Category: Humility

Weight Lifted; Chains Loosed

He made the lifting of the burden and the breaking of the chains possible – not easy, not quick, but His example of the method is there for all who seek it.

Meditation Thought: “I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.” (Romans 7:18)

I feel the weight of sin, but my own power is insufficient to move it. I know that if only this weight could be removed, I could move places where I cannot go now. I am bound in guilt, in inadequacies, in the past. I cannot raise the energy to fulfil my dreams, but am frustrated by weight, by chains.

Only one man succeeded in avoiding the crushing weight and binding chains: by total obedience to the Father’s will; by willingly foregoing the pleasures anyway – He made the lifting of the burden and the breaking of the chains possible – not easy, not quick, but His example of the method is there for all who seek it.

My prayer: Lord Jesus, thank You for being willing to forgo the using of Your power for Yourself, that Your power might be used for my benefit. Enable me to, in my gratitude, in my desire to give you joy that your sacrifice was not in vain, but released me from much pain, to accomplish the very purpose for which You came. (See Matthew 18:18)

Enable me to become an expression of Your joy, and not an extension of Your pain. In Your Precious Name I pray. Amen.

Choose Your Storehouse Carefully

And the conscious decisions bring into your life the contents of the storehouse so that the unconscious decisions draw upon the stock within you, thus reinforcing either sickness of Satan’s stock or health of God’s stock.

Meditation Thought: “ Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.” (Romans 6:13)

All manner of things are in the storehouse – you must choose what you will take from it and bring into your life. It is easy to walk into Satan’s area – for it is downhill, easy to just let the inertia of sin and self-will to almost propel you down the hill to his area.

God’s area is higher – more difficult to reach because you must take effort to remove sin and self-will by energy, time, and commitment before you can make the walk up the path to reach God’s storehouse. But for those who try – what blessings! The fruits and gifts of the Spirit are there: the storehouse is pleasant, commanding a beautiful view. (See Galatians 5:22-23)

Life is a series of trips to the storehouse: each conscious decision takes the path to either the storehouse area of Satan or of God. And the conscious decisions bring into your life the contents of the storehouse so that the unconscious decisions draw upon the stock within you, thus reinforcing either sickness of Satan’s stock or health of God’s stock.

Seek ye first the Kingdom – God’s area – and the joys of the Kingdom’s stores shall accumulate in your life. (See Matthew 6:33)

How to Glorify God

His glory shines through the clouds of despair and gloom and apathy – bringing warmth to those were surrounded by dark and coldness.

Meditation Thought: “Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up.” (Romans 15:2)

“Give and it shall be given you, pressed down, running over” (Luke 6:38) – giving of yourself is the most beautiful, the most blessed giving of all: to sacrifice your desires, your preferences, your opinions, your actions to please another is loving, unselfish, caring, helping – and glorifying to God. The stronger your desire for something other than your neighbor’s preference, the more sacrifice is required. But, the deeper the sacrifice is, the more meaningful is the gift. That gift uplifts greatly, touches the recipient to the heart – to the spirit so deeply that God’s love is perceived in the gift. So the two have come together, touching God’s love – one through giving, one through receiving, with both parties being uplifted.

Each time we are confronted with a choice to please our neighbor or please ourselves, we have an opportunity to bring several people closer to God. Our yielding to the Father’s will is what makes the sacrifice possible – and thus the glory possible. As the sacrifices multiply, God’s glory multiplies. His glory shines through the clouds of despair and gloom and apathy – bringing warmth to those were surrounded by dark and coldness, and additional light and warmth to those who had some, but are seeking more.

Words: in Season

To everything there is a season – including words.

Meditation Thought: “A fool utters all his mind: but a wise man keeps it in till afterwards.” (Proverbs 29:11)

To everything there is a season – including words. Only by keeping our minds on and in God and Christ can our words be released in the appropriate season and thus bring the fullness of harvest.

There are tilling words,
There are watering words,
There are fertilizing words,
There are sun-shining words
– and if we use the wrong words where we are trying to harvest God-glorified acts, they do more harm than good. Only God’s wisdom released through our lips can harvest His works. We must pack His wisdom into our mind so that when the contents come out, God’s wisdom is released. If we had God’s wisdom pouring from many, many lips, we would have God’s Kingdom residing in many, many hearts. Think of the difference in God’s Kingdom engulfing the world – or the world engulfing God’s Kingdom. That should give us incentive to let God’s discipline rule our hearts and our minds and our tongues instead of allowing our own feelings and desires to rule them!

Family Metamorphosis

It is at this point that our lives take on a new fulness of meaning, a focusing of purpose, a completeness and sureness to replace confusion and frustration.

Meditation Thought: “For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.” (Romans 8:29)

How do we feel about the people who have the same father we do? We have a special relationship, a deeper concern, a more intense interest in them. So it is when we realize that our Father is Christ’s father, and our Father is the Father of many – in fact, of all. We might not be as fond of some of our brothers and sisters as of others – but the realization that we are all family changes our thinking about each person.

And when we truly perceive that Christ is our older brother, created as a model for us to imitate – created, trained and devoted to that very purpose – we feel a kinship , an interest that was lacking before. It is at this point that our lives take on a new fulness of meaning, a focusing of purpose, a completeness and sureness to replace confusion and frustration. And when we not only trust in faith, but come to know in fact that God did send the Counselor to us because of Jesus’ obedience to His will, that is the time that the meaning of the phrase ‘the Kingdom is within’ takes on real meaning. It is at the point that – for the first time – the world starts to recede into the background and the Kingdom comes to the foreground. As we walk with the Spirit, the two forces continue their juxtaposition, until our surroundings have made a total change. At first, we affected a change in our surroundings – now, our surrounding cause further change in us. Both we and our surroundings are interacting in a cooperative task: the completion of our metamorphosis into the image the Son, the Light of the world.

Level Up

Day by day we make exciting discoveries about all of life, and particularly our God and ourselves.

Meditation Thought: “In him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28)

Without God we would not exist! With God, not only are we existing, but are dynamic, causing change, excited as we learn more about this Father who created us. Day by day we make exciting discoveries about all of life, and particularly our God and ourselves. All of the discoveries may not come pleasantly – but nevertheless, with each day that passes, we are more complete, more whole, moving toward our goal. There are many levels of living – and when we allow God to live as He wants to in us then we move to a higher level. We are never bored, rarely depressed, always curious about what interesting event will next take place. We have love constantly, unconditionally, often gloriously. We have peace for we know that strength is in us when we free Him in us to do His work. We know that whatever happens, we can turn to Him and He will make everything right for us.

Stranger or Friend

What joy to know that we do not need to struggle and flounder, but only need to heed His voice and follow Him to find our place, our joy, our needs supplied.

Meditation Thought: “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” (John 10:27)

We do not recognize a stranger’s voice: we must come to know Jesus before we can know His voice, and follow it to all the good pastures where He wants to lead us. He knows us, too, and wants us with Him. ‘Come’ – Jesus says this word so often. If He is our Shepherd, then we will come, for we know He cares for us, seeks out whatever is for our good. What joy to know that we do not need to struggle and flounder, but only need to heed His voice and follow Him to find our place, our joy, our needs supplied.

Keep Power Flowing

Waste no energy on debating; simply choose love: giving joyfully and praising Me.

Meditation Thought: “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory…” (Ephesians 3:20-21)

“Choose consciously.” Exercise your capacity to choose constantly and you will become stronger, better able to engage the flow of My power in you. I will not condemn your choices – but you know which choices release My power more forcefully, as a cause and effect reaction. You will become better at more forceful choices as you reinforce one forceful choice by choosing a second forceful choice – and this repetition will keep My power flowing forcefully. Act in love at each moment, recalling the definitions of love in My Word, and this automatically assures that your choice of the moment is the one which is the one to release My power is a forceful way. Waste no energy on debating; simply choose love: giving joyfully and praising Me – an efficient key to unlock the life of the Kingdom at each moment.

More Than You Think You Can

When you put Me first, the door is unlocked to the Kingdom, and the Kingdom contains everything you need for every situation.

Meditation Thought: “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord” (Acts 3:19)

“Look at the ‘big picture’ to keep from being mired down in petty details. Take bold steps to reach your goal, and, trusting My power will be your booster, move as much as you can – more than you think you can. Your movement activates My movement, and then real changes take place. We change whole landscapes, not little details here and there.

You know where the key is: use it. When you put Me first, the door is unlocked to the Kingdom, and the Kingdom contains everything you need for every situation; you merely choose whatever you need by reaching for it. But you must use your knowledge of how to put Me first and how to reach for what you need (in the Kingdom), or you are still turned backwards toward the world and are frustrated and ineffective.”

Consulting the Guidebook

God’s works are always great, and right and inclusive and far-reaching.

Meditation Thought: “ Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.” (John 14:12)

“Do the works”, ‘Do’ – an active verb, requiring a thought, a decision and a movement. ‘Works’ – changes, results, accomplishments. If we need a guide for God’s plan for us:
– Believe His Word.
– Think about each situation in terms of His Word.
– Decide what to do according to His Word and His circumstances and His leading
– Act, based on Jesus’ example of God-type action
– Praise the results, whatever they appear to be.

Trust God that He is doing the works through us and God’s works are always great, and right and inclusive and far-reaching. They coordinate, they complete, they make the whole more than the sum of the parts.