Daily Devo

Come Holy Spirit

By: Bob Worzalla

Tuesday, September 3, 2024

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control; against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23

Have you ever moved into a house or apartment where the previous occupants didn't take care of it? If you have, you remember that almost everything in it needed to be repaired, replaced, or deep cleaned. Without doing these things, the place would not have been livable. At salvation, the Holy Spirit did a lot of cleaning in us when He moved in. Why? Because God can't live in a place filled with dirty, sinful behavior.

When the Spirit moves in, we start to express His fruit. The "fruits of the Spirit" described in Galatians 5 were installed in us when we made the decision to follow Jesus. These fruits are not something the world provides; they are only acquired by being born again. Before I was saved, (before the Holy Spirit came to live in my heart), a prideful selfish person lived in my heart, and it was me! When the Spirit moved in, He evicted that old me and got busy cleaning up His "house."

My heart was a mess... so my cleanup took quite a while. Some of the big dirt was obvious, so it got cleaned out quickly. But just as we clean our physical houses regularly, spiritual cleaning and polishing must be done on a regular basis too. As we spiritually grow, the Holy Spirit helps us keep the place where He lives clean, so we'll start acting more like Jesus. As we make these changes, we become more Spirit-filled, and those "fruits of the Spirit" start showing! As we change, our thoughts and lifestyle change, and others take notice.

Love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

The reason love is the first fruit listed is because love is the only verb; it is the action that empowers the rest of the list. Jesus did everything in love, and with love. To be like Jesus, we must follow His example and love others. Only then will we be able to display the other seven fruits of the Spirit. When we display them, God will use us to draw others to Him. When asked, Jesus said the two most important commands are to love God and love people. Loving God gives us the peace of God, and peace is what our lost world is looking for. As we grow, our kindness, gentleness, and self-control will open doors to talk about Jesus, and it all starts with following Him!

Christ follower, ask the Holy Spirit to reveal if any "housecleaning" is needed in your heart today.