It’s Pride Month and I am Proud of the Humble Man

During this Pride Month I am most proud of Jesus Christ, the humble man whose awesome work in me has totally transformed my life. I honesty didn’t know who I was until I really got to know Him and understand His grace. Perhaps you too can relate.

Yes, I grew up in church where I saw pride as a bad thing. And I still believe it’s not good to be proud of yourself – at least, not in an arrogant way. For as the scriptures say, God gives grace to the humble. With the humble there is wisdom. But what is true humility? Is it beating one’s self up or putting one’s self down. Is it saying, “Yeah, I know. I’m worthless. Why would anyone care about me?!!”?

For those who haven’t read the Bible, as well as for those who have, Moses is said to have written the first five books. And for what it’s worth, Moses called himself “the most humble man on earth.” (Numbers 12:3) Now, that doesn’t sound like a very humble statement, at least not in the sense that most people see humility. But there is a quote that someone wrote (I’m not sure who), and it states that “Humility is not thinking of yourself less but thinking less of yourself.” Moses was a man who thought more of God than probably anybody of his time. Whenever he had a problem with the million-plus crowd he had to lead, he looked to God for help.

And think of all the protesters Moses had to deal with. It seems all they ever did sometimes was complain.

Moses was indeed probably the most humble person of his time compared to others, but Jesus Christ showed even more humility. “Who, being in the form of God” became a man. And as a man, he “humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”

Seeing Christ on Tree Despised Plucks Logs From Blind Men’s Eyes

He did this to save ordinary people like me from death and bring us to God. That’s why, during this Pride month I am very proud of Him.

Moses: Dying Young, Seeing Christ

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Jesus Christ Will Soon Return; Let This Word Sink In

Jesus Christ will soon return.  

Let this Word now sink in.

For it’s been a hard time with some things,

I have taken it “on the chin.”

And yes, there have been days

When I believed I’d never win;

So many trials and tribulations

In a world that’s filled with sin.

The doubts seemed to take over,

Faith stuck in sinking sand,

Still wading through this trial,

On Christ the solid rock I stand.

The scriptures give me comfort,

They are my source of hope

Especially when I feel like I’m hanging

On the short end of a rope.

The cliff lies straight beneath me

But the Lord will lift me up.

He is my manna, my reward.

Behold the bread, the cup.

I overcome by Jesus’ blood

And by my testimony.

Trust Him to come through each time.

His words are never phony.

Though weeping may last for a night,

Joy comes after mourning.

We must prepare for Christ’s return,

Which will come without warning.

Now is the time to heed the warning.

My Husband Loves My Latest Post

My husband loves my latest post. I am so happy to hear that. He loves the rhymes, especially the part about “Mike”! Now that’s the kind of review I can always go for! Soon I think I will start writing more again.

To me this goes to show that, contrary to some writing advice, what friends and family say about a writer’s work DOES matter. When my husband likes my work, it means the world to me!

If you’ve ever done any writing – with the idea of being published – then you will quickly come to realize that writing can’t be done in a vacuum. Every writer needs support from someone, preferably those closest to them. Even non-writers need support. We like to feel like we are heard. So when someone shares an idea with you, even if it’s off the wall, taking the time to listen and encourage them can work wonders.

True, that doesn’t translate into automatic success. But it can encourage a person not to give up, that with excellent coaching and perseverance the battle can be won. If you want to do well as an author, then share your work with someone. Put it out there. See what works.

If you keep going, you will get somewhere. But don’t forget to pray, because God is our greatest source of encouragement. Jesus said in John chapter 15 that “Without Me, you can do nothing.” He also told his followers to love one another, and encouragement is a form of love.

Readers feel free to weigh in. When your spouse (or other family member) believes in your writing, does it or does it not inspire you to persevere?

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Two Points of Energy Sit on Your Tongue

I. Two Points of Energy Sit on Your Tongue

No matter how old you may be or how young,

Two points of energy sit on your tongue,

Offering choices: speak death or speak life.

Submit to God’s fire or the fire of strife.

Whether bitter or sweet, you have power today

To decide how to flavor the things that you say.

Do your words justify? Do they condemn?

Because you can’t turn a millstone to a gem.

Take, for example, Christ’s wilderness fast.

Forty days is how long this fast did last,

In which He was tempted to turn stones to bread.

But He turned the devil’s own words on his head.

 

II. Don’t Use Your Tongue’s Energy to Glorify satan

So, Satan changed tactics and promised Him power,

Declaring, “I’ll save you from your desperate hour.

With the right words you can save yourself from the cross.

Why should you, God’s own Son, suffer such loss?”

The devil said, “If you’ll adore me, I’ll give

To you all of these people. Yes, I’ll let them live,

While you enjoy fortune and revel in fame.

All you have to do is to worship my name.”

“To clarify what that means, Glorify me

For all that I’ve done and the misery you see.

Do not speak of victory won through your death.

Those people aren’t worth it, you’ll just waste your breath.”

“All I want is some credit for all that I’ve done.

For, it can’t be too hard to admit that I’ve won.

So, let’s talk about all of the problems I’ve caused,

With all of the suffering, all that’s been lost.”

“Sympathize with their grumbling, as I see fit,

And make them feel sorry for you, just a bit,

Because loving problems and talking of pain

Is the best way to glorify my evil name.”

 

III. Jesus Used His Tongue o Glorify satan

To thus misuse his tongue Jesus was tempted.

But the Father’s provision it would have preempted.

Yet how many of us today fall for this trick?

It’s packaged up pretty, but boy is it slick!

We fret and we worry ’bout each little task,

But the energy lies on our tongues if we’ll ask.

We mumble and grumble because we are bored,

But that needn’t be so if we’re serving the Lord.

Others of us, swallowed by circumspection,

Forget the great hope of our Lord’s resurrection.

While we might remember to lift up the cross,

We focus on suffering and count it as loss.

 

IV. Remember the Power of Christ’s Resurrection

But where is the joy that He purchased for us

When he rose from the dead? Oh, why do we still fuss?

He spoke to that mountain of death, and it moved.

To remember this victory it would us behoove.

So let’s not proclaim sadness or pity or shame,

But think about Jesus and lift up his name.

Talk of His victory, and ALL that He’s done,

ALL that He is, and ALL that He’s won.

For the tongue has the power of life and of death,

The power to give or to take away breath.

So rather than grumble or mourn or complain,

Let’s use our tongues to lift up Jesus’ name!

 

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For the Isaac (Laughter) Set Before Him, Jesus Endured

Isaac, who means laughter, was the man-of-faith’s true joy,

For God gave Sarah grace to bear this promised baby boy.

Where faith met grace, the LORD performed a miracle so great,

It gave their friends and family great cause to celebrate.

 

Through Hagar, Abraham had Ishmael, who was very weak.

His mother had to shelter him while water she did seek.

For, like God’s holy law, he lacked the strength to set men free.

His line did not reveal the truth that leads to liberty.

 

His hand would be against all men and they at war with him.

As for escaping Ishmael’s judgment, it seemed less than slim.

Because, like law, he had no strength to save mankind from sin.

Therefore, only Through Isaac (laughter) can we really win.

 

Yet laughter’s dad was told to offer up his only son

Upon an altar to be sacrificed – God’s will be done.

He laid the wood on Isaac’s back as they went up the hill,

In order, this “obedience unto death” he might fulfill.

 

When asked “Where is the lamb?” Abraham said, “God will provide,”

Not knowing that a ram was coming up the mountainside,

Faith laid his Laughter on the wood, prepared to take the knife

And slay his son, believing God could bring him back to life.

 

But then an angel called from heaven, “Do not harm your son!”

“’I know now that you love me,’ says the Lord. The work I’ve done,

Because old Abraham beheld the ram in thick vines caught,

A substitute for Isaac who from death now had been brought.

 

For God so loved the world, we read, His only Son He gave.

To save our joy from perishing. He overcame the grave.

And for the Isaac set before him, Jesus bore the cross

That those of faith like Abraham might escape eternal loss.

 

 

Too Much Knowledge Kills; Try the Tree of Life

They didn’t have to starve themselves. The tree of life was there,

Staring them right in the face, to eat from and to share.

They didn’t have to sweat for food to give their stomachs rest.

Perfection stood before them, yet it put them to the test.

 

Would knowledge not be better, to be clothed with intellect’s crown,

Two gods extraordinary set apart to fame, renown?

The serpent tempted them to trust in their own righteousness.

“A pedestal to pride is what you need to have success.”

 

“A taste of good and evil? You can handle it for sure!

Self-denial can kill, but man-made knowledge rings secure.”

And so, instead of eating from the precious tree of life,

They chose the pretty looking fruit which led to blame and strife.

 

But it made them self-conscious. Body shaming had begun.

They felt the need to cover up, their nakedness to shun.

For suddenly they saw themselves as open to attack,

With skin that lacked protection both in front and in the back.

 

The possibility of getting hurt became quite real,

For knowing evil showed them what their flesh so soft might feel

If hit by birds or bugs or germs they couldn’t even see.

To think they could have eaten of the tree of life for free!

 

For evil happens when somebody says “I’m in control!”

And tries to take upon himself the Holy Spirit’s role,

Attempting to bring good from evil which he claims to know.

But mankind simply wasn’t meant to probe such depths of woe.

 

In pride rejecting grace, man claims to know so very much

But in his wisdom acts the fool, rejecting Jesus’ touch,

Declaring in his willful ignorance that he’s the boss.

Oh Lord, please help him see the tree of life that bore the cross!

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Deep Sea Diagnostics: Holy Spirit Led Laser Surgery

I. Deep Sea Diagnostics

The diagnostics started when the Holy Spirit hovered over the waters. Then the Father spoke the Word – Jesus the Son (John 1:1), who created all things (Hebrews 1:1). Through the Holy Spirit, God performed laser surgery on a mixed up world – dividing light from darkness, waters from waters, sea from dry land.

“And God said, ‘Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that has life. . . And God created great whales, and every living creature that moves which the waters brought forth abundantly. . .  God saw that it was good.” (Genesis 1:20-22)

Who can fathom the detailed wisdom required to perform such marvelous works?

How the Father, Son and Spirit worked together to create the world remains a mystery. What we do know, however, is that the Holy Spirit searches out the deep things of God (I Corinthians 2:10). His “deep sea diagnostics” can reveal God’s plans to us as well as where we have erred from those plans. What is His heart? What are his thoughts? The Holy Spirit knows. He zeroes in on our needs and the Father’s will for us.

 

II. Empowered to Do Laser Surgery Like Jesus Did

It is the Holy Spirit who brought Jesus the Great Physician to us (Luke 1:35). God (the Father) anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit, for the purpose of doing good and healing all those whom the devil had oppressed (see Acts 10:38).

Led by the Spirit, Jesus knew what people were thinking – like when the scribes and pharisees wondered how he could forgive a person’s sins (Luke 5:21-22). He also knew what the paralyzed man really needed (forgiveness) and what he needed to say to get him on his feet again.

Amazingly, Jesus said that those who believe in Him would do the same things He did, as well as greater things (John 14:12).

“And these signs shall follow them that believe: In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues. . . they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” (Mark 16:17-18)

How would it be possible for them to do the same works Jesus did? Through laser surgery performed through the power of the Holy Spirit. He diagnoses deep needs and supplies wisdom for the cure.

 

III. The Holy Spirit as Teacher

Jesus called the Holy Spirit the Comforter “whom the Father will send in my name.”  He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” (John 14:26)

The Apostle Paul put it this way: “And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” (I Corinthians 2:4-5)

He continues in verse 12, “Now we (referring to believers in Christ) have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God” – meaning the Holy Spirit – “that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.”

13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost (Holy Spirit) teaches. . .

IV. Holy Spirit Diagnostics and the Cross of Christ

When it comes to healing, human wisdom only goes so far. The finest surgeon in the world can only touch the surface of the need. But to the believer in Christ, God can give a word of wisdom or of knowledge, faith, or gifts of healing, just to name a few (see I Corinthians 12:8-10) The Holy Spirit can perform the diagnosis and provide the cure.

No CAT scan can compare to the “deep sea diagnostics” He performs. He is like a deep sea probe, exploring every aspect of the divine, as well as  He knows how we are made – each and every part – and understands us, body, spirit, soul.

He knows what’s in our minds as well as what lies in our hearts. When it comes to healing, man-made medicine has its limits, but the Holy Spirit sees what needs fixing. He can perform laser surgery on any area that causes pain.  Where detailed needs meet divine sovereignty, He applies the cross.

 

The Cure for Human Reasoning and Tasteless Seasoning

I. When Human Reason Equates to Tasteless Seasoning

                       (Based on II Kings 7:2)

 

There once was a man whose reasoning

Was like a tasteless seasoning.

Like salt that’s lost its flavor,

It simply would not let him savor

The truths locked up inside God’s Word –

In this case, prophecy he’d heard:

That, “About this time tomorrow”

God would end the city’s sorrow,

And this town by famine torn

Would have good reason not to mourn

Because the “shepherd of the sheep”

Would make the food supply so cheap.

 

But in a town besieged with war,

This reasoning man could not ignore

The bitter strum of endless doubt

Which in his hungry ears did shout,

“On your own strength you must rely.

For it you don’t, you’ll surely die.”

 

II. Human Reasoning Can Lead to Doubt

 

So, when Elisha gave the word,

He chose to question what he heard.

Instead of shouting, “What great news!”

He sort of blew a little fuse,

Recoiling almost instantly.

“You make it sound as if it’s free!”

 

“Who are you – some cute Pollyanna

Trusting God to rain down manna?

How He would do that, I can’t see.

But even so, how could it be?

My human reasoning says no,

It cannot fly, it will not go.”

 

This man on whom the king did lean

Could not accept what he’d not seen.

Nor could this person understand

What his intellect could not command

But let his reasoning replace

The mighty wonders of God’s grace.

 

III.  Jesus Can Cure Tasteless Seasoning Caused by Human Reasoning

 

He had allowed his faith to rust

And so lay trampled in the dust.

But that need not be so with us

If we’ll let Jesus steer our “bus.”

For He is THE true bread from heaven

Whose Word can counteract the leaven

 

Of legalism and deceit,

The tasteless salt we cannot eat.

He adds true flavor to the meat

Of joy that makes our lives so sweet.

His faith enables us to receive

What human reasoning won’t believe.