Fruit Producing Necessities

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness [kindness], 

goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. 

Galatians 5:22-23

The characteristics of God, also known as the fruit of the spirit are those qualities that we must ingest.  They not only have to be a part of us, they have to be within us.  When we are full of the fruit of the spirit, we are not apt to submit to the works of the flesh.  

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.  Galatians 5:19-21

Jesus used the term "fruit" of the Spirit as a natural parallel of a spiritual truth. Certain conditions are necessary to produce fruit in the natural world. These are spiritual parallels of things necessary for production of spiritual fruit. In the natural world, as well as the spiritual realm, there are specific conditions necessary to assure growth. These include the following:

The first requirement for development of the fruit of the Spirit is life. Just as life in the natural world comes through seed, life in the spiritual world came through the Seed of Jesus Christ.

In the first promise of a Savior of the world, Jesus was called a Seed: 

 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. (Genesis 3:15)

In Jesus Christ [the Seed] is the life required to produce spiritual fruit:  In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. (John 1:4)

There is life in the Seed:

For as the Father hath life in Himself; so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself. (John 5:26)

The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. (John 10:10)

That Seed of life, Jesus Christ, must be living in you. You cannot produce the fruit of the Spirit if you do not have a personal relationship with Him because...  

Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir tree. From me is thy fruit found. (Hosea 14:8)

®     Water is necessary to produce fruit in the natural world. Water is one of the symbols of the Holy Spirit. The water of the Holy Spirit is necessary to produce fruit in the spirit world. It quenches your spiritual thirst and brings spiritual growth:  

He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive; for the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) (John 7:38-39)

For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring. (Isaiah 44:3)

®     It is response to light that stimulates growth in the natural fruit bearing process. It is your response to the light of God's Word that produces the fruit of the Spirit.

This is the message which we have heard of Him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth; But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His son cleanseth us from all sin. (I John 1:5-7)

®     Carbon dioxide is drawn in by the natural plant from the air which surrounds it. In the spirit realm it is necessary for growth and fruit production. In the Word of God the Holy Spirit is compared to air or wind:  

The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. (John 3:8)  

The "wind" of the Holy Spirit blowing across your life is much like the wind in the natural world. It scatters the seeds of the Word of God, separates the wheat from the chaff in your spiritual life, and fans the dying coals of your spiritual zeal to set you ablaze for God.

®     In the parable of the sower, competition for space choked out some plants. The believer who develops spiritual fruit will discover he must be set apart from the competition of the world:  

He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. (Matthew 13:22)

We are not to be conformed to the ways of the world. We are to be transformed [changed] into the ways of God:  

And be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. (Romans 12:2a)

God clears space around you [sets you apart from the world] to permit you to grow spiritually:  

I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon. They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon. (Hosea 14:5-7)

®     Roots are necessary to anchor and supply nutrients to the plant. We are told how to develop the root system in your spiritual life:  

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in His law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. (Psalms 1:1-3)

®     Dormancy [rest] occupies a specific season in the natural growth cycle of plants. Dormancy is a period during which the plant may appear to be dead because there is no growth. It is a period of rest for the plant. Dormancy usually occurs right before a period of very rapid growth. In the natural world, God commanded times of rest for the land. 

That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed: for it is a year of rest unto the land.  (Leviticus 25:5)

One of the purposes of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is to bring spiritual rest and refreshing. This spiritual refreshing results in rapid growth of the fruit of the Holy Spirit:  

Let us fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you would seem to come short of it.  There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. (Hebrews 4:1,9)

For with stammering lips and another tongue will He speak to this people.  To whom He said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing yet they would not hear. (Isaiah 28:11-12)

®     In the parable of the sower, it was the condition of the soil that affected the growth of the seed. Both in the natural and spiritual worlds, in order to produce fruit the ground must be properly prepared. Your heart is like soil in the natural world. If your heart is hard and filled with things of the world that choke out the Word of God, you will not bear spiritual fruit.

It is our responsibility to prepare the spiritual soil of our heart to respond properly to God's Word: 

Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till He come and rain righteousness upon you. (Hosea 10:12)

Every time we plant a seed to produce fruit, it does not come to life until it dies first:  

Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. (John 12:24)

Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die: (1 Corinthians 15:36)

Spiritual life depends on death to the things of the world. It requires death to sin, worldly desires, and pleasures. Death to the world results in the development of the fruit of Christ-likeness in our life.






(Biblical Studies)



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