Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights… (James 1:16 ESV)
Another Form of Gift
A great way to provide lawncare for the shut-ins of your neighborhood, is to give a teenager a lawnmower. A great way to provide meals for the hungry, is to teach a hungry man to cook. A great way to encourage reading is to give books to the library.
The fruits of the Spirit are like that. Yes, Christians are empowered by the Spirit of God to love, to find joy, to have peace, to be patient, to have kindness, to act with goodness, to display faithfulness, to show gentleness, and to have self-control.
But first, God Himself is loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled. He gives those gifts to us, aims those things at us, fills us with His expressions of them.
Before we use them ourselves, God gives us those gifts.