Wednesday, May 02,
2012, 6:47 a.m. – The Lord woke me this morning with the song, “Your Servant Witness,” playing in my
mind. That was followed by the song, “Not
by Might.”
Your Servant Witness
/ An Original Work / March 13, 2012
Humbly I bow, Lord,
before You,
Bringing my requests
to You.
May I listen; hear You
speaking.
May I follow You in
truth.
Gently lead me in Your
service.
Guide my steps and
strengthen me.
Fill me with Your love
and mercy.
May I live for Thee!
Let me be Your servant
witness,
Telling others of Your
grace.
May I always share the
gospel
With those I meet face
to face.
May I show the love of
Jesus,
Caring for the needs
of men;
Be Your servant witness
always
For my Lord, Amen!
My desire to be like
Jesus,
Living for Him ev’ry
day.
May I obey all His
teachings
Given me, so I’ll not
stray.
Love You, Jesus, Lord,
my master.
You are the King of my
heart;
Follow You where’er
You lead me;
Not from You depart!
Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Matthew 5:1-12 (NIV 1984):
Now when he saw the
crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him,
and he began to teach them, saying:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who
mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for
they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who
hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
Blessed are the
merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure
in heart,
for they will see God.
Blessed are the
peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who
are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when people insult you,
persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same
way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
My Understanding: The
song, “Your Servant Witness,”
expresses the prayer of my heart. The Lord put both of these songs in my mind
upon waking this morning, because they both go along with this passage of
scripture, and because he wanted to encourage my heart.
I am definitely relying upon the Lord’s strength this
morning. I have been under the weather the past few days, and I have no
strength or energy of my own to muster up, in order to write what he has given
me to write this morning. I just pray for him to lead me to his truth, that I
would hear him correctly, and that I would follow him wherever he leads me
today. I pray that he will fill me with his love and mercy in all that I do and
say, and that I would truly be his servant witness in word and in deed. Amen!
On a Mountainside
Jesus taught his disciples from a mountainside. A disciple
is one who follows the teachings, practices and leadership of another. As
believers in Jesus Christ we should also be his disciples (his students and
followers). So, this message is for all of Christ’s followers.
“Blessed” carries with it a sense of those who are chosen by
God as his favored people. Yet, there is also a sense in which it denotes
singular approval (God is pleased) over specific attitudes, actions and
behaviors of his beloved children. The New Testament speaks much of how we
cannot please God if we are being controlled by our sinful nature, but that we
should make it our goal to please our Lord in every way. “The one who sows to
please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life” (Gal. 6:8). We are
to find out what pleases the Lord (Eph. 5:10), so that we can please him in
every way (Col. 1:10). We, thus, have been instructed (in scripture) how to
live in order to please God (1 Thess. 4:1).
When we live to please God, we reap spiritual blessings,
i.e. a harvest of righteousness in our own lives and in the lives of others.
Having the blessing of God/Jesus brings much joy to our hearts – a joy not
based on external circumstances, but on inward peace. This inward joy comes
from knowing that we are in relationship with Jesus Christ, that we are walking
in obedience to him, that we are not holding on to sin in our lives, and that
we are doing what pleases the Lord and what ministers his love, joy and true peace
into the lives of others.
Poor in Spirit
“Poor” means to be deprived of something; humble; and/or lowly.
An individual’s human spirit is “the vital force that characterizes a human
being as being alive” (Encarta); his/her emotion; will; personality; attitude; essence;
temperament; nature; character, etc. Since we are born with sinful natures, and
our humanity is also equated with the flesh or the cravings of sinful man, then
we must understand that this spirit is sinful in nature. So to have poverty of
spirit is to be deprived of this human spirit in some way.
The only way in which we can become “poor in spirit,” in
being deprived of our sin natures, is to have come to faith in Jesus Christ,
having been cleansed within by God’s grace, via his blood sacrifice for our
sins, and to have been given new lives in Christ Jesus. Included in this is an
acknowledgement of one’s own sinful condition, of his own inability to live
righteously or to achieve righteousness, to accept that he cannot save himself,
and that the only way of being set free from the power of sin over his life is
to turn away from his sin and to surrender his life to Jesus Christ to be his
Lord (boss; master) and Savior.
The blessing provided is eternity with God in his eternal
and heavenly kingdom, which begins at the moment we receive Christ as Lord and
Savior. This kingdom is future, in that it represents our eternity with our Lord
in the after-life, yet it is also present, as God’s kingdom is in our Lord
Jesus, who is in us, so we, the followers of Christ, make up his kingdom. So,
the kingdom of heaven is both a promise of eternal life after we die, yet it is
promise of life in the Spirit while we still live on the face of this earth –
abundant life!
Those who Mourn
We understand the meanings of each of these “blessed”
statements when we look at the specific blessings corresponding to the specific
state of being, actions, attitudes and/or behaviors. Certainly we could make a
case and point that this applies to when followers of Christ are saddened by
life’s difficulties, and thus we have the promise of God’s loving comfort
during those times of distress. This is Biblical teaching. Yet, I see another
meaning here, as well, which goes right along with these other “blessings,” and
that is that to mourn means to weep and to wail over our sins, i.e. to grieve
over our sins to the point of genuine repentance (turning from sin). Thus, the
comfort that would be provided would be forgiveness, acceptance into God’s
eternal kingdom, relationship with God/Jesus, freedom from the control of sin,
and freedom from the ultimate penalty of sin (eternity in hell).
The Meek
To be meek means to be humble, submissive, gentle, and to
exercise self-control, i.e. it means to display the fruit of the Spirit (Gal.
5:22-23). It is the polar opposite of malice, a vengeful spirit, harshness,
and/or a tyrannical spirit. True meekness comes from God through his Spirit,
and not from ourselves. So, one must be in a relationship with God/Jesus
through faith, must depend upon the Spirit of God to live a holy life, and must
produce fruit (outgrowth; harvest; result) in keeping with repentance (turning
from sin).
Hunger and Thirst
Other words for hunger are desire, need, passion, yearning,
longing and/or thirst. If we are truly hungry, which I think most Americans
truly have never experienced, our whole being feels the need and longing to
have sustenance for our bodies and for our health. The Psalmist (Psalm 42)
expressed it like this: “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul
pants for you, O God.” This is how we are supposed to feel about God/Jesus. Oh,
how I believe this is so missing from today’s teaching and practice in the
church. We have lost the awe of God; the longing for his presence; the desire
to be with him and to hear his voice speaking to our hearts, as well as the
strong need, passion and yearning for the truths of his words made practical
and realized in our daily lives.
This hunger and thirst (passion; longing; desire) is to be
for God’s righteousness imputed to and lived out through our lives. We are made
righteous in God’s sight through faith (repentance and obedience) in Jesus
Christ as our Lord (master) and Savior. Yet, as followers of Christ we are to
long for and desire his righteousness to be lived out in our daily lives in all
his purity, honesty, decency, high moral fiber, uprightness, etc. The promise
is that if we yearn for righteousness, that we will be filled. Amen! I love
that promise!!
Yet, the sad truth is that so many professing Christians
daily hunger and thirst for unrighteousness through worldly and sinful desires,
to which they yield (give themselves to) on a daily basis. This should not be!
We need to rid ourselves of all such things (Col. 3:8; 1 Pet. 2:1), and like
newborn babies, we should crave the pure spiritual milk of God’s holy word, so
that by it we may grow up in our salvation. We are then to clothe ourselves
with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, and put
on our “new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness”
(Eph. 4:24). Someone who truly seeks after righteousness will also be someone
who grieves over all unrighteousness, both in his own life, as well as in the
lives of others, and in the life of the church (believers).
The Merciful
Someone gave me this definition of grace and mercy one day: “Grace
is getting what you don’t deserve, and mercy is not getting what you do
deserve.” That has always stuck with me. So, when we show mercy to someone, it
means we don’t pay them back evil for evil. We don’t try to get even. We don’t
seek revenge. Instead we seek reconciliation and we choose to forgive and to
let the sinner go free of our sense of justice. Yet, mercy also encompasses compassion,
kindness, sympathy, understanding and benevolence for the hurting and the
needy. You have heard it said, “What goes around comes around,” or “You reap
what you sow.” If we are merciful to others, God’s mercy will be shown to us.
The Pure in Heart
If something is pure, it is “not mixed with any other
substance; free from contamination; and clean and free from impurities”
(Encarta). Wow! Does that ever paint a vivid picture of what our lives are
supposed to be like! God spoke to his children about this all the time in the
Old Testament times, and the same message is repeated over and over again in
the New Testament. One of the terms for this multiplicity of heart and devotion
is “double-mindedness” (see Jms. 1, 4). Another is “divided heart” – “give me
an undivided heart, that I may fear your name,” prayed David. [See also Ezek.
11:19]
This pure, undivided and single-mindedness of heart is
obtained through removing all articles and objects of affection and devotion
from our lives that are contrary to the teachings of scripture, and/or that rob
us of our pure and unadulterated devotion to Almighty God. We have to remove
all the vile (evil; depraved; shameful and sinful) images, attitudes, behaviors
and detestable idols out of our lives if we want to have pure hearts towards
God. Even church can be an idol if we are following the ways and teachings of
men over and above the ways of God, and if we are followers of men instead of
being followers of Christ, or if our Christian service is a replacement for our
intimacy with Jesus Christ and obedience to him and his commands.
Once these idols are removed from our lives, then we can
pray with the Psalmist for God to teach us his way so that we may walk in his
truth, and for him to give us undivided hearts so that we may fear (honor,
value, obey, serve, revere and respect) his name (his character, personality,
righteousness and holiness). The pure in heart will see God.
The Peacemakers
I heard a great definition a while back on what it means to
be a peacemaker in contrast to being a peacekeeper, but I don’t know where I
filed it, so I will try to reconstruct it. A peacekeeper is one who keeps
things calm and quiet, even at the sacrifice of morals, values, integrity,
godly standards, and even allowing abuse of individuals just to keep peace.
This is not the kind of peace the Bible speaks about. On the flip side of that,
a peacemaker is one who tells others of the only way to true peace through
faith in Jesus Christ via turning from sin and turning to walk in obedience to
our Lord’s commands. Jesus made peace for us with God when he died on the cross
for our sins, and this is the peace that Jesus leaves with us – internal, not
external. As well this kind of peace seeks reconciliation with God and with
others, and it chooses to forgive instead of get even. Peacemakers are called
sons of God, because Jesus made peace with God for them, and thus they are his
children, and because they become ministers of reconciliation, too.
The Persecuted
The persecuted are those who are hated, insulted, rejected,
mistreated and have false and evil things said against them because of Christ’s
righteousness in them and because of their faith in and their testimony for and
faithfulness to Jesus Christ and to his holiness. If we are true peacemakers
(not peacekeepers), in that we are sharing the truth of the gospel, and we are
sharing how people can be reconciled with Christ/God, and it is evidenced in
our lives and testimony how Jesus Christ has transformed our hearts, and how
his righteousness is being applied to and lived out through our lives, the
world, including the worldly church, will stand in opposition to us and they
will not welcome us. We may even be invited to leave some churches because of
our stand for Christ and for the truth of his word. This is how they treated
Jesus, and this is how the prophets were treated before that. So, we are in good
company! Yet, we can rejoice, because great is our reward in heaven!
Not By Might / An
Original Work / March 29, 2012
Based off Zechariah 4
“Not by might, and not
by power,
But by My Spirit,”
says our Lord, God.
“Mighty mountain, O
what are you?
Before Christ you will
become level ground.”
The hands of our Lord,
Savior God,
Formed the foundation
of His church.
He alone will complete
the work
He began in His
servants’ hearts and minds.
Who despises small
beginnings?
Much can be done in
Christ’s strength within.
Be of courage, and
trust your Lord.
All sufficient He is
for all your needs.
Opposition and apathy:
Holy Spirit will set
us free!
We can be overcomers
in our faith
In our Lord, and our
Savior, King.
Don’t be troubled by
God’s timing.
He has ev’rything in
His command.
Hasten to obey His
commands fully,
Trusting Him to work
all for good.
Not by might nor by
human strength,
But by God’s power;
strength within;
My dependency now on
His working
His will in me in
righteousness.
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