Fruit of the spirit
Before ascending to the Father, Jesus promised His followers, "I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper (Comforter, Counsellor, Advocate) to be with you forever; the Spirit of Truth… You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you… He will teach you all things" John 14:16-17, and 26.
Jesus did not leave us as orphans; he promised not to leave the disciples alone, I in particular. He reassured them that they would have help. As a good, trustworthy God, he delivered on the promise.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)
These are Jesus's characters; only the Holy Spirit can help and teach us to produce these qualities in people's lives.
The fruit of the spirit is every Christian's true identity, one of the identifiers of an authentic Christian. A Christian’s good fruits should be apparent. Otherwise, we leave an open door of access for the enemy of our soul to gain influence.
Some of the open doors mentioned in scripture are anger and unforgiveness.
In your anger, do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. (Ephesians 4:26-27) Instead, follow Jesus’ example of asking his Father to forgive them for they don’t know what they’re doing (Luc 23: 32-34)
His kingdom is founded on love and forgiveness, one of the fruits of the spirit. It’s not innate to our hearts. We have to ask the Holy Spirit’s grace to forgive
Another one is sexual immorality, the opposite of self-control. Sexual immorality causes lasting scars in people, creates unhealthy attachments, weakens marriages, and shames us away from praying. Scripture encourages us to be watchful and pray. Jesus encouraged his disciples always to pray to be powerful in the spirit. The apostle Paul encourages us to pray continually (Ephesians 6:18.)
Producing spiritual fruit is only possible through prayer when we remain connected to the true vine, Christ Jesus. Defiled people find it hard to pray, so the enemy wants to keep us defiled.
Lastly, impulsivity. People who lack self-control may sometimes act on their emotions without considering the consequences, leading to adverse outcomes for themselves and others. Additionally, they may have difficulty coping with disappointment or unmet desires, leading to fits of rage and anger. Jesus said therefore by their fruits you will know them (Matthew 7:15-2)
My prayer for you is that if you struggle in any of these areas or any other area that contradicts the word of God, you may set time aside to abide in the word and create intimacy with the Holy Spirit, the helper, and teacher, who can guide and teach you to produce good fruits, as promised in John 14. By doing this, we demonstrate to the world what it's like to be Christ like as a result of the Holy Spirit living in us.
