God's Emotions--And What They Mean For UsSample

Emotions and the Fruit of the Spirit

The fruit of the Spirit is filled with emotions. Yes, you read that correctly. The fruit of the Spirit is filled with emotions! If you think about it in this way, you can see why it is so important to consider the fruit at length when you are learning about how your feelings fit into the big kingdom picture.

Christianity is not only an intellectual or cerebral religion, but also a vibrant, heart-to-heart relationship with the living God. The “Feeler realm” is very active in the fruit-emotion called love. Just think what a marriage would be like without emotions. Not very lively. Parenting without joy is burdensome. Serving without gladness is boredom. Working without a sense of purpose is monotonous. Music that does not move your heart is just notes on a page.

In short, life would not be worth much without the gift of all kinds of emotions and feelings. We were created in God’s image to bear and feel the supernatural fruit of the Spirit—and more. We were made for adventure and excitement and joy, as well as peace and tranquility.

Bearing Fruit

Once you are rooted and grounded in the good soil of God’s Word, and living and growing together with other believers in the body of Christ, it becomes imperative to take stock of the fruit that is being produced in your life.

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. (Galatians 5:22–23)

How do we start bearing the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? It begins with a decision of faith in which we say, “Lord, I want to surrender myself to You, from roots to branches.”

Let’s take a quick look at the nature of the fruit of the Holy Spirit:

Love seeks the highest good for others. Jesus exemplified love, and He taught His disciples how to love. Love is both an action and an emotion; we feel love for God, for ourselves, for other people, and even for things. Remember, God is love, everlastingly.

The fruit of joy brightens the darkest day. It lifts you up so you can lift up others. Joy is gladness that is not dependent on circumstances but rather depends completely on the Holy Spirit, the Originator of joy. Jesus was “full of joy through the Holy Spirit” (Luke 10:21 NIV). While He was on earth, He experienced the emotions of joy and grief alike. (See, for example, John 11:33–35.) 

Jesus, known as the Prince of Peace (see Isaiah 9:6), engenders the fruit of peace in the hearts of His true disciples. A peaceful heart is free from worry, disturbances, and oppressive thoughts. It is content in all circumstances, according to Philippians 4:11–12. It is not afraid because it is secure and sure of the safekeeping of the Shepherd. (See, for example, Psalm 112:7.) 

Patience is a virtuous fruit if ever there was one. Paul praised the “perfect patience” of the Lord Jesus, whose long-lasting love outlasted Paul’s determination to sin:

It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. (1 Timothy 1:15–17)

Patience made Jesus slow to avenge the wrongs Paul had committed, waiting and working toward a better outcome. For believers, patience is always available through Christ.

Kindness, the supernatural grace to be merciful, sweet-tempered, and tender, puts others at ease and leads them to the feet of the Father. God expressed His abiding kindness toward us when He sent Jesus Christ to us. (See Ephesians 2:5–7.) Kindness, which has been poured out on us generously through Christ Jesus (see Titus 3:4–7), permeates all the other fruit to make it sweet.

Goodness is the motivation behind selflessness; it makes a person openhearted and generous to others above what they deserve. Scripture exhorts us to “not grow weary while doing good,” especially to our brothers and sisters in the body of Christ. (See Galatians 6:9–10 NKJV.) Once you put on Christ, you can be sure that goodness will follow you all the days of your life. (See Psalm 23:6.)

Faithfulness begins with God because He is always faithful. Remember this verse from the book of Revelation? “I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True” (Revelation 19:11). He who sits on the heavenly horse is, of course, Jesus Himself. In the Old Testament, we see faithfulness described as a sash around Jesus’s waist. (See Isaiah 11:5 NIV.) In us, the fruit of faithfulness is rooted in an unshakable devotion to God; it makes a person dependable, loyal, and full of trust in Him. 

The quality or fruit of gentleness is not weak or passive or namby-pamby. Jesus is “gentle and humble in heart.” (See Matthew 11:28–30.) Gentleness is calm. It is nonthreatening. We are invited by the Holy Spirit to let our gentleness be evident to all. When someone has a gentle spirit, you know that our Lord is near. (See Philippians 4:5 NIV.)

The fruit of the Spirit comes from the Holy Spirit and not from anything we can do. That includes the final distinct fruit of the Spirit, self-control—it is not something that you and I can achieve solo. However, as with the development of all the fruit, we do need to cooperate with the Spirit as fully as possible.

Only with God’s help can we restrain ungodly desires and actions and carry on in harmony with God’s will. Self-control is a matter of behavior, both in public and in secret. Where you see angry outbursts, self-control is lacking. (See, for example, Proverbs 29:11.) And unless we are clear-minded and self-controlled, we cannot pray as we ought. (See 1 Peter 4:7.) I believe that self-control is probably the most overlooked of all of the nine fruit of the Spirit and the most needed in the body of Christ today.

We need to cultivate all of these precious fruits. Consider what is required to grow healthy fruit in the natural. These are no-brainers, but we must consider their parallels in our spiritual lives. You need (1) good soil, (2) plenty of water, (3) adequate sunlight, (4) proper care, and (5) time and patience. The fruit of the Spirit is just as supernatural as the gifts of the Spirit. Although the spiritual gifts are presented as special “grace packages” that are almost like Christmas presents, the same is true of the fruit of the Spirit. Without the grace of God, nobody can bear the good fruit that matures and endures.

Let’s abide in Christ Jesus so that His fruit may abound in our lives. (See John 15:5.)

PRAYER OF A PASSIONATE HEART

Father, in the abundant name of Jesus, help me to grow the supernatural fruit of the Spirit in my life, and increase my ability to use my natural emotions in Your service. I choose to abide in Christ and to let His Word abide in my heart and soul. I choose to die to myself and to live in the realm of the kingdom of God. I awaken my heart and its emotions so that I can more fully experience the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control of the Holy Spirit. I declare that I will bear good fruit, fruit that remains, abundant fruit. To the glory of God, and in Jesus’s holy name, I pray. Amen.