Blessed Are The Meek...

"Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." Matthew 5:5

What does it mean to be meek?

First of all, meekness is a position of strength and not weakness (as is often mistakingly thought).
It is a "...a voluntary resignation and submission to the divine will of God with grace." Meekness is rooted in a deep belief that God is for you. It implies a softness of temper and humility along with the submission.

I love Warren Wiersbe's description in his book, "Heirs of the King," when he says that meekness is power under control... that "meekness does not show itself when we are wrong,  but (actually) when we are right." (Page 69)

Meek people submit themselves and their enemies to God, trusting HIM to handle the problem and the outcome.

Meekness is not something we manufacture. It's part of the Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). Like many of the characteristics of the Fruit of the Spirit, meekness is cultivated in the difficult experiences of life. 

The meek person surrenders with complete trust that the LORD knows best, and with a deep belief that everyone and every circumstance that comes into her (or his) life has been divinely filtered through the wisdom of God himself for HIS glory and for the believer's ultimate good. The Meek know that everything is right on schedule, everything is going according to plan - God's Plan.

Meek people have learned that they only reign in life by resigning their life. They can accomplish this once they understand that their very life is not their own but is actually owned by God.

So when meekness is lived out, the meek are afraid of no thing and no one. They know that God is in control of them and their circumstances.

Undesirable circumstances come into our lives and make us appear outwardly as extremely vulnerable and weak. When we rely on God's power, the patient and hopeful endurance in our circumstances identifies us as inwardly resilient and strong.

The truth is meekness does not identify the weak but more precisely it identifies the strong. The one who has become meek knows she has been placed in a position of weakness by the sovereignty of God. She can persevere because she knows it's God's chosen venue to reveal the ultimate plan of The Most High God! 

It is power under control!

Our ultimate example is Jesus who willingly submitted because he knew his Father was in control. He told Peter

"...shall I not drink the cup which the Father has given me?" John 18:11

The meek drink whatever cup the Father gives them, not reluctantly, but deliberately, and with GRACE.

May the Holy Spirit fill us until we overflow with the spirit of meekness as we surrender to HIM!!

Abundant Blessings,
Cyndie Patrick

Don't Give Up

"Nicodemus said to him, 'How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?"  John 3:4

She looked so small sitting on the overstuffed chair, her feet barely resting on the ottoman in front of her. She sat playing with a little strip of paper rolling it over and over again with her finger.

“What does it mean to be born again?” I looked up, surprised by her question.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Well you people are always calling yourselves born again Christians. What does this mean? How can a person be born when he is old?”

Her voice was quiet, not accusing. Her eyes were downcast, looking at the paper in her hand. My husband, Anthony, who was in the kitchen, overheard her question and walked to where we were. He looked at me as I mouthed the words “Please pray”.

The woman in the chair was Rosie, my mother in law. She had been released from the hospital the day before. We were supposed to spend Labor Day together but when we went to pick her up at her home we found her sitting on the floor disoriented. Her normally immaculate home was a mess with dirty dishes everywhere. Even her body was dirty. We cleaned her up and took her to the Emergency Room. We thought she had suffered a stroke, but a CT SCAN showed she had a tumor in her brain that took up one third of the space in her head pushing the brain over to one side. She must have been in so much pain. I had been with her only two weeks earlier, but she had never complained.

When I looked at her CT SCAN I had to go outside. My heart cried out, “NOOOO!!!” Tears streamed down my husband’s face as we listened to the unthinkable. Because of her insurance coverage she was released to us for the two days until the day of surgery when they would try to remove as much of the tumor as they could.

At the time of her release I was angry, wondering why they would send her home. She could barely walk! But, as we sat in my living room less than 24 hours before her surgery, I realized God had a plan. For nine years we had been praying to hear the question she had finally asked. 

Anthony prayed silently as I shared the gospel with his mother. “We say Born Again because when we give our lives to Jesus we are recognizing He died on the cross for our sins. He did that because our sin separated us from Him. The act of confessing and repenting for our sins and accepting the gift of forgiveness is called being ‘Born Again.’ The Bible tells us

"If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." Romans 10:9

I took a breath, praying silently for wisdom and said, “The Bible says He did that because He loves us."  

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.  John 3:16-17

She looked up at me and her eyes filled with tears. “I’m scared,” she said.

“Do you want to pray and ask Jesus into your life so you too can be born again?” I responded. "He will take away your fears and replace them with His peace regardless of what happens during the surgery. After that, you are assured you will be with Jesus for all eternity.” She nodded her head and prayed that day to receive Christ. For the first time since I met her I knew she would be fine. 

On Thursday she had the surgery. When she woke up she smiled at me and said, “I surrendered!”

I cried as I wrote this because I believe, while she was having the surgery, our Lord revealed Himself to her. The rest of her days were peaceful. She was free of fear possibly for the first time in her life.

Rosie died 15 days later. She fell asleep on September 17th and woke up once to talk and smile at her sons gathered at her bedside. She then fell asleep until she went home to the LORD on September 19th.

I write this to tell those of you who have stubborn family members who refuse to see the need for Jesus Christ in their lives – GOD has a date with them. Don’t ever give up on them. Keep praying. Keep believing God can reach them and save them. He saved you. What He did for you He can do for them.

"I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God the you may know that you have eternal life."  1 John 5:13

by Eve Montano

Seek First

"But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." Matthew 6:33-34

 If I'm seeking anything else first other than His Kingdom, and His will, then it's easy to become anxious about tomorrow. It's easy to become anxious about today as well. Why? Because my thoughts are on me or what's in "my kingdom". But if I seek His Kingdom, I know that He is ahead of me and knows what will come my way and He holds me still. 

It's only through seeking His kingdom first that I can recognize the blessings He gives me. Then I, in turn, am free to be a blessing to others. 

As we do verse 33 (seek first God...) then we have His grace to do verse 34 (do not be anxious).

by Janine Alvarado, Missionary to Japan

Editor's Note: Please keep Janine and family in prayer. Janine is scheduled to deliver baby #2 by Caesarean Section on February 9th.

Good Father

You're good, Dear Father, 
You are the only One good.

You are good always, Dear Father,
Even in the midst of bad;
Many storms and trials of this life
That Your precious children have.

Sometimes things can look desperate, 
But we will never despair, 
Because You are always good to us
And we know that You really do care. 

So whatever come what may
Is fine,
We will trust in You
And abide in the vine. 

Your ways are always perfect, 
Your Word is always true, 
You work All for good, Dear Father,
For those who belong to You. 

You call us Your beloved people,
You keep all our prayers in a bowl,
You give us JESUS Christ forever,
You have claimed our heart and soul! 

The blood of the Lamb, our righteousness,
And the testimony of His chosen, His saints
Crush every bond of slavery,
And break every strong hold and chain.  

This is our LORD, 
He defeated the grave!

Your love is wild, Almighty God,
Your peace is truly unreal;
We reject the poison of the liar
Who only destroys, kills, and steals. 

You are for us, our Great Defender,
Who can come against?
You go before us, our God, and make a way,
Guiding by Your loving hand. 

You know our frame, Dear Father,
We'd be sinless if we could;
But until that day of deliverance,
Whatever hurts or seems unfair,
We trust in Your unfailing love,
Your praise we will declare! 

You're good, Dear Father, 
You are the only One good.

by Dana Lange

Let Peace Reign

"And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. AND BE THANKFUL."  Colossians 3:15

I wake up most days with five things on my mind as soon as I open my eyes. Before I leave the house there may be an additional five or ten more things. Busy, distracted and unfocused my mind fills with worry about this possibility or admonishing myself because of that thing I forgot to do.

I sat this morning with my Bible, pen, journal and blanket – my favorite position to hear from God - and I wrote “Dear Lord, I want to stop this Merry Go Round I’m on but I don’t know how.” Am I alone in feeling this way? The answer to my prayer was this section of scripture.

"And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. AND BE THANKFUL."  Colossians 3:15

True peace comes only through Jesus. It is the kind of peace that slows down that out of control feeling and, as it slows it down,  the attitude of my heart must be thankful. I read on:

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with THANKFULNESS in your heats to God."  Colossians 3:16

Like a cooling rain or a soothing balm, the words of scripture refresh and renew. The natural reaction is a heart that becomes thankful for this respite and then worships and praises Jesus our Lord.

As I thanked God out went the anxiousness of trying to be everything for everybody. Out went the confusion of complicated relationships. In came thankfulness, compassion and forgiveness. Above all, the love of God was poured into me so I can start today with:
First – Jesus Christ
Second – His word
Third – forgiveness
Fourth – thanksgiving
Last, but by no means least - 
In came the overflowing love of God that is with me whether I’m spinning around like a top, dizzy with exhaustion, or sitting and resting at His feet.

"And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony."  Colossians 3:14

Let the Lord save you from the overabundance of triviality and noise in your life. Give the Lord the mess of superficial banalities that dulls our senses to what is truly important and can send our lives spinning. Let His word heal you, bring back into focus what is really important and don’t forget to be thankful.

"And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving THANKS to God the Father through Him." Colossians 3:17

by Eve Montano