How to enrich and strengthen your relationships

You can enrich and strengthen any relationship by developing and demonstrating the fruit of the Spirit. The Bible speaks about being filled with the Spirit (see Ephesians 5:18) and walking in the Spirit (see Galatians 5:16 AMPC). To be ‘filled’ with God’s Spirit means you’re a receptacle, whereas ‘walking’ in the Spirit means you’re a dispenser – a vessel God can fill and pour out into the lives of others. ‘What’s this “fruit” you’re talking about?’ you ask. The Bible describes it this way: ‘The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control’ (Galatians 5:22-23 NKJV). Look carefully at these nine different character qualities. The first three – ‘love, joy, peace’ – are atmosphere-changing fruits. As you surrender to the Holy Spirit, He’ll throw a blanket over the unkind words you may want to say. He’ll build a fire in your heart that will bring warmth to a cold atmosphere and love to a bitter, revengeful atmosphere. The next three fruits – ‘longsuffering, kindness, goodness’ – are attitude-changing fruits. Each of us has the potential to have a bad attitude. God sometimes lets us go through difficult situations to reveal what’s really inside us. When we see our own helplessness, weakness, and despair, it causes us to cry out, ‘God, I need you!’ The last three fruits – ‘faithfulness, gentleness, self-control’ – are attribute-changing fruits. Through the Holy Spirit, you have strength and ability that you can’t attribute to anyone but God. And you have peace that transcends human understanding (see Philippians 4:7).