Hello Holy Spirit!

I was reading the Galatians' passage, and mulling over how rare it is to find those qualities among people in the world during the course of a workday. It tends to be all rush, gotta have it NOW, though there is love - generally for a higher profit! I know it's stereotypical, and I am thankful my job does not fit that mold. But it is sadly the world of my father and brother in business.

I have always wondered about the part where Jesus defines the Holy Spirit as a wind and how that relates to the Spirit in us. Still not sure where he's going with that.

When Jesus saves us He fills us with the Holy Spirit. He, the Holy Spirit, empowers me to reflect Christ and to blow away my selfishness. All those wonderful works of the Holy Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-25 are how I want to influence people around me. Its a battle most days, but I can win it in the Lord.I am thankful for His continued presence and involvement with me.

Galatians 5:22-23 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law". My Jesus who died for me had all these qualities Him. My impatience and lack of self-control cause me concern and I am asking for your prayers that God will give me the strength to always focus on Jesus and do what He would do when tested. I know God forgives me but I would not like to entertain them at all even for a moment.

When I think of the fruit of the Spirit, I think of a plant and the stages it goes through in order to get to the fruit. I believe sometimes I get stuck in the bud stage with each one of the characteristics. I become impatient in frustrating situtations - but it seems that God provides me with the the appropriate growing materials (His word) to come to full fruit at the appropriate time.

The verse before the "wind" states "Do not marvel that I said to you, "You must be born again." and then he breaks into the wind statement.

Do you think he is saying that we do not marvel that the wind blows and ask where did it come from, so why marvel at that fact that Jesus states "You must be born again?" It is a fact, if you are born of the Spirit, you are born of the Spirit?

I have a question, Does any one person in Christ have all of the fruits of the spirit? If one is missing does it say something about your relationship?

Because i sometimes worry when i see my lack of self control at times.

Adrian,

I'd like to share a few thoughts on your question.

I can understand your concern, but I think it's safe to say that all of us show the fruit (singular) of the Spirit to varying degrees. Think of it like an apple tree. The fruit of an apple tree is apples, but they don't all ripen at the same time. All the fruit is there, but some are ready to pick before others.

No analogy is perfect and neither is this one. Unlike the apple tree, God will often work on an individual aspect of this fruit (like patience for example) because He knows we have a special need in this area. You can ask God to help you in the area of self-control as well. You might want to begin by memorizing 1 Corinthians 9:25, "And everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable." If there is an area of self-control where you are especially weak (eating, gossiping, money management, etc.), you might want to find an accountability partner to help you. If you have multiple areas, start with just one--because developing self-control in one area has a way of affecting other areas as well.

Keep in mind that it takes an apple tree all summer to ripen its fruit. We need to give the Spirit time to develop His fruit as well.

Allen, Biblical Correspondent at Back to the Bible

In Galations 5:24 it says, And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
With the Spirit at work in us we are able to focus on the fruits of the Spirit and our longing for that becomes most important. The Spirit is our Helper so that we can look to Him for guidance when we fail or struggle with a particular area. His passions become ours, not what the world has to offer. I am soo thankful that Jesus gave us this gift.

Thank you Allen. I know the comment is in response to Adrian's question but it has also been very helpful to me too.

In John 3:5 - as Believer's we must be born of the Spirit or we can not enter the Kingdom of God. We receive The Holy Spirit when we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and began our journey of carrying our cross to follow Him.

In Galatians 5:25 - we must live and walk by the Spirit. We should be showing our "fruits" and not be of this world.

The Spirit is a part of us as a Believer. Once you are saved, you are not the same as you were before. It doesn't happen overnight that you are this non-sinning person who quotes all scripture and understands everything in the Bible. It is a process. There are some things that one will immediately cease to do. However, some habits are easier to let go of than others, but others we will have to pray about. We should be showing the fruit of the Spirit in dealing with others especially difficult individuals and the more we yield to the Spirit, the more fruit we display.

Jenny, the "wind" thing you came up is the most thought provoking thing I've ever heard on this verse. (Jn 3:8) It's always stumped me. "so it is with anyone born of the Spirit" -- I'm like "what? nobody knows where I came from or where I'm going?" - weird. I get the allegory that we are Spirit led, meaning He directs and guides us, but it always seemed there was more to this than that. Since He also on ocassion leads and guides even the wicked -- Balaam, Nebuchadnezzar. Though with us, hopefully we are following His will, His way, all day. I think you presented an interesting point. I would like to hear others thoughts on this verse.

Great comments from everyone. Good thought provoking questions as well.
I always think of the old Star Wars movie. It's nice to know that the "force" is with us. The difference is that our "force" (the Holy Spirit) is real and always with us.

Getting to know the HOLY SPIRIT is the most important thing that could ever happen to anyone.The right companion at this point in time.i love Him being there every time.Thank you, for the opportunity of having a relationship with you.