humble

November 15, 2020

“So Humble Yourselves”

6 So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. 1 Peter 5:6 NLT

 1 Peter 5:5-6 NLT

​In today’s “me first” society, we are fed a steady diet of “it’s all about me”. Everything from billboards, ads, commercials, to the design of the clothing we wear screams “look at me”.  This worldly diet leads to death, not life.  If we can get past all the nonsense about atheism and “Jesus was just a good man, not a Messiah” arguments, we find that the real problem people have with Christianity is that it requires submission to a higher power. That word “submit” lights a fire under those who are proud and haughty. “I have come this far by myself, why should I submit to anyone?”  There is not one single vocation or avocation that does not require us to submit to someone sometime. Retailers submit to the demands of their customers. Designers submit to the whelms of modern society. In a peaceful society, we all submit to one another to some degree. Spouses and parents submit to each other and to the wants and desires of their children. Jesus submitted to death on a cross, the most painful and shameful way to die. Jesus humbled Himself, giving up all His glory in heaven to experience everything a human being experiences and He did so without sinning. His humbleness and humility defeated sin and satan and God exalted His Son above everything and every being, giving Him all authority in heaven and earth.  If we want to have great power in our lives, we must go through the valleys of humbleness and meekness. If it weren’t for the valleys, we wouldn’t have any mountains.

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” – Anonymous

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October 17, 2020

“Live In Harmony”

16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited..—Romans 12:16 NIV

To live in harmony or peace requires us to put the needs of others above ours. To develop and maintain a relationship requires giving from both sides. It isn’t give and take, it is give and then give some more. To do this requires each of us to be humble, not just with those close to us, but with the strangers we meet on the street. We should never presume that we are better or of higher position than those that God brings across our path. Our birth and our address do not give us, as Christians, any right to feel or act better than others.  In fact, it requires us to do just the opposite. It requires us to love the “unlovable” and to touch the “untouchables”, just as Jesus did. If ever, we should meet someone and presume that we are of higher or better position than they are, it is pride that makes us feel that way.  Presumption and pride are sins.

12  People cannot see their own mistakes. Forgive me for my secret sins. 13 Keep me from the sins of pride; don’t let them rule me. Then I can be pure and innocent of the greatest of sins. Psalm 19:12-13 NCV

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” – Anonymous

September 7, 2020

“Get Rid of the Old Yeast”

7 Get rid of the old “yeast” by removing this wicked person from among you. Then you will be like a fresh batch of dough made without yeast, which is what you really are. Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed for us. – 1 Cor. 5:7 NLT

1 Cor. 5:6-8 NLT​

Paul continues to emphasize the necessity of having a humble mindset. We must live our lives with humility and the attitude of a servant. Jesus is our example of serving others in our daily lifestyle. The leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees is their teaching of the necessity to keep the Law. In the Old Testament law, the Jewish people could eat no leavened bread during the Feast of the Passover. They were even required to get all the leaven out of their houses so nothing could be tainted with the leaven. They had to celebrate the Passover each year. This required them to kill a sacrificial lamb each time. But Jesus is our sacrificial Lamb and he was sacrificed once for all sin of all times. He does not need to return to the cross each year. Jesus is the bread of Life and because of this, we are not required to follow the old ways. In fact, to do so is to add to the plan of salvation things that God does not require of us. The leaven that we need to avoid in our life is pride and the desires of the flesh. We replace those things with the fruit of the Holy Spirit who now lives in us. We are”new creations” in Christ Jesus and He has fulfilled the law for us.

17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.–Matt.5:17 NIV

August 10, 2019

Choose To Be A Servant

43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, — Mark 10:43 NIV

Mark 10:41-45 NIV

Jesus left His honor and glory in heaven and became a man. Not just any man, but the perfect man, a man without sin. He spent His time here serving others and humbled Himself, even to the point of allowing Himself to be crucified on a cross. A sinless man dying for the sins of a corrupt human race. Yet, He did it without complaint. If our Creator and Redeemer humbled Himself to that degree, how should we respond to that act of love? We are to follow His example and humble ourselves. We should consider it an honor to be ridiculed for righteousness sake. Because of His obedience, God exalted Jesus to the highest position and put everything under His feet. If we humble ourselves and stay obedient in serving others, God will exalt us in due time.

1 Peter 4:7-10 NLT
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16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.  – John 3:16 NLT

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” – Anonymous

Post 08-10-2019

June 21, 2019

“I, The Lord, Have Spoken”

24 But those who wish to boast  should boast in this alone:that they truly know me and understand that I am the Lord who demonstrates unfailing love
    and who brings justice and righteousness to the earth,
and that I delight in these things.
    I, the Lord, have spoken! — Jeremiah 9:24 NLT 

Jeremiah 9:23-25 NLT

We may be well-educated and very intelligent but education and intelligence does not necessarily produce wisdom. God grants us wisdom when we ask humbly without wavering in our request. We may be in a position of authority, but if we are, God has elevated us to that position and can take us down quicker than He raised us up. We should humble ourselves under His mighty hand and He will lift us up in due time. God may have allowed you to amass great wealth, but that wealth can disappear like coins from a pocket with a hole in it or take flight like a bird and be gone before the day is over. There is only one thing that we can be sure of and that is God’s unchanging love. It can’t be earned or bought and once you have accepted Him as your Savior and Lord, you can not be separated from Him. So, if you must boast, boast in the fact that the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the Creator of the universe has chosen you to be His heir. That is a boast that you can take with you throughout eternity. You are safe and secure in His unchanging hands.Romans 8:12-17 NLT

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” – Anonymous

Post 06-21-2019

March 24, 2019

“Wash Me and I Will Be Whiter Than Snow”

7 Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. — Psalm 51:7 NLT

Psalm 51:7-15 NLT

David was chosen by God to rule over His people Israel.  God had brought him from the lowly position of shepherd to the highest position in the land. He had watched over and protected David from all of the enemies of Israel and had given him victory after victory. Springtime was when all of the kings went out to war.  Whatever David’s reasons were for staying home in the spring we will never know.   Instead of going out to lead his army as he should have, he sent the army out to fight while he stayed home living a life of leisure and idleness. As the trite old saying goes, “an idle mind is the devil’s workshop”.   David got caught in that trap and fell into sin.  His sin led him to adultery and finally to murder.  As we are told in the book of James, sin brings death.  It brought the death of a marriage, a husband and finally, the death of David’s son.  When Nathan confronted David about his sins, David became humble and repentant.  God forgave him but there were still the consequences of his sin that he had to face.  We must be careful to stay on course and not deviate from what God has called us to do. If we stop and stay idle before the job is finished, we put ourselves in jeopardy. When God shows us our sins, we need to have the same heart David had and react the same way.  God is not looking for ways to punish us but to forgive us and restore us.

1 John 1:5-10 NLT“

The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” – Anonymous

Post 03-24-2019

December 12, 2018

Eternal Forgiveness

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14 I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” — Luke 18:14 NLT

Luke 18:9-14
When we stand before a mighty and just God to petition Him for forgiveness of our sins, we must humble ourselves before Him.  Outwardly, we may appear to be doing good deeds that do not require forgiveness. But, inwardly, before God cleans us up, we are a filthy mess. God already knows that, so we must be completely honest with Him. We may smile and say nice things to those around us, but God knows whether we are being serious or being hypocritical.  We cannot come before the Lord with the attitude of the Pharisee.  God doesn’t use other people, their actions or their words to determine our guilt or innocence. No, He uses a much higher standard.  He is the standard and that is a standard that we can never live up to.  That is exactly why He gave His Son, Jesus, to die on the cross for our sins.  A perfect gift for an imperfect world. The blood of a spotless Lamb to wash away the filthiness of our sin.  The righteousness of the One who had never sinned to cover our sinfulness.  The death of His Son to pay a debt that He didn’t owe and we couldn’t pay. Once we accept this truth, those sins are never mentioned by God again.  Nothing we have done, can do or will ever do can replace that sacrifice.  So, yes, come boldly, but bow humbly, before the King of Kings and receive not only forgiveness, but peace and joy that the world can never know.  Come with faith and stay until you are filled with His Spirit and clothed in His righteousness. From that moment on, you will never have to be concerned about leaving His presence, because truly, He has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you”.

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” – Anonymous

Post 12-12-2017

January 29, 2018

When We Don’t What to Pray or Say

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11 No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. ​ – 1 Cor. 2:11 NIV​

God has prepared a place for us that no human can conceive or even imagine. He has revealed a part of that to us through His word, Our God is very organized, he has a plan and a time for everything in the plan to happen. God’s Holy Spirit is indwelling each of us. He (Holy Spirit) has the ability to search and know God’s thoughts. That is why we must always involve the Holy Spirit in our prayer life.
26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.—Romans 8:26-27 NIV
No matter how we may stumble and stutter through our prayers, the Holy Spirit cleans them up and presents them to God. Even better, while all this is going on, Jesus is standing at the right hand of God interceding for us. With the whole Trinity involved, how could our prayers not be answered? A great prayer is the one Peter prayed while he was walking on the water. “Save me”. You don’t need great words or lots of words to pray, you just need to be humble and sincere.
We are all quite familiar with Romans 8:28 which says:
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
We tend to focus on the first part of the verse, but the important part is the last four words of the verse; according to his purpose.
Our prayers do not change God’s plan for us, they are designed to get us in line with His plan. 

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” -Anonymous

Post 01-29-2018

June 7, 2017

Turn and Be Cleansed!

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8 Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.
– James 4:8-10 NLT
James 4:7-10 NLT

We need to make up our minds are we for the Lord or are we for the world. How long will we waver between two opinions? This was the recurring problem that the children of Israel had.

21 Then Elijah stood in front of them and said, “How much longer will you waver, hobbling between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him! But if Baal is God, then follow h​​im!” But the people were completely silent.–1 Kings 18:21 (NLT)


Since we know that God is God, we need to allow Him to be Lord of every part of our life. He will accept nothing less. We need to repent of our sins and God will restore us. God does not wink at sin and He doesn’t have a list that ranges from “little” sin to the “biggest” sin. He puts liars in the same category with thieves and murderers. We need to allow Him to “create in us a clean heart and renew a right Spirit within us”. Unconfessed sin in our lives breaks our relationship with God. We are still saved but until we repent, God is unable to bless us the way He longs to. We need to humble ourselves before Him and allow Him to cleanse us and revive us again.

So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor.–1 Peter 5:6 (NLT)


“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” -Anonymous

Post 06-07-2017

May 23, 2017

Casting Crowns

even-smaller-bug-light112 God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. ​  – James 1:12 NLT


God lifts up those that are humble and lowly, so they should be thankful. God brings down the rich, so that they realize they can’t help themselves. They need God just as much as those that are poor. When we go to the grave, we can take nothing with us. Rich or poor, when we meet Jesus face to face, the thing that matters is that we have accepted Him as our Savior. All the material things that we have on earth are meaningless when we reach heaven. We shall all be tested and made to endure temptations. If we endure those temptations and stand before God approved, we will be given the Crown of Life. Do not confuse the Crown of Life with salvation. Salvation is a free gift from God, the Crown of Life is something we earn while we are on earth and it is given to us in heaven. That is why we are admonished to lay up our rewards in heaven and not material things here on earth. Earthly rewards fade away, but heavenly rewards are eternal. The Crown of Life is one of 5 crowns that we can earn. These crowns are not for us to wear and strut around heaven showing them to everyone. The purpose of the crowns is for us to cast them at the feet of Jesus to give Him glory and Honor.
 
Rev. 4:9-11 NLT


“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” -Anonymous

Post 05-23-2017