The fruit of the Holy Spirit begins to manifest in our lives, as we are developing the spirit man within us. The fruit of the Holy Spirit itself is what our spirit man uses in developing the Christ like character in us, as we continue to abide in Christ and in His Word. We begin to grow spiritually as the fruit begins to manifest in us the character of Christ.
We then are able to develop our born again spirit man more and more, to become who we were created to be, as we work on improving our daily relationship with Christ Jesus.
It is therefore very important for us to have a strong relationship with Jesus, if we really want to bear spiritual fruit which lasts eternally.
Jesus declared:
“Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
John 15:4-5 NIV
Without remaining and abiding in Jesus our spiritual life, as Christians is unfruitful. Jesus wants us to bear spiritual fruit, even as our spirit man is being developed to be more like Him.
So therefore we must know how to develop the spirit man within us, in order for us to bear spiritual fruit. We do this by first acknowledging where the spiritual fruit comes from. It originates from inside of our spirit man, in our fellowshipping and relationship with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit helps us and assists us in bearing spiritual fruit.
WE NEED SPIRITUAL FRUIT FOR SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT
Paul told the Galatians:
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
Galatians 5:22-23 NIV
We need to note here that the fruit of the Spirit are manifested in us, as a direct consequences of the born again spirit man inside of us, being able to interact with the Holy Spirit who lives inside him. When our spirit man is open to the leading and guidance of the Holy Spirit who lives in us, something unique begins to take place in our lives as we will start bearing spiritual fruit.
This was what King Solomon meant when he said:
“The Lord’s light penetrates the human spirit, exposing every hidden motive.”
Proverbs 20:27 NLT
When the Holy Spirit (the Lord’s light) penetrates our human spirit, the evils in us are first exposed to us, so that we may be able to do something in getting rid of those evils. A Christian who is struggling with evil at heart is deceitful. We can repent of our sins but we are not doing ourselves any good, if we willingly continue to commit the same sin over and over again. When we do this, we are grieving the Holy Spirit who is pointing the sin to our spirit man, so that we may turn away from it. A Christian who does this can never bear spiritual fruit to glorify God. Repentance of sin is not really the issue with many, who are struggling to bear spiritual fruit. Their problem is the inability to turn away completely from evil. You can’t turn away from something that you don’t hate. Having a holy hatred for evil empowers the Holy Spirit, who lives in us to guide us in the necessary steps to be taken in eliminating it.
And when these evils are eliminated, we will start bearing spiritual fruit to the glory of God, as we begin to follow Jesus and His Word. The Holy Spirit helps us as we pray regularly in the spirit, in bringing His light to shine into our hearts, so as to expose us to our real self on the inside of our spirit. This is how we begin to discover the purpose of God for our lives. We will begin to grow into spiritual maturity, as we bear spiritual fruit, to walk in that revealed purpose of God to us. The ability of a believer to bear spiritual fruit is the initial sign of spiritual maturity in that believer.
EXAMINING OURSELVES
We also need to be seeking to bear spiritual fruit, by judging ourselves on a regular basis, as we are growing into spiritual maturity.
As Apostle Paul told the Corinthians:
“Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.”
II Corinthians 13:5 NKJV
The only thing that can disqualify us is the presence of sin on the inside of us. Unfortunately many believers don’t even do a spiritual examination of themselves. They are not growing spiritual because, they are not making use of the spiritual gauge of God on the inside of them, to measure their personal spiritual growth.
We activate the spiritual gauge in us by spending quality time to pray in tongues or in the spirit daily. Whatever good or evil that is hidden in us, will be brought to the searching light of God (the Holy Spirit) who lives inside us. Spiritual self examination is vital to our spiritual growth. We can’t bear spiritual fruit if we are not continually doing this.
And by abiding in Christ Jesus, we are positioning ourselves to bear spiritual fruit. Love is the initial fruit that comes out of our spirit man. The love of God is where every other spiritual fruit stems from; in the heart of a born again believer in Christ Jesus. The love of God in us is the source of peace, joy, self control and other fruit of the Holy Spirit. We need faith for the fruit of love to manifest in us. Every step that we take out of walking in love, is a step deeper into sin. When we stay focused on loving people, we give the Holy Spirit the opportunity to work through us.
We need to pay particular attention to why Paul in Galatians 5:22, used the word “fruit” in the singular form and not in the plural. He was emphasizing here the importance of the first spiritual fruit – love. All the other manifestations of the fruit of the Spirit hangs on it. The love of God in us is the source of all spiritual fruit.
THE FRUIT OF THE FLESH
We need to also acknowledge that the enemy of our soul has fruit, which are manifested in those who willingly yield to his ways. A non believer in Christ also bears spiritual fruit (which are evil), through his adherence to the law of sin and death. And interestingly enough because a carnally minded believer has not been able to renew his mind; the spiritual fruit coming out of his heart is often identical with that of the non believer.
A carnally minded believer is unable to bear spiritual fruit by the Holy Spirit, because his mind is not yet renewed with the word of God. The unrepentant and uncrucified carnal nature in him, continually hinders his ability to bear spiritual fruit. He believes in Jesus with his heart, but his mind is still struggling to submit in obeying God’s word (read Romans 7:7-25).
Apostle Paul reveals this type of spiritual fruit to us when He said:
“When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.”
Galatians 5:19-21 NLT
These are all the spiritual fruit of the flesh. They are the manifestation of evil spirits or demons in the ones who have chosen to yield to them. They are not only faith killers from the devil; but they can lead anyone who ascribes to them straight to the pit of hell.
GOD’S KIND OF FAITH IN US IS THE KEY TO THE BLESSING
Any believer who follows the sinful nature in him, will always do things in his own way, rather than following the precepts of God from His written word. Such carnally minded believers will always try to use their natural human faith to receive from God. But natural human faith does not ever please God. That kind of faith doesn’t receive the things of God, because the things of God are spiritual and not natural.
We need the God’s kind of faith to walk in the blessings of God (Mark 11:22). We cannot use Thomas’ faith to get Abraham’s blessing. It will never work. Unfortunately that’s what many carnal minded believers are doing in our world today.
No one can inherit the kingdom of God or His blessing, by living a double standard lifestyle. No believer in Christ can bear spiritual fruit by trying to please the world, and on the other hand try to please God. We cannot serve two masters at the same time. We are either on the Lord’s side, or on the side of the unsaved world and satan.
The blessing of God for us is in the spirit realm. We need the God’s kind of faith to be able to take it. And as we continually walk by that faith after receiving the blessing, what is received in the spirit realm by faith through our heart or spirit man, will begin to manifest in the physical.
The scriptures says:
“He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.”
Galatians 3:14 NIV
We can only receive the promise of the Spirit in the realm of the spirit. And our faith is what we use in receiving it. No one can receive the blessing by a passive faith. Our faith has to be active on what the promise of God says, in our hearts as we receive it.
The fruit of the Holy Spirit helps us in the manifestation of the promise in our lives, as they are manifested in us. No one can truly walk in the blessing of God, without first walking in the manifestation of the fruit of the Spirit. God’s blessing to us will always impact us with His righteousness.
SPIRITUAL FRUITFULNESS IS OUR NUGGET TO CHANGE OUR WORLD
We become spiritually fruitful when we begin to receive the engrafted word of God into our hearts, so as to become doers of what it says in bearing spiritual fruit. We therefore will stop being double minded, but rather stable and steadfast in faith towards God.
Paul explained this better in writing to the Thessalonians to testify about how they received the gospel that he preached to them.
He told them:
“And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe. For you, brothers and sisters, became imitators of God’s churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus: You suffered from your own people the same things those churches suffered from the Jews”
1 Thessalonians 2:13-14 NIV
Paul testified here about the Thessalonians. He said that they did not accept or received the word of God as that of men, or from a worldly popular point of view, like many carnally minded believers in our world today would have done. He told them that because they had received the word of God just as God’s Word to them; they had become imitators of like minded men and women of faith within the body of Christ elsewhere. They had become imitators of other believers, as those believers are imitating Christ, rather than the opinions of men, or popular worldview of their time.
This is how a carnally minded believer can become an effective imitator, of other faith walking believers in Christ – by receiving the unpolluted and unadulterated word of God into the heart, and applying it in renewing the mind.
Are you misguidedly using the natural human faith as the faith of God in your life? Your spiritual life will never bloom to glorify God in that way. You will never bear spiritual fruit with the natural human faith. You need the faith of God to bear spiritual fruit in glorifying Jesus. That kind of faith doesn’t come by believing the popular views. God’s kind of faith comes from God’s word (Romans 10:17).
That’s the kind of faith that will not only help you to be a fruitful Christian. It will also help you to receive every good things of life which belongs to you in Christ Jesus.
The faith that changes situations around us is not the natural human faith. It is the God’s kind of faith. When we begin to apply the word of God, as the guiding principles for our lives, we not only begin to grow spiritual, we will begin to bear spiritual fruit as the nuggets of God in us to change our world.
