Word of Encouragement for Every New Day ~ 6 Mar 2008

Word of Encouragement for Every New Day ~ 6 Mar 2008

Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Which one do you lack? The fruit of the spirit is gentleness. The world may define gentleness as a person who is mild mannered, calm, kind, soft spoken, peaceful, and is definitely not harsh, rough, and cruel. There is power in gentleness. Our Lord Jesus Christ defines gentleness. To face persecution, to be spit upon, scourged, afflicted with wounds from torture, nailed to the cross, and yet not once did He complain, whine, or retaliate to the people torturing Him. There is a spirit of boldness buried in the fruit of gentleness. 2 Corinthians 10:1 By the meekness and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you—I, Paul, who am "timid" when face to face with you, but "bold" when away! To those of us who know that we lack the spirit of gentleness, let us pray that God would begin His good work in us to fine tune us, remold us, and restore what was robbed from us. Sometimes gentleness is taken away from us because of circumstances, a bad memory of the past, not being loved, and being verbally abused. BUT IS NOT GOD GREATER THAN THE PAST? ARE WE NOT MADE NEW IN THE IMAGE OF GOD? We may claim to have fully changed, we no longer live in our past, but our actions speak the truth. Philippians 4:5 says, “LET YOUR GENTLENESS BE EVIDENT TO ALL. THE LORD IS NEAR.” The fruits of the spirit are fuel to the soul, but it is useless if it is not evident to all. Colossians 3:12 Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. © Mar 2008 Shaun Lee archive: www.shauntzen.blogspot.com