I once heard an interesting conversation with one of my sisters in the Lord and a very good friend of mine about giving to the needy especially to our brethren as the bible says. This should be very simple to understand if you’re a child of God right?…. but there was one thing that got me very thinking about a comment that she made during our conversation. She said “This good friend of mine, almost like a sister now has been through the most, during her marriage and even after her divorce, and things are getting worse in her finances especially since she’s not working anymore. So my husband usually ask me why I don’t help her if I can, and my answer was I want to but every time I think of doing it the Holy Spirit will stop me and I’m not sure why”.
My first thought was…. it sounds very contradictory to the word of God, but then I thought……oh well she’s a very good person and a supportive friend , there’s probably a reason why the Holy Spirit would restrain her from doing so.
So I started thinking about the reasons why she would not do such a good deed. I thought to myself “Maybe if she lends a hand to her friend she’ll get used to freebies and be comfortable in her situation” I couldn’t help it, this comment kept on coming back even after she had left.
I started thinking to myself, as the children of God we need to be led by the Holy Spirit, but how do I really know if I’m being led by the Holy Spirit. Immediately I had a word, the Holy Spirit said to me “What are the fruits of the Holy Spirit” oh my goodness! Indeed the Holy Spirit will bring the word of God to your remembrance when you need it the most (John 14:26).
How to know if you are being led by the Holy Spirit?
There must be a manifestation of one or more fruits of the Spirit, which is a confirmation that you’re being led by the Holy Spirit. “But the Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self control. There is no law against such things as these.” Galatians 5:22-23 GNB.
So if the Spirit produces fruits, then this is also true for the flesh. “For what our human nature wants is opposed to what the Spirit wants, and what the Spirit wants is opposed to what our human nature wants. These two are enemies, and this means that you cannot do what you want to do” Galatians 5:17 GNBUK. Consequently whatever action that will display love, peace, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self control is a result of being led by the Holy Spirit. Anything else that opposes the act of displaying the fruits of the Holy Spirit is quenching the Holy Spirit.
This is what most Christians don’t realize, that we are constantly at war with our flesh. Being in right standing with God by means of our faith does not mean that the war is over. Hence we are encouraged to “Put on all the armour that God gives you, so that you will able to stand up against the devil’s evil tricks. For we are not against human beings but against the wicked spiritual forces in the heavenly world, the rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers of this dark age. So put on God’s armour now! Then when the evil day comes, you will be able to resist the enemy’s attacks, and after fighting to the end, you will still hold your ground.” Ephesians 6:11 GNBUK.
As Christians we need to be in sync with the Holy Spirit in order to produce the desired fruits. Jesus says in John 15:2 GNBUK “He breaks off every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and he prunes every branch that does bear fruit, so that it will be clean and bear more fruits.”
Also remember, that it is possible to abandon your faith if you don’t add goodness to it. 2 Peter 1:6-10 GNBUK. If you want to know more about how to increase your faith, check our article on how to increase your faith.
Let’s pray together:
Our heavenly father we thank you for the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, our teacher, our leader, our guider, our strengthener, our comforter, our wonderful counselor, our advocate and our helper. We pray Lord that as we submit ourselves under the authority of the Holy Spirit, he will continually guide us and make us remember your word when we need it the most. We pray for the Spirit of truth to come upon us and fill our hearts with your truth so that the lies of the enemy will have no place in our hearts. We pray Lord that our helper the Holy Spirit will help us manifest the fruits of the Spirit. We ask all this in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ Amen!
