John 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

The fruit spoken of here is the fruit of the Spirit. That fruit is produced in the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit. It is a natural process, natural to the spirit, not the flesh. The flesh cannot produce spiritual fruit, but like all things antichristian a false or fake fruit can be put forth as a substitute for the real thing.

“Fake it ‘til you make it!” That was the cry of the spiritual trainers of the 80’s. I was told that if I did the exercises, I would eventually feel the power of the Holy Spirit at work. It was a lie then and it is a lie now. The Holy Spirit is not at the beck and call of human effort. He is God and obeys the will of the Father only. He testifies only of Jesus Christ.

During this next series of devotionals I shall endeavor to identify the differences between the fruits of the spirit and the fake fruit. We will be looking specifically at those fruits as identified in Galatians 5:22-23

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.My last word of encouragement here is this word.

Use these instruction only in self-examination. Using them to be a fruit examiner in others is a form of judgment. Judge not lest you be judged.