22/12/2023
LIFE-WAY INTERNATIONAL GOSPEL CENTRE
OPEN DOORS PROGRAM FOR 2024
DAY 13 | KINDNESS: A FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT
SCRIPTURES:
Galatians 5:22-23, Ephesians 4:32, Titus 3:4, 2 Samuel 9:1
EXHORTATION:
According to Paul in Galatians 5:22-23, kindness is a fruit of the Spirit. Paul said, âBut the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, [patience], kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.â The way we can be kind is that we have the Spirit of kindness to transform us into the kind of people God wants us to be.
Paul got to the heart of Godâs kindness in Ephesians 4:32â5:2 when he said: âBe kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.â Paul stressed the importance of understanding that God has exercised ultimate kindness toward us in His Son, Jesusâ, sacrifice on our behalf. He went on, requesting that we should, âFollow Godâs example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.â We can be kind because of Godâs loving kindness toward us as we follow His example and walk in His love.
ceived this kindness and have been invited to eat at the Kingâs table.
In the New Testament, we see this kindness in Jesusâ telling of a The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant, which is about the lovingkindness and mercy of a master toward his servant. The parable illustrates Godâs kindness and how we are to show others kindness and mercy because of the kindness and mercy God has shown to us.
In this parable in Matthew 18:21-35, Jesus told of a servant who owed his master 10,000 talents, an unpayable debt. The servant could not repay the master, so the master was going to take all the man had and sell his family into slavery to pay back the debt. The man begged his master and was shown mercy. Matthew 18:27 records the masterâs response: âThen the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.â This compassion, according to the Tyndale Bible Dictionary, is the âquality of showing kindness or favor, of being gracious, or of having pity or mercy.â This is the same kindness and compassion God shows to all of us.
After leaving his master, the servant found someone who owed him a hundred denarii. He beat the man, saying, âPay me what you owe!â When the master found out what his servant had done after his huge debt had been forgiven, he was very angry and held him accountable: âThen the master called the servant in. âYou wicked servant,â he said, âI canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldnât you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?'â (Matt. 18:32-33). If we are not kind, we do not understand the gospel and what Jesus has done for us in showing us kindness. Kindness should lead us to kindness.
As people who have been shown such great kindness, we should, as Paul said in Ephesians 4:32: âBe kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God [has forgiven us].â
PRAYERS:
1. Father, give me the heart to forgive each wrong towards me just as Christ forgave me in Jesus name.
2. I released and forgive anyone I am holding at heart who has hurt me in the past and has kept me in bitterness in Jesus name.
3. I receive the grace to show compassion to those whom I am more than and those who are more than me in Jesus Christ name.
4. I come against anything that will stand against my goodness and mercy towards others in the year 2024.
5. I demand the spirit of understanding to possess me to walk through the year 2024 in Jesus name
SEGUN OBARO
LEAD PASTOR