The Fruit of the Spirit 6 (How to receive the Fruit)

 Today we shall be talking about how to receive this fruit.

 

The first thing I want us to know is that all these characteristics (or nutrients as I call them) in this fruit of the Spirit are all found in God. And Jesus is God in the flesh. Paul describes Him as “the visible image of God.” Colossians 1:15. The only man that mirrored God in totality on this earth is the man, Christ Jesus. Therefore, it is essential to understand that the characteristics of this fruit are all that Jesus exhibited while He was on earth.

 

Let's see Philippians 2:5 to see how we can receive this fruit.

 

In the previous article, I defined the fruit of the Spirit as “the complete mind of Christ.” It is the mindset through which He functions when He lived on the earth. Therefore, the Lord desires His followers to carry themselves in this world with the same attitude He had. So, the Holy Spirit is giving us an instruction for life; “Let this mind be in you.” What does it mean to let the mind of Christ be in you;

1. It means Christ's mind should be the basis for all our thoughts and actions: such that it revolutionalizes our thinking system.

 

2. It means we are learning of Christ, specifically how He lived and walked among men. Jesus Himself spoke to us in Matthew 11:28-29 to learn from him. It is only in the example of Jesus that you will learn to manifest the fruit of the Spirit.

 

The gospel, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John recorded the very acts, utterances, relationships, and many more about Christ. They are not just there to fill up spaces in the bible but for us to learn from how Jesus walked, how He composed Himself among people, how He related, and how He expressed Himself. That is vital for everyone that desires to walk with the mind of Christ.

 

In learning Christ, we must be ready to lay off the religious, cultural, and societal concepts we have been walking with. For instance, how culture or society defines love, Joy, peace, and others. Even though they are not entitled to portray all these characteristics because it does not emanate from them, yet many believers live based on all these worldly concepts. Social media and ungodly movies are such that they set up many belief systems that consequentially would shape their emotions, actions, and reactions. 

 

Beloved, in learning Christ, the Holy Spirit will first take us on the course of unlearning, so that our mind can be purged and purified from every wrong mindset so that Christ's mind can become ‘truly’ ours.

 

Dear believer, do you have the mind of Christ? The answer is YES!

 

1 Corinthians 2:16 verifies that answer. 

“For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.”

 

When we receive Christ Jesus, we don't receive partial Christ. We have received Christ in His totality, including His complete mind. Therefore, the issue is not that we don't possess the mind of Christ. But the problem has been that we don't know how to manifest what we have received by Grace, namely the mind of Christ.

 

When I say “learning from Christ,” I do not mean to say “to copy Christ's moves via your intellect.” It's not even possible! For instance, how can you copy being patient with people like Thomas, Judas, and even Peter? Or how can you copy how to love people that Would kill you? Or how can you copy how to be in perfect peace and rest while sinking in the sea? So, I am not talking about copying Christ because when we try to, we will miss Him and blow off the point the Holy Spirit is making altogether.

 

When I say “learning Christ,” what I mean is that we are coming to make use of what Christ has given to us by Grace through His Spirit as we study and learn from His experience while on the earth. There is always more in Christ to know and understand! And when we start to learn, it will reshape our lives and position us to where God wants us to be.

 

How well do you learn from Christ? Who determines how your life functions?

 

I bet you when you begin to receive from the Spirit what is of Christ, it will cause you to walk in the supernatural life that Christ has given to you. Jesus did not live the 33 years just for a joke. He lived it for you to propel you to walk in the newness of life. The Holy Spirit put the gospel together so that we can learn from Christ. Are you learning?

 

Finally, what it means to “let Christ's mind be in us” is to take up His mind and make it our own! I discovered that many Christians are not ready to part ways with their carnal knowledge. They still hold tight to it. Beloved, Christ has given you His mind already. Therefore, take it up and wear it on your mind like armor. Now, knowing that the mind of Christ is the fruit of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit seeks to manifest in us, so then, we must take up the fruit and eat it all (Just like what I shared in the previous article).

 

We must not get to the point where we are tired of eating this fruit. We must not reach the point where we begin to demand other meals like the children of Israel in the wilderness. The only meal you need to take for progressive-cordial intimacy with the Godhead is the fruit of the Spirit.