Fruit of the Spirit

Galatians 5:22-23

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.23 Against such things there is no law. 

God’s peace be with you all!

May this week be fruitful and full of blessings.

The Holy Spirit is often symbolized by a dove; when Jesus was baptized , the Holy Spirit descended on him in a bodily form like a dove. This was the very first scene where God the Father, Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit all appeared together! A dove has 2 sets of wings, since the dove symbolizes the Holy Spirit; we might as well call the 2 sets: “The fruits and the gifts” of the Holy Spirit. For a dove to fly well, it needs both of the sets; so does a born-again Christian! We need both fruits and gifts of the Holy Spirit to navigate this Christian life with power over the enemy, live a righteous and blameless life. 

God has given us the gifts of the Spirit, to manifest His power to his people through us, to change lives, give direction, turn the plans of the devil for good and be vessels to bring blessings to his people. In the early church, the lame walked, the sick were healed, and people prophesied. And in the end, people would be amazed by what the Spirit had done, they would praise and give glory to the Lord and our Saviour Jesus Christ.

The bible says the fruit of the Spirit; the greek word used is karpos and it is to describe a unified character rather than a disconnected checklist of different traits. This means that the Holy Spirit that dwells in you causes you to bear all of the traits and not leave any behind. 

Bearing the fruit of the Holy Spirit to one another manifests the nature of God through us. We are in a time where Christianity has become a lifestyle. In these last days, false prophets are rising, and many people are being deceived. In the book of Acts 16, we see a girl who had a spirit from the devil and she used to predict the future; if we had met this girl in our time with no spirit of discernment, we would have mistaken her gift as God-given. Brethren, the devil is able to imitate the gifts and deceive people, so watch out! But the good news is there’s something he will never be able to imitate! The nature of God. 

Jesus said: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? ”  God knew Satan would send his agents to deceive his people, Satan is deceitful, with so many tricks up his sleeves. His agents often come in sheep’s clothing yet they are wolves with an unholy agenda. But God gave us a cheat code, and it’s to know them by their fruits! Jesus is the branch and we shall bear good fruit if we stay close to him, and this will show the world to whom we really belong to! Similarly, those who belong to the dark world shall bear fruits that reflect Satan himself.  

In conclusion, let’s draw closer to the throne of God, to obtain his mercy and love. To have the gifts of the Holy Spirit to be good, useful and powerful servants in the kingdom; and also bear the fruit of the Spirit to show a difference, be grounded and have Christ-like behaviour.