Owen Arnold said, "Dear God, I pray for patience. And I want it right now!" Patience is the fruit of the Spirit and also a virtue to be developed--even the unbeliever can be patient. Just because one is filled with the Spirit doesn't mean that he is the most patient person he could be. He may have a measure of patience, but not as much as he wants. If you want patience, God will surely put trials in your life--so be careful what you pray for--you may get it! If I want patience, I'll pray for it myself, you might say.
We should differentiate between fruit and gifts: fruits are grown, while gifts are given. That means that even an infant believer may show usage of a gift (according to the measure of faith God has given him, per Rom. 12:3), while a mature believer may struggle with self-control (the last of the fruits in Gal. 5:23), because fruit comes with the territory of experience and hardship or trials. There is pseudo-fruit of the world that masquerades as spiritual: faux wisdom or street smarts; false happiness that is self-centered and dependent on happenings, etc. We are not to be fooled but seek to "grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ" (cf. 2 Pet. 3:18). Note that "Jesus increased in stature and in wisdom, and in favor with God and man [He didn't come with an already fully-developed mind]" (Luke 2:52 KJV).
The first fruit mentioned is love; this is because this is the telltale sign of a Christian and he has no excuse not to love another. If anyone doesn't love, he doesn't know God, for God is love (cf. 1 John 4:8). The confusion may arise when one confuses being filled with the Spirit with demonstrating the fruit (there is pseudo-fruit too)--that they always go together--and they are there, but not always in the measure we expect. (Eph. 5:18 means to keep on being filled with the Spirit--it is not a one-time filling or second blessing). Being filled merely means that one is controlled by the Spirit and is not living according to the flesh or the old sin nature (carnally).
Feeling (the fruit is not all about them) may or may not accompany the fillings (which are usually given for a ministry or when the Spirit wants to perform some task and equip the believer for it). Spirituality is not about always walking about on some spiritual high, or of walking in the glow of some past experience. True spirituality is demonstrating the fruit of the Spirit and that means God's fruit, not our fruit. Our righteousness is God's gift to us, not our gift to God!
Note also that another gift, peace, is given when we pray with thanksgiving as our attitude (cf. Phil. 4:6-7). Jesus taught that Christians would be known by their love (cf. John 13:35). This is a matter of testimony that has to do with showing our fruit. Don't depend on feelings; lack of feeling, in itself, doesn't mean one is not filled with the Spirit. To sum up, what I'm trying to say, it is not how much of the Spirit you have (all Christians have the measure of the Spirit), but how much of you the Spirit has (how submissive you are to His will). Soli Deo Gloria!
We should differentiate between fruit and gifts: fruits are grown, while gifts are given. That means that even an infant believer may show usage of a gift (according to the measure of faith God has given him, per Rom. 12:3), while a mature believer may struggle with self-control (the last of the fruits in Gal. 5:23), because fruit comes with the territory of experience and hardship or trials. There is pseudo-fruit of the world that masquerades as spiritual: faux wisdom or street smarts; false happiness that is self-centered and dependent on happenings, etc. We are not to be fooled but seek to "grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ" (cf. 2 Pet. 3:18). Note that "Jesus increased in stature and in wisdom, and in favor with God and man [He didn't come with an already fully-developed mind]" (Luke 2:52 KJV).
The first fruit mentioned is love; this is because this is the telltale sign of a Christian and he has no excuse not to love another. If anyone doesn't love, he doesn't know God, for God is love (cf. 1 John 4:8). The confusion may arise when one confuses being filled with the Spirit with demonstrating the fruit (there is pseudo-fruit too)--that they always go together--and they are there, but not always in the measure we expect. (Eph. 5:18 means to keep on being filled with the Spirit--it is not a one-time filling or second blessing). Being filled merely means that one is controlled by the Spirit and is not living according to the flesh or the old sin nature (carnally).
Feeling (the fruit is not all about them) may or may not accompany the fillings (which are usually given for a ministry or when the Spirit wants to perform some task and equip the believer for it). Spirituality is not about always walking about on some spiritual high, or of walking in the glow of some past experience. True spirituality is demonstrating the fruit of the Spirit and that means God's fruit, not our fruit. Our righteousness is God's gift to us, not our gift to God!
Note also that another gift, peace, is given when we pray with thanksgiving as our attitude (cf. Phil. 4:6-7). Jesus taught that Christians would be known by their love (cf. John 13:35). This is a matter of testimony that has to do with showing our fruit. Don't depend on feelings; lack of feeling, in itself, doesn't mean one is not filled with the Spirit. To sum up, what I'm trying to say, it is not how much of the Spirit you have (all Christians have the measure of the Spirit), but how much of you the Spirit has (how submissive you are to His will). Soli Deo Gloria!