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 "And
I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he
may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth;
whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth
him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I
will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you." (John
14:16-18)
"But the Comforter, which is the Holy
Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all
things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said
unto you." (John 14.26)
"This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the
lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the
Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so
that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the
Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest,
which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife,
seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such
like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time
past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of
God." (Galatians 5:16-21)
"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)
"But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of
all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and
good fruit, impartial and sincere." (James 3:17)
The Holy Spirit blesses us with the following characteristics of Christ
that we may serve him and our fellow brothers and sisters with a right
spirit and clean heart:
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Love - a caring and seeking for the highest good of another
person without motive for personal gain. |
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Joy - the feeling of gladness based on the love, grace,
blessings, promises and nearness of God that belong to those who believe
in Christ. |
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Peace - the quietness of heart and mind based on the knowledge
that all is well between the believer and his or her heavenly Father. |
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Longsuffering - endurance, being slow to anger or despair. |
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Gentleness - restraint coupled with strength and courage; it
describes a person who can be angry when anger is needed and humbly
submissive when submission is needed. |
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Goodness - zeal for truth and righteousness and a hatred for
evil; it can be expressed in acts of kindness or in rebuking and
correcting evil. Not wanting to hurt someone or give him or
her pain. |
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Faith - faithfulness, firm and unswerving loyalty and
adherence to a person to whom one is united by promise, commitment,
trustworthiness, and honesty. |
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Meekness - gentle; tender; free from pride - consists not in a person's
"outward behaviour only; nor yet in his relations to his fellow-men; as
little in his mere natural disposition. Rather it is an inwrought grace
of the soul; and the exercises of it are first and chiefly towards God.
It is that temper of spirit in which we accept His dealings with us as
good, and therefore without disputing or resisting. |
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Temperance - self-control - having control or mastery over one's own desires
and passion, including faithfulness to one's marriage vows; also purity
and chastity. |
When Paul follows the list of the fruit of the Spirit by saying that
"against such things there is no law", he
was talking about the fact that the societal authorities find it pretty
hard to object to behavior that shows these characteristics. Even a
staunch enemy of the church will likely find these qualities appealing.
They are known to be positive characteristics by the general public, in
most eras, in most lands.
Without the Fruit Of The Spirit we are unable to fulfill our God-given
purpose in life that includes:
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Worship - Bringing pleasure to God - We were all created to
please God. "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and
power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are
and were created." (Revelation 4:11) |
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Fellowship - Loving God's family - We were all formed to be
God's family. "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid
down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the
brethren." (I John 3:16) |
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Discipleship - Becoming like Christ - We were all created to be
like Christ. "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to
be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn
among many brethren." (Romans 8:29) |
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Ministry - Serving God - We were all shaped to serve God.
"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."
(Ephesians 2:10) |
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Evangelism - Leading others to Christ - We were all made for a
mission. "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching
them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I
am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen." (Matthew
28:19-20) |
While striving to be more like Christ we must continue to realize that:
| Where there is 'the fruit of the Spirit', the Spirit is at work.
We can trust that. |
| We can't be godly apart from the Spirit; we just don't have
that ability. |
| As a matter of our nature, we are hell-bent on getting what we
desire. Even the best of what we are gets twisted by this inner
drive. |
| God has a very different way, and wants us to follow it.
Since we can't, the Spirit grows us up, cleans us up, and makes good
('fruit') come from us, in the manner of Jesus Christ. |
| Each person in the Spirit has a different share of each fruit,
and each fruit has a different shape in each person -- but all the
fruit will show themselves in each Christian as he or she goes deeper
into their walk with the Spirit. |
The first step in developing
Christian character is total submission to God. Only He can produce fruit
in the Christian's life. Fruits of the Spirit are actually a result of
this submission. Christian character is not primarily what you do but the
person you are as a result of being filled by the Holy Spirit.
Additional reference sites include:
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