OVERCOMERS With the Fruit of the SpiritSample

 Faithfulness: He’s Out in Front but He’s Got Your Back! 

  You can well ask, what good is goodness, even love, peace — or any of the Spirit’s fruit, if we’re not faithful to its ripening in our life? It’s a real question with a real answer — Jesus… who was faithful both to the Father and to us, even at the cost of His own torment and death. The Spirit’s fruit ripened in full measure in Jesus as He was the ultimate expression of faithfulness through the Holy Spirit by which He offered Himself (Hebrews 9:14).

Not only are we also called to be faithful in the same way (Revelation 2:10), but we are given the same Spirit with His fruit of faithfulness to empower our fidelity to God, just as Jesus was empowered to be faithful. It’s not a different faithfulness, it is the very same faithfulness of God that Jesus walked in that matures in our heart. It’s the Spirit-driven ability to be steadfastly true to what we know is true and rise above any cost to do so — even death. 

And even if the flesh rears its ugly head and we fall short of God’s grace and miss His will, nothing we could ever do can make Him unfaithful to us, He still has our back. “What if some were unfaithful? Will their unfaithfulness nullify God’s faithfulness” (Romans 3:3)? That is the fruit planted in our hearts, the very steadfastness, fidelity, and covenant loyalty of God Himself. “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 (Lamentations 3:22-23). Praise God that as His Spirit’s fruit grows in us, great is His faithfulness to make us faithful to the faith as well!