After listing the daunting
characteristics of the flesh nature within us, Paul the apostle has
begun to share with the Galaitan church members the fruit of the
Spirit of God living within a Christian's life. He began with the
singular fruit of love, and from love we learned comes joy. In
chapter five and verse twenty-two we continue to look at Paul's list
of the fruit of God's Spirit. He wrote:
But the fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness,
faith,
Next on
Paul's list is “peace”. “Peace” is the idea of tranquility,
harmony, and concord. It protracts security, safety, and fearing
nothing. The Bible speaks of two kinds of peace – Peace with God,
and the peace of God. “Peace with God” is obtained when we commit
our lives to Jesus Christ and all sin that separates us from God is
removed. The “peace of God” however is an inner peace that
regardless of the circumstances which surround us there is peace
within.
Paul
adds, “longsuffering”. The idea with “longsuffering” is
patience, enduring, constant, steadfast, and persevering. It means to
“suffer” “long”. Suffering in itself can be hard enough, but
to know that the fruit of the Spirit is that it lasts for a while is
where we may know we need to have God's spirit ruling within us.
Paul
continues, “gentleness”. “Gentleness” relates to moral
goodness, integrity, benignity and kindness. When a person is filled
with the Spirit of God's love he or she is prone to be gentle toward
others. We all know there is more than ample opportunity for this
fruit to be demonstrated in our world.
Paul goes on to say,
“faith”. “Faith” is belief with the predominate idea of trust
or confidence. It manifests itself in fidelity and faithfulness. When
we are filled with the Spirit of God we encompass the idea that we
can be relied upon and trusted, and we will rely upon and trust
others. When we are filled with faith, we have an intuitive knowledge
that everything will be working together for good, and no matter what
we face, we will have faith that God is able to handle it all.
There are two more fruit of
the spirit mentioned by Paul, and we shall look at them tomorrow.
However for now it would behoove us all to review the list he has
provided thus far and ask, “Are these fruit of the spirit
flourishing in my life?”
Next
time we will look at two more characteristics of the fruit of the
spirit, so read ahead, and let us join together then.
Until
tomorrow...there is more...
Look for
the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation
to Generation” in all major
bookstore
sites, www.amazon.com ; www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to
e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore
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