The Fruit of The Spirit - Longsuffering.

Welcome back to my blog. Today, we are looking at longsuffering!

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.” - Galatians 5:22-26.

- We learn more about the fruit of the Spirit in this scripture. We learn that there is not just one characteristic of the fruit of the Spirit, but we learn there are quite a few. It may seem overbearing, but once you are able to master one fruit of the Spirit, the other characteristics will fall into place naturally as The Holy Spirit leads us and works through us. I believe this is why the word ‘fruit’ was used and not ‘fruits’ because once you have one of the characteristics of the fruit of the Spirit, you will be able to access and exhibit the other characteristics also because they work together.

- It becomes up to you to continuously nurture the fruit of the Spirit and to try not to do anything opposing God’s word that may cause you to not exhibit the fruit of the Spirit. Dying to self daily, seeking God’s face and genuinely striving to have a closer walk with God will help you along the way. With that said we are all human beings and we all have the tendency to slip up at times, but because of God’s grace and mercy we can come to Him with a repentant heart. However, we must be sincere and know that we have the assurance that our Father in heaven will forgive us our trespasses, so long as we forgive those who trespass against us.

“For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.” - Ephesians 5:8-10.

We no longer walk in darkness, we walk in the light because we know that we are children of the most High. There is a high calling on our lives where we can walk with our head held high knowing that we are loved and have been redeemed by our Saviour. Walking in the light means that we no longer cling to who we once were, words we once said or things we once did. We walk differently because we strive to make our Father proud. We care little of what the world says and more about what God says. The love He has for us is one we can search the world for, but we will not be able to find such because God loves us differently!

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So, what does longsuffering actually mean?!

It is defined as having or showing patience in spite of troubles, especially those caused by other people. Longsuffering can be used in situations where someone has had to endure something for a long time and did so cheerfully. As I type this Romans 12:12 comes to mind, “rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;”

How do you behave when you are encountering trials and tribulations?

What thoughts come into your mind?

Quite often God is blamed when things do not go the way we may hope. We are sometimes quick to ask Him, “why me God?” I have been guilty of doing this too, I have since learnt that God does not delight in His children suffering. It is actually not His will for us or our lives. However, we will face trials on our Christian journey just like Jesus did. Picking up your cross and following God does not mean that things will always be plain sailing for us, nor does it mean that every day will be perfect. If this were the case we would not need God because we would be perfect! The reason for our trials is to test our faith and to strengthen us. We do not want to be weak in our faith and blame God for everything, instead when we face battles we need to put them to God and ask God what we should do. We are to lean on Him for everything, not just in the bad times, but all the time.

Choosing to lean on God no matter what we encounter will help us to know that there is someone who is higher than us, someone who is greater. Someone who can take on all that we face, so we do not have to worry. Knowing that God is for me helps me personally to strive to walk in the Spirit.

Galatians 5:16-17 states, “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.”

- What happens when we walk in the flesh?

- Why can light and darkness not co-exist?

Walking in the flesh means entertaining things of the world, things that are not deemed acceptable or appropriate to God. Engaging in activities that actually pull us away from God instead of drawing us closer to Him. Walking in the Spirit means that we can hear clearly from God, we know what He wants us to do and we know what is expected of us.

There is darkness in walking in the flesh because nothing good will ever come of it. Light and darkness does not mix because there can only be one that exists as light would clearly over power the darkness. Light hides darkness, but in this scenario choosing to walk in darkness will not enable you to fulfil the law. Darkness will prevent you from living to your full potential, it will hold you back and ensure that you are living a dark life. As we read on Galatians 5:19-21 details more of what walking in the flesh entails.

Reflect on some scriptures relating to longsuffering:

1. “And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;” - Romans 5:3.

2. “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” - Romans 8:18.

3. “But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.” - 1 Peter‬ ‭5:10.

We have this promise, “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, Neither have entered into the heart of man, The things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” - ‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭2:9‬. Holding on to this promise and many of the others in the bible will help us to remember that we are just passing through this life. The world is not our home, the things we encounter on earth will no longer affect us once we are caught up to meet our Father in heaven, but for now we must endure with God holding our hands and guiding us.

1. Ephesians 4:2 says “with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;” As we work on exhibiting the other fruit of the Spirit, we will start to find certain situations easier to handle.

2. Longsuffering can teach us to have more patience and even more peace because we know who is in control.

3. Try to never lose hope because we are serving a God who listens, He can hear you and He can see you. He knows what you are going through, you’re not alone.

4. Pray and ask the Holy Spirit to guide you.

5. Die daily to self and keep trusting in the Lord.

Be of good courage Mamas.

I encourage you all to walk with peace in your hearts, know the truth and share the gospel with others.

Did you find any scriptures on longsuffering that you would like to share?

What are your thoughts on the following? Comment down below and let’s talk!

1. Which verses stuck out to you?

2. Why do you think longsuffering is so important?

3. Do you think we can live in a world without longsuffering?

4. What can increase our feelings of peace as we endure trials in life?

5. Why should we actively work on exhibiting fruit of the Spirit as believers?

With Love,

Roxanne-Sasha x