Why Every Christian Should Receive the Holy Ghost #6

The Lord said to me,.."I will test my people with a plumbline. Amos 7:8 (TLB)

The Plumbline is a blog to encourage the Body of Christ.

Why Every Christian Should Receive the Holy Ghost #6

Essential with the Fruits of the Spirit

The Fruits of the Spirit Continued:  Galatians 5:22-23 (NLT) 22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT IS GENTLENESS: A man does not show his greatness by his bombast not by pushing people around. Although the Holy Spirit, by His infinite power, brought creation into existence, He is gentle as a dove and easily grieved. God is not only all-powerful, He is is gentle. The Psalmist said, “They gentleness, hath made me great...”  Ps 18:35.

THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT IS GOODNESS: What greater testimony could be given of a man than that Barnabas, “For he was good man, full of the Holy Ghost...”  Acts 11:24.

THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT IS FAITH: Not all have the special gift of faith. But if one is full of the Holy Spirit, his faith will grow into supernatural faith..

THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT IS MEEKNESS:  Here we have something supernatural. The natural man seeks to impress others. The natural man constantly seeks to compare himself with others, to his own advantage. But the fruit of the Spirit causes a man to seek the lower place, to give honor to others. Humility is the true path to exaltation. James 4:10 (NLT) Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.

THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT IS SELF-CONTROL:  Only the the Spirit of God can give us balance. Man is naturally given to extremes and excesses. Let God bless the man more than his brethren, and the possibility is strong that he will be puffed up. But the Holy Spirit seeks to give us balance and self-control in all that we do.

Opposed to these beautiful fruits of the Spirit are the fruits of the FLESH. Paul identifies them for us in Galatians 5:19-21 (NLT) 19 When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, 21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

COMPARE THE ABOVE TO THE FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT - BELOW:

Galatians 5:22-23 (NLT) 22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

THE FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT FALL INTO CATEGORIES:

The first CATEGORY of fruits are,inward and come from God alone (love, joy, peace)

The second CATEGORY of fruits are concerned with a believer’s relationship with others (patience, kindness, goodness)

The final CATEGORY of fruits focus on character traits that guide a believer’s life (faithfulness, gentleness, self-control)

Galatians 5:5-6 (NLT) But we who live by the Spirit eagerly wait to receive by faith the righteousness God has promised to us....What is important is faith expressing itself in love.