Imagine a scenario where a colleague of yours walks into the office late and the excuse for his lateness was that he was hit by a truck after which he came straight to the office. But on inspecting him, you see that his suit is nicely ironed, his hair is nicely combed, there is no form of bruising or bleeding and he looks completely all right.

In this scenario, you are sure to doubt the validity of his excuse because there is no evidence.

You can liken this to when a man claims to carry the Holy Ghost but yet shows no evidence of his indwelling.

Let’s look at

Galatians 5:22-23

New King James V‬‬ersion

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

The Apostle Paul uses “the fruit of the spirit” here as a metaphor for the resultant effects of the indwelling of the Holy Ghost in the heart of a man. It talks about the influence the Spirit has on us.

In the texts before the Apostle Paul says

Galatians 5:18

Easy Standard Version

18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

Scripture says that those who are led by the spirit are no longer bound by the law. What does that mean?

The Apostle Paul in this book, made a case for justification by faith in Christ and not by works. At the time in the church, people crept in and started perverting the truth of the gospel message they had received. So, they began to fall back to faith in their works being enough to save them.

But the Apostle Paul explained that justification could never have come through the works of law but only through Christ.

Galatians 3:11-13

Easy Standard Version

11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.”

12 But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.”

13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us-for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”-

Curse here refers to the curse of death that Christ came to pay for us. Christ redeemed us by sacrificing himself, in order, for us to be set free from the law and its curse.

So when you believed in Christ and trusted him, the Bible says you were then sealed with the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 1:13

New King James V‬‬ersion

13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,

You were led from darkness, a helpless and hopeless state into his marvelous light by the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is the seal of your salvation. Nothing can contend with you on that.

But now, the Apostle Paul says that there are resultant effects of the Holy Ghost coming to live inside of you.

Because you’ve been set free from sin and death, it must lead you to act like the new man that you are.

Galatians 5:16-23

Easy Standard Version

16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality,

20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions,

21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Dear believer, it is true you didn’t need to show the fruit to be saved. However, these are part of the results of your salvation; they are the effects of the Holy Ghost living in you.

You shouldn’t allow yourself to remain the same after the very Spirit of God came to live in you.

You might have struggled with many works of the flesh before, but that person is dead and gone. The holiness of God now lives in you. When the holiness of God meets your inadequacies, your inadequacies have to give way.

That is living by the Spirit; allowing the Holy Ghost to direct your passions and responses to things.

If every believer has the Holy Ghost and access to the fruit as a result, it means every believer can walk in love, can be kind, gentle, faithful, temperate, peaceful, and joyful all with the help of the Holy Ghost! The fruit becomes especially relevant when there’s a situation that requires you to show them.

‭‭Galatians 5:25

New King James Version‬

25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

You know that you carry the Holy Ghost, it’s high time you begin to sound, respond, act, and behave like it.

Yes! You are no longer of this world but can people tell the difference between when you were in the world and now that you are in Christ?

If the people in the world cannot identify you as a man in Christ even before you say the word, you might need to check yourself because the Spirit’s influence in your life must grow more evident and glaring for the world to see.

So, as you go about your day ensure that you stand out, ensure that you let the influence of God’s Spirit show to others all around you, and ponder on this question, “Is the result of God’s Spirit showing in my life? Is there evidence in my life, that I have the Spirit of God and not by just confessing it with my mouth?”

Prayer Point:

Father, I recognize that I am a man of the Spirit and from today I walk in the Spirit. I let the influence of the Spirit of God show in my life. It is evident for the whole world to see that I am a new man in Christ Jesus.