The Fruit of the Spirit

Book Reviews

Mar 30

The Fruit of the Spirit: Walk by the Spirit, Bear His Fruit
By: Sarah Morrison, The Daily Grace Co.

“When we abide in the Spirit, we take on a new nature in Christ, we are no longer branches bound for death. We are now grafted into a living, fruitful vine which causes us to bear good fruit.”

This past year I taught my daughters a song to remember the fruit of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. I’ve tried to point out when they are exhibiting those attributes and when they need reminding of them.

And I realized that I hadn’t reflected on these much now that I’m an adult.

[This inspired me to write a blog series on the fruit of the Spirit!]

This was a good study on this short passage of Galatians to remind us that this list of characteristics is not a guidepost to see if we’re Christian-enough.

Each of these remind us of who God is. When we practice these characteristics, we are imaging God.

And yet, they are very hard to do day-in and day-out. I love that this study emphasizes our need for the Holy Spirit and the power that is ours through Him. We can only bear this fruit through the Spirit.

“The term fruit denotes a sort of overflow; produced from the One who dwells within us.”

This is a three week study, 5 days of reading each week (2 pages each) with daily and weekly questions.

It covers Galatians 5:16-26.

It begins with contrasting the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit. Works of the flesh are in opposition to the fruit of the spirit and are at work out of love of ourselves.

The fruit of the spirit is how we relate to and serve others.

Then it goes through each of the 9 qualities in a little more detail with verses about God’s character and how our knowledge of Him and trusting in His sufficiency helps us exemplify his character to others.

We can be loving, joyful, peaceable, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled because He is all those things first. We can give out of the abundance of the Spirit, trusting that all our own needs are met in Christ and that He supplies the power we need to bear this fruit.

We cannot produce this fruit on our own or when we’re preoccupied with ourselves and our own needs. Selfishness— the works of the flesh— seeks to satisfy ourselves.

Lastly, she talks about the goodness of the law, of God’s truth and instruction for us. The law doesn’t save but we are called to love God’s Word. It is good, holy, and true and cultivating our hearts which then fortifies and grounds the roots that bear the fruit.

She also reminds us that along with bearing fruit is the step of pruning. Cutting away our sin and sinful desires:

“When we cut away the sinful, fleshly desires, we begin to make ample room for the fruit of the Spirit to be born and to thrive.”

This book is very short which is nice for practical purposes and time management, but I kinda wish there was more to it! I feel like there is so much to reflect on with the fruit of the Spirit that is easy to bypass as adults. Sometimes we view the fruit of the spirit like the Bible stories we feel like we ‘already know.’

So I went ahead and ordered Jerry Bridge’s book on the fruit of the spirit and plan to do a little more study and reflection. And probably a blog post so check back on my site later!

As has been my conclusion in the past- The Daily Grace Co. has some great studies, some lighter than others, that will get you in the Word and reflecting on who God is, what he has done for us, and how we are to live in response to it.

Below are a few pictures of inside the book (because Daily Grace studies are also really pretty…)