To follow on from my last post about being watered with the Holy Spirit to bear fruit I wanted to go into more depth with these spiritual fruits. It's quite in depth so I will break it down into parts.
Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
1. Love
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
There are many examples of love in the Bible, it fits as first on our list as it is also the first and great commandment: to love the Lord with all of our heart, soul strength and mind and the second great commandment of loving our neighbour as ourselves. Other important mentions include loving our brother, friends and the most touching being to love our enemies.
John 13:35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
Most of the reference to love are good but we are warned against loving the wrong things: such as vanity, ourselves, sleep, pleasure, wine, darkness, evil and death. The thing to watch out for most is the love of money, which has the worst thing said about it: being described as the root of all evil.
John 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
Love is practiced by putting others before yourself, the more you love the more you will be willing to sacrifice. Jesus best demonstrated it by making the ultimate sacrifice to save us from our sins. We should practice this by putting God and everyone else above ourselves.
1 John 4:8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
2. Joy
Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.
God wants his children to always be happy and rejoice in Him as the source of our happiness. We can describe this joy as being thankful for what he has done for us and to enjoy his gifts. There are so many great things He has given us and done for us, it is hard to count, so we should set aside time to reflect upon this and to be thankful for the greatness of God, new things will come out daily.
Psalm 51:12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.
Praise God for giving us salvation! This is the first and primary thing that we should be thankful for: God has overcome the world and saved us from the pit we dug for ourselves and has opened the door to us. He has given us the light of life and enabled us to experience delights beyond measure.
Psalm 16:11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
We have yet to experience the greatest joy of being with Him in paradise. We should remember to stay hopeful for this and remember just how great a future He has for us in His plans: eternal happiness is given to us and what a gift that is to await, we should be as children counting down until the arrival of Christmas! How much better is the gift of God compared to the gifts of men!
Luke 6:21 Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh.
3. Peace
Judges 6:23 And the Lord said unto him, Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die.
Peace in the Biblical sense is the absence of fear, worry and anxiety. God has given us his assurance of salvation and so we should put our trust in Him with faith and no longer worry about worldly things, and ultimately death. We can rest, assured knowing that He is in control and has a plan for us.
Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Jesus is the prince of peace, thanks to him we no longer have to fear anything. When unsaved, the first thing to fear should be God, because His wrath is upon the children of disobedience and they are at a very real risk of hell with no such assurance as His children. When we have accepted Him, His love casts out the fear and replaces it with peace.
John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
The world may offer peace in various forms, for example absence from war, even medication and drugs can make people more peaceful, but this is only a mere worldly form of peace that is not a deep-down peace of the spirit, nor is it lasting. Be wary of worldly offers of peace as they are not all that they are cracked up to be. True peace comes from the prince of peace, anything else is a lie.
1 Thessalonians 5:3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
Psalm 4:8 I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety.
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