love, my spirit is joy, and so on.
We are no longer spiritually dead, we are spiritually alive, and our living spirit in the core of our being – is love and joy and peace. We no longer come short of the glory of God – the whole glory of God is inside us.
When Adam sinned all that glory inside him died, his spirit disconnected from God – he lost all the fruit. He stumbled around in darkness, he could only be moved by his senses, sin dominated him, satan dominated him. The life inside him was now death.
Adam had a pathetic and totally ridiculous life after he sinned. Compared to God’s plan for his life, his life after his sin and disobedience was exceptionally low. And that’s the life all non-Christians are living, and sadly, it’s the life most Christians are living because they do not know how to live from the life inside them.
We have been born again, born of the spirit, and our brand new spirit is perfect, full of all the fruit – we have a whole new life open up to us, a life of love and joy and peace. We are a unique creation, a supernatural, living, righteous, fruitful spirit living in a natural body.
We are children of God, our nature is His nature, but we are walking around in earthsuits made of a very unspiritual flesh. That’s why the Christian life is a challenge. Your flesh wants to do bad things, sinful things, and your spirit wants to do what God wants. Your flesh is pulling one way, and your spirit is pulling the other. You are caught in a tug of war between your divided parts.
How do we ensure the spirit wins? Let me firstly give you a piece of advice on what not to do – ever! Not by will power – not by sucking it up and pushing and trying and using our own strength. That’s what people under law had to do, and it never worked. It never works today.
You do not have the strength to deal with your flesh in your soul. You cannot do it. You have to yield to your spirit, let your spirit dominate and then you will stop walking in the flesh.
Paul told the Galatians “Walk in the spirit, and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh” (Galatians 5.16). He goes on to say that if we walk in the Spirit, we are not under law. That’s vital knowledge – we are not handling our flesh by law, but by walking in the spirit.
Stop focusing on the laws, all the bad things you know fine well you should not be doing. But start walking in the spirit – worship God, pray in tongues, feed on the Word, yield to that new life inside you – and you will find out you obey the law automatically, but more than that, you live and manifest the fruit of the spirit everywhere you go.
As you walk in the spirit, yield to your spirit, get doing the dos, then your flesh will just yield and come in line. It really is this simple. You start acting like your Father and that’s a good thing.
I’ll tell you some more advice next week!
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