The believers are distinguished from the unbelievers by the fruits they bear. The believers are filled by the Holy Spirit who enables them bear good fruits. The nine fruits of the Holy Spirit, as the bible mentions, are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self control.
Love is the ability to overcome selfishness. It is the ability to put another person's needs before ours. It is self sacrifice. We are only able to love because God loved us first. It is only by the power of the Holy Spirit that we can love perfectly.
Joy is an active choice of an attitude happiness. It is based on the eternal hope we have in Christ. Joy is more than the emotional happiness. Joy comes in the comfort of knowing that God has it all covered through Jesus Christ.
Peace comes when we avoid anxiety by taking our worries to God through prayers and supplication. Our Lord Jesus Christ triumphed over sin and death, and He is our hope. We should take our worries to Him and avoid anxieties which might cause us more worries.
Patience is the ability to extend mercy on others, reacting in love instead of anger when we have differences with others. Patience is also the ability to be calm during trials and temptations, knowing we have the hope in Christ, the hope of eternity to sustain us.
Kindness means looking beyond our interests to the interests of others. It also means not being vindictive. This means that we don't pay evil for evil. That we don't revenge. That we should return evil with good, whether the recipient deserves or not.
Goodness means being charitable and generous to others, both in our abundance and in need. It means sharing what we have because a hand that gives is more blessed. Our sharing should not be based on whether we have enough or not.
Faithfulness is our loyalty to God. His holy word says that whoever is faithful in small matters will be rewarded. You cannot be faithful in big matters when you cannot be faithful in small matters. In your dealings with people, be faithful.
Humility is being able not to attach more than enough value or importance to yourself to a point that it is pride controlling you. It is the ability to bring yourself to the level of others without depicting yourself more important than others. Humility is becoming a good servant of the works of God, doing them without giving credit or profit to yourself but giving all glory and honour to God.
Self control is the ability to have power over one's sinful desires. The ability to overcome flesh desires and fulfill that which is right and upright before God. We all struggle in some way in controlling our sinful desires but the Holy Spirit is always there helping us to gain the control.
We bear these fruits of the Holy Spirit only because the Holy Spirit lives in us. We can't bear even one of the fruits if the Spirit of God doesn't live in us. It is by His power that we bear these gifts. God's mercy and love through Jesus Christ enable us to bear these fruits and live in union with Him. It is not our effort but His.
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