Day Seven: That He Would Gently Lead
“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity” Colossians 3:12-14
Jesus was the truest gentle-man that ever lived. He set the example for living with women in an understanding way. It wasn’t just that He acted like a gentleman, but He was truly gentle with women. Women responded by opening their hearts to Him, sometimes in seemingly inappropriate ways (Matt 26:6-13). Paul instructs believers that the key to getting along with each other is kindness, humility and gentleness. These do not come naturally. They are the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:23). Understanding fuels forgiveness. Gentleness and humility pave the way for understanding. What binds them all together is love.
Lord, I pray that my husband will experience your gentle and kind love for him. I pray that his love for me would be an overflow of the love and grace he experiences from you. I ask that you would compel him to seek and desire you, more than he seeks and desires me. I know that if this is the case, his love for me will be pure, and not based on my performance, which falls short everyday. Lord may our marriage be characterized by grace and forgiveness. I pray that he would gently lead me, and our children to you. These things I pray in your sweet name Lord Jesus. Amen.
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Marci Preheim is wife to Arnie, mother of two teenagers, and women’s Bible Study teacher at Community Bible Church in Nashville, TN. She is the author of Grace is Free: One Woman’s Journey From Fundamentalism to Failure to Faith, and A Study in James: But He Gives Us More Grace. You can read more of her writing at www.marcipreheim.com.
