What the Fruit of the Spirit Bible Verses Mean for Moms
One of my favorite parts of writing and blogging is connecting with other writers. I’m excited to introduce my friend Stacey Shannon to you today. Stacey has a heart for encouraging women of all ages in their faith. Today’s post on the fruit of the Spirit blessed and challenged me, and I’m confident it will touch your heart too. Here’s Stacey!
What the Fruit of the Spirit Bible Verses Mean for Moms
10 Bible Verses and Prayers About the Fruit of the Spirit to Encourage Your Mama Heart
About a year ago, I kept noticing the Fruit of the Spirit popping up in various ways throughout my life. Then last fall after a retreat for small group leaders at my church, God basically bopped me over the head when another leader gave a presentation about the Fruits of the Spirit. I knew God was calling me to take a deeper dive into them.
As I prayed about it, I felt Him leading me to develop a resource for Christian moms because I am passionate about encouraging other Christian mamas on their journey. I was all ready to get started at the beginning of this year.
And then, as often happens, my path got more and more challenged. One unexpected and difficult circumstance after another threw a snafu into my plan.
But, the power of the Holy Spirit helped me to persist—albeit at a slower pace than I had planned—and I kept going.
So began my journey into looking more closely at Galatians 5:22-23 and the nine Fruits of the Spirit listed there: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Why Christian Moms Need to Embrace the Fruit of the Holy Spirit
Having grown up in church and been a Christian for decades, I’ve studied and talked about this passage before. But this was my first time looking at it from the perspective of motherhood.
Of course, all Christians strive to bear good fruit, as we’re instructed to throughout the Bible. For mamas, though, that message hits a little closer to home—quite literally.
More than anything, I want to be an example to my children of God’s love and what He looks like. I want to encourage them to grow in their own faith and walk with God.
I began to realize the Fruit of the Spirit really describes the ideal Christian mother. She should be full of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. All those character traits relate specifically to being the kind of mom that I yearn to be.
Yet, living out those traits in the midst of busy mom life isn’t easy. How can we be peaceful when the volume at home is often at the max? How can we have patience when one challenge after another presents itself? How can we have faithfulness when we struggle to spend time in God’s Word?
These are questions I’ve wrestled with. But, God has reminded me time and again that this struggle is the very reason He gave us His Holy Spirit. He knows I can’t be that mom on my own without the work of the Holy Spirit in my life.
In the end, I felt even more excited to take a deeper look at the important character traits we can receive through the power of the Holy Spirit.
The Fruit of the Spirit
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23 (ESV)
Previous to these verses, the Apostle Paul in verse 16 says we are to “walk by the Spirit.” One of the key words in that phrase is the verb “walk.” The Holy Bible is telling us life in the Spirit is an ongoing action on our part.
It isn’t something we easily master and move on. It’s something we need to constantly and daily be seeking and striving for.
This includes all the fruit the Spirit produces in our life.
Prayer:
Dear God, thank you for giving us the Holy Spirit and these character traits He can instill in us. Father, I ask that you give me a sound mind to dwell on these traits as a mom. Give me strength and perseverance to keep going on this journey to become the mom you have created me to be and to walk with you daily. I know I cannot live out any of these Fruits without your help. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Love
“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (ESV)
The first Fruit listed is love. As moms, we’re pretty good at love. It comes naturally to us to love our children so completely. However, the love we want to take a closer look at is agape love. Agape love is the love of God, which is unconditional and unselfish.
While we instinctually love our children unconditionally, loving them unselfishly is more challenging. God does everything out of His love for us. He has our best interests in mind first and foremost.
That’s the kind of love we want to emulate. We want to love our children with a strong love that always believes the best about them and wants the best for them. This means doing our best to stay out of the way and keep our selfish desires and thoughts from getting in the way of how we love our children.
Prayer:
Dear God, I ask that you fill me with your agape love throughout every day and in every interaction I have with others, especially my children. May they see your love in me above all else. Show me any ways in which I’m being selfish and need to lay myself aside. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Joy
“For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work; at the works of your hands I sing for joy.” Psalm 92:4 (ESV)
When we’re talking about joy as defined by God, we are talking about more than just general happiness. The Greek word for joy is chara, which shares the same root as the Greek word for grace. So, joy and grace come from the same place.
Joy isn’t based on the things we have or can do. Instead, joy is a gift from God that we receive when we’re in relationship with Him. We can have the joy of the Holy Spirit even when life is hard, and we aren’t happy.
I don’t want my children to think of me as the grumpy mom they never want to be around. Instead, I want to show them a joyful mom who stands strong through the power of God no matter what storms come her way.
Prayer:
Dear God, help me to rejoice in you today. I ask that you fill me with joy so I can live a life full of hope. Let your joy and hope radiate in and through my life. Father, may the light of your joy overflow from me to those around me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Peace
“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.” Colossians 3:15 (NIV)
Peace in the Bible isn’t about the lack of conflict but is about the presence of something—or Someone—who brings wholeness and well-being.
That definition gives a whole new perspective to peace. It reminds us we can have peace of God regardless of what is going on around us in the world or in our personal lives.
As a mom, sometimes I have longed for literal peace and quiet, but this goes deeper to peace of our soul, hearts and minds. And that is the peace which only comes through God’s presence in our lives.
Simply striving to walk with God and live out the Fruits of the Spirit leads to peace. Having peace with God not only leads to living in connection with Him, but also living in harmony with others.
Prayer:
Dear God, help me to remember that I find my peace in you and not in what is going on in the world. Fill me with Biblical peace throughout the day. Give me a sense of calm and remind me of all the good things in my life, in spite of any challenges I may face. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Patience
“But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.” 1 Timothy 1:16 (ESV)
Some people and situations are easier to have patience with. For instance, I can be more patient with a small child going slowly up the stairs than with a car in front of me driving 20 mph under the speed limit when I’m rushing to get somewhere on time.
But, just like God’s love and the other Fruits of the Spirit, patience is supposed to be unconditional. Therein lies the rub, because it is easier said than done.
In short, patience is not giving up on others and continuing to minister to them in spite of their shortcomings. If there is anyone whose shortcomings we see most easily, it is the other members of our families.
We truly need the Spirit of God to give us patience in our ministry to our families, because it goes against our innate nature.
Prayer:
Dear God, being patient goes against my nature as a human. But, I want to honor you and live with more patience. Fill me with your Spirit to have more patience when I am struggling to do so. Remind me that my family is my ministry, and I need to continue to have patience with and for them. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Kindness
“Those who are kind benefit themselves, but the cruel bring ruin on themselves.” Proverbs 11:17 (NIV)
The kindness of God is why we have the Holy Spirit to begin with. So, it makes sense this is a trait the Spirit of the Lord can help us with. The example of God’s kindness to us is always a good place to start.
As moms, we want to model kindness to our children. I have benefitted from being kind to my children directly when they are kind in return to me. Now that my kids are in their tween and teen years, they’ve been kind to me when I wasn’t feeling well or having a bad day.
They learned kindness in part from me. And I learned it from my parents, who learned it from her parents, who learned it from his parents—and on it goes! Ultimately, all that kindness started with God.
That’s something I want to model and pass on to my children and future generations.
Prayer:
Dear God, thank you for being so kind to me in ways beyond measure. Help your kindness to overflow out of me so others see you in me. Let my family see the evidence of the Holy Spirit at work in my life through my kindness. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Goodness
“They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share.” 1 Timothy 6:18 (ESV)
The kind of goodness we’re talking about in the Word of God here is a moral purity that shows the character of God. God is good all the time. Goodness comes from God.
In fact, so many times throughout the New Testament, Christ Jesus Himself points us to God as the example of true goodness. While Jesus also showed us what living out goodness as a human looks like, He was quick to point us always to God the Father.
We live out goodness in our lives through doing what God has called us to do. Part of that work includes being a mom and living as an example of God’s love to our children. It includes sharing Him with them.
He has other tasks specific to each of us. We all have good work to do.
The Bible also tells us our actions and motivations start in our hearts. If we have God and goodness in our hearts, then they will overflow out of us.
Prayer:
Dear God, give me wisdom and discernment to know all the good works you have for me to do for the Kingdom of God. Help me to be the kind of mother my children need to raise them to know you. Give me strength to live out the goodness you have called me to. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
Faithfulness
“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” Hebrews 11:1 (NIV)
Living a life of faithfulness means placing our faith in God. Throughout the Bible, we see all kinds of examples of God’s faithfulness to His people. Often, we can look back on our own experiences and see His hand at work and faithfulness to care for us.
Faithfulness also gives us hope for the future. We serve a God of hope to whom we can remain faithful, even when everything is falling apart.
Faith gives us an unwavering confidence that something in the future will happen because God promised it and will make it happen. One of His promises in Psalm 100:5 is that His love and faithfulness will endure to all generations.
I find great comfort and hope in the knowledge of God remaining faithful to my children, their children and beyond.
Prayer:
Dear God, I thank and praise you for your faithfulness to me and even more to my children. Help them to trust in you and grow in their faithfulness to you as I grow in mine as well. Instill in me hope for the future in knowing that what you have promised you will do. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
Gentleness
“But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.” — James 3:17 (ESV)
Gentleness is perhaps one of the most misunderstood spiritual fruits in modern times. We tend to associate gentleness with weakness. And our world views weakness negatively, promoting instead a need for self-reliance, independence and strength.
However, gentleness isn’t about being weak at all. Gentleness is more about loving others.
For example, as moms we need to discipline our children when they are doing something incorrect. We don’t let it slide or give them a weak reprimand. Instead, with God’s help, we correct them while considering their feelings.
In other words, a mom with a gentle spirit is one who stands firm in her beliefs and even speaks difficult truths to others while maintaining a humble attitude that is not excessively angry. She thinks about the needs of the person with whom she’s interacting.
Prayer:
Dear God, thank you for your gentleness with me. Give me the strength to stand firm in my beliefs and speak difficult truths in a way that is gentle and humble without being full of anger. Help me to be more like Jesus. Let an attitude of gentleness prevail in my life and be reflected in my words. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Self-Control
“A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.” Proverbs 25:28 (ESV)
In order to bear fruit—and bear good fruit, not bad fruit—we need to understand self-control and implement it in our lives. It’s not the most fun Fruit of the Spirit to talk about, but it is one we need to understand and seek God’s help with.
Self-discipline or self-control gives us the determination to keep moving forward in the things we are called to do. And when we have more control over ourselves, including our actions, thoughts and words, we are better able to live the lives God created us for.
For us mamas, self-control is important, especially in those times when chaos abounds. For example, self-control means the Holy Spirit helps us have the strength and wisdom to not respond to our children in anger when we’re frazzled.
Prayer:
Dear God, show me how to have more self-control over my passions, desires and will. Help me to have the self-control I need to truly live out the Fruits of the Spirit in my life. Remind me that you fill me with power, love and self-discipline. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
A Devotional Book Filled With Bible Verses About the Fruit of the Spirit
I’m soaking in these insights from Stacey today, and I pray they bless you, too! If you’d like to connect with Stacey again, we invite you to check out her new devotional for moms, Cultivating Joy.
Cultivating Joy is a transformative 9-week devotional journal crafted specifically for busy moms who are yearning to grow in their faith and live out the Fruit of the Spirit in their daily lives.
Each week focuses on one powerful fruit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
The devotionals are thoughtfully designed to take just 5 to 10 minutes a day, making it easy to fit into your hectic schedule. Each day includes reflective questions and a heartfelt prayer to guide you deeper into God’s Word. On Day 7 of each week, you’ll find a list of related readings and a special extended prayer to allow you time for spiritual renewal or to catch up on any missed days.
What sets this journal apart? Every week, you’ll receive a simple, yet impactful challenge that encourages you to live out the Fruit of the Spirit in practical, time-efficient ways—because moms deserve spiritual growth without the overwhelm.
This beautifully designed journal also offers valuable tools to help you integrate the Fruit of the Spirit into your life, such as peaceful affirmations, 10 creative ways to bond with your family, 10 tips for cultivating patience with your kids, 5 strategies to teach your children about giving and more.
By the end of this journey, you’ll not only be spiritually enriched but also equipped with practical applications that will draw you closer to God and support you in your motherhood journey.
Find this devotional right here!
