Poem: Meekness

Meekness isn’t weakness but its strength under control

It’s the power of the spirit to rule the body through the soul

Even though it’s able it’s not compelled to react

To any single situation that will take it off its goal.

Meekness isn’t weakness it’s a gun in its holster

It doesn’t need recognition for self-esteem to be bolstered

When the time comes for a sacrifice of self

Meekness brings it altogether and just lays it on the altar.

If you think being meek is weak, try being meek for a week.

Build Me Up Buttercup, Don't Break My Heart...

"Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing."
1Thessalonians 5:11

"Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification."
Romans 14:19

"What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up."
1Corinthians 14:26

     Have you ever had a friend or known a person who just goes on and on and on about how great they are at something? In every conversation they will find a way to talk about how they're better at something than everyone else who's every tried it. At first you humour them and maybe give them a pat on the back. Over time the pat on the back gets harder and harder in the hopes of knocking them off their high horse and into the mud to learn some humility! You find yourself picking out their flaws and showing them. "You're good at that but you suck at this!" You take every available opportunity to take them down a peg. You might even justify it by labelling it Tough Love and telling yourself it's for their own good. I'd like to challenge that way of thinking a bit.

     Steve Thompson, an American Christian teacher talks about Jesus' disciples and the way they always seemed to be arguing about which of them was the greatest. (Matt 18:1; Mark 9:33-34; Luke 9:46; Luke 22:24) He points out that Jesus doesn't rebuke his disciples as they bare their pride and arrogance but instead tells them how to become great! He doesn't tear them down and start pointing out their flaws to humble them but instead gives them the keys to true greatness! On the night of Jesus' arrest they all got a rude awakening as to how great they really were. I think in this area we may have gotten our job descriptions mixed up with God.Steve's video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWhZpaooOTM

     We as believers, brothers and sisters are the ones who are called to build one another up, with our words and our actions. This can be easier said than done when we believe that someone thinks far too highly of themselves. In Matthew 7:1-6 Jesus guides us to think of our own sin as a plank in our eye and our brother's sin as a speck and so the first place we turn should be ourselves! It's easy to think "Aha! I've spotted some sin there! Better jump on that dear brother and put my fingers in his eyes for his own sake!" How often do you get a positive response from cutting someone down? If someone really is getting ahead of themselves, chances are they don't know it and they're not going to appreciaite you raining on their parade. But imagine if instead we took time with the Lord to consider how we got this plank in our own eye, ask him how to remove it and then stay close to him to make sure it's not going to get in there again. Wow! If our brother actually sees us doing that successfully, how much more willing will they be to listen and receive our God-given wisdom and love? 

It's not unlikely that we'd find once our plank is gone that their speck was never actually there but rather our vision was obscured by our whopping great plank! Sometimes insecurity causes us to not want others to celebrate their triumphs because we don't get to. This makes room for the spirit of jealousy in our lives and as long as jealousy is present in our lives, no one close to us gets to grow because we'll try to keep them at our level, we may cut them down with our words, we may withhold positions of honour or responsibility from them, we may take people's opinion of them down with gossip...snip, snip, snip. STOP!! 

     Jesus tells us that pruning is the Father's job (John 15:2). He's the one with the shearers, not us. I think we find it easier to cut people down than build them up because we recognise that their character still needs work and that they need breaking down somehow in order to grow properly (it's also just easier to find nasty things to say). I reckon this exposes in us either a lack of understanding or a lack of faith in God's ability to prune. To prune you must allow something to grow and bear fruit and then cut it so that it bears better fruit. God lets us grow in our character for a while and sometimes all that growth isn't positive but it's necessary. After some time he cuts off the bad stuff so we can keep the good stuff and grow in it. For example God may want a young man to grow in his love and compassion for people. As this happens the young man's love and compassion may grow a little too close to young ladies and so at that point the shearers come out for pruning. The young man retains his retains his new-found love and compassion but the dangerous aspect is removed.

     The gift of prophecy is given to the Church to encourage us and build us up (1Cor 14:31) so the Body functions best when we encourage (not flatter) each other and spur one another on while trusting God to highlight the areas for improvement. Paul reminds us not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to but rather in accordance with the level of faith we have (Rom 12:3). This doesn't say don't let others think more highly of themselves. Hmm here's a thought: "Is it possible that someone we think is arrogant actually just has more faith in the work God has done in them than we do?"

Father help us to put down our shearers and pick up our tools for building and to go to work putting strength into each other's hearts. Help us trust you to do your job of pruning us so that we can be fully committed to building one another up in love. Holy Spirit please teach us how to use the spiritual gifts you've given us to draw out the best in each other so that the worst gets pushed out. Give us your eyes to see each other as we truly are in Christ instead of simply seeing each others' sin. We love you Lord.
Amen.

Go find a brother or sister and tells them what you love about them!
    

Big Time Daddy Issues

     I was blown away by this statement Dave Emmett one of the leaders in my church made while preaching:

"God has placed so much honour on Jesus that when someone accepts Jesus, they get the Father too."

That's crazy! Check out Matthew 10:40 where Jesus is talking to his disciples: “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me."

     I've been thinking lots about the Father since I heard Dave's comment and the importance of us having a relationship with him as well as with Christ since Jesus said that no one can even come to him unless the Father draws them first (John 6:44). He also said that no one comes to the Father except through him (John 14:6). I think that's pretty interesting. Why would the Father draw people to Jesus only to have Jesus lead them back to him? Why not just lead them straight to him? I think that at least in part it's because the Father wants to be introduced to us by the One who knows him best! So clearly Jesus is the best man for the job! (John 1:18 + John 6:46) I think it's vital for us to get that being in Christ is supposed to start us on a journey of relationship with the Father and if we focus solely on Jesus we can miss some of what he died to lead us into. Don't get me wrong, It's all about Jesus but he makes it clear that while he is God, he is not the Father.

     Where does the Holy Spirit come in? His role as God is to make us more like Jesus right? So the Father draws us by his Spirit to Jesus. Our union with Christ in salvation and our cooperation with the Holy Spirit's work in our lives makes us more like Jesus. So what is he like? His relationship to the Father is essential to Jesus' identity. Jesus' relationship with his Father while on Earth is massively important for us if we are to understand the Holy Spirit's work in us. He'd always make room to spend time with him, he'd only do what he saw his Father doing, only say what he heard his Father saying and his communion with him was so close that when the Father spoke publicly biggin  him up to everyone Jesus was actually able to say "This voice was for your benefit not mine." (John 12:30) He was so secure in his identity already because he'd already heard the inward affirmation of the Father's voice for years. Imagine being so solid in how God your Father feels about you that when he shouts from heaven "I'm behind this one!" you don't even blush!

     Jesus is so secure in his relationship as a son that he happily brings in more sons and shares his inheritance! (Heb 2:11) I so would not have done that!! Imagine it! Jesus who sat on the throne of heaven with all power and glory being continually worshipped and adored put it all aside to come to Earth and be bound by time and space to suffer and die at the hands of people who would reject his outrageous love so that he could defeat death and tear down the walls of sin that separated God and Man so that he could offer people the right to live their lives inside his eternal life and so become sons of God as well sharing in all of his rights and privileges and sit on his throne?!?!? WHAT???!!! (John 1:9-13 says it's true!) As new sons (male and female) we therefore have a blueprint laid out by the model Son. The more we become like Jesus and the more he reveals himself to us in worship, the more time we want to spend with his Dad getting to know him because he just shows us what the Father is like (John 14:9)! 
     I believe there's a spiritual maturity that comes only from hearing the Father's voice to us as individuals. The Father's voice puts something in us that we can't get anywhere else! It gives us the power to become whatever he says about us because it's the same voice that formed the universe. When he spoke the words "Let there be light" there wasn't an awkward pause in heaven because God got it wrong and light didn't exist. It received its existence from his voice, just like we do. (that's why God can't lie, whatever he says becomes true haha) The Father's voice makes us more like Jesus because it was the Father's voice that formed Jesus' identity. When the Pharisees would try to make him prove his sonship, Jesus refused to perform for them. When satan tempted him in the wilderness to prove his sonship Jesus refused again. He had nothing to prove. Hearing the Father's voice internally keeps us from performing to meet the standards of others. Whatever he names us becomes who we are even if we weren't what he said 1 second before.

     Holy Spirit, continually lead us to Jesus and his finished work on the cross that removed everything that could keep us out of relationship with the Father. Lord Jesus, thank you for opening the way to the Father where we can find healing for our hearts and the strength to walk as you did. Father we open our hearts to receive your love and your affirmation, to be named by you so that we can reject the labels of others.

Clearly I'm not the first or the only person to be talking about the God the Father at the moment. If this is a topic you'd like to read more about, here's a link to my friend Mark's blog where you'll find a ton of insight and revelation to help you on your journey. Enjoy!
http://lovedfreeandpowerful.com/