Lord’s Day, Vol. 4 No. 19

The Fruit of the Spirit is Faith

Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”

Faith may be defined as being grounded in the truth of God’s Word. From an objective perspective, true faith is always based on the Holy Scripture. Subjectively speaking, “faith” is firm persuasion, conviction, belief in the truth, its veracity and reality.

The outworking of faith in the believer’s life can be described as loyalty, faithfulness, allegiance, fidelity, trustworthiness, reliability, dependability, steadfastness toward God. The basis for this loyalty is God’s infallible and inerrant Word. Faith is adherence to the Holy Scripture in practical Christian living.

Faith is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. It is God’s gift. Spiritual life begins with saving faith when one receives by faith the gospel of Jesus Christ. This faith needs to be cultivated. It takes time to bear fruit and the believer must persevere as the Lord helps and guides him.

Illustration of Living by Faith

Hebrews 11:8-9 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:

Abraham was a man of faith. He obeyed God’s call to leave the comforts of city life in Ur of the Chaldees to go to Canaan. He was an ordinary man with an extraordinary mandate.

God called Abraham to be the progenitor of a most special nation Israel from whom the Saviour of the world would be born in the fullness of time.

God said to Abraham that he was to be the father of a great nation. Imagine the reaction of Abraham to this call from God. He was already 75 years old. His strength was waning. He was without any child. How could it be possible that a great nation would come out of his loins?

God’s promise to Abraham was that He would bless him and make his name great. This promise would only be fulfilled when Abraham was 100 years old.

True faith is an action word. Conviction is translated into action. Abraham was told by God to go to a land, in other words, to uproot himself from Haran. It was a life changing decision. He would have to forsake the comforts of that which he had been familiar with and be contented to become a pilgrim in an unknown land.

The direct distance between Ur and Canaan is about 550 miles (between modern day Baghdad, Iraq and Tel Aviv, Israel). However, the travel path followed the Euphrates River for quite a distance to the northwest prior to turning southwest so the real distance would be about 800-900 miles (1300 km – 1450km).

 It was not Abraham’s plan to move to Canaan. It was God’s plan for him. He simply acceded his will to God’s will. It required faith on Abraham’s part to trust God to make out a good plan to take care of all things.

Abraham had to move without the “foresight” of what to expect. By faith, Abraham took God at His Word, trusted in His promises and acted upon His instructions.