Fruit of the Spirit

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Would anyone like these traits? Or fruit of the Spirit?


Good news, this fruit is available to all those who belong to Christ Jesus. From my study bible "How do we develop the fruit of the Spirit?"
-Faith and obedience go hand in hand. The fruit of the Spirit is something ONLY the Holy Spirit can produce in the life of a believer. As such; it's something we receive by faith--a gift given when we accept Christ as our Savior. At the same time, as we live in obedience to God's commands, the fruit grows and develops in our lives. Our part is seen, for example, in developing love (John 13:34), joy (Phil. 4:4) and peace (Col 3:15).


John 13:34 "³⁴ “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another."


Philippians 4:4 "⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!"


Colossians 3:15 "¹⁵ Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful."


From Wikipedia: The word rendered love is agape in the Greek, which in the Christian context refers to unconditional love. Strong's Exhaustive Concordance describes Agape as:

Strong's #26: A word to which Christianity gave new meaning. Outside of the NT, it rarely occurs in existing Greek manuscripts of the period. Agape denotes an undefeatable benevolence and unconquerable goodwill that always seeks the highest of the other, no matter what he does. It is the self-giving love that gives freely without asking anything in return, and does not consider the worth of its object. Agape is more a love by choice than philos, which is love by chance; and it refers to the will rather than the emotion. Agape describes the unconditional love God has for the world. The "Agape" love is more than that, is sacrificial, demonstrated by Jesus at the Cross of Calvary.

Paul describes the attributes of this love in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a:

"Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily. It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God's love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong]. It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail. Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything without weakening. [Love never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end]. Love never fails." (AMP)

This is an amazing kind of love and a love that isn't natural to us. We need God in us to produce this kind of love. I'm striving for love like this.

Many people question how Christianity can affect their life and what is "in it" for them. A good place to look is Galatians 5:22-23. 


~Check out http://pitterpatterart.wordpress.com/2011/05/16/6-months-waiting-art-giveaway/ for a free giveaway! Laura and her husband are adopting from Africa and every month they wait Laura does a free giveaway of her art which is amazing. Go check it out and enter to win, like I am=)