To humble yourself, in a scriptural sense is to put yourself down. No, not pick at or condemn yourself but to place yourself in a posture of service and surrender.
Height is the issue when falling! Not too deep , huh? but think about it.......if their is no distance between you and the ground you can't hurt yourself when you fall, in fact you can't fall. We get humiliated by circumstances because we have been lifted up by pride. Got to let go my ego! Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. If I won't humble myself, the Lord will use some other method to bring me low.
1 Peter 5:6-7
6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
Notice the colon in verse 6, the next verse is a continuation of the thought. You humble yourself by throwing all of your care upon him! So keeping care, the shouldering blame, being weighed down with worry, speaks to one condition...... pride! You humble yourself, note that no one else is contracted to do it for you. You bring all of your cares, all of your intentions, all of your dreams and you lay them and you, in one package before the Lord Jesus Christ! Humility is not weakness but total surrender.
Life goes so much smoother if you let go and let God have his wonderful way!
In fact the word "let" is found throughout the process of surrender. Nothing will happen until we let it. God doesn't have control of any part of our lives until we hand it over. Our life in God is UP in the air until we lay it down!
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Friday, January 2, 2009
A new coat for a New Year
We want to wish you all a Happy New Year. May God's blessings rest upon you and yours.
2008 brought significant transition to our family. The boys and Liane came off the road in the fall for the sake of their education. We sold our house and moved the crew to the land of our calling, Montreal, Quebec. I got to spend two weeks at Christmas home with them and am looking forward to being their full time soon.
I'm now in the Mass./ Rhode Island district and will be traveling from here in two weeks to Connecticut and then Pennsylvania. We love you all and are thankful for your continued prayers and support!
Allow me to share a thought the Lord put in my spirit.
Samuel was given to the Lord and His service by his Mom, Hannah. After moving into the house of the Lord she would bring him a new coat every year. Each year brought growth and change and thus the need for new apparel that fit the new time he was in.
The Lord in the latter part of Luke encouraged his disciples to tarry until they were "endued" with power from on high. Interestingly, the word endued could be translated, "clothed" and means to put on like a garment.
I remember an elder saying once, that in every transition it is time for a fresh anointing. A fresh touch of the Holy Ghost for a new time in your life. A new coat for a new year!
We all face challenges in this time unlike any we have ever faced but I'm glad to tell you, my friends, that the Lord has the spiritual resource to meet everyone of those challenges.
It's time to put on Christ afresh. A new coat for a New Year!
Liane and I love and appreciate you!
2008 brought significant transition to our family. The boys and Liane came off the road in the fall for the sake of their education. We sold our house and moved the crew to the land of our calling, Montreal, Quebec. I got to spend two weeks at Christmas home with them and am looking forward to being their full time soon.
I'm now in the Mass./ Rhode Island district and will be traveling from here in two weeks to Connecticut and then Pennsylvania. We love you all and are thankful for your continued prayers and support!
Allow me to share a thought the Lord put in my spirit.
Samuel was given to the Lord and His service by his Mom, Hannah. After moving into the house of the Lord she would bring him a new coat every year. Each year brought growth and change and thus the need for new apparel that fit the new time he was in.
The Lord in the latter part of Luke encouraged his disciples to tarry until they were "endued" with power from on high. Interestingly, the word endued could be translated, "clothed" and means to put on like a garment.
I remember an elder saying once, that in every transition it is time for a fresh anointing. A fresh touch of the Holy Ghost for a new time in your life. A new coat for a new year!
We all face challenges in this time unlike any we have ever faced but I'm glad to tell you, my friends, that the Lord has the spiritual resource to meet everyone of those challenges.
It's time to put on Christ afresh. A new coat for a New Year!
Liane and I love and appreciate you!
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Stillness in the Storm
Mark 4:38-39
38 Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. Frantically they woke him up, shouting, "Teacher, don't you even care that we are going to drown?"
39 When he woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the water, "Quiet down!" Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm.
To say that the world finds itself in a terrible tempest is an understatement. The winds and waves of financial turmoil are crashing in on a lot of lives. Boats are filling up and passengers are at their wits end! Like the scenario described above, even those closest to Jesus can wonder whether he cares when faced with such a furious frenzy of circumstance.
Lord, don't you care? Well, of course He does, silly, he's in the same boat! How could Jesus sleep while others are tossing and turning, literally?! He knows the master of the wind. His focus was upon the Father not the fury outside. The scripture tells us that the things we see are temporary, but the things we don't see are eternal.
It also tells us that if we observe the wind we won't sow. In other words, it's not productive to be preoccupied with our circumstances rather then our Savior. While it flies in the face of conventional wisdom, when a storm hits, it's time to focus on the creator and what he is capable of NOT on how bad it looks! I don't think the Lord minded the wake up call, it was the attitude with which the boys called that irked him. Calvary is all the picture we need to know his concern for us. While the disciples hadn't seen that picture of love displayed as yet, they had certainly seen enough of what Jesus was up to, to realize and remember his compassion.
If you want to see the miraculous, if you are in the midst of the storm of your life, talk to Jesus. Don't whimper or whine but honestly surrender what you can't fix to his power. He said in addressing the storm, "Peace, be still." The result was a tranquility that was supernatural! Let him speak to you and let the peace of God that passes understanding keep your heart and mind as you throw your care upon the only one who has the capacity to handle it all, the Lord Jesus Christ!
You say, "Scott I'm not even sure that it'll work." Well what have you got to lose except a lot of sleep and anxiety! He is there my friend, talk to Him and find out for yourself!
38 Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. Frantically they woke him up, shouting, "Teacher, don't you even care that we are going to drown?"
39 When he woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the water, "Quiet down!" Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm.
To say that the world finds itself in a terrible tempest is an understatement. The winds and waves of financial turmoil are crashing in on a lot of lives. Boats are filling up and passengers are at their wits end! Like the scenario described above, even those closest to Jesus can wonder whether he cares when faced with such a furious frenzy of circumstance.
Lord, don't you care? Well, of course He does, silly, he's in the same boat! How could Jesus sleep while others are tossing and turning, literally?! He knows the master of the wind. His focus was upon the Father not the fury outside. The scripture tells us that the things we see are temporary, but the things we don't see are eternal.
It also tells us that if we observe the wind we won't sow. In other words, it's not productive to be preoccupied with our circumstances rather then our Savior. While it flies in the face of conventional wisdom, when a storm hits, it's time to focus on the creator and what he is capable of NOT on how bad it looks! I don't think the Lord minded the wake up call, it was the attitude with which the boys called that irked him. Calvary is all the picture we need to know his concern for us. While the disciples hadn't seen that picture of love displayed as yet, they had certainly seen enough of what Jesus was up to, to realize and remember his compassion.
If you want to see the miraculous, if you are in the midst of the storm of your life, talk to Jesus. Don't whimper or whine but honestly surrender what you can't fix to his power. He said in addressing the storm, "Peace, be still." The result was a tranquility that was supernatural! Let him speak to you and let the peace of God that passes understanding keep your heart and mind as you throw your care upon the only one who has the capacity to handle it all, the Lord Jesus Christ!
You say, "Scott I'm not even sure that it'll work." Well what have you got to lose except a lot of sleep and anxiety! He is there my friend, talk to Him and find out for yourself!
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Who's Your Daddy?
Romans 8:15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out,"Abba, Father." (NKJV)
I love words and word studies. In Vines dictionary the word ABBA is described this way "the word framed by the lips of infants that betokens unreasoning trust." WOW! I'll say it again backwards WOW! :)
An infant has an instinctual trust in his or her parents for the sake of their survival. They look up into the eyes of this "BIG" person in their lives and know, innately that this is the guy who will take care of me, he's my Daddy. He will change me, (yeah, right I can hear all you Moms gagging right about now) feed me, provide, clothe and shelter me. He will protect me from harm, pay the mortgage and stock the shelves. They know this internally, when all they can do to reciprocate is goo and gaa, smile and squeal, dirty their diapers and scream like a banshee when something is out of kilter. In spite of the fact that their productivity level is zilch, they trust their Daddy for all of their needs!
We have received the Spirit of adoption, when filled with His Spirit we cry, "ABBA father." Within us is the power of His provision, his love and grace. Every good gift, every perfect gift comes down from above from the father of lights! He doesn't shift or turn, he doesn't change, he is always consistent and he's my Dad in fact he's "Our Father." Interesting isn't it, that the first words in Jesus' template for prayer were relational ones. Everything flows from the New Birth.
When we are born of the water and of the Spirit we step away from bondage and the fear that accompanies it. Someone said, "You don't get good to get God, you get God and he makes you good." A child bears the genes and has the character traits of his father.
This analogy needs the attention of two kinds of people.
First, those that have yet to be born again. Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3 that it was imperative, essential, absolutely necessary, you get the point. The truth is the New Birth is a "get to" more then a "got to." Membership has it's privileges, the old cliche says and to quote another one, the benefits of being part of our Father's family are "out of this world!"
Second, born again believers who function more as servants then as sons and daughters of the King! That is a spirit of bondage or servitude and it didn't come from God! A child will serve in time but out of love not obligation. You do things as Daddy (Jesus) and Mom (the church) teach you and as you grow in your ability. A servant could never address the head of the family as ABBA, he wasn't born into the family he didn't have that privilege.
A servant knows duty and direction but not the heart of their master. They have responsibilities but not relationship. Listen to the words of Jesus in John 15:15, "No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends,"
Our father, teaches, he protects, he models, he provides, he embraces and yes he even disciplines but always for our benefit and learning.
Luke 11:11-13
11 "You fathers — if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? 12 Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not! 13 If you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him."
NLT
If, as earthly imperfect fathers, we know how to give our kids good things, how much more will our heavenly father give the Holy Ghost! His presence within us represents everything that He is capable of! Every gift, every provision, every direction, every healing that the Lord Jesus is capable of is in His Spirit and if we will let Him fill us, His Spirit is in us.
My boys don't get nervous about the mortgage at the end of the month, they don't even give it a thought! They know who their Daddy is and that that is his responsibility. They know their will be food on the table, clothes on their backs and shelter over their heads because I love them, they are mine and I accept the burden of that responsibility as their Dad.
Who is your Daddy?
I love words and word studies. In Vines dictionary the word ABBA is described this way "the word framed by the lips of infants that betokens unreasoning trust." WOW! I'll say it again backwards WOW! :)
An infant has an instinctual trust in his or her parents for the sake of their survival. They look up into the eyes of this "BIG" person in their lives and know, innately that this is the guy who will take care of me, he's my Daddy. He will change me, (yeah, right I can hear all you Moms gagging right about now) feed me, provide, clothe and shelter me. He will protect me from harm, pay the mortgage and stock the shelves. They know this internally, when all they can do to reciprocate is goo and gaa, smile and squeal, dirty their diapers and scream like a banshee when something is out of kilter. In spite of the fact that their productivity level is zilch, they trust their Daddy for all of their needs!
We have received the Spirit of adoption, when filled with His Spirit we cry, "ABBA father." Within us is the power of His provision, his love and grace. Every good gift, every perfect gift comes down from above from the father of lights! He doesn't shift or turn, he doesn't change, he is always consistent and he's my Dad in fact he's "Our Father." Interesting isn't it, that the first words in Jesus' template for prayer were relational ones. Everything flows from the New Birth.
When we are born of the water and of the Spirit we step away from bondage and the fear that accompanies it. Someone said, "You don't get good to get God, you get God and he makes you good." A child bears the genes and has the character traits of his father.
This analogy needs the attention of two kinds of people.
First, those that have yet to be born again. Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3 that it was imperative, essential, absolutely necessary, you get the point. The truth is the New Birth is a "get to" more then a "got to." Membership has it's privileges, the old cliche says and to quote another one, the benefits of being part of our Father's family are "out of this world!"
Second, born again believers who function more as servants then as sons and daughters of the King! That is a spirit of bondage or servitude and it didn't come from God! A child will serve in time but out of love not obligation. You do things as Daddy (Jesus) and Mom (the church) teach you and as you grow in your ability. A servant could never address the head of the family as ABBA, he wasn't born into the family he didn't have that privilege.
A servant knows duty and direction but not the heart of their master. They have responsibilities but not relationship. Listen to the words of Jesus in John 15:15, "No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends,"
Our father, teaches, he protects, he models, he provides, he embraces and yes he even disciplines but always for our benefit and learning.
Luke 11:11-13
11 "You fathers — if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? 12 Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not! 13 If you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him."
NLT
If, as earthly imperfect fathers, we know how to give our kids good things, how much more will our heavenly father give the Holy Ghost! His presence within us represents everything that He is capable of! Every gift, every provision, every direction, every healing that the Lord Jesus is capable of is in His Spirit and if we will let Him fill us, His Spirit is in us.
My boys don't get nervous about the mortgage at the end of the month, they don't even give it a thought! They know who their Daddy is and that that is his responsibility. They know their will be food on the table, clothes on their backs and shelter over their heads because I love them, they are mine and I accept the burden of that responsibility as their Dad.
Who is your Daddy?
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