Inspirational Insights: The fruit of the spirit is…

Galatians 5:22, “But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

So often we forget about the third person in the Trinity; the Holy Spirit. But He is as much a part of our lives as the Father and the Son. He is the one that Christ left as a comforter for us after He ascended into Heaven after His resurrection. Jesus left the Spirit with us so we wouldn’t be alone, that He would be with us always and would guide us in the ways of our mind and heart.

As Christians, all the fruit listed below should come naturally for us. I, personally, have trouble with longsuffering (patience) because I want things to happen right away. I sometimes find myself losing faith in the waiting process. But then the Holy Spirit will jostle me just enough to remind me that I need to depend on God’s perfect timing in such matters.

Love — Love never fails. God’s divine love is called “Agape” which is the highest measure of love ever given. It is a divine capacity to love and is more a response than a feeling. Agape is fueled by needs rather than desires.

Joy — Psalm 30:5, “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning”. It fascinates the world to see a believer whose joy defies his pain. Our joy comes from knowing something that the rest of the world does not.

Peace — Colossians 3:15, “Let the peace of God rule in your hearts”. To the believer our peace doesn’t come with the answer…it comes with the authority. Our spirit, soul and body bends to the rule of God’s peace.

Longsuffering (Patience) — The world seems to breed impatience. Convenience doesn’t produce character and we can’t put ourselves in a situation to eliminate all problems, no matter how hard we try. In order to find true patience we must go to the Word of God. There you will find the answer you’re waiting for.

Kindness — Seems simple enough but a true believer must yield to the Holy Spirit to attain this quality.

Goodness — People today are self-absorbed and bored. They need to be part of something meaningful. Goodness is energizing our character, expressing itself in compassion. God is good. What God does is good because of the good it does.

Faithfulness — Genuine faith walks constantly with God for the pleasure of His company, not for His results. Faith trusts God through and not around the battles; not just to win but to be transformed.

Gentleness — It is a quality we acquire from submitting to God’s will. Gentleness is responsibility with power and an inward calmness of the soul.

Self-Control — This is our wall of protection. Our lack of self-control leaves us open to attack from the enemy and allows our enemies to take control over us.

Take notice again of the verse above. It states “the fruit”, not fruits. This simply means that these gifts are not separate. They have been given to us as a group. We don’t get one over the other. We get them all wrapped up into one.

I believe when God purposely isolates and spells out nine specific qualities that will be coming direct from the Holy Spirit then He is letting us know the extreme importance of these specific gifts.

Best of all — there is no law against having any of these qualities. They’re free…so use them generously and often!

Answer from last week: A shelter. (Jonah 4:5)

This week’s question: What insect did God send to destroy Jonah’s vine? (Jonah 4:7)

(Nancy Stoppe of Jenners is affiliated with Jenner Township Baptist Church, Boswell. She can be contacted at nms@lceci.com.)

This article originally appeared on The Daily American: Nancy Stoppe column about