“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” Galatians 5:22-24 NKJV
Welcome to the 26th devotional recap of the year. We’re halfway into 2025!
This week, we continued our discussion on the fruit of the Spirit by seeing how the Holy Spirit produces goodness, kindness, self-control, gentleness, and faithfulness in us.
We began on Monday by learning about goodness as a character of God that we should emulate. Even when people don’t deserve it, God’s Spirit in you compels you to respond to them like Christ would. As a believer, you are called to love those who hurt you and to do good to others without expecting anything in return (Luke 6:35). God is good (Psalm 100:5), and because His Spirit dwells in you, He produces goodness in you, causing you to do what is right even when it feels hard. Your ability to walk in goodness is ultimately rooted in God’s goodness toward you. If your Father is good and you carry His Spirit, then goodness must overflow from you.
Tuesday’s article taught us that for the believer, kindness is not an optional character trait but a divine quality that grows in all who have the Holy Spirit. More than being nice, kindness is an intentional decision to extend grace, mercy, and compassion, especially when it is undeserved. Jesus embodied kindness everywhere He went during His ministry (Luke 6:35). He touched the untouchable, dined with the despised, and forgave those who crucified Him. His kindness was not a reaction to goodness but an overflow of His character. As people who are filled with His Spirit, this same kindness should flow through us. Take every opportunity to show kindness as one to manifest the love of God on earth
On Wednesday, we saw how the Holy Spirit helps us gain mastery over our fleshly desires and passions by teaching us self-control. Sin is not only wanting bad things; it is wanting anything at all badly. Exercising self-control proves that we have power over desires and passions that do not glorify God. God put His Spirit in us to empower us and train us to overcome desires that lead to temptations, which ultimately birth sin (James 1:13-15). By exercising self-control, you are choosing to value the greater and eternal good of pleasing God over immediate gratification and ultimately bringing everything else in submission to Him and His will (2 Cor 10: 5-6).
On Thursday, we learnt about gentleness as empowered by God’s Spirit. Spiritual growth is intentionally expressing externally what you already have internally. While you already have gentleness as a fruit of your born-again spirit, you must deliberately exercise it, even when you don’t feel like it. You can choose to encourage and bless instead of cursing. You can refrain from responding harshly and keep your emotions under control. You can, because you are not emotion-controlled but Spirit-led. Be mindful of the Spirit’s influence in your life today and consciously practice gentleness.
We ended the week with a lesson on faithfulness as a mark of the Spirit’s presence in the life of a man. Faithfulness means being loyal, steadfast and remaining true to someone or something. Faithfulness for a believer means showing up and choosing honesty when no one is watching, praying persistently when answers are delayed, and holding to God’s promises even when life says otherwise. Faithfulness is the very essence of God’s character, and He calls you to emulate this nature (2 Timothy 2:13).
Child of God, because the Spirit of God is in you, you can and must be loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and exercise self-control. These are traits of the man made new in Christ Jesus.
Have a blessed weekend.
Bible Reading Plan: Job 13-18; Luke 24.19-1 Thessalonians 2:11