Tag Archives: fruit of the spirit

June 30, 2025 · 5:30 AM

Remain In Christ

One of the Scriptures that has always stood out to me is Romans 11:17. It says, “But some of these branches from Abraham’s tree—some of the people of Israel—have been broken off. And you Gentiles, who were branches from a wild olive tree, have been grafted in. So now you also receive the blessing God has promised Abraham and his children, sharing in the rich nourishment from the root of God’s special olive tree” (NLT). I’m no gardener, but the idea of being grafted in has always intrigued me. To be grafted in means we had a clean cut from our old life, we’ve been tightly bound to a new source and we receive nourishment from the new root. The continuous flow of sap from the new source is what helps us bear fruit. 

In John 15:5 Jesus said plainly, “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.” The Greek word for “remain” is meno which means to live in a constant, uninterrupted state. Jesus was telling us that a life with Him is not a place we visit one or twice a week, but a place where we live constantly if we want to bear fruit. He went on in this chapter to tell us to remain rooted in His Word (7), to remain in His love (9) and to obey His commands (10j so we can bear much fruit. We can’t bear fruit unless we live in a constant, uninterrupted state connected to Him.

What kind of fruit should you bear in your life as a result of this grafting? Galatians 5:22-23 says, “But the fruit of the Spirit [the result of His presence within us] is love [unselfish concern for others], joy, [inner] peace, patience [not the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting], kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law” (AMP). Notice that fruit isn’t a reflection of our efforts, but of His presence within us that comes from remaining in Him. Your life will bear the fruit of the root and tree that you’re connected to because they are your source. Where are you drawing your daily life from? Are you remaining in His presence daily? When we remain in Him, we will bear fruit in every season of life. 

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May 28, 2025 · 5:38 AM

Godly Kindness

One of the Fruits of the Spirit that we should be cultivating in our lives is kindness. It’s more than being nice to someone. Kindness is reflecting the heart of God instead of being selfish and seeking your own advantage. Our world is impatient, self centered and prideful. Even when some people appear to be kind, they have a selfish agenda behind the action. Godly kindness is born out of a heart that does what God wants for the person. It reflects His love Hos love for them through words, time and action. God blesses that kind of kindness.

David and Saul are great examples of the difference between Godly kindness and the worldly mindset. In 1 Samuel 26, Saul was chasing David out of his selfish desire to keep the kingdom in his family knowing God had blessed David. One night, David and one of his men snuck into Saul’s camp and found everyone asleep. They walked up to Saul to find his spear and his water jug by his head. His soldier wanted to kill Saul, but in kindness, David allowed him to live putting God’s will above his own. David took the spear and the water jug then went a safe distance before yelling to wake them up. Saul experienced David’s kindness and turned back from hunting David on this occasion while offering him empty platitudes.

Proverbs 11:17 says, “Your kindness will reward you, but your cruelty will destroy you” (NLT). Saul was being destroyed as he was consumed with selfishness. For years David had every opportunity to seize what God had promised him, but operated out of God’s kindness while waiting for God’s timing. He saw King Saul as God’s anointed even though he carried the anointing himself. He looked for the image of God in Saul and treated him as that instead of as his enemy. Kindness give others what they don’t deserve and that’s why God’s kindness leads us to repentance. Who do you know that needs to experience God’s kindness through you today?

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April 17, 2024 · 5:31 AM

The Fruit Of Patience

One of the Fruits of the Spirit that we don’t like to talk about is patience. We like to talk about love, joy, peace and kindness, but we tend to forget about patience being one. Have you ever thought about the fruit that patience and impatience yield in our life? When we’re impatient things escalate and complications arise. Our vision of the future gets clouded and we make dumb decisions. Impatience also comes with negative feelings that create negative behaviors for which we have to apologize. However, patience yields a different crop in our life. By being patient, we develop endurance and resilience. We Also build up future success because we learn to have delayed gratification. Finally patience creates better relationships. Would you rather be around an impulsive and impatient person or a calm patient one?

There were plenty of people in the Bible who were impatient. Think,of King Saul who couldn’t wait for Samuel to do the sacrifice. His impatience cost him the kingdom. Abraham and Sarah grew impatient waiting on God’s promise of a son and created a work around. That decision is still causing wars to this day. Also the Israelites got tired of waiting for Moses to come down the mountain and created a golden calf causing God’s anger to fall on them. Even though we have these examples, we also have examples of patience. Look at Job. He was patient through his trials and God restored everything he lost and then some. David patiently waited to be king even while running for his life. He became the most famous king of Israel. There was also Hannah who was barren. She continued to pray year after year and God answer with a son named Samuel.

Psalm 40:1 says, “I waited and waited and waited some more, patiently, knowing God would come through for me. Then, at last, he bent down and listened to my cry” (TPT). What crop do you want to grow in your life? Both patience and impatience create long lasting results. A moment of impatience can cause a lifetime of sorrow. If God hasn’t answered yet, keep praying and believing. If you’re waiting on God to fulfill His promise, don’t jump the gun. He will do it in His time, not yours. I know the clock may be ticking, but switch your focus from the humdrum of the ticks and tocks to His Word. Watching the time yields the fruits of impatience, while His Word reminds us of His character. Let the fruit of patience grow in your life as you wait for God to come through.

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June 27, 2023 · 5:43 AM

Heart Soil

Micro-farming has become a thing in recent years. People are buying a lot in a neighborhood and turning it into a small farm. Whether you’re building a huge farm or a micro farm, you success depends on prepping the soil. Depending on the crop you want to grow, you’re going to have to start with fertilizing it. Your soil needs the proper nutrients if you’re going to have abundant crops. Next, you’ll need to till up the ground. This will soften the dirt so seeds can grow and help you get out any rocks or items that would prevent seeds from taking root. Finally, you’ll need a fence to keep out people and animals that would try to rob you of your fruit.

In Mark 4, Jesus told a parable about a farmer. This person scattered seed all over his lot. Some fell on the footpath, some fell on soil with rocks underneath, some fell where there were weeds and some fell on good soil. Birds came and ate the seeds on the footpath which prevented a harvest there. The ones that fell on the soil with rocks underneath couldn’t take root and dried up in the heat. The ones that fell among the weeds fought for nutrients with them, but were soon chocked out. Only the ones that fell on fertile soil produced good crops. As Jesus told this, He was illustrating how our hearts receive the Word of God. We can go to church all we want, but the condition of the soil of our heart will determine our growth, not how good the preacher is.

Hosea 10:12 says, “Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and shower righteousness upon you” (NLT). Notice how the responsibility of plowing the soil of our own heart belongs to us. It’s not someone else’s responsibility. We must fertilize the soil of our heart to make sure it has the right nutrients. Think about what you’re putting in your heart and mind daily. Then we must break up the hardness we’ve allowed to accumulate under our soil by letting God heal our past. Then we need to build a fence to guard our heart and mind from the enemy who wants to prevent the seeds from taking root. We do this by building relationships with godly people whom we’re able to confess our sins to. Don’t let another day go by without taking responsibility for the soil of your heart. If you’re not producing the Fruits of the Spirit like you want, work on your soil.

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November 26, 2021 · 5:28 AM

Being Productive People

Galatians 5 tells us that the Holy Spirit produces fruit in our lives. James 1 tells us that the difficulties and trials we face produce character in us. Have you ever wondered what it is that you’re to produce? God created us to be productive. In many of Jesus’ parables, He compares us to gardens or seeds. In each of them, the ones that produced were promoted. The ones who didn’t produce were thrown out. It’s important to know that we are not to live idle lives. Instead, we should be producing many different things. We were created to be productive people.

Here are some Bible verses on things we’re to produce.

1. So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.

James 2:17 NLT

2. Then you will be able to live as the Lord wants and will always do what pleases him. Your lives will produce all kinds of good deeds, and you will grow in your knowledge of God.

Colossians 1:10 GNT

3. A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart.

Luke 6:45 NLT

4. Therefore produce fruit that is worthy of [and consistent with your] repentance [that is, live changed lives, turn from sin and seek God and His righteousness]. And do not even begin to say to yourselves [as a defense], ‘We have Abraham for our father [and so our heritage assures us of salvation]’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children (descendants) for Abraham [for God can replace the unrepentant, regardless of their heritage, with those who are obedient].

Luke 3:8 AMP

5. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more.

John 15:2 NLT

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June 23, 2021 · 5:47 AM

Competing Voices

Several years ago I was an Uber driver. I would always start off near my home, but before long, I would end up in places I had never been. I would have to pay close attention to the map. There were times when a rider would be in the car giving me conflicting information with the map. That was always worrisome to me. Do I follow what the rider is telling me or choose to disregard their advice and go where the map is leading me? The map sees ahead and has information we don’t have, but the rider seems to know the area and gives me the tip. Every time that happened, I either had to tell them, “Thanks, but I need to follow the map,” or hear, “Rerouting” over and over in my ear until I would just turn down the volume. Each time it happened, I had to deal with whichever consequence.

Being a Christian is very similar I’ve found. There are two voices in my head constantly trying to give me directions on how to live, where to go and what to do. They’re in conflict with each other quite often. The Holy Spirit is much like the GPS. He knows the way better than anyone, He sees things that are ahead and is constantly trying to reroute me when I make a wrong turn. My flesh is the other voice telling me, “Turn here.” My heart tells me to follow my God given guide, but there always a strong pull to listen to the other voice. Each time I choose which voice to listen to, there’s a consequence. I give up something that my flesh would really enjoy and please God or do something that’s not right and feel shame. It’s a constant struggle for all of us as Christians.

Paul put it plainly in Galatians 5:16-17. He said, “Let me emphasize this: As you yield to the dynamic life and power of the Holy Spirit, you will abandon the cravings of your self-life. When your self-life craves the things that offend the Holy Spirit you hinder him from living free within you!” (TPT) That’s the choice we have to constantly make. Who’s voice are you going to listen to? They’re at odds with one another, and we’re stuck in the middle. Each voice produces very different fruit in our lives as Paul goes on to describe in this chapter. The good news is that it’s easier to follow the voice of the Holy Spirit if we will decide ahead any situation that we will choose His voice. The more we make that choice, the more we be empowered to live the way God wants us to. The voice we listen to the most grows the loudest within us, so choose now which voice you’ll listen to today.

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October 16, 2020 · 5:45 AM

Control Yourself

When we get stressed, there is something in us that tries to start taking control of everything. Our brains don’t like chaos. When those times arise, our need to try to control everything around us kicks in to try to bring order. Some of us feel that need all the time. We want to have as much control of the things around us as possible. The problem with both is that it gives a false sense of security. I used to have a boss that would say, “Control the controllables.” They we’re talking about external things, but what I’ve realized is that the main thing I need to learn to control is my self.

The fruit of the Spirit in your life is not control. It’s self control, yet somehow we try to pervert that into trying to control everything but ourselves in order to control ourselves. There will always be chaos around us. There will always be things out of order. We can’t control those things. We can only control how we react. The Holy Spirit living in us helps us to have self control in those situations. It’s not just about saying no to temptation. It’s about how I react to the affects of sin around me. Instead of trying to control everything else around us to give us peace, pray and ask the Holy Spirit to take over and to produce the fruit of self control in your life.

Here are some Bible verses on self control.

1. But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

Galatians 5:22-23 NLT

2. For the Spirit that God has given us does not make us timid; instead, his Spirit fills us with power, love, and self-control.

2 Timothy 1:7 GNT

3. For this very reason, applying your diligence [to the divine promises, make every effort] in [exercising] your faith to, develop moral excellence, and in moral excellence, knowledge (insight, understanding), and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, steadfastness, and in your steadfastness, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly affection, and in your brotherly affection, [develop Christian] love [that is, learn to unselfishly seek the best for others and to do things for their benefit]. For as these qualities are yours and are increasing [in you as you grow toward spiritual maturity], they will keep you from being useless and unproductive in regard to the true knowledge and greater understanding of our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Peter 1:5-8 AMP

4. A person without self-control is like a house with its doors and windows knocked out.

Proverbs 25:28 MSG

5. A [shortsighted] fool always loses his temper and displays his anger, But a wise man [uses self-control and] holds it back.

Proverbs 29:11 AMP

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May 11, 2018 · 6:08 AM

Unselfish Generosity

Organizations, teams, relationships and people groups function best when people look out for each other as much or more than themselves. Problems arise when people are selfish and trying to get their own instead of helping others succeed. A culture of selfishness breeds greed, distrust, back stabbing and division. It’s unhealthy and stunts growth. I believe that’s why one of the characteristics God desires for Christians to have is selflessness. It promotes growth, healing, unity and trust.

God’s desire for you and I is to help others in our journey through life. If you look around you, there are people in your life every day that need a word of encouragement, a helping hand, someone to share their burdens with or your time. If you haven’t seen them, you’re too busy being focused on your own needs. God gave us His selfless love and wants us to show selfless love to others so that we can point them to Him. If you struggle in this area, ask God to open your eyes to the needs of others and to help you show His love. If you pray that way, you’ll not only change the life of others, your life will change too.

Here are some Bible verses on unselfish generosity.

1. So I, the prisoner for the Lord, appeal to you to live a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called [that is, to live a life that exhibits godly character, moral courage, personal integrity, and mature behavior–a life that expresses gratitude to God for your salvation], with all humility [forsaking self-righteousness], and gentleness [maintaining self-control], with patience, bearing with one another in [unselfish] love.

EPHESIANS 4:1-2 AMP

2. And God, who supplies seed for the sower and bread to eat, will also supply you with all the seed you need and will make it grow and produce a rich harvest from your generosity.

2 Corinthians 9:10 GNT

3. But generous people plan to do what is generous, and they stand firm in their generosity.

Isaiah 32:8 NLT

4. Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults—unless, of course, you want the same treatment. Don’t condemn those who are down; that hardness can boomerang. Be easy on people; you’ll find life a lot easier. Give away your life; you’ll find life given back, but not merely given back—given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity.

Luke 6:37-38 MSG

5. But the fruit of the Spirit [the result of His presence within us] is love [unselfish concern for others], joy, [inner] peace, patience [not the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting], kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.

GALATIANS 5:22-23 AMP

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March 2, 2018 · 5:43 AM

Developing Godly Traits

A friend recently posted, “Lord, give me patience.” I thought, “Girl, that’s a dangerous prayer! You’re about to go through some stuff because that’s how you get it.” Growing patience is like growing a muscle. You’re going to have to push it to it’s limits continuously if you want to it to grow. When we need patience, God uses things in our life to push our patience beyond where it currently is so we can have more of it.

The great news is that you don’t just get patience when you go through the things that build it. You’ll also gain endurance, character, joy and more. God wants to grow all these things in our life, but we are quick to pray, “God, get me out of this,” when He’s trying to make us stronger. If we are willing to endure the difficult things that come our way, God can grow some amazing things in our life. Yes, praying for patience is dangerous, but rewarding.

Here are some Bible verses on the developing Godly character traits.

1. We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

Romans 5:3-5 NLT

2. Consider it nothing but joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you fall into various trials. Be assured that the testing of your faith [through experience] produces endurance [leading to spiritual maturity, and inner peace]. And let endurance have its perfect result and do a thorough work, so that you may be perfect and completely developed [in your faith], lacking in nothing.

JAMES 1:2-4 AMP

3. But the Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control. There is no law against such things as these.

Galatians 5:22-23 GNT

4. So don’t lose a minute in building on what you’ve been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus. Without these qualities you can’t see what’s right before you, oblivious that your old sinful life has been wiped off the books.

2 Peter 1:5-9 MSG

5. Therefore, God’s chosen ones, holy and loved, put on heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, accepting one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a complaint against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive. Above all, put on love — the perfect bond of unity. And let the peace of the Messiah, to which you were also called in one body, control your hearts. Be thankful.

Colossians 3:12-15 HCSB

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June 4, 2015 · 7:39 AM

Producing Good Fruit

How long has it been since you looked at the Fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5? To me, they’re a measuring stick of where I am in my growth. I have to ask myself, “Is my life producing these fruits?” Paul told us that a life controlled by God’s Spirit would produce those fruits. If I’m not producing them, then I’m not being controlled by God. In that same chapter, he also described the fruits of the flesh. These describe what a life that is not controlled by the Spirit looks like. It’s important to look in the mirror often to see what your spiritual life looks like.

Each morning as I get ready for the day, I stop and look in the mirror to fix my hair and to make sure I look presentable before going out in public. The same thing should happen for us as believers. We should look at ourselves in the mirror of God’s Word to see what we look like. If we don’t like what we see, we need to make adjustments just like we would to our physical appearance. If you had bags under your eyes you could either cover them with make up (this doesn’t solve the problem) or get more rest.

Too many times when we look in our spiritual mirror and see something that doesn’t look right in our lives, we try to cover it up. We want to appear to others as having it together when really the problem is one of the heart. David tried to cover up his sin with Bathsheba. He didn’t want others to know he had committed adultery, so he brought her husband home from the war. When he wouldn’t sleep with his wife, David sent him back to be killed so he could marry her and make it look like they got pregnant on their wedding night. He went to a lot of trouble trying to cover up the physical actions of a spiritual problem.

David had quit being led by the Spirit and was being led by his fleshly desires. He reaped the fruit of that choice. Since he wouldn’t look I hope a spiritual mirror, the prophet of God came and held it up. When he did, David recognized the spiritual problem. Instead of continuing to try to cover it, he dealt with the spiritual problem. In Psalm 51:10 he prayed, “Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me. (NLT)” He realized he needed s change of heart to change his ways.

We are not so different from David. We have fruit we are not proud of and we try to cover it up. You may not have a prophet come knock on your door to call you out like he did, but the problem still has to be dealt with. If you look at the fruit in your life and know you need to change, don’t try to cover the problem up. Deal with it at the source. Pray like David did that God would give you a clean heart, that He would put a right spirit in you and that you would live a life that is led by His Spirit. When you do that, you will produce love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.  

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