Fruition

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Gal5:22-23 ESV 

This list of fruit is interesting in that most people will display these, not just believers. There are many non-believers who display love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. I remember seeing the movie, “Motorcycle Diaries” which was about the life of Che Guevara before he became guerilla leader. I came out of the picture theatre thinking what a nice guy he was. Yet he went on to become the USA’s main enemy. I wondered will there be similar movies to come of a loving, kind hitler or a good and gentle Amin or maybe a peace loving Bin Laden.

But these fruit are different to what we think of at first because of the last few words in the verse….”against such things there is no law.”  If we are truly walking in the Spirit (vs16) what does the fruit really look like. Love encompasses all the others but what is spirit led love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. How should they manifest in our lives. I show joy when I am at a party or watching a comedy but what does joy mean as a fruit of the Spirit. This is something I want to explore and to see if they are in my life always, not just from time to time. I want to identify what I am lacking, I am sure there are some that need work. I want to walk continually in His Spirit.

Last week I prayed and asked that He would show me what the fruit of the Spirit looks like and this is what happened:

My sweetheart and I had an experience of what it may look like just recently. It was a late Sunday evening and we were in the city, crossing the road we came across a group of people fighting. Two men were bashing a guy who was lying on the pavement with chairs. We yelled out for them to stop and quite boldly we approached the two bullys who were shouting racial abuse at the man. They backed off and walked away leaving the guy lying on the ground. After a couple of minutes they started coming back toward us shouting and showing off their muscles as if they were going to attack us or the guy again. Then suddenly a large giant of a man stepped in front of me and hit one of the guys in the side of the head. He went down hard onto the pavement with a loud whack. It was immediately obvious that he was in serious trouble as a flow of blood poured out of his head. I immediately rushed past him as I saw the police van come onto the street and wanted to get help as quickly as possible for the injured man. When I returned my sweetheart was on the pavement beside the injured man and had put him into the recovery position and was praying over him. This guy gained consciousness to the name of Jesus being spoken over him and was soon sitting up in a chair checking that his teeth were all there. No one else came to assist, everyone stood back and watched. It seemed to us that most people were happy that he had been bashed because of his behaviour. To me my sweetheart showed love, kindness, gentleness, self control, peace of a supernatural kind to that man who just moments before was abusing and bashing people. Both of us commented later that we were not frightened or concerned, even though were were in the middle of some very large out of control men. The real fruit of the Holy Spirit was evident there that night.

Thoughts

• Is this the full list of fruit, or is there more. Maybe boldness, courage, wisdom and others.
• Fruit is sweet, so is fruit of the Spirit
• Fruit is a carrier of seed and also helps disperse seed. We need to disperse our fruits widely not hold onto them for our own purpose. These 9 virtues are for others.
• Maybe future blogs will cover individual fruit and how they look supernaturally in us

More Reading

• Ps1:3
• Prov1:31, 12:14
• Matt7: 15-20

Prayer

Lord I want to walk with your Spirit continually, show me how, lead me, guide me. I thank you for showing me what it means to walk in your Spirit and I want to see more of your goodness over my life as I step out into your ways. Help me to soar over the stormy seas that lay before me and not be fearful. Help me to know your hand on our lives and to feel your guiding voice and touch. Thank you for the fruits that I can see in my life and help me to step out into more fruit and juicier fruit so that your glory that is over my life will shine onto others and become a blessing to them. Lord let my words and actions show off your might and power in the earth and that your Kingdom will be shown off here.