The doctrine of the fruit of the Spirit is one of the most misunderstood doctrines in Christendom. One school of thought believes that the fruit of the spirit can be achieved by the holy works of men. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Our human effort and strive cannot produce the fruit of the spirit. This is what the bible says about that position.
Doctrines are teachings of the church of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is a set of belief systems that every believer adheres to. Doctrine is also referred to as the Oracles of God. Christian doctrine is rooted in the scriptures. 2 Tim 3:16 says that all scripture is given by the inspiration of God to us for doctrine. God inspired it; it is a revelation from God to us. There is nothing else given to us for doctrine except the scriptures.
This new life is received and lived by faith only. We must accept the gospel as our truth. When we accept Christ as our Lord and personal savior, we believe that He died and resurrected for us. Similarly, we should also believe and accept the other blessings (healing, righteousness, strength, etc.) that Christ’s death brought us.
The new life is eternal life. The very life of our Lord Jesus has been given to us by his presence in us. Every believer has Christ in them and also has the life of Christ.
To maintain victory over the enemy, it is important that you know who you are in Christ. The devil does not want you to have this revelation, so he will use all kinds of distractions to make sure you forget who you are. He wants you to see yourself as an object of pity when you go through challenges. The enemy wants you defeated but God wants you to pick up your identity tag and make bold of who you are. This consciousness will help you face life situations when they arise.
You must develop a relationship with the Holy Spirit so as to know how He guides you. Not everything that comes to your mind comes from God. Not all supernatural manifestations, visions and dreams are from God. Therefore, it is important that you judge everything from the scripture.
Faith comes when you hear God. By hearing God, I don’t mean an audible voice but an inward witness that you have got it. It is like a light burst into your heart and you now see it and know it to be true and real. The word has now entered your heart thereby producing faith. Inside, you have the assurance that you have received what you believed for.
Faith is not hope! Many Christians often mistake hope for faith and fail. You know those Christians by their words. They make statements like “God is going to heal me” or “God is going to do it”. They think it is faith, but that is hope. Hope is for the future, for what is yet to happen. Hope is for what you do not possess yet.
The gracious visitation of God can be traced to the story of Zacchaeus. He was described as a tax collector, who was sinful in his ways. He is a rich man whose riches were linked to extortion of money from the poor. Being a short man, when Jesus was passing through Jericho, he had to climb up a sycamore tree to see Jesus. Even in his sinful nature, he desired greatly to see Jesus. He did not hide his sinful face from Jesus, instead, he realized and believed that he needed to be saved.
Some Christians are living without their privileges as children of God. This is because they are not sure of who they really are in Christ. The phrase “children of God” is said so often that it has truly lost its meaning. It is easy to say we are children of God in a casual way, especially around other believers. But, the real question is do we really believe this? How do we really see ourselves especially when we are alone with our own thoughts?