Welcome to 2026
Manifesting the Fruit and the Gifts of the Holy Spirit
1 Corinthians 12:1-11 | Galatians 5:22-23
Dearly Beloved,
I felicitate you all with gratitude and expectation as we enter 2026. Our theme for the year, Manifesting the Fruit and the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, is more than a slogan. It is a personal invitation to a deeper, more intentional walk with God.
A believer must always live with the constant awareness that he or she is not their own. We belong to God, and our actions, emotions, thoughts, and decisions must come under His control. The Holy Spirit lives in everyone who is born of God (Romans 8:16). Yet the Spirit can be resident without Him being the president governing that life.
The Spirit may be welcomed in one room of your life but barred from others. The level of the Spirit’s influence in your life is determined by how many rooms you give Him access to. The greatest act of faith and consecration is to yield the throne of your life to the Holy Spirit and allow Him to reign.
Walking in the Spirit is the key to manifestations of God’s glory.
Every believer faces a daily choice of either to:
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Walk in the flesh, yielding will, mind, emotions, thoughts, and actions to the influence of the old nature or
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Walk in the Spirit, yielding the totality of life to the New Man formed in us through Christ.
Romans 6:16 teaches that your master is determined by whom you yield yourself to in thought and deed. If we are to manifest both the fruit and the gifts of the Spirit in 2026, we must commit to walking in the Spirit.
Steps to Walking in the Spirit
1. Know your identity
Walking in the Spirit begins with knowing who you are and to whom you belong. I urge you to live every day in the reality of Galatians 2:20, “You do not belong to yourself. You were bought with a price” (1 Corinthians 6:20; 7:23).
There are three foundational truths you must know and settle in your heart:
a. You have been baptised into Christ’s death and raised into new life (Romans 6:3-4).
b. Your old nature was crucified with Christ, and you are released from serving sin (Romans 6:6-7).
c. Because Christ was raised from the dead, sin no longer has dominion over you (Romans 6:9).
Scripture calls us to reckon ourselves dead to sin (Romans 6:11). To reckon means to consider, decide, and settle an issue in your heart. Just as a student promoted to a higher class rejects being called by his former class. Christians’ must also accept their promotion in Christ and refuse old identities in sin. Many of us fail to live like we have been promoted, I urge you to change that mindset.
Knowing who you are must produce an act of will, that is yielding yourself to God (Romans 6:13, 16, 19). Yielding means presenting your body as a living sacrifice and committing your will to God (Romans 12:1-2).
If you do not know your identity or to whom you belong, you will easily be led into spiritual error and be cheated by the enemy.
2. Know your enemy
To secure victory, you must understand what you are up against. Your greatest enemy is the enemy within: the old nature and its lingering influence.
This old nature is tied to the works of darkness and the enemy’s devices (Romans 6:6; Romans 1:28-32). It is described in Scripture as the lust of the flesh (Galatians 5:16-21), this body of death (Romans 7:24), and the sinful nature (Romans 8:3).
You must also recognise the enemy’s methods: enticement (Proverbs 1:10-14), deception (Revelation 12:9), and temptation (James 1:13-16). Awareness is the first step to overcoming. Ignorance gives the flesh an advantage.
3. Know the power available to you
It is not enough to know who you are and who your enemy is. You must also know the resources God has provided. The old nature cannot be defeated by fleshly methods. That will never succeed.
God has given every believer the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8). This power:
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Confirms your identity as a child of God (Romans 8:16) so you will not live under an identity crisis or peer pressure.
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Is already at work in you and can do exceedingly abundantly above what you ask or think (Ephesians 3:20).
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Works in you to make you willing and to empower you to do God’s will (Philippians 2:13). You are not helpless.
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Provides a way of escape in every temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13).
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Empowers you to put to death the deeds of the flesh (Romans 8:13).
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Keeps you from falling (1 Peter 1:5; Jude 24).
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Leads and guides you as you yield to Him (Romans 8:14; Galatians 5:18).
A Call for 2026
This year I call you to make room for the Holy Spirit as Lord. Do not treat Him as a mere visitor. We have been called to display the fruit of the Spirit in character and to move in the gifts of the Spirit in power. Both are possible only through a consistent, Spirit-led life.
As a Church and as individuals, let us commit ourselves to walking in the Spirit every day so that Christ in us is clearly manifested to our community. May 2026 be the year we truly manifest the fruit and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, to the glory of God and for the advancement of His Kingdom.
With shepherdly love and expectation,
Rev. Dr Adediran Adeleke
Church Pastor, Oritamefa Baptist Church
Ibadan, Nigeria
