But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  Against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23)

The fruit of the Spirit is in Jesus.  When we have Jesus inside, we also have the fruit of the Spirit in us.  I have joy because I have Jesus and He’s in me.  I don’t call on myself, I call on Him.  But I don’t just have joy, I have all of the fruits listed above.  If you aren’t getting all of the fruit you’d like to see in your life, it’s because you’re not seeing who Jesus is in you!

So we get the fruit of Jesus, but are these fruits just hanging out on a limb?  I don’t think so!  I think the fruits of the Spirit flow together with the spiritual gifts.

Look back at the spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12 and let’s do a little application.  Get out a sheet of paper and make a list of the spiritual gifts on one side and the fruit of the spirit on the other.  Make sure you get them in the right order: first gift matches up with the first fruit and on down.  Did you do it?  Now let’s take a look.

First Corinthians mentions the word of wisdom first, and Galatians lists love first.  So when the Spirit tells us what to do (wisdom), and the fruit tells us how to do it (in love).  What’s next?  The word of knowledge and joy.  When you bring someone a word of knowledge, it should have joy with it.  What about faith?  Peace is the fruit that goes with it.

So when we get a spiritual gift, we want the fruit to go with it, because then we become like Jesus and all He has for us.

Father, I pray that You put a divine hunger in me for the fruit of the Spirit and the spiritual gift that goes along with it.  When these gifts and fruit flow together, they are absolutely beautiful.  Amen.