#41.

Prayer is a Means to Grow in Kindness and Gentleness

Colossians 3:12–13 So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart
of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; 13 bearing with one another, and
forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so
also should you.

We are continuing to see the link between prayer and growth in all the fruits of the Holy Spirit.
We have seen that the Spirit Himself is given in answer to prayer, so it is only logical that the
fruits He produces will come in the same way.

This week, we want to focus on the fruits of kindness and gentleness, or of acting kindly to one
another and being meek, not harsh with one another. We know from Galatians 5:22 that these are
fruits of the Spirit and we might expect to grow in them as we come more and more under His
influences through using the means of grace. What is interesting in our text this week is that Paul
does not make growth in these fruits a "take it or leave it" proposition. It is not that the fruits are
there and we can grow in them if we would like to but there is no obligation on us to do so. Quite
the contrary! Writing to the Colossians, Paul commands them to put on a heart of kindness and
of gentleness, which, he indicates, is what those who are chosen of God WILL do.

So here we are faced with a command from God. We must put on a heart of kindness and
gentleness (and of other fruits). How shall we do this? How shall we manifest more of the fruits
of the Holy Spirit in our lives? Can we summon all our strength of mind and of will, grit our
teeth and increase our possession of any of them? No indeed - they are produced in us by God's
Spirit. As He makes us more like Christ, so we will demonstrate these fruits in greater and
greater measure, because they all found their perfect expression in Jesus. How will we obtain a
greater measure of the influences of the Spirit in our lives? As we have already seen, He is given
by God at our conversion but we may know more of His presence within by seeking God for it in
prayer.

So although we cannot find (as we could with other fruits we have looked at) any texts that
directly link growth in kindness or gentleness with prayer, we know from this text that the link is
there. God does not command His children to do something, grant them a desire to obey Him in
everything and then deny them the only means by which they can obey. He wants us to display
more and more of the fruits of His Spirit in our lives. He has told us that all we have to do is ask
for the Spirit and as our wonderful Father in heaven, He will not withhold His Holy Spirit from
us.

Our focus this week, then, is to seek after God that we might grow in kindness and gentleness, so
that we may put on this new heart and more fully resemble Jesus Christ, our Savior.

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