Tag: love

Fruit of the Spirit: FAITHFULNESS

Galatians 5:22-23(NLT), “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!

FAITHFULNESS. God is always faithful. He never lets us down. I love this verses in Lamentations 3:23-24(NIV)…

“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

We can depend on the Lord to always be there for us. He has promised to never leave us and to never forsake us (Hebrews 13:6). He is faithful to be who He promised to be. He is faithful to do what He promised to do.

The most important relationship we have is our relationship with Jesus. So we should be faithful in our love and loyalty toward Him. When we are faithful to Him, it will cause the other areas of our lives to fall into place. Our relationship with Him even sets the standard for the other relationships in our lives.

Although faithfulness is planted in us, we must still pursue it. We must actively seek to increase our faithfulness to our God. The more we come to know Him, the more we will want to faithfully love and serve Him.

A few ways we can increase our faithfulness to God:

We can spend time getting to know Him through His Word.

We can pursue activities that will strengthen our relationship with Him.

We can fellowship with likeminded people.

We can pray and ask God to strengthen our faith as we seek Him.

Walk in Faithfulness to our Lord…

1.Psalm 31:23(NIV), “Love the LORD, all his faithful people! The LORD preserves those who are true to him, but the proud he pays back in full.”

2.Psalm 37:28(NIV), “For the LORD loves the just and will not forsake his faithful ones. Wrongdoers will be completely destroyed; the offspring of the wicked will perish.”

God promises to preserve us when we are faithful to Him. That brings such peace to know He is covering us, especially with all the turmoil that is going on nowadays. He will not abandon us, but will instead lead us on level ground (Psalm 27:11).

I will be the first to admit, remaining faithful to God is not an easy road. Some days are easier than others. The Holy Spirit gives us warnings, called convictions, that He designed to keep us on the right road. But we must follow those convictions. I’ve been guilty many times of ignoring the convictions and doing what I wanted. I know from experience that in the end, that causes heartbreak. But thankfully, He was still faithful to keep on loving me, being patient with me, and helping me to do better. Even when we fail, He is still faithful!

We just need to take one day at a time and trust God that we are progressing more and more with each passing day. We must live by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). When we seek Him wholeheartedly, He will be faithful to help us learn and grow.

***Please share your thoughts about FAITHFULNESS in the comments.

Great is His faithfulness

Fruit of the Spirit: LOVE

Galatians 5:22-23(NLT),”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!

LOVE. I am convinced that love is something that we will never stop learning to do. Learning to walk in love is a life long adventure. Jesus set an example for us to live by. His words and actions are a constant expression of love. He died for us because of love (Romans 5:8). I’m so glad he loves me. Nothing else in my life or this world can compare to His love. His love is pure. No strings attached.

God is love…

1 John 4:16(NIV),”And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.”

A few instructions from the Bible about LOVE:

1. Love God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind. (Luke 10:27)

God should be first place in our lives. We should love Him more than anyone or anything. We must make a decision to surrender our lives to Him. Once we make this decision, we will learn to surrender in stages. As long as we’re making progress, we’re on the right path.

2. Love your neighbor as yourself. (James 2:8)

Loving others as we love ourselves, basically means we are treating people the way we want to be treated. We should not think more highly of ourselves than God wants us to (Romans 12:3). Taking time to stop and think before we speak or act, will help us to be more successful at showing love to others.

3. Love your enemies. (Matthew 5:44)

This one can really be a challenge! But we must remember that even before we came to Christ, He loved us. We were living against Him and His will for our lives, but He still loved us. Showing love to those who are the hardest to love, is a sure way to share Christ with them.

4. Love keeps no record of wrongs. (1 Corinthians 13:5)

When we forgive others, we can no longer hold their faults against them. We have to let them go free. We can’t say we forgive someone and then keep bringing up everything wrong they did. Depending on the situation, we don’t necessarily have to stay in a relationship with someone. It’s okay to go your separate ways if need be. But we must forgive if we want to be forgiven by God (Matthew 6:15).

Of course there is so much more the Bible has to say about love. As children of God, love is a big part of who we are. As we draw closer to Christ , we will continue to grow in love.

***Feel free to share your thoughts about LOVE in the comments.

Next Reading: Fruit of the Spirit: JOY

We love because He first loved us, 1 John 4:19