Galatians 5:22 Peace, a Fruit of the Spirit

Of the nine qualities called the Fruit of the Spirit the first three portray a Christian’s mindset with special emphasis on his relationship with God.  They are love, joy, and peace.  Romans 5:1, tells us that true peace of mind depends on attaining “peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”. 

I am sure those with a secular mindset would disagree when I say that man cannot experience true peace without trusting in and obeying God.  I speak from personal experience.  I have heard many testimonies of people trying to fill the emptiness in their spirits with many things as they looked for true peace in their lives.  They find out that material things, success, wealth, acclaim, or even relationships do not bring a true internal peace.  They reach a goal which they have envisioned and look around and say, “is that all there is?”  At some time in life each of us is faced with the questions, “What is life all about?”   “What is the purpose of the trials which I face?”  “I have to do the same thing day, after day, after day.  Is there purpose to the monotony?”  One can become very fearful and depressed until he finds answers to these thoughts.   Faith in the God who is waiting for us to come to Him cannot be logically understood.  Faith is a gift.  We are to come with the faith of an innocent child.  Faith comes to us when we seek its reality.  We experience God’s reality when we ask, “Is what God promises in His word true?  Is God who He says He is?”  God and His answers came to me as I read specific Bible verses.  His Spirit entered my spirit and I knew He was with me.  He heard me and He spoke to my heart. 

Receiving God’s gift of faith and the virtues of the Fruit of His Spirit make our personal spirits peaceful.  We experience peace when fear is replaced by faith.  A fearful person has not found God’s internal peace, a gift of the Spirit.   The greatest gift which the believer has is the promised hope of eternal life.  God’s promise of eternal life tells me that I will be with Him and my loved ones throughout eternity.   This gives me peace.  I am not afraid to die therefore I am not afraid to live.  Christ conquers the believer’s ultimate fear of death.

God has given us His grace, His promise of eternal life, and His peace.  As He has given, He wants us to give.  When we receive His peace, He wants us to live in peace.  Peace and harmony come to those who extend it to others.  In the world, peace is described as the opposite of war and social unrest.  Man prays for world peace.  The peace which I have been describing is an internal quality possessed by individuals who are reconciled with God.  God has not given man the power to give peace.  God’s peace can only return to the world when He returns.  Our heavenly Father is called the “God of Peace” in 1 Thessalonians 5:23.  The Messiah, Christ, is called the “Prince of Peace” in Isaiah 9:6.  There is a peace which the world can not define, understand, or achieve.  Peace is something every human being longs for to achieve in their personal lives and in the world.  In John 14:27 Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”     

Galatians 5:22 Longsuffering, a Gift of the Spirit

The antidote for the traits of the human spirit is God’s Spirit.  Our human nature is described as the flesh in scriptures.  The human spirit possesses selfish tendencies.  Our self absorption should decrease as we grow from infant, to child, to adult.  This happens in varying degrees in each of us; some people never continue growing beyond their childhood selfish traits.  We can work on improving the works or traits of the flesh but the results usually fall short of our intentions.  We need God’s help.  We need His strength, wisdom, and power.  He enables us to improve and grow in love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. 

The forth Fruit of the Spirit is longsuffering.  Longsuffering is patience.  The human trait tends to be impatience.  I can identify with the fact that impatience comes easily to most of us.  It is easy to speak impulsively and to over-react in any given situation.  God wants us to patiently endure as we relate to others.  Our attitudes and actions are being observed by others and affect our testimony.  The Spirit of God within us will power our ability to be longsuffering.  Romans 8:14 tells us that to truly be “sons of God” we must be “led by the Spirit of God”.

None of us can exhibit patience like God.  The Father waits patiently for each of us to come to Him believing who He is.  He waits in an attitude of unconditional love for each of our hearts to be convicted and to choose to receive His gift of faith.  Christ patiently endured suffering during His three years of ministry on His way to the cross for us.  The Holy Spirit teaches us and convicts our hearts as He waits for us to repent, believe, and receive salvation and the entry of His Spirit and gifts into our lives.  We want God to be forgiving and patient with us.  He wants us to be forgiving and patient with others.   

Longsuffering and endurance means patience and perseverance.  I can remember repeating the following words often to my girls when they were struggling with a task, “patience, persistence, and perseverance, makes perfection”.  Now I hear them encouraging my grandchildren with the same advice.  We do not attain perfection in most areas of our lives but we get to reach our best position or result when we patiently persevere. 

Philippians 4:13 is a Bible verse which I have repeated quietly and out loud to myself many times and in many situations, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”.  I want Christ’s Holy Spirit within me to help me to persevere in patience and longsuffering as I grow in the Fruits of the Spirit.        

Galatians 5:22 Kindness, a Fruit of the Spirit

Kindness is the fifth Gift of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22.  It is a characteristic which has to do with our relationships with others.  It is the way we express love to our family and others.  When we love someone we want to treat them with Kindness and we want others to treat us kindly.

Kindness, generosity, and mercy are the heart of God’s nature.  Christ gave Himself for our sins.  Because of what Jesus did for us, when we receive Him and His Holy Spirit, this nature of Kindness begins to grow in our human spirit.  In our human nature we are all deficient, flawed, and weak.  No one has “arrived” spiritually.  As we yield to the Holy Spirit, He grows our spirit developing the virtue of Kindness within us.

Isaiah 54:10 says, “ ‘For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed but my kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall my covenant of peace be removed’, says the Lord who has mercy on you”.  As a believer, I experience God’s peace and His Kindness (Blessings and Favor) in my life.

Our Lord and Savior was kind and our Father requires us to be kind and merciful.  He gave us His Holy Spirit to enable us to grow in Kindness and mercy toward others.  In   Matthew 5:7 Jesus says, “Blessed are the merciful (kind) for they shall obtain mercy”.  Our Kindness and mercy toward others will in someway come back to us.  We are not to be kind for that which we want to receive in return.  We are to be kind to others because Kindness and mercy have now become our nature and our natural loving response to others.  We look for no reward from the person to whom we showed kindness.  An example of this unselfish kindness is seen in the parable of The Good Samaritan in Luke 10: 30-37.  The Good Samaritan showed the wounded traveler unconditional kindness.  This is the Kindness and mercy which the Holy Spirit is working on perfecting in our lives.  Come Holy Spirit Come! Perfect your gift of Kindness in my spirit.  Thank you, Lord.          

Galatians 5:22 Goodness, a Fruit of the Spirit

Each Fruit, as described in Galatians 5: 22 and 23 describes a specific character quality that God creates in the believer through His Spirit.  They are gifts of the Holy Spirit.  The sixth gift listed in these verses is the gift of Goodness.  Goodness is the state of being good.  It is a virtue which expresses moral excellence.  It is seen in an individual as a recognizable attribute of character. Genuinely good people are kind, caring, generous, and strong in essence and conduct.  In Biblical writings, Goodness is seen as uprightness of heart and life.

Goodness is the essence of God’s nature.  Psalm 100:5 says, “For the Lord is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation”.  Our human nature is not instinctively good.  As a child we begin to learn how to be good.  When we receive Christ, God the Father now sees us through the filter of Christ’s righteousness and the Holy Spirit enters into our spirit giving us His gifts.  The Holy Spirit, by giving the believer the gift of Goodness, transmits God’s goodness into our human spirit.  God’s goodness and righteousness become our strength of character. 

About twenty years ago I worked with a nurse who came back into hospital nursing after working in other nursing fields for years.  I had accomplished the same transition a number of years earlier.  One day she took me aside and asked, “What is different about you?  Don’t you ever feel burnt out?”  I love nursing.  I love caring for others.  I make it a practice to work hard and live in an attitude of thanksgiving with a positive outlook.  I try to live my faith without being verbally preachy.  My sincere response to her, as I prayed for boldness, was “I love the Lord with all of my heart, all of my soul, and all of my mind”.  The way I lived, the way I treated others, and the way I practiced my profession became a witness to someone who was watching me.  I thank the Lord for the gift of faith and the gifts of the Holy Spirit in my life.  I want the Goodness of God to shine through me as He grows me in His gifts.  I want God to be glorified in my life as He teaches me, fills me, and flows through me.  I want to live in His light and in the light of His Word.        

Galatians 5:22 Faithfulness, a Fruit of the Spirit

I have learned of God’s faithfulness over the years.  He has brought me through many trials and difficult times.  He is with me in times of joy and in pain.  One of my favorite Hymns is “Great is Thy Faithfulness”.  It is one of many old Hymns which bring my eyes to tears as I sing the meaningful words.  He is so faithful and I am so very grateful for His faithfulness.

Faithfulness is synonymous with steadfastness, constancy, and allegiance.  We live in a world of broken promises.  Consistency and commitment seem to be less and less important in society today.  Man cannot be faithful to God or his fellow man when he has a selfish mindset; when he always puts himself and his needs first.  In using the word man, I am sure that you will understand that I am talking about mankind; man or woman.  This selfishness must be broken before he will put God and others before his own self-interests. 

By nature, God is faithful.  Our human natures are imperfect, self-centered, and sinful.  The Holy Spirit has convicted the Christian’s heart bringing him to Salvation.  When God saves us the Holy Spirit enters into our spirit giving us His spiritual gifts. God, through His Holy Spirit within us, is working to improve us in character and spirit.  He wants us to become more trustworthy, loyal, and dependable.  A faithful person is someone you can trust, depend on, and count on.  The Holy Spirit teaches us faithfulness.  The more we know God and His word, the more we are aware of His total faithfulness to us.  We learn how Jesus lived; and how He wants us to live.  The Holy Spirit makes it possible for His gifts to grow within us.  As we love more, we mature more in our faithfulness in relationship to God and to others. 

God’s faithfulness to us is synonymous with His covenant love for us.  This we can read in Deuteronomy 7:9, Psalm 100:5, and Lamentations 3:22, and 23; Great is God’s faithfulness!  God is faithful to us.  We are to be faithful to Him in our speech, worship, prayer, service, and stewardship.  We are to be faithful to others in relationship as we live in love, integrity, truth, and commitment.  It isn't always easy, but it is possible.  We must ask the Holy Spirit to give us the strength in His power to make it doable.  He will be faithful to build faithfulness in us as we ask for and receive His help.

My faithfulness to God is based on the gift of faith which He has given to me and in my belief that He is who He says He is in His Word.  He is faithful to me.  I want to be faithful to Him.  I want to live in His will and for his purpose.  The Holy Spirit enables me to grow in faith, increase in my faithfulness to God, and to be faithful to the people in my life.  Faithfulness is a Fruit of the Spirit.  

Galatians 5: 23 Gentleness, a Fruit of the Spirit

Gentleness is the eighth of nine Godly virtues given to us by God through His Holy Spirit when we come to Him in faith, in Christ.  Paul describes gentleness as meekness in the King James version of the Bible.  Since meekness is no longer a commonly used word, newer translations use gentleness.  Meekness is one of the beatitudes in Matthew 5:5.  The beatitudes are beautiful attitudes for which God promises blessings.  Gentleness is therefore, a beautiful attitude. 

The attitude of gentleness is a Fruit of the Holy Spirit.  Reacting in gentleness is a learned quality which matures and grows within our spirits as the Holy Spirit and his gifts increase.  Our natural (human nature) responses decrease as the Holy Spirit gives us wisdom and increased self-control over impulsive reactions in conflict. 

Jesus demonstrated true gentleness in the midst of conflict and in His popularity.  Being sure of whom He was, allowed Him to react in a gentle and humble way in response to His friends and to His adversaries.  In the same way, we must be aware of our power in the Holy Spirit.  Knowing who we are in God, enables us to react gently and humbly to people in our lives.  We become more aware of others and their needs.    The Holy Spirit gives us the ability to not view our own needs as primary.  We can see the bigger picture.

We face conflict daily in our lives.  It seems natural to react to others with a defensive attitude.  The wrong attitude causes us to respond in anger with harsh words or even violence.  Our human nature reacts impulsively when we are insecure about who we are, and insecure about what our position is.  When we have received the Holy Spirit and His gifts into our lives and accept the reality of who we are in Christ, we trust Him to help us to become gentler and humbler in the midst of conflict.

I am certainly, and in no way, perfected in this area.  I have always instructed my daughters, “learn not to react impulsively to thoughtless harsh words”.  They both seem to be better at it than I have been but I am learning to take my own advice.  Knowing and reacting are two different things.  This is where the Holy Spirit’s teaching and His gift of gentleness, with a forgiving attitude, comes in.  Much more is accomplished when a situation of conflict is discussed at a future time when all involved have calmed down.  The Holy Spirit is in the process of taming and training my spirit.  I want Him to teach me to react as Christ would have reacted.  Christ did display righteous anger to the money changers at the temple.  Learning how to react in conflict is a process.  I do not want to under act or to over act.

Jesus, help me to be slower to react in most situations.  Help me to be gentler in conflict.  Help me to know your purpose in my life in any given situation.  I want to be a reflection of you, in gentleness, as I journey through this present life.   In daily situations and in conflicts may your Holy Spirit direct me and teach me as your fruits grow within me.  Thank you, Lord!

Galatians 5:23 Self-control, a Fruit of the Spirit

In my November 4th posting I wrote about the Fruit of the Holy Spirit.  These Gifts of the Spirit are nine Godly virtues which the Holy Spirit gives to the believer when His Spirit enters into man’s spirit.  I will write about the ninth gift first and go backward, one Fruit at a time. 

Self-control in a person’s life is an attribute of will power and discipline.  In the King James Version of the Bible self-control is called temperance, meaning self-restraint.  Everyone faces temptations.  The Holy Spirit’s gift of self-control enables us to resist temptations and to make Godly choices for our lives.  God’s indwelling strength and presence give us the power to overcome our natural (human nature) spirit.

Just as our faith matures, the gifts of the Spirit will mature, grow, and become more evident in our lives as we walk our life’s spiritual journey.  Growth is a process.  The Holy Spirit teaches us and gives us wisdom and increased self-control.  We must grow in the word, trust God, and be obedient.  As God’s Spirit transforms us we can see the manifestations of a self controlled life in our choices and attitudes. 

Jesus said in Matthew 26:4, “The (human) spirit (attitude and actions) indeed is willing but the flesh (human will power) is weak.”  I want God to be in control of my will and my heart.  God’s gift of self-control to us as believers is the key to overcoming many of our human struggles and habits.  We can overcome the flesh with God’s Spiritual gifts; His strength, His presence, and His power.  

Galatians 5:22 and 23 The Fruit of the Holy Spirit

When we live in the Spirit we are to walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:25).    The Holy Spirit lives within the believer’s spirit to teach, comfort, and to give us God’s power and to give us the fruits of His Spirit.  These gifts of the Spirit are listed in Galatians 5:22.  Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control are the Holy Spirit’s gifts to us when He enters into our human spirit. 

It is not natural for us to be loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and in control of self, all of the time, in our human nature.  God promises us that when we come to Him believing, He will give us His Holy Spirit, who gives us the manifestations of these gifts in our lives.  Our spirit is re-born; we experience the new birth when we receive God’s Spirit into our human spirit.  Growing in His Spirit and in these gifts is a process.  These gifts mature in us as we live our faith, study the word, and walk with the indwelling Holy Spirit in our redeemed and changed lives.  God gave Christ, His Son, to the world.  When Jesus went back to the Father, Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit to continue His ministry in us and in the world.  Our Salvation, our spiritual re-birth, is a one time event but the maturing of our faith is a continuous growth process.  We mature, grow, and become more filled with the Holy Spirit as our faith increases.  Our human spirit and human ways have to diminish as the Holy Spirit fills us and takes up more space in our being.  Our nature changes as we are filled with more love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control because of the supernatural indwelling of the Holy Spirit in our lives as Spirit filled believers.