Always In Season: Finding the Fruit of the Spirit, Right Where We Are

We've spent the past nine weeks (nine!) working through the Fruit of the Spirit, as described in Galatians. It is so inspiring, so hope-giving, to know that even when I don't necessarily feel like it, God is bringing about fruit in my life- through the life-giving Gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit.

It's been an incredible summer for me- and I hope it has been for you as well.

First and foremost, I would like to thank all the guest posters for pouring their time, thoughts, prayers, and insights into the posts they wrote for this series. Your wonderful words and perspectives made this series far richer than I could ever have done had I written the posts myself. Thank you for sharing with my readers and with me this summer!

(If you haven't seen all the posts, or if you'd like to review them, I've created a page just for our In Season series-- you can see that here.)

In Season: Self Control

I’ll be honest, self-control is my least favorite of the fruit of the Spirit.

Maybe it’s because I’m so bad at it, or because it reminds me too much of harsh, OCD minded people who always seem to be nagging you to do better and control yourself.

But contrary to what my mind thinks, God is not an authoritarian task-master who can’t wait to drill-sergeant the sin out of us through rigid discipline and self-control.

This is the God who said “My yoke is easy, and my burden is light”. (Matt. 11:30) Even when the Bible speaks of God disciplining us, it still reminds us that, “Whom the Lord loves he reproves, even as a Father, the son in whom he delights.” (Pro. 3:12)

What do you think of when you think about self-control?

In Season: Gentleness

I'm not going to sugar-coat this- I am not gentle.

My version of gentleness comes with blunt communication, loudness, and a hint of bossy. I would love to be the poster-child for "a quiet and gentle spirit", but that doesn't come so naturally. I pride myself in communicating well, being willing to talk about the hard stuff, loving on people decently well, and being awkwardly funny.

But I am not fooling anyone with the fact that my domineering tendencies can hinder the trait of gentleness.

In Season: Faithfulness

The “Fruit of the Spirit” spoken of in Galatians 5:22-23 are love, joy, peace, longsuffering (patience), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness (gentleness), and temperance (self-control).


The seventh quality, faithfulness, is a characteristic of God that is established in believers through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. As believers lay down their flesh daily to make room for the Spirit to fill the area instead with these divine godly qualities, faithfulness grows inside that believer.


Faithfulness literally means “fidelity which makes one true to his task or promise,” and “steadfast, dedicated, dependable.”

This God-given quality causes the believer to be able to be faithful and loyal to others, in a way not seen by the world. Faithfulness instilled by the Holy Spirit in the believer is necessary to stay loyal to God, each other, family and friends. The results will be less heartache and broken trust, which is the temporary faithfulness the world offers.


God, the Father, really holds this particular quality in high esteem, and this is one quality that He will really expect you to operate very strongly in. Not only in your own personal relationship with Him, but He also wants this in other personal relationships with your family and friends. In other words, He wants you to be faithful and loyal to your spouses, children, parents, and good friends.

If God brings you a wonderful mate, wonderful children, and wonderful friends, then He will expect you to stay loyal and faithful to all of them in your personal relationships with them. A true friend will stay by your side for life, through thick and thin and for better or for worse. Just as God will stay faithful to you in His personal relationship with you, He will expect you to stay loyal and faithful in your own personal relationships with the other people in your life.


This is one quality that God the Father is really watching all of us on. He is watching who is going to stay true, loyal, and faithful to Him, and who will stay true, loyal, and faithful to the friends and family that are brought into our lives.


Faithfulness is not only needed in our own personal relationship with God, but it is also needed in our own personal relationships with our friends and our families.


Once you are saved and have entered into a true personal relationship with the Lord, one of the first things you will really have to grab a hold of is holding fast to the Lord and staying faithful to Him for the rest of your eternal life. Once you are saved and have entered into a true personal relationship with the Lord, there is no turning back. Ever!


Here are two verses that will show us how important the quality of Faithfulness really is and how accepting this great gift from God can make such a difference in our daily lives.

Study these scriptures along with the others you have already listed for yourself as you accept the truth about yourself and just how ‘faithful’ you really are. Remember: ‘it is being there through thick and through thin’. Allow the Holy Spirit to lead.

1. “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” (Galatians 6:9)

2. “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.” (Luke 16:10)

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Angie Benjamin is a wife and mother currently living and raising her two little ones in Botswana. She loves to study the Bible, learn new things, and be an encouragement to others. She writes about faith, family, homemaking, books, and life in Africa on her blog, Bloom and Grace!

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Thank you for sharing with us, Angie!

What does Faithfulness look like in your life?

As always, stay tuned for the rest of our study in the Fruit of the Spirit! 

You can follow along by liking my my page on Facebook, or by checking out the In Season Pinterest board! 

This post is linked up to...

Grace and Truth

Amy Schlichter

Tell His Story

In Season: Goodness

In the list of fruits of the Spirit, goodness can be an easy one to skip over. It sounds generic--joy is such an active, usually obvious fruit-- and self-control, also noticeable in a person's life. But goodness? What does it look like?

In Season: Kindness

When Ally asked for writers I thought it was a great idea, but once I got down to it, I felt a bit stuck. Who knew that kindness could be that complicated?

I posted on my FB page:

"When you think of Kindness (as in the Fruits of the Spirit), what springs to mind?"

Thankfully I got serious answers. One of the comments that popped up was about random acts of kindness.

I love random acts of kindness, and as my primary love languages are Acts of Service and Thoughtful Gifts, so Kindness is one of my favourite fruits of the Spirit.

I think it’s also the idea that we live in this world where horrible and harrowing things are reported on the news each day and random acts of kindness are a way of reminding people out there that there are still good things going on in the world. Recently I've been in the supermarket and the person in front of me has had a full trolley and I've had three or four items and the person has let me go in front.

When Chris, my husband was a student in Hull, there were two routes to get across the River Humber. There's a toll bridge, or you can drive further up the estuary to the one of the next main bridges and cross there for free. If Chris could spare the money, he’d take the toll bridge and pay for the car behind as well as his. It would often confuse both the teller in the booth as well as the driver behind. Whenever he told me about doing it I would want to be a “fly on the wall” in the car behind to see their reaction.

In Season: Patience

Patience.

To be honest, it isn't my strong point. It really is my strongest struggle.

I love hitting mile marks and checking things off my to do list. The time between each mile marker and goal, I stress, I tap my foot, and I annoy until I finally get to where I want to be.

Most girls drop hints every once in a while that they are ready to get engaged; I started bugging Simeon at least once every day until he finally proposed. Patience was a foreign word to me until I came to Christ and learned about the Fruits of the Spirit.

As I read about Patience through a wonderful Bible study my senior year of high school, I started to realize that the patience thing that I wasn't good at wasn't the only type of Patience there is, according to God’s Word.

In God’s Word, Patience isn't all about just waiting, waiting, and waiting some more.

Just like most of the Fruits of the Spirit, Patience isn't just that straightforward and self-focused.

While we all could do with the kind of Patience that takes learning how to wait gracefully, God’s version of Patience can also be centered around others.

In Season: Peace

Two years ago and five days before Lent, I stared at my Facebook feed and wondered, "What should I fast from this Lent?" All of my friends were posting their chosen fasts: Starbucks, media, food, and even Facebook itself. I tried each suggestion on and nothing fit.

I wanted a deeper, more transformative practice for the forty days of Lent, that led me closer to Jesus and breathed life into the dry places of my soul.

Even though in my non-denominational tradition, fasting is an optional practice, it's one I wanted to explore. I love the idea of letting myself be pruned so that good fruit may come, and denying myself some creature comfort felt like the proper pruning for me. Until I read the words of Margaret Feinberg in a blog post about fasting when she proposed:

But as I suggest in Wonderstruck, maybe the question we need to ask as we enter Lent isn’t, “What are you giving up for Lent?” as much as “What do you want to lay hold of during Lent?”

I felt that the continuous leading of the Lord towards the teaching of peace. So, I decided to spend my Lent laying hold of peace.

You know how you've been friends with someone a long time and you think you know everything about them and then one night over dinner you hear them tell someone else something about themselves that you never knew. Have you turned towards them the big eyes and exclaimed, "What? I can't believe I didn't know that about you?" Did you feel a renewed sense of wonder and awe for this person who you've loved for so long?

That's exactly how I felt when I realized that the peace Jesus gives us was so much more than what I thought.

In Season: Joy

I remember so vividly walking down that long pathway covered in burlap. I remember feeling the presence of the Lord all around me as friends and family sang “Oh, How He Loves Us.” 

I remember the look on Husband’s face as he prepared to make me his own. I remember overwhelmed with joy. So much joy that I thought my hear would burst open. 

That’s the easy part right? Feeling joy when everything in life seems to be going your way. When the evidence of all your prayers heard and His faithfulness counted is right before your eyes. 

But what about when you wreck your car, need surgery, have your pipes freeze and bust, lose your precious grandfather, can’t seem to conceive the child you've been so deeply longing for? What then? Because that’s what our first year of marriage looked like. 

The joy is all around me in pregnancy announcements, gender reveals, baby showers, and happy birthdays. It seems I can’t escape it. But how do I have joy in this season? This season that leaves me hoping and praying and trying and crying in a cycle that never seems to end?

In Season: Love

Love has always been the one thing that has remained constant in my life.


I've struggled with self-control (chunky thighs and flabby arms, compliments of an overdose of brownies).

I've struggled with faithfulness, occasionally questioning both my role and God’s role on Earth.

Patience has always been out of the question as well, as I have the attention span of a caffeinated squirrel.

I valued love more than any other Fruit of the Spirit (although I am in no way saying that the other ones are not as important).

In Season: Finding the Fruit

I’m in a season right now. A season when fruit seems hard to come by. I often feel unproductive- like my spiritual legacy is stunted somehow by my physical infertility. It’s barren time- or it certainly seems that way.

I think many of us have been there. Whether we've walked a road of infertility (like mine), or suffered losses and grief, stagnation, difficult marriages, unfulfilled dreams- it’s easy to feel like our lives offer little fruit.