PRAISE & PRAYER PROMPT ••• This is Day Seven of our nine-day study of the Fruits of the Spirit.
Galatians 5:22-23 says, “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!”
Today, we’re looking at FAITHFULNESS.
The Bible is God’s infallible Word to man, every detail divinely orchestrated.
With that said, the order of the Fruits of the Spirit may seem arbitrary, but does anyone else find it interesting that faithfulness is the seventh fruit listed?
Faith — the very thing that is required of us to be saved — falls in line with the number associated with divine completion.
I don’t mean to try to read something in between the lines of Scripture, but I find that very interesting.
(Side note, if you want to learn more about the significance of the number seven, please go to GotQuestions.org and search “What is the biblical significance of the number seven/7?”)
Faith, in its most simple form, means “belief,” or “trust.”
It’s the choice we make to believe God is trustworthy; He keeps His promises; and that Jesus is the resurrected Son of God.
It’s the very foundation of our Christian walk.
Faith is the only thing God has asked of us since He first created Adam and Eve.
Their original sin was a result of not trusting in what God said would happen if they ate the forbidden fruit.
With that said, let’s step back a few verses ahead of the Fruits of the Spirit verses and look at Galatians 5:19-21 NLT which says, “When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.”
Without faithful obedience, all of these things listed in verses 19-21 set us up for heartache and misery.
Any “fun” is short-lived and temporary; the consequences are eternal.
These verses then segue into what the Holy Spirit can do in our lives if we surrender to God.
It’s FAITH that enables us to let the Holy Spirit produce in us the fruits of “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”
And what’s super cool about this—we don’t have to rely on ourselves for faith.
Any truly repentant heart who wants to believe will be empowered to believe!
Hebrews 12:1-2a says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.”
Verse one refers to a crowd of witnesses to the life of faith— this refers to faithful powerhouses such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Daniel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and more!
We can look to their lives of faith, and learn from them.
And by doing so, turn our backs on the sin that hurts us, focus our eyes on Jesus, and believe that He died to save us.
From there, the Holy Spirit works to grow our faith and thereby, help us develop a closer relationship with God.
Amazing, isn’t it?
Of course, we serve an Amazing God!
Today, as you pray, thank Him for the gift of faith and ask the Holy Spirit to help you believe, when everything in the world seeks to trip you up.
Ask Him to give you a trusting heart that is utterly dependent on Jesus because of what He’s done for you, and the eternal future He is planning for you.
One Response
I like your observation of the fruit of faithfulness falling seventh in the list. God doesn’t do anything randomly, and so I agree that there is tremendous significance in the order of these qualities listed. Great post, Denise! <3 <3