Hi Friends~
Yes! I have actually posted two days in a row! That's a first for me, I believe. I hope you all read the Big Announcement in the last post! If you have signed up to receive an email telling you when there is a new post here on the He IS Able blog (on the top right corner), you would have known there was a post on Monday. (We usually post on Tuesdays and Thursdays.) Please enter your email in the section...it is confidential...even from me, this way you won't miss out on anything!
I hope you know that we are currently in part of a series about The Beatitudes. I am taking excerpts from the writings of Jonathan and Thelma Nambu from the 2003, Nov./Dec. issue of Discipleship Journal and sharing them with you. We are still announcing winners of the He IS Able Blog's Card Set Give-Away on Thursdays. (By the way, my thoughts appear in purple italics through-out the posts.)
"We may be faithful in prayer, Bible study, and doing kind deeds for our neighbors, yet still miss out on the peace, joy, love, and contentment God promised His children. Perhaps the answer lies in Jesus' words:
The inheritance God promised is a blessing only the meek experience deeply. It is not a by-product of their doing, but rather flows from their being. Meekness is a posture of the heart toward God--a posture of humility. Without meekness, we will not receive what we already have in Christ.
What does it mean to be meek before God? Meekness begins with a heart that recognizes how needy, helpless, and impoverished it really is. Until our hearts are emptied of self, we cannot be meek before God. A destitute heart recognizes that apart from God, we can do nothing. (John 15:5) We are utterly impoverished and dependent upon Him. Our works will not fill our cravings for love and meaning in life. Only God will!
(Here is some great news!) Surrender involves the twin actions of letting go and relaxing. Letting go requires continually releasing control over our lives and relinquishing our plan in favor of God's will. The call to surrender is also a call to relax in the Father's unconditional love, into which we are forever invited. Our striving, grasping, positioning, manipulating, performing, and mask-wearing can all slip away as we yield to the goodness of our Father. He loves and accepts us as we are. In relaxing, our souls find true rest.
Our Heavenly Father wants to give Himself to us; He longs to be admitted into our hearts. But He does not force His way. Rather, He waits for us to open the doors and receive Him. (Revelation 3:20) Our Father's love doesn't come naturally to many, perhaps because it requires the humble acknowledgment that we are limited, dependent, weak, needy, and sinful.
Yet, unless our hearts are destitute, unless our knees are bent before God in surrender and submission, it will be hard to stretch out our hands, to wait for and receive the gift of love and mercy God is always ready to give. As we welcome our neediness and surrender our control to God, we are released to receive all that He waits to bestow upon us. Through the hidden blessing of meekness, we inherit the earth--and all the joy our Father wants to share with us, His beloved children."
I feel that if I do hand a situation to Him, I should feel at peace with that decision--but sometimes I think I am too controlling, and hold on to it anyway...rather than letting go. But I have faith that there is no problem to big for God... and there is no problem too small for God. He loves us more than anyone is able... just as we are! He is on our side. I just never put the word "relax" with "turning something over" to anyone...or to God...it's an effort for me to loosen my grasp. I find great peace in this idea, and I feel closer to Him than ever with this thought...I hope you are also. How do you feel about this? Did you have any thoughts while reading this that you think would be interesting for our other readers to know? I'm sure you do. Please share your thoughts with us in the comment section!
Please join us as we pray for all of the people suffering from the heat,the floods, the storms and with the power outages. Please also pray for our country to be more Christ-like and to take care of the hungry, the poor, the needy, the widows and the ill...and everyone else in this country. And, may every person who lives in a country without the Freedoms we have--have them soon.
Thank you for being here! Happy Independence Day to our American readers. God bless!
He IS Able!
Traci Starkweather
Yes! I have actually posted two days in a row! That's a first for me, I believe. I hope you all read the Big Announcement in the last post! If you have signed up to receive an email telling you when there is a new post here on the He IS Able blog (on the top right corner), you would have known there was a post on Monday. (We usually post on Tuesdays and Thursdays.) Please enter your email in the section...it is confidential...even from me, this way you won't miss out on anything!
"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth." (Matthew 5:5)
I hope you know that we are currently in part of a series about The Beatitudes. I am taking excerpts from the writings of Jonathan and Thelma Nambu from the 2003, Nov./Dec. issue of Discipleship Journal and sharing them with you. We are still announcing winners of the He IS Able Blog's Card Set Give-Away on Thursdays. (By the way, my thoughts appear in purple italics through-out the posts.)
"We may be faithful in prayer, Bible study, and doing kind deeds for our neighbors, yet still miss out on the peace, joy, love, and contentment God promised His children. Perhaps the answer lies in Jesus' words:
"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth." (Matthew 5:5)
The inheritance God promised is a blessing only the meek experience deeply. It is not a by-product of their doing, but rather flows from their being. Meekness is a posture of the heart toward God--a posture of humility. Without meekness, we will not receive what we already have in Christ.
What does it mean to be meek before God? Meekness begins with a heart that recognizes how needy, helpless, and impoverished it really is. Until our hearts are emptied of self, we cannot be meek before God. A destitute heart recognizes that apart from God, we can do nothing. (John 15:5) We are utterly impoverished and dependent upon Him. Our works will not fill our cravings for love and meaning in life. Only God will!
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." (John 15:5NIV)
(Here is some great news!) Surrender involves the twin actions of letting go and relaxing. Letting go requires continually releasing control over our lives and relinquishing our plan in favor of God's will. The call to surrender is also a call to relax in the Father's unconditional love, into which we are forever invited. Our striving, grasping, positioning, manipulating, performing, and mask-wearing can all slip away as we yield to the goodness of our Father. He loves and accepts us as we are. In relaxing, our souls find true rest.
Our Heavenly Father wants to give Himself to us; He longs to be admitted into our hearts. But He does not force His way. Rather, He waits for us to open the doors and receive Him. (Revelation 3:20) Our Father's love doesn't come naturally to many, perhaps because it requires the humble acknowledgment that we are limited, dependent, weak, needy, and sinful.
"Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me."
(Revelation 3:20NIV)
Yet, unless our hearts are destitute, unless our knees are bent before God in surrender and submission, it will be hard to stretch out our hands, to wait for and receive the gift of love and mercy God is always ready to give. As we welcome our neediness and surrender our control to God, we are released to receive all that He waits to bestow upon us. Through the hidden blessing of meekness, we inherit the earth--and all the joy our Father wants to share with us, His beloved children."
_________________________________
Wow! I don't think I realized that surrendering also meant relaxing once you let go. I guess I didn't think of it. I felt it once, when I prayed for Josh's safety in Basic Military Training when he first joined the Air Force. I wasn't consciously aware that I should feel that way whenever I give something to the Lord, until now. When I pray for something like someones healing...I consider it done...because God is God...I guess that is relaxing, even though I continue to pray for that over and over. The Bible says to pray without ceasing. Is that how you feel when you pray? I feel that if I do hand a situation to Him, I should feel at peace with that decision--but sometimes I think I am too controlling, and hold on to it anyway...rather than letting go. But I have faith that there is no problem to big for God... and there is no problem too small for God. He loves us more than anyone is able... just as we are! He is on our side. I just never put the word "relax" with "turning something over" to anyone...or to God...it's an effort for me to loosen my grasp. I find great peace in this idea, and I feel closer to Him than ever with this thought...I hope you are also. How do you feel about this? Did you have any thoughts while reading this that you think would be interesting for our other readers to know? I'm sure you do. Please share your thoughts with us in the comment section!
Please join us as we pray for all of the people suffering from the heat,the floods, the storms and with the power outages. Please also pray for our country to be more Christ-like and to take care of the hungry, the poor, the needy, the widows and the ill...and everyone else in this country. And, may every person who lives in a country without the Freedoms we have--have them soon.
Thank you for being here! Happy Independence Day to our American readers. God bless!
He IS Able!
Traci Starkweather
HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!! Thanking and praising the Lord for our Founding Fathers who truly followed God's principles to give us a free country. May each person today take take to read the Declaration of Independence and be blessed with each word.
ReplyDeleteLove, Caterina
Hi Traci,
ReplyDeleteWhat a delightful surprise to find your blog and read something of what Jonathan and I wrote on Meekness many years ago. Thank you. Have a joy-filled Christmas!
Thelma Nambu