Fruits of the Flesh

The fruits of the Holy Spirit are quite clearly highlighted in Scripture: Galatians 5:22-23 - "But the fruit of the [Holy] Spirit [the work which His presence within accomplishes] is love, joy (gladness), peace, patience (an even temper, forbearance), kindness, goodness (benevolence), faithfulness, gentleness (meekness, humility), self-control (self-restraint, continence). Against such things there is no law [that can bring a charge]." (Amplified Bible)

What I will now highlight here are the fruits of the flesh. Now I know Scripture does highlight them, but I will attempt to make it easy for all to easily understand what they are which quite simply is the opposite of the fruit of the Holy Spirit. So I guess we could also call them the fruits of Satan. I also believe highlighting them clearly could help us recognize when Satan is trying to use or tempt us. So by recognizing the “symptoms” of the flesh trying to surface, we could more easily learn to control our behaviour, thus helping us and especially new converts to better walk in the Spirit.

The fruits of the flesh are:

§  Hatred §  Bad moods §  Impatience §  Anger §  Double mindedness §  Unfaithfulness §  Being merciless §  Self pity §  Lust §  Immorality §  Unfairness §  Being judgmental

§  Negative attitudes §  Harshness toward others §  Over indulgence §  Greed §  Over confidence §  Pride §  Unforgiving attitude §  A loud personality §  Idolatry §  Rebellion §  Racist attitude or thoughts §  Jealousy

Note that not all the fruits of the flesh are listed here, but the list does give a clear and basic outline as to what to watch out for when the enemy comes knocking. We all know this yet sometimes we still slip up. That just shows how quickly and subtly the Satan can take control.

I know I’ll be making this sound simple, but all we need to do is submit to the Holy Spirit and we will automatically start bearing good fruit.