Our experience with the Spirit is deeply internal. The evidence of it is not. God is not purely a private matter, however much we might want Him to be. When He enters in, He expects to shine out. One description of His shining is the list of spiritual fruit in Galatians 5:22: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
The purpose of these traits is not productivity. It’s character — and not just any character, but God’s. This is a description of what He is like. For us, this isn’t a goal to achieve; it’s a Person to receive. That’s why we’re a little off the mark when we pray for more patience, love, or joy. He loves the desire, but what we really long for is not an attribute that can be partitioned off from the rest of His nature. We don’t need the fruit of the Spirit. We need the Spirit. He produces the fruit Himself.
Focus not on character traits but on your relationship with the Spirit — His life within you. He offers fruit, not separate fruits. Going deeper with Him will produce that fruit — His nature — even if you aren’t aware of it. He flows into us in order to flow out from us. Ask Him to magnify Himself within you, and His nature will become part of who you are.
