Living a Life of Faithfulness (Fruit of the Spirit Series)

We’re in our seventh week of the Fruit of the Spirit Series. If you missed any of the previous series’ posts, click here to catch up. This week we tackle faithfulness. (If you would rather listen to this series, click here for access to the audio files.)

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22–23).

The plan of salvation involves having faith in Jesus Christ our Lord. But what exactly is faith? 

Faith Defined

An easily remembered definition of biblical faith is Forsaking All I Trust Him. 

And God defines faith as “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1, my emphasis).

Boiled down, faith then is a trust in the Lord; it is a belief that He is real and that His Word is true—all of it, always. 

But a real and active faith goes even deeper than that. Real faith is more than just knowing God is true or believing the events described in the Bible.

Photo by ancientartpodcast.org via Flickr.

Real faith is accepting God’s truth for you and living it out.

Real faith is accepting God's truth for you and living it out. Click To Tweet

Growing Our Faith

By God’s grace we have faith. Yet our faith can become stagnant and stale if we let it. Many of us have gone through those seasons. Maybe one of you is in that season now. 

Living in a spirit of faithfulness, embracing real faith, requires an awareness and some desire on our part. We must realize that our faith will not grow without the water of the Word and the fertilizer of prayer. 

Our faith will not grow without the water of the Word and the fertilizer of prayer. Click To Tweet

Faith is about trust. It is difficult to trust someone you don’t know very well.

Through the Holy Scriptures and prayer, we get to know the heart of God. As we do, we are more apt to respond in obedience because we know Him to be trustworthy.

Subsequently through His faithfulness, our faith grows, and we trust Him even more. What a beautiful circle of faith! 

Look at Abraham as an example (Genesis 12–25):

• Abraham trusted the Lord that although it seemed silly, the best plan was for him and his entire family to relocate—when he was 75 years old.
• Abraham trusted the Lord that although his wife Sarah was long past child-bearing age, she would bear him a son.
• Abraham trusted the Lord that although it seemed inconceivable, something wonderful would come out of his sacrifice of his son, Isaac. 

See the progression here? Over the years, Abraham cultivated his relationship with God and grew his trust in Him. As he remained faithful in the smaller events and sacrifices, his faith grew, until he could trust God with all he had.

Abraham’s acceptance of the Lord’s promises for him made his faith active and dynamic.

Heroes of Faith

Hebrews 11 is a wonderful chapter and a great springboard for a study on faith. In it we get a glimpse of what real faithfulness looks like.

Abraham, Abel, Enoch, Noah, Sarah, Isaac, Moses—all were mentioned as being obedient by faith. 

What did they do? They made mistakes. They behaved as imperfect humans. Yet they trusted God’s Word for them, first in the little things and later in the bigger ones. 

Forsaking their plans and their desires, they accepted God’s promises for them, not just everyone else or the church or in theory. They lived out their belief that God loved them and had the best plan for them.

Embodying the fruit of faithfulness and living a life of real faith is an active walk as we seek the Lord and His plan for each day of our life. 

Living a life of real faith is an active walk as we seek the Lord and His plan for each day. Click To Tweet

Although we may see our faith as little, in the hands of our mighty God, it is more than enough!

Although we may see our faith as little, in the hands of our mighty God, it is more than enough! Click To Tweet

Through God’s grace, walk out your faith every day; accept His promises for you.

“For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—not from works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8–9).

Reflections: What is your favorite way to spend time with God? How has that cultivated faithfulness in your life? 

Linking with Ann Voskamp at A Holy Experience in 2013 for my Joy Dare list  for Multitude Mondays (#1620–1640, read them all by clicking here):

By His grace ≈

Julie