The Fruit Of The Spirit

And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.

Acts 4:31

What does it mean to be filled with the Spirit? It is not necessarily an emotional experience, nor will it necessarily bring us some type of spiritual experience that is obvious or open. To be filled with the Spirit is to be controlled by the Spirit. It is to be so yielded to Christ that our supreme desire is to do His will. When we come to Christ the Spirit comes to dwell within us—whether we are aware of His presence or not. But as we grow in Christ, our goal is to be controlled by the Spirit.

We should seek to produce the fruit of the Spirit in our lives.

You say, “I am powerless to produce such fruit. It would be utterly impossible for me to do so!”

With that I agree! That is, we can’t produce this fruit in our own strength. Remember, the Bible says, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance” (Galatians 5:22–23). When the Spirit of God dwells in us He will produce the fruit. It is ours only to cultivate the soil of our hearts through sincere devotion and yieldedness that He might find favorable ground to produce that which He will.

I might have a fruit tree in my yard; but if the soil isn’t enriched and the bugs carefully destroyed, it will not yield a full crop.

As Christians, we have the Spirit of God in us. But ours is the responsibility to keep sin out of our lives so that the Spirit can produce His fruit in us.

Our Father and our God, fill me with Your Spirit. Control my life and my heart so that the fruit of the Spirit is obvious to those around me. I yield myself to Your wisdom and guidance. Forgive any blight on my soul that hampers my witness for You and Christ Jesus, in whom I pray. Amen.

Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).