2nd Fruit of the Holy Spirit
The gentleness of God, which is a fruit of the Spirit like everything else, is manifested in the life and person of Jesus Christ. So whatever you may understand about gentleness—or whatever you may understand about anything, the standard of its true meaning and manifestation is in Jesus and Jesus only—as much as any other human being may inspire with their lives—only Jesus is the true standard acceptable to God.
Concerning this gentleness, Isaiah wrote: “Here is My servant, whom I uphold, My chosen One whom I delight; I will put My Spirit on Him and He will bring justice to the nations. He will not shout or cry out, or raise His voice in the streets. A bruised reed He will not break, and a smouldering wick He will not sniff out. In faithfulness He will bring forth justice; He will not falter or be discouraged till He establishes justice on earth. In His law the islands will put their hope.” Isaiah 42:1-4 To which Jesus Himself testified in Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to Me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
What is the gentleness of God and to whom is it given? Not to the strong and mighty—but only to those who are like bruised reeds and smouldering wicks—only to those who are weary and burdened.—And likewise, when we learn about God’s gentleness; it is not what gentleness is that counts, but it is where gentleness manifests—and to who gentleness manifests that counts. The gentleness of God does not manifest to those who are able to rescue themselves or save themselves—that is, to those who are filled with their self-righteousness, but only to those who cannot help themselves. Compare that with the world where the gentleness – or rather genteelness manifests to those who are more powerful in a cowering manner and upon those who are less than themselves—arrogance and rudeness is displayed. The world exercises its gentleness to those they consider their equal and their arrogance and power to those less than them. The Lords’ gentleness is for all who are less than God and His power and might is manifested against those who consider themselves mighty. That is the justice of God—to the weak He shows Himself gentle and meek. To the strong, He shows Himself mighty and powerful; that the weak might receive His compassion and the strong might receive the truth—the truth about themselves from Gods’ point of view!
In I Kings 19:11-12 God manifested for Elijah; and here is the account – Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire, and after the fire came a gently whisper….Elijah was discouraged and running away, and had come to Mount Horeb. He was not the triumphant Elijah who had called down fire from heaven, and caused a cloud to appear to rain on the land; nor the one who outran the horse of Ahab. He was the Elijah who ran away from the threats of Jezebel. To such an Elijah, God appeared and spoke as a gentle whisper—the Holy Spirit, Father and Son.
So the first thing to recognize about receiving the fruit of gentleness from God is to check whether you are weary and burdened, like a bruised reed and smouldering wick—like an Elijah who has run away from the threats of an unbelieving, ungrateful world breathing threats of destruction upon you. Jezebel’s threat was: “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.” 1 Kings 19:2
In the same way, You can manifest to Jesus your gentleness when you see Him weary from a hard days’ walk and ministry—burdened with the demands of people—to anoint Him with the finest perfume and oil, to wash His feet and dry them with your hair like Magdalene,--to see Him bruised and battered, and carrying the cross—to see Him thirsty, and not offer Him wine vinegar soaked in gall—to see the holes in His hands and His side, and not put your finger through them, but to wrap them up.
If you cannot be gentle with Jesus, you will not receive Gods’ fruit of gentleness—that is why, for so many who come to Jesus or invite Jesus into their lives—like Thomas who came to Jesus to put his fingers into the holes of His hands or the Pharisee who invited Him into supper, but did not offer Him water to wash His feet or oil for His hair.—The reply that the Lord will give you is a matter of fact reply; but comes with it a hardness of power that will break the rocks and mountains of your heart. To Thomas in John 20:29, Jesus told him, “Because you have seen Me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” With that one statement, Jesus told Thomas that He would forever by less blessed than those who believe without having seen—that is—us! To the Pharisee who invited Him to dinner, in Luke 7:44-47, Jesus said: “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give Me any water for My feet, but she wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give Me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on My head, but she has poured perfume on My feet. Therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven--for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.”
He was telling Simon the Pharisee that ‘very little of your sins are forgiven.’ Now since the words of Jesus out endures the heavens and the earth, both these two – a disciple who was more interested in establishing the fact than to minister to Jesus; and a religious man, who was more interested in his own opinion of Jesus, for he thought to himself, If this man were a prophet, He would know who is touching Him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner. Luke 7:39. And Thomas’s comment: “Unless I see the nail marks in His hands and put my finger where the nails were and put my hands into His side, I will not believe it” ….John 20:25
Jesus did not give them His best—but by His word, kept them both at a level always less than they could have been—less forgiven and less blessed. Likewise now—those who show themselves strong and not weak to the Lord, will not receive the gentleness of God into their lives, for God’s gentleness is for those wearied and burdened, bruised and smouldering; at the point of giving up—and if God shows His gentleness to them—how much more He is gentle to those who can see the weariness of God, when He said in: Isaiah 1:14 “Your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts My soul hates. They have become a burden to Me. I am weary of bearing them.”
--The weariness God has towards meaningless, ritualistic religion—God is tired now, just as He was with the Israelites in their religion, and we have become a burden to Him. Our insistent demands upon God to answer our prayers, to bless our plans, to agree with our will—contrary to His word and will—is a burden to God and wearies Him—now, as it did then. Can you see it?
His ears are bruised by the loud incantations we offer Him as prayers, and the meaningless repetitive convocations that we repeat out of our ritualistic prayer books which give us sweet words to mouth but not sweet fragrance of love from the heart. His heart is bruised when He sees people trampling before Him to take of Him and His gifts; and walking all over His plans and works without due concern as to what value it holds for God. Remember, it may not seem much to you, but to God, a small olive flower may hold more sentimental value than the largest diamond—for the flower of the olive reminds Him of the Garden of Eden and the fresh start He gave Noah. But a diamond only reminds Him of the destruction of the flood. Now—have you ever seen anyone hold an olive flower in high regard or price?
It is to those who can see God’s burden and weariness and how bruised He is in His heart, and that He is a smouldering wick—a smouldering wick next to a pile of dynamite as God is tired of the lack of gentleness and consideration shown to Him—that He will give the fruit of His gentleness—that in the midst of mountain cracking winds, and rock shattering earthquakes and raging fire— you will hear His gentle voice that keeps you safe.
Then having eaten of His fruit—you will learn the gentleness of God to show it to those who are burdened and weary, bruised and smouldering. But to those who show themselves strong and powerful, wilful and determined—you will withhold gentleness—but also, like God, show yourself stronger, more powerful, wilful and determined – like a wind that the mountains would laugh at because they were sure a wind could never crack a mountain.—You will become the wind that cracks the mountains; and yet to those who are seeking God, the gentle whisper which lifts them up.
To those who claim to be righteous by their own righteousness and those disciples who are more interested in establishing the fact than to believe the better things of God, like Thomas—you will show them just how truly less blessed they are eternally as you become the measuring line and the plumb line in God’s hand to determine who will partake in staying to greet Jesus and who will be retired to await the 2nd resurrection in Heaven.
To those who eat the Fruit of Gentleness and bear the Fruit of Gentleness, God will come to them in all gentleness and spare them from the greatest trials…..He will not allow them to live in Eternity less blessed than they should be, but He will ensure they are fully blessed—completely forgiven and more blessed than those who have seen and believed. The gentleness that turns away wrath and breaks a bone….Proverbs 15:1 A gentle answer turns away wrath, and Proverbs 25:15 …and a gentle tongue can break a bone.
--The gentleness that you and I need to turn away the wrath of God from us and those we are to look after, and the gentleness to break the bones of our enemies and render them powerless. It is this gentleness of Jesus that caused even demons to beg Him to let them go into pigs….How much more will it cause humans to beg for mercy?
AMEN HOLY SPIRIT – THE FRUIT OF GENTLENESS!
