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Nine fruits of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23 include:
Paul listed love first because God is love and all the other fruit is an outgrowth of love. Good fruit grows best in a climate blessed with an abundance of the Spirit and the Word. Most fruits of the Spirit are grown over time – time includes patience.
One of the last words Jesus commanded His followers is recorded in Acts 1:4.
"And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, which He said, you have heard from Me."
The phrase, "Promise of the Father," means Holy Spirit.
Fruits of the Spirit cannot be produced by our own strength and efforts. Only the indwelling power and presence of the Holy Spirit in us can produce everlasting life and eternal fruit.
Having grown up on a farm, I know whatever seeds a farmer plants in the soil during the spring season will be harvested in the fall. Galatians 6:7 says the same thing – whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. God has ordained that we reap what we sow. The farmer who sows wheat expects to reap wheat.
On the farm I grew up on, we planted corn, soybeans, and oats every spring and harvested corn, soybeans, and oats when it was time to harvest the crop, in addition to raising cattle, pigs, and chickens, we also had a large garden. Because we butchered some of our own beef and chicken, we produced enough food to live off the land.
The seeds we planted in the soil on day 1 didn't ripen on day 2. Farmers must patiently wait for the sun to shine long enough to warm the soil, and for God to water the earth with rain, so the seed to sprout, grow roots down, bear fruit up, and ultimately ripen over time. Most fruits of the Holy Spirit are grown over time, as well.
Growing up on the farm, I know that God doesn't pull weeds. Farmers till the soil, plant the seeds, and pull the weeds that quickly thicken, steal nutrients from the soil, block the sun, and diminish the outgrowth (size) of the crop. But hard work and patience helps us prioritize what's important, while waiting shapes who we are and what we become.
"They that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint" (Isaiah 40:31).
The word "renew" in this passage means "to exchange," as taking off our clothing and putting on new. We exchange our weakness for His power (2 Corinthians 12:1-10). As we trust God, He enables us to soar above the crisis, to run when the challenges are many, and to walk faithfully in the routine day-by-day demands of life.
Impatience is a character trait of immature people. Those who are steadfast in their faith, however, will be blessed with His presence, His Spirit, His word, His love, and His power.
When we depend on ourselves instead of choosing to wait on God, all we get is a life full of ourselves.
If you're sick and tired of the status quo and are ready for change, turn whole-heartedly toward God, pursue Him, and He will give you the desires of your heart. The fact of the matter is this: those who become acquainted with God will fall in love with Him and want to develop a close and ongoing relationship with Him. The more you hang out with the God of the Bible, the more you become like Him. If you regularly spend time feeding your spirit with words printed on every page of the Bible, the Holy Spirit will renew your mind. A renewed mind will change how you think and influence what you say and do.
One of the promises of the Bible states this: If you draw near to God, He will draw near to you. If you want to be blessed with wisdom, increase, and favor of God, do what the Bible tells you to do. Before you pick up your Bible, however, perhaps you may want to ask the Holy Spirit to open the eyes of your understanding so you can receive fresh revelation and new insight to fully comprehend what God's love letter, called the Bible, wants you to know and do.
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