The Fruit of the Spirit (Faithfulness)

April 12, 2023

The Fruit of the Spirit (Faithfulness)

What does faithfulness actually mean?

Let’s first take a look at the Scriptures that the word faithfulness comes from in regards to the fruit of the Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23 states, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” The word faithfulness or faith is the Greek word pistis which means the character of one that can be relied on.

In other words, who are you when there is nobody around? What does your character look like? Are you striving to be more like Christ? A faithful person is someone that comes through on their word, they are loyal, you can trust them, but more importantly they are faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is the One that will help you develop the fruits of the Spirit.

The fruit of faithfulness is an important one that you want to improve on as a believer in the Kingdom of God because you are a direct representation of our Heavenly Father. You don’t want to say that you are a Christian but then your actions are completely contrary to what a Christian is supposed to look like.

For instance:

You are unfaithful to the Lord (you put things and people before Him).
You’re always late to work.
You never follow through with promises that you make to other people.
You’re unfaithful to your spouse.
Your children can’t take your word at face value.

These are just a few examples of the ways that your behaviors can be a direct contradiction to the fruit of the Spirit of faithfulness. Your Christian life should be less about you and more about wanting to reflect the image of Jesus. That is why the Lord is adamant about His children developing His character traits. We are God’s vessels here on Earth to radiate His love. We can’t do that if our character exudes unfaithfulness, it will taint your ability to witness for Jesus Christ.

We can never forget that perfect faithfulness is the character God, He will never leave you or forsake you, Deuteronomy 31:6. If you took a moment and thought back at all of the times in your life that: you should have been sick, you should of gotten hurt in that car accident, the devil almost took you out, you almost died, etc., but God! He has always been there for you even when you didn’t want Him to.

He is a Faithful God that loves every single one of us so much that He allowed His only Son to die on a cross for our “just in case” we decide to love Him back. Can you think of anyone more faithful than that? God’s faithfulness towards us is the same faithfulness that He wants us establish in our hearts and minds daily. Through the power of the Holy Spirit it can be done, but it will take your willingness to want to make those necessary changes.

If you haven’t had the chance to check out my other articles on the Fruit of the Spirit, please do: The Fruit of the Spirit (Love), The Fruit of the Spirit (Joy), The Fruit of the Spirit (Peace), The Fruit of the Spirit (Longsuffering), and The Fruit of the Spirit (Goodness).

I am going to go over some verses of Scripture that you can meditate on regarding the part of the fruit of the Spirit called faithfulness.

Deuteronomy 7:9

“Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments.”

In order to have a clearer understanding of what is going on in this powerful verse of Scripture out of the Old Testament we have to take a look at the verses before it. Deuteronomy 7:7-8 details “The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”

Dissecting these passages out of the Bible we can undeniably see the faithfulness of God on full display. He is a man that shall not lie (Numbers 23:19) so if He said it He will do it. The Lord promised the fathers of the children of Israel (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob Deuteronomy 6:10) and He kept His promise many years later. It didn’t matter to God that they were the least (or few in number) of all people because He loved them regardless.

Now we can take a closer look at the verse of Scripture I highlighted up above. The faithfulness of God goes as far as a thousand generations which is a significant amount of time if you think about it. The thing is that people often forget about the stipulation that the Lord gives us, the passage states, “…with those who love Him and keep His commandments.” As believers of Jesus Christ we have to strive to have an unchanging character that reflects God, a faithful servant to God’s Word and commandments.

One of those commandments is to love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and mind, Matthew 22:37. This is one of the ways that you can exhibit great faithfulness. When you love someone with all of you completely, you don’t want to do anything that is going to get in the way of that love. You are loyal, faithful, and obedient. A dependable person will demonstrate attributes that are led by the Holy Spirit. This includes being a fruit bearing vessel in their daily Christian life.

2 Timothy 2:1-2

“You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”

The Apostle Paul is addressing Timothy giving him words of encouragement regarding his walk as a believer of Jesus Christ. If anyone knew how difficult and trying it was to be a Christian during that time it was Paul. The fact is that Timothy was going to face persecution; there was no way of getting around it. That is why we can see in the verses just before this one that Paul’s mentions that we are not to be fearful.

2 Timothy 1:7 states, For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” The Apostle Paul had already seen people that were once on fire, devoted, and faithful to the Lord turn away from Him and he didn’t want Timothy to do the same. It took a faithful person to stand strong through the trials and tribulations that many Christians endured in that period of time.

This brings us back to the verses of Scripture that I am highlighting in 2 Timothy 2:1-2. The advice that Paul is giving to his beloved son is to be very cautious about who he chose to become a soldier for Jesus Christ. It was going to take tenacity, loyalty, perseverance, and faithfulness in order to withstand the hardships up ahead. So, what exactly did Paul mean?

He explains in 2 Timothy 2:4“No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.” The Word of God is describing what it looks like for someone to truly serve Him faithfully with their entire heart. To successfully participate in the warfare that one faces, you cannot be consumed with the things of the World today. You have to be willing to press forward while keeping your eyes focused on Christ no matter what. The goal of faithfulness is to hear the Lord say to you “well done good and faithful servant,” Matthew 25:23.

Luke 16:10

“He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much.”

This passage of Scripture out of the New Testament is very telling. Jesus is giving a parable of an unjust steward who chose the love of money over being a loyal and faithful overseer of another man’s goods. Then the Lord goes on to disclose that a person that cannot be honest and loyal about the small things would not be able to handle more.

That is why a lot of Christians don’t fully operate in the purpose that God has for their life. They aren’t trusted with a greater anointing to do the work for Jesus Christ because they aren’t doing anything with the anointing that they currently have. I had this realization when I was in a situation where I was so demonically oppressed and needed help when it came to spiritual bondage.

Unfortunately because a lot of churches barely scratch the surface of what it means to really war against the devil, I didn’t have anywhere to go for assistance. Most of them were not operating in the full gospel of Jesus Christ therefore the Lord only entrusted them to a limited level of anointing. What I was facing was beyond just a normal church service on a Sunday morning.

As God’s people He wants us to live our lives obedient to what His Word says. The more faithful we are to what He has called us to do as believers, the more He will trust us to accomplish what He has destined for our lives. The question then becomes: how faithful are you with the little that God entrusts you with (family, finances, and your life as a Christian)? The second question would be: can He trust you with more?

Conclusion

God’s Word is saturated with principles and guidelines on how a believer of Jesus Christ should live their life. The Fruit of the Spirit gives us examples of character traits that the Lord expects from His children. One of those qualities is faithfulness and there is no one that is more faithful than the Lord. He is the embodiment of One that can be relied on. Just think back to moments in your life when He showed up for you right on time and made a way for you when there was no way.

That is what it means to display the fruit of the Spirit called faithfulness. In other words you are someone that can be trusted, someone that others can call on, someone that keeps their word no matter what, but most importantly you are faithful to the Lord. The Holy Spirit is the One that will help you develop this powerful characteristic.

The thing is that you have to be willing to put in the work especially if being faithful is not something that you are used to. In order for you to move powerfully in the area that God has called you to, it is going to require the fruit of the Spirit, faithfulness.

Also, don’t forget to check out my other blogs:

The Fruit of the Spirit (Goodness)

The Fruit of the Spirit (Kindness)

The Fruit of the Spirit (Longsuffering)

The Fruit of the Spirit (Peace)

The Fruit of the Spirit (Joy)

The Fruit of the Spirit (Love)

Overcoming the Spirit of Fear-Part 1

Overcoming the Spirit of Fear-Part 2

Power of Prayer (The Family Unit and Intercessory Prayer)

Power of Prayer (Praying in Your Heavenly Language)

Power of Prayer (Principles of Prayer)