Fruit Of The Spirit

By: David Hopkins

Fri, Jan 27, 2012

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23

The fruits of the spirit are actions that are practiced from the bottom all the way up.

Because each fruit adds new qualities as well as the qualities of the previous fruit.

For instance the top fruit; which is love and defined by mercy also has the qualities of joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance.

Then next is joy which is defined by hope and has the qualities of peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance... so on and so forth.

In this article I will explain how you can practice doing all 9 fruits of the spirit and that way get much closer to God.

Temperance - Be Patient - 1

Proverbs 8:34 Blessed is the man who heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors.

The only real way to develop patience is to wait on the lord by meditating on His word everyday and paying attention so you can recognize when His word works the way He said it would.

Meekness - Be Humble - 2

Proverbs 16:19 Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.

A lot of people get stuck on this step because of pride; unable to let go of past hurts and bad experiences and since they didn't develop any patience they are easily enticed by the lure of quick gain and fall prey to worthless addictions.

Faith - Remain Loyal - 3

Proverbs 25:19 Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth, and a foot out of joint.

And of course you can't stay loyal to God without patience and humility. A lot of people betray God on this step from fear of missing out on worldly temptations, desires and lusts.

Goodness - Be Obedient - 4

Proverbs 21:3 To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.

You can't obey God without faith in His word and that's why the Bible says it's impossible to please Him without faith, and just like Jesus demonstrated the more faith you develop the more obedient you'll become.

Gentleness - Be Considerate - 5

Proverbs 19:22 The desire of a man is his kindness: and a poor man is better than a liar.

An obedient servant of God is a gentle and considerate servant. I never trust a person who is harsh and inconsiderate of others regardless of what church they attend.

Longsuffering - Endure Injustice - 6

Proverbs 20:22 Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the Lord, and He shall save thee.

A considerate person can endure a lot of unfairness, injustice, pain and suffering because they understand what God is trying to do, while they wait for God to put all the pieces in place to bless a lot of people because of them.

Peace - Remain Calm 7

Proverbs 17:28 Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.

A man who can endure injustice and stay calm without cussing everybody out and threatening to kill or sue everybody is without a doubt at peace with the word of God.

Joy - Stay Hopeful- 8

Proverbs 15:23 A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth: and a word spoken in due season, how good is it!

And after peace there is the next level of peace which is joy or uncontrollable hope. So now, not only did you not cuss and threaten everybody you blessed them with kind words despite their evil intentions.

Love - Be Merciful - 9

Proverbs 10:12 Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins.

And last we have love where you hold your peace in stressful situations and stay calm, and where you bless the people who are being unfair to you, and then you take it a step further by doing something to help them solve their problem with no hope of any return from them.