“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith…” [Galatians 5:22]
In this passage faith is loyalty, reliability and fidelity as opposes to a system of believe or our initial act of faith that results in salvation. We are saved by grace through faith but once we enter into the body of Christ we are expected to allow the Spirit of God to work in and through us. One evidence of this working is faithfulness. Another way to define faithfulness is to live according to one’s profession. There are two possible alternatives. You will either manifest the works of the flesh [Galatians 5:19] because you have not exercised trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior or you will manifest the fruit of the Spirit as a child of God.
The fruit of the Spirit is our evidence that we are living in the Spirit. There are two actions that hinder the work of the Spirit in the believer’s life. The first is to “grieve the Spirit" [Ephesians 4:30]. We grieve the Spirit by the acts of sin we commit. In the context, we grieve the Spirit when we allow corrupt communication, bitterness, wrath, anger, etc to be manifest in our lives. The second is to "quench the Spirit" [1 Thessalonians 5:19]. In this case the scripture is referring to what we do not do. We cut off the work of the Spirit of God when we do not read the Bible, pray, memorize Scripture, attend church, give thanks, etc. We need to avoid the sins of commission and omission so the Spirit of God is able to produce His fruit within us.
How important is faithfulness? It is a demonstration of loyalty [Luke 16:10], required for service [1 Corinthians 4:2], an act of obedience [Matthew 25:20-23] and a demonstration of a special relationship with Christ [John 15:15, 16].
Faithfulness means:
“I complete my assignments.
I keep my promises.
I pay my bills.
I honor my commitments.
Do my work – on time.
I become a better teacher, employer, employee, committee member and chairman, because I am reliable and faithful.” [Donald Baker]
Have you allowed the Holy Spirit to produce the fruit of faithfulness in you?
In this passage faith is loyalty, reliability and fidelity as opposes to a system of believe or our initial act of faith that results in salvation. We are saved by grace through faith but once we enter into the body of Christ we are expected to allow the Spirit of God to work in and through us. One evidence of this working is faithfulness. Another way to define faithfulness is to live according to one’s profession. There are two possible alternatives. You will either manifest the works of the flesh [Galatians 5:19] because you have not exercised trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior or you will manifest the fruit of the Spirit as a child of God.
The fruit of the Spirit is our evidence that we are living in the Spirit. There are two actions that hinder the work of the Spirit in the believer’s life. The first is to “grieve the Spirit" [Ephesians 4:30]. We grieve the Spirit by the acts of sin we commit. In the context, we grieve the Spirit when we allow corrupt communication, bitterness, wrath, anger, etc to be manifest in our lives. The second is to "quench the Spirit" [1 Thessalonians 5:19]. In this case the scripture is referring to what we do not do. We cut off the work of the Spirit of God when we do not read the Bible, pray, memorize Scripture, attend church, give thanks, etc. We need to avoid the sins of commission and omission so the Spirit of God is able to produce His fruit within us.
How important is faithfulness? It is a demonstration of loyalty [Luke 16:10], required for service [1 Corinthians 4:2], an act of obedience [Matthew 25:20-23] and a demonstration of a special relationship with Christ [John 15:15, 16].
Faithfulness means:
“I complete my assignments.
I keep my promises.
I pay my bills.
I honor my commitments.
Do my work – on time.
I become a better teacher, employer, employee, committee member and chairman, because I am reliable and faithful.” [Donald Baker]
Have you allowed the Holy Spirit to produce the fruit of faithfulness in you?
If you would like a FREE copy of the booklet "he Fruit of the Spirit" please go to http://www.hopetriumphant.com/free_literature.htm
0 comments:
Post a Comment