Just WHY did God give it – how are you supposed to use it – and HOW are the “fruits of the spirit” – love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance (Galatians 5:22-23) – given?

Ephesians 5:9 (For the fruit of the Spirit is in ALL goodness and righteousness and truth;)

Notice that the FRUITS of the spirit are ALL nothing more than goodness and righteousness and truth. What is Love? Keeping the law. What is Peace? The result of people keeping the law. What is Faith? The result of you knowing that you are keeping the law. But how does the holy spirit give these things?

Many people believe that somehow, when you receive the holy spirit, these “fruits” are put in you – thereby you receive faith, peace, goodness, etc. This is NOT TRUE! What you RECEIVE when you get the holy spirit is only the ABILITY to get these things.

These fruits are all the product of simple obedience to the law of God. But the carnal mind cannot do this properly; Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. (Romans 8:7)

The spirit DOES NOT help you obey the law. It doesn’t “give you the strength to obey.” Nor does it “possess” you. It will NOT make you obey something you don’t want to obey.

1 Corinthians 14:32 And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.

You have CONTROL over the spirit, NOT the other way around! All the spirit can do is TELL you the right way to go – and then let you CHOOSE to do it or not. Take a typical case; the holy spirit will cause you to think “I shouldn’t have done that,” and then you have the choice between acquiescing to that spirit and saying “Yeah, I know, I won’t do that next time,” or justifying yourself and ignoring it – and trying to QUENCH it, or shut it up. (1 Thessalonians 5:19)

If you choose the correct course, to swallow your carnality and choose to humble yourself before the correction of the holy spirit, you will be one step closer to God. The spirit will then repeat this process again, and again, and again. The FRUITS of this process of eliminating errors in your character will be love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance!

Without the holy spirit, you could not achieve these traits – because without the holy spirit, you could not discern right from wrong. Your own conscience cannot do this! YOUR spirit “lusteth to envy” (James 4:5) and CANNOT tell you right and wrong! (Although Satan tried to convince Adam and Eve otherwise – and succeeded).

By receiving the holy spirit, you receive the ABILITY to judge right from wrong, good from evil – just what Satan promised Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. You become as a GOD, (Genesis 3:5) to know good and evil, because you have the MIND OF GOD IN YOU! The tree in the garden could not do this, but the holy spirit can!

The holy spirit – in connection with the Bible – gives you the CORRECTION needed to be more like God – and in THIS WAY, through the CORRECTION, the FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT are made MANIFEST in YOU!

So what is the holy spirit good for?

The holy spirit is GOD’S OWN CONSCIENCE living in YOUR MIND.