http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians+5&version=NIV
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
In the above verses, the term “fruit” is singular. If we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we will produce such fruit. All of the characteristics of the fruit set forth above will be at work in our lives. As Doug has said, we focus on making the tree healthy and not on producing fruit. As we grow spiritually throughout life, we can grow from a 5 foot apple tree producing 5 apples to a 20 foot apple tree producing 100 apples. Spiritually, our fruit comes from crucifying our natural passions and desires and keeping in step with the Holy Spirit and letting Him direct our lives.
Bob Nideffer gave the example of an NFL quarterback who doesn't know the playbook (i.e the word of God in a spiritual sense) and is ineffective on the field. However, if the quarterback knows the playbook and has practiced to improve his skill, then his actions on the field are automatic and effective. In a spiritual sense, he is not focusing on the fruits (i.e. the effectiveness of the plays) but rather on doing what has become automatic and natural for him. Spiritually he is letting the Holy Spirit direct his steps and this will result in the production of fruit (effective football plays). But if in the big Super Bowl game he is anxious and starts focusing on how to make effective football plays rather on just doing what has become natural for him, his actions will be mechanical and strained and his results will not good. He will become frustrated because he gets stuck on individual characteristics of specific plays rather on the big picture which is to perform each play automatically as practiced without getting caught up in what the results will be. In the spiritual realm as Christian, our goal needs to be to let the Holy Spirit control and direct our life and the more we allow that to happen, the bigger will be our crop of spiritual fruit.
Two weeks ago, we discussed how to have a spirit filled life. The essentials excerpted from the article e-mailed to everyone and attached hereto are:
- Sincerely desire to be directed and empowered by the Holy Spirit (Matthew 5:6; John 7:37-39).
- Confess your sins. By faith thank God that He has forgiven all of your sins - past, present and future - because Christ died for you (Colossians 2:13-15; 1 John 1; 2:1-3; Hebrews 10:1-17).
- Present every area of your life to God (Romans 12:1, 2).
- By faith claim the fullness of the Holy Spirit, according to:
- His Command: Be filled with the Spirit. "And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit" (Ephesians5:18).
- His Promise: He will always answer when we pray according to His will. "And this is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked of Him" (1 John 5:14, 15).