We enter the third and final part of The Fruit of the Spirit, looking at faith, Meekness and Self-Control or Temperance. If you have not read or listened to the first two parts, I urge you to please do so.

Faith

The word faith is got from the Greek pistis, which Strongs defines as persuasion, that is, credence; moral conviction… assurance, belief, believe, faith, fidelity.

Faith is unwavering confidence or persuasion. Simply put, it means to believe or to trust. It is the confidence one holds in God’s word. It is to have confidence in the integrity of God and His word.

The object of our faith must always be God. Bob Hoekstra said, “Faith is only as effective as its object.” If we have faith in a dead Christ then our faith is dead, but thank God He is alive, risen from the dead and proven to be God, thus our faith is alive and effective also. In this regard, it is written that Abraham, 

…staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what HE had promised, HE was able also to perform -Romans 4:20-21.

Genuine faith considers the invisible realities of God’s Word as a greater and more dependable reality than the visible. Faith embraces the invisible and sees the unseen.

As believers, our faith must always be in the unseen. To be true it must always have God and what He said to be its object. 

If God did not say it, or it disagrees with His character and personality, then it is not worth the paper it is written upon, or the pulpit from which it is spewed forth. But if God said it, you can stake your life on it, ‘go through hell and high water’ and come out victorious. A man who walks by true faith is walking in the Spirit.

True faith is not time-bound, but God-bound. It is not about how long it will take, but about the integrity of ‘Who’ said it. He cannot lie! He cannot fail! (See Tit 1:2; 2 Tim 2:13). 

It is upon this premise that one can say that, doubt- that is unbelief, impugns the integrity of God. Hence, “…whatsoever is not of faith is sin” (Rom 14:23). 

Unbelief robs one of the promises of God. It is akin to what Jonah calls giving “heed to lying vanities” of which he says: 

They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy -Jonah 2:8.

Concerning the Israelites that did not enter into the Promised Land, but died in the wilderness, Hebrews 3:19 says,

So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. (See Hebrews. 3:7-19).

Faith pleases God. Hebrews 11:6 goes on to say,

But without faith, it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

If we are going to live a life that is pleasing to God, then it has to be a life lived by faith- Faith working through love.

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision has any force, nor uncircumcision; but faith working through love – Galatians 5:6, Darby.

Meekness

The Greek word here is praotes, it is obtained from the word praos which means: gentle, mild, meek, and implies humility.

Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth -Numbers 12:3.

Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your soul -Matthew 11:29.

To be meek is to be humble. Moses, the man of God, was specifically described as being meek above all men. What a testimony!

Jesus, the Son of God, also described himself as meek. It is this character that was demonstrated in His taking on the form of a man, though He was God, and coming to the earth to die on the cross for our sins (see Philippians 2:1-11).

Humility is freedom from pride, it is the proper estimation of one’s worth, and a heart submitted to the will of God. 

Apostle Paul captures this thought in Acts 20:19, where he describes his attitude in service as a minister of the Lord: “Serving the Lord with all humility of mind.” 

The Bible warns us of the dangers of pride and the preference for humility:

Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud -Proverbs 16:18-19 (see James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5).

In his book Spiritual Leadership (a book I believe every Christian should find time to read), Oswald Sanders J. wrote, “Humility is also a hallmark of the spiritual leader. Christ told His disciples to turn away from the pompous attitudes of the oriental despots, and instead take on the lowly bearing of the servant (Matthew 20:25-27).” 

He continues, “As in ancient days, so today humility is least admired in political and business circles. But no brother! The spiritual leader will choose the hidden path of sacrificial service and approval of the Lord over the flamboyant self-advertising of the world.”

The people you follow as men of God, are they humble or are they proud, arrogant, overbearing and incorrigible? That is, no one can talk to them or correct them. Do they carry a mien that devalues people while putting or assuming themselves to be above others? Are they orators and charismatic on the pulpit, but out of it, they are mean, haughty and unapproachable? Many of them confuse arrogance with boldness. Such men are not walking in the Spirit.

As believers and especially ministers of the Gospel, we ought to be bold. Boldness and meekness are not diametrically opposed; rather, they are two sides of the same coin. (See Prov. 28:1). 

Temperance (Self Control)

The Greek word here is egkrateia and Thayer defines it as self-control: the virtue of one who masters his desires and passions, especially his sensual appetites.

A person living in the Spirit does not indulge his passions and appetites but rather reins them in. He has built the discipline through the help of the Holy Spirit to say, ‘no’ when necessary. Indulgence and wanton profligacy are not a part of his life. 

John the beloved apostle encapsulates the passions that the flesh drives after, as the love of the world, and it is opposed to the love of the Father:

Have no love for the world or for the things which are in the world. If any man has love for the world, the love of the Father is not in him -1John 2:15, BBE.

This is all there is in the world: wanting to please our sinful selves, wanting the sinful things we see, and being too proud of what we have. But none of these comes from the Father. They come from the world -1John 2:16, ERV

Finally, what does it mean to be filled with the Spirit? Once again, Oswald Sanders offers an answer thus, “To be filled with the Spirit means simply that the Christian surrenders life and will to the Spirit. Through faith, the believer’s personality is permeated, mastered, and controlled by the Spirit. The meaning of “filled” is not to ‘pour into a passive container’, but to ‘take possession of the mind’. That is the meaning found in Luke 5:26, “They were filled with awe”. When we invite the Spirit to fill us, the Spirit’s power grips our lives with this kind of life.”

The primary manifestation or proof of the presence of the Spirit in the life of a Christian is not signs and wonders or the anointing, but the life and character of Christ flowing from within and lived on the outside. 

That is to say, when we live in the Spirit, His life and character are manifested through our spirit, and as the fruit of the Spirit is produced through us, then we will not fulfil the desires of the flesh, for sin loses its power and dominion where love reigns. It is here that the flesh is mortified. 

Walking in the Spirit, is walking in love. Love is the character of Christ who said,

A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another -John 13:34-25.

The love of God in us and through us is the life and character of the Christian that demonstrates to the world that we are indeed Jesus’ disciples, as we relate to one another in that divine love.

The unbeliever, and by extension, the world, cannot practice agape (divine love) because they do not have the Spirit of God living within them. Agape flows from life within: the life of God.

Friends, let us love one another because everyone who loves is born of God, and he who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 

Walking in the Spirit is walking in God’s kind of love.

Thank you. Do not forget to keep living, loving, and learning. 

NB: This blog has been culled from my book Criminals behind the Pulpit: Exposing False Ministry and Unveiling True Ministry in the Church, which may be purchased on Amazon.com.