Post by Zac Loh on Jul 3, 2006 13:28:53 GMT -5
MEEKNESS
The word meekness (`prah-ot-ace’ in the original Greek) means `gentleness and mildness.’
Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. (Matthew 11:29; underline mine)
A meek person is someone whom you will find rest in your soul, even as you mingle with him/her.
“ Tell the daughter of Zion, ‘ Behold, your King is coming to you, Lowly, and sitting on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.’” (Matthew 21:5; underline mine)
The word, ‘Lowly’ as underlined above, means meekness (prah-ot-ace). The Lord, even though He was a King, was gentle on the donkey. He is still The King, and He is gentle on us.
Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel— rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. For in this manner, in former times, the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves, being submissive to their own husbands, (1 Peter 3:3-5; underline mine)
Meekness and submission go hand-in-hand. We don’t want to give a hard time to the people over us. We want to make it easy for them to lead us. This is the heart of meekness.
to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men. (Titus 3:2; underline mine)
in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, (2 Timothy 2:25; underline mine)
The word `humility’ for the above two scriptures is actually meekness (prah-ot-ace). When you speak to others harshly, oftentimes, you will draw harshness from them. When the Lord corrects us, He starts it gently. It is only when gentleness does not help, that the Lord resorts to stern discipline.
But the Lord begins in gentleness. It’s better to obey Him in His gentle voice, rather than His harsh treatment.
Even as we correct others, let us begin gently.
By long forbearance a ruler is persuaded, And a gentle tongue breaks a bone. (Proverbs 25:15)
Quotations of Hugh Blair
“True gentleness is founded on a sense of what we owe to Him who made us, and to the common nature which we all share. It arises from reflection on our own failings and wants, and from just views of the condition and the duty of man. It is native feeling heightened and improved by principle.”
“Gentleness, which belongs to virtue, is to be carefully distinguished from the mean spirit of cowards and the fawning assent of sycophants.”
“Gentleness corrects whatever is offensive in our manner”
About The Author
Hugh Blair, 1718 – 1800, was a Scottish Presbyterian preacher, and is considered one of the first great theorists of the written discourse.
LONGSUFFERING
In the original Bible Greek, the word `longsuffering’ is `mak-roth-oo-mee-ah’. It means `patience, with long enduring temper’.
Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. (2 Timothy 4:2; underline mine)
I have seen pastors and preachers (including myself, I am a guilty one) releasing frustrations at the pulpit; hot steam seeping, escaping through the message.
Oh, how we sincerely need the longsuffering of Christ!
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9; underline mine)
If God is longsuffering towards us, why can’t we be longsuffering toward others? If God forgives us, why can’t we forgive others?
strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. (Colossians 1:11-12; underline mine)
We need spiritual power to have patience and longsuffering. This longsuffering of Christ does not wear a sad countenance nor does it wear a long face. It is WITH JOY giving thanks to the Father!
About My Mother
My mother is normal except that she suffers from a `conspiracy’ paranoia. Most of us, her children, get impatient with her many `real’ stories: about her neighbors (both sides) spying on her to cheat her of her house, about many people everywhere trying to cheat her. What hurt most was her accusations about her children being criminals and swindlers. We know the foolishness of them, but we are hurt none the less.
She can think of the most ridiculous thing, but it is all so real to her. She believes in her own delusion. We know that, because she lives her lifestyle in response to her perceived threats.
Her children has a real hard time living with her. I have asked inside myself many times, “why do I have a mother like that?” We, the children, just couldn’t accept it.
One day, I believe God spoke to me, “God sent her to your life to make you a better person.” As a Christian, I sincerely tried to love her. But after this revelation: there was gentleness; there was a longsuffering, in my demeanor and attitude towards her. I begin to see her as a real person, not some sick person. I relate to her as a person, not constantly battling with her paranoia. I have been praying for God to save and deliver her for years. I believe, one day, it will happen, and she’s going to me a mighty intercessor for Christ.
True Account by Richard Wurmbrand
Horev was a Russian Christian who was in jail for many years. His father died in the same jail. Horev wrote in a letter, which he smuggled out from prison, that he was placed in a cell with common criminals. What they did to Christians is unimaginable.
The criminals beat Horev until he fell unconscious. When he came to, he heard them talking among themselves, "We should grease some rope and hang him tonight." The others refused, because that was too complicated. They had better cut his throat and then place the bloody knife in his hand so it would look like suicide. That was the talk among them. You could believe it, because they did these things.
Then, walking in the Spirit, Horev envisioned another world for himself and said, "How beautiful it will be after they have cut my throat." He saw the angels receiving him, taking him in their arms to bring him to the bosom of Abraham. He saw himself encountering the martyrs of old. He enjoyed these things. He slept the whole night very quietly.
The next day, the criminals again beat him, and in the evening they talked about killing him. Horev said to himself, "But my father has died in this place. What an honor for me, and what a joy for my father, that I was not afraid and that I walked in his footsteps and will see Jesus." In thinking about this world that he envisioned for himself, he slept again quietly. It continued on like this until the eighteenth day, when he was moved from that jail. What he wrote is so beautiful: "I had to leave the cell. The criminal who had intended to cut my throat came to me, shook my hand, and said, "Truly, there is something supernatural in you.""
What in the world does a criminal know about the supernatural? Horev was a page of the Bible, "an epistle of Christ ...written not with ink, but by the Spirit of the Living God" (2 Corinthians 3:3). The criminal knew from Horev, not from the Bible, that Horev belongs to Another. He has a divine nature. "There must be a God," the criminal said. "Every time we spoke about you, you were asleep and we did not think that you heard us. You kept your eyes closed. Why did you not jump at us? How could you sleep quietly and peacefully? Only one who really believes in eternal life can do this."
The criminal continued, "When you were taken for walk in the prison yard, you could have reported to the guard about us and requested to be placed in another cell. That is what is usually done, but you never did it. Why’? Why did you come back? Why did you not seek help with any man except with your God? Why did you pray on your knees every morning and every evening? You knew that we could kill you, as we have killed so many. Why did you give yourself quietly every day into our hands’? This is incomprehensible for us. Really, you have something supernatural in you." Once again he shook Horev’s hand and that is how they parted.
About The Author
Pastor Richard Wurmbrand (1909 – 2001) was an evangelical minister who spent fourteen years in Communist imprisonment and torture in his homeland of Romania. In 1945, when the Communists seized Romania and attempted to control the churches for their purposes, Richard Wurmbrand immediately began an effective "underground" ministry to his Romanian countrymen and to the Russian soldiers. He was eventually arrested in 1948. Richard spent three years in solitary confinement, seeing no one but his Communist torturers.
BEARING AND FORGIVING
The Bible Greek word for `bearing’ is `an-ekh-om-ahee’ meaning `to put up with, bear with, endure, suffer – repetitively, intensely’.
And `forgiving’ is `khar-id-zom-ahee’ meaning `to grant as a favor, pardon or rescue.’
We, who are of Christ, are the redemptive people. The reason we bear and forgive, is because that there is redemption for the people whom we forbear and forgive.
It involves putting-up with, gritting our teeth to endure, and suffering (emotional, mental or physical). It may be repetitive and intense. Can we only forgive if we are offended once or twice? What if it is repetitive? What if we are hurt strongly and forcefully? Can we forgive?
Bearing and forgiving doesn’t mean that we give money so that the person could buy drugs to ease the pain of addiction? It doesn’t mean we are a doormat for people to step-on? We have to ask God whether there is a redemptive factor.
God may have put you in that situation, and He wants you to endure and keep-on forgiving. Then, don’t ask to escape from it. Ask God to give you the grace, to give you strength to endure your offences and persecutors.
Ask God to give you grace to keep-on forgiving them. This is God’s mercy towards the people whom you are forgiving. God really loves them.
Quotations of Corrie ten Boom
"Memories are the key not to the past, but to the future."
"Discernment is God's call to intercession, never to faultfinding."
"Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart."
Corrie ten Boom’s family courageously provided a refuge for Jews and others wanted by the Nazis during the German occupation of Holland in the 1940s.
She wrote of her experiences in a WW II concentration camp in "The Hiding Place (1971).
The Hiding Place ends with a striking incident. Corrie was greeted by a man who had been a guard at Ravensbrück, who had since become a Christian. She found it the hardest thing in the world to shake his hand... but eventually she did:
”As I took his hand, the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me... And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness that the world's healing hinges, but on God's. When He tells us to love our enemies, he gives, along with his command, the love itself.”
About The Author
Cornelia (Corrie) ten Boom (1892 – 1983) was a Dutch minister, who was a Holocaust survivor.
LOVE
But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. (Colossians 3:14; underline mine)
The Bible Greek for the word `love’ above is `ag-ah-pay’. It is a word used exclusively for divine love. It has two important elements in its meaning: affection and benevolent. Some care but don’t do anything. Some do without any caring. We must both care and do. That’s God’s love.
But it’s much more than that.
Now concerning things offered to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. (1 Corinthians 8:1)
When we have knowledge, maybe we think that others could benefit from it. But if there is no love, our knowledge means nothing. Knowledge is like bricks, and love is the cement. We can stack up knowledge like bricks, but without the cement, it is not a wall.
A slight push, and the brick will come tumbling down. To make bricks into a wall, we need the cement of love. Love glues the bricks together, and pastes them to make the wall even stronger and more durable. Now the wall looks nice, and you can paint any color or design.
Others will be built-up by our knowledge, if we have love. Love edifies. The meaning of the word `edify’ is derived from the word `edifice’ i.e. a building.
Without love, knowledge puffs-up – soft and fluffy. How would you like a building which is soft and fluffy? It can collapse anytime at the slightest wind!
As someone said, “it is not the size of your head that counts, but the size of your heart.”
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. (1 Corinthians 13:1)
A sounding brass or a clanging cymbal: is no music at all. Lots of noise; but nobody is enchanted; nobody is soothed, nobody is happy, nobody is relaxed. We have the silver tongue, but we are an irritation. We have the gift of the gab, but nobody genuinely, sincerely, welcome us. Without love.
And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:2)
Lucifer was the most gifted archangel, but he did not have love. A gifting, absent of love, is destructive. It is a ticking time-bomb.
I may be something to myself, but I am nothing to God. I may think I have achieved something for men, but it will come to nothing. That is, without love.
And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:3)
What an irony!
All our goods to the poor, our body literally burned for others, yet we profit nothing.
We are not supposed to profit anything. But the thing is that, there are those who do these things without love, would be looking to profit something in return i.e. publicity, recognition and etc.
Dear brothers and sisters, the admiration will not profit you. The praises from men count for nothing. The praise of God to you will last forever!
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; (1 Corinthians 13:4)
If you are impatient and unkind, then ask God’s love to fill your heart. If you are impatient and unkind with yourself, then you need God’s love for yourself.
You need God’s acceptance because God’s love is unconditional.
God’s love is equal to all mankind. He changes not. And His love has no preferences. We envy because we have an esteem problem. God’s love makes all of us equal. God’s love makes all of us valuable.
I can’t say anything, except God’s love is supernatural. We are to empty ourselves, and let God fill us with His love – so that others be blessed, our family be blessed, our generation be blessed. If we love others, we would ask for the gifting of God to bless others. We want to be a blessing. Not to parade ourselves, but be a real blessing.
does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; (1 Corinthians 13:5)
Why do we become rude? Largely because we are hurt; we are offended. God’s supernatural love heals our soul. God’s love smoothens the rough edges.
When God pours out His love, it will overflow you. You can’t help touching others with God’s love. You stop thinking of yourself. You will think of God; His love; and His love to others. Are you selfish with your time; your goals; your plans? Are you willing to give them up for others?
God’s love makes us stable and strong. We are in the Spirit of God. We are not easily provoked, like the worldly people. We will not react when we are treated unfairly: when we are treated with contempt by other motorists on the road. We will not have hatred or anger, when we see how impatient and selfish other drivers are. We do not think of how many ways to retaliate, to teach them a lesson.
does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; (1 Corinthians 13:6)
You are not happy if evil has been done, even if it benefits you. You will not be happy in the expense of someone else’s pain. You will not participate in any crime because someone else will be hurt and will be suffering. You will not victimize anyone. These will be faraway, foreign, to you. Because God’s love has constraint you; hold you; taken you. You are in a different dimension; in a different world – the unbelievers will not understand, but appreciate – they are confused, but accept your love.
You will love to preach the gospel because it is the truth that will bless many: eternity, righteousness, the Spirit and God.
bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. (1 Corinthians 13:7-8)
God’s love will give us the ability very much like the car suspension power. It sustains us during the hard impacts on the road, and on every type of terrain.
God’s love sustains us with any sort of people, in every situation. Those who succumbed to God’s love will conquer all. Love lasts forever.
Let all that you do be done with love. (1 Corinthians 16:14)
Can we accept this standard? We are measured by love. It is the divine measurement. Everything we do will be measured by this yardstick.
But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and brought us good news of your faith and love, and that you always have good remembrance of us, greatly desiring to see us, as we also to see you— (1 Thessalonians 3:6)
You see the affection here. Let us love as Paul had loved, and the church of the Thessalonians had loved.
In a vision, I saw people marching, singing and dancing ...circling a mountain. And I understood that this mountain was Jesus. You see, Jesus is the center of what we do. The reason we have disunity is because we have taken our eyes off Jesus. When we begin to put our eyes on Him; He will unite us. He will unite us by His bond of love. On the other hand, God is not desirable that we have a Tower of Babel unity, which is purely focused on corporate accomplishment.
We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other, (2 Thessalonians 1:3)
who have borne witness of your love before the church. If you send them forward on their journey in a manner worthy of God, you will do well, (3 John 1:6)
As genuine believers of Christ; if we don’t have love for one another, our love to the world is hypocritical. The outside world will see the situation in the church. If what we do is worse than them, how can we preach the gospel to them?
If we have God’s love, the unbelievers may not understand about how such a thing as God’s love exists, but they will appreciate. God’s love is beyond normal. The unbelievers may not understand, but some will accept it into their hearts!
The result of love is people who are patient, kind, stable and secure in themselves, non-exhibitionism, polite, unselfish, cool and calm, have purity of mind, do not support immoral actions but uphold fairness and justice, emotionally strong, positive, optimistic, staying there even if things go bad, and stick to it even during bad times.
Yes, these are what God’s love can do.
God’s love is incomparable!
And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.” (1 Peter 4:8)
If we fail in anything, with one another, let’s not fail in love. Let us fight for love. Let all other failures go under love. Let them pass. Let love remain. Let this be in the church. Let love be our banner with one another. And let love be our banner to the world.
Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith, (1 Timothy 1:5)
Any guideline, any principle, any proposal - has to be derived from the stand point and view point of love. It has to be purely from that. Do a love-check using our conscience, and from a real sincerity of heart. Behind everything, has to be love. Love moves all. Love measures all. The world measures tangible results, material gains and financial profits. God’s highest scale is love. He is love. And He measures by love.
God’s Love Doing The Impossible
My wife called-out to me. Someone sent her a disgusting picture in the e-mail warning of a skin disease. The picture showed a number of larvae living in holes appearing in the skin. The written description said that the larvae were eating the fats under the skin.
Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. (Romans 5:5)
Many of our lives are horrible in the eyes of God, like that picture in the e-mail. Yet, God pours out His potion of love into the holes made by the larvae of sin in our lives. The larvae are killed. His hand and His scalpel of love remove the larvae. His medicine of love puts an end to the infection of sin. His potion of love closes-up the holes in our lives. He makes us whole, holy and beautiful in His sight. He makes us whole, holy and beautiful in the inside. It is evident to those around us.
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. (Ephesians 5:25-27)
Some of our hearts are like plastic, but God’s love can melt us. And the rocks will cry out, “He Is Love!”
Quotations of Thomas a Kempis
“How seldom we weigh our neighbor in the same balance with ourselves”
“Love feels no burden, regards not labors, strives toward more than it attains, argues not of impossibility, since it believes that it may and can do all things. Therefore it avails for all things, and fulfils and accomplishes much where one not a lover falls and lies helpless.”
“He does much who loves much.”
“Love is a great thing, a good above all others, which alone maketh every burden light.”
“Love is swift, sincere, pious, joyful, generous, strong, patient, faithful, prudent, long-suffering, courageous, and never seeking its own; for wheresoever a person seeketh his own, there he falleth from love.”
“Love flies, runs, and rejoices; it is free and nothing can hold it back.”
About The Author
Thomas a Kempis (1380 - 1471) was a German monk and author of Imitation Of Christ, one of the most well-known Christian books on devotion.
THE SPIRITUAL APPAREL OF THE TRUTH OF CHRIST
Let the truth of Christ be your covering. Do you see with your spiritual eyes; the covering of Christ coming upon you? Wear the apparel of Christ. Slowly and surely, the apparel of Christ will be embedded in your skin. The nature of Christ will be your first nature, then second nature. Your life will be hidden in Christ; lost in Him.
It’s a battle. But it’s got to be done.
Things might be scrappy at the moment. But God will give you His supernatural grace.
It’s an on-going decision-making to surrender yourself. But God will see you through.
You may fear for losing your own consciousness, self-existence and identity which belongs to your past, your first day until now. But God has something better for you, a better deal.
“O taste and see, that the Lord is good. For He taste like honey in the rock.”
Do you know this song?
You may struggle, but I urge you to trust the Lord, to put everything in His hands.
The greatest challenge in my life is to be like Jesus.
We must make it our aim. If we don’t aim, we won’t miss, because we have no target.
“To be like Jesus, to be like Jesus. All I ask, is to be like Him. All through life journey, from earth to glory. All I ask, is to be like Him”
I remember this song.
The word meekness (`prah-ot-ace’ in the original Greek) means `gentleness and mildness.’
Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. (Matthew 11:29; underline mine)
A meek person is someone whom you will find rest in your soul, even as you mingle with him/her.
“ Tell the daughter of Zion, ‘ Behold, your King is coming to you, Lowly, and sitting on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.’” (Matthew 21:5; underline mine)
The word, ‘Lowly’ as underlined above, means meekness (prah-ot-ace). The Lord, even though He was a King, was gentle on the donkey. He is still The King, and He is gentle on us.
Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel— rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. For in this manner, in former times, the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves, being submissive to their own husbands, (1 Peter 3:3-5; underline mine)
Meekness and submission go hand-in-hand. We don’t want to give a hard time to the people over us. We want to make it easy for them to lead us. This is the heart of meekness.
to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men. (Titus 3:2; underline mine)
in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, (2 Timothy 2:25; underline mine)
The word `humility’ for the above two scriptures is actually meekness (prah-ot-ace). When you speak to others harshly, oftentimes, you will draw harshness from them. When the Lord corrects us, He starts it gently. It is only when gentleness does not help, that the Lord resorts to stern discipline.
But the Lord begins in gentleness. It’s better to obey Him in His gentle voice, rather than His harsh treatment.
Even as we correct others, let us begin gently.
By long forbearance a ruler is persuaded, And a gentle tongue breaks a bone. (Proverbs 25:15)
Quotations of Hugh Blair
“True gentleness is founded on a sense of what we owe to Him who made us, and to the common nature which we all share. It arises from reflection on our own failings and wants, and from just views of the condition and the duty of man. It is native feeling heightened and improved by principle.”
“Gentleness, which belongs to virtue, is to be carefully distinguished from the mean spirit of cowards and the fawning assent of sycophants.”
“Gentleness corrects whatever is offensive in our manner”
About The Author
Hugh Blair, 1718 – 1800, was a Scottish Presbyterian preacher, and is considered one of the first great theorists of the written discourse.
LONGSUFFERING
In the original Bible Greek, the word `longsuffering’ is `mak-roth-oo-mee-ah’. It means `patience, with long enduring temper’.
Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. (2 Timothy 4:2; underline mine)
I have seen pastors and preachers (including myself, I am a guilty one) releasing frustrations at the pulpit; hot steam seeping, escaping through the message.
Oh, how we sincerely need the longsuffering of Christ!
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9; underline mine)
If God is longsuffering towards us, why can’t we be longsuffering toward others? If God forgives us, why can’t we forgive others?
strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. (Colossians 1:11-12; underline mine)
We need spiritual power to have patience and longsuffering. This longsuffering of Christ does not wear a sad countenance nor does it wear a long face. It is WITH JOY giving thanks to the Father!
About My Mother
My mother is normal except that she suffers from a `conspiracy’ paranoia. Most of us, her children, get impatient with her many `real’ stories: about her neighbors (both sides) spying on her to cheat her of her house, about many people everywhere trying to cheat her. What hurt most was her accusations about her children being criminals and swindlers. We know the foolishness of them, but we are hurt none the less.
She can think of the most ridiculous thing, but it is all so real to her. She believes in her own delusion. We know that, because she lives her lifestyle in response to her perceived threats.
Her children has a real hard time living with her. I have asked inside myself many times, “why do I have a mother like that?” We, the children, just couldn’t accept it.
One day, I believe God spoke to me, “God sent her to your life to make you a better person.” As a Christian, I sincerely tried to love her. But after this revelation: there was gentleness; there was a longsuffering, in my demeanor and attitude towards her. I begin to see her as a real person, not some sick person. I relate to her as a person, not constantly battling with her paranoia. I have been praying for God to save and deliver her for years. I believe, one day, it will happen, and she’s going to me a mighty intercessor for Christ.
True Account by Richard Wurmbrand
Horev was a Russian Christian who was in jail for many years. His father died in the same jail. Horev wrote in a letter, which he smuggled out from prison, that he was placed in a cell with common criminals. What they did to Christians is unimaginable.
The criminals beat Horev until he fell unconscious. When he came to, he heard them talking among themselves, "We should grease some rope and hang him tonight." The others refused, because that was too complicated. They had better cut his throat and then place the bloody knife in his hand so it would look like suicide. That was the talk among them. You could believe it, because they did these things.
Then, walking in the Spirit, Horev envisioned another world for himself and said, "How beautiful it will be after they have cut my throat." He saw the angels receiving him, taking him in their arms to bring him to the bosom of Abraham. He saw himself encountering the martyrs of old. He enjoyed these things. He slept the whole night very quietly.
The next day, the criminals again beat him, and in the evening they talked about killing him. Horev said to himself, "But my father has died in this place. What an honor for me, and what a joy for my father, that I was not afraid and that I walked in his footsteps and will see Jesus." In thinking about this world that he envisioned for himself, he slept again quietly. It continued on like this until the eighteenth day, when he was moved from that jail. What he wrote is so beautiful: "I had to leave the cell. The criminal who had intended to cut my throat came to me, shook my hand, and said, "Truly, there is something supernatural in you.""
What in the world does a criminal know about the supernatural? Horev was a page of the Bible, "an epistle of Christ ...written not with ink, but by the Spirit of the Living God" (2 Corinthians 3:3). The criminal knew from Horev, not from the Bible, that Horev belongs to Another. He has a divine nature. "There must be a God," the criminal said. "Every time we spoke about you, you were asleep and we did not think that you heard us. You kept your eyes closed. Why did you not jump at us? How could you sleep quietly and peacefully? Only one who really believes in eternal life can do this."
The criminal continued, "When you were taken for walk in the prison yard, you could have reported to the guard about us and requested to be placed in another cell. That is what is usually done, but you never did it. Why’? Why did you come back? Why did you not seek help with any man except with your God? Why did you pray on your knees every morning and every evening? You knew that we could kill you, as we have killed so many. Why did you give yourself quietly every day into our hands’? This is incomprehensible for us. Really, you have something supernatural in you." Once again he shook Horev’s hand and that is how they parted.
About The Author
Pastor Richard Wurmbrand (1909 – 2001) was an evangelical minister who spent fourteen years in Communist imprisonment and torture in his homeland of Romania. In 1945, when the Communists seized Romania and attempted to control the churches for their purposes, Richard Wurmbrand immediately began an effective "underground" ministry to his Romanian countrymen and to the Russian soldiers. He was eventually arrested in 1948. Richard spent three years in solitary confinement, seeing no one but his Communist torturers.
BEARING AND FORGIVING
The Bible Greek word for `bearing’ is `an-ekh-om-ahee’ meaning `to put up with, bear with, endure, suffer – repetitively, intensely’.
And `forgiving’ is `khar-id-zom-ahee’ meaning `to grant as a favor, pardon or rescue.’
We, who are of Christ, are the redemptive people. The reason we bear and forgive, is because that there is redemption for the people whom we forbear and forgive.
It involves putting-up with, gritting our teeth to endure, and suffering (emotional, mental or physical). It may be repetitive and intense. Can we only forgive if we are offended once or twice? What if it is repetitive? What if we are hurt strongly and forcefully? Can we forgive?
Bearing and forgiving doesn’t mean that we give money so that the person could buy drugs to ease the pain of addiction? It doesn’t mean we are a doormat for people to step-on? We have to ask God whether there is a redemptive factor.
God may have put you in that situation, and He wants you to endure and keep-on forgiving. Then, don’t ask to escape from it. Ask God to give you the grace, to give you strength to endure your offences and persecutors.
Ask God to give you grace to keep-on forgiving them. This is God’s mercy towards the people whom you are forgiving. God really loves them.
Quotations of Corrie ten Boom
"Memories are the key not to the past, but to the future."
"Discernment is God's call to intercession, never to faultfinding."
"Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart."
Corrie ten Boom’s family courageously provided a refuge for Jews and others wanted by the Nazis during the German occupation of Holland in the 1940s.
She wrote of her experiences in a WW II concentration camp in "The Hiding Place (1971).
The Hiding Place ends with a striking incident. Corrie was greeted by a man who had been a guard at Ravensbrück, who had since become a Christian. She found it the hardest thing in the world to shake his hand... but eventually she did:
”As I took his hand, the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me... And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness that the world's healing hinges, but on God's. When He tells us to love our enemies, he gives, along with his command, the love itself.”
About The Author
Cornelia (Corrie) ten Boom (1892 – 1983) was a Dutch minister, who was a Holocaust survivor.
LOVE
But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. (Colossians 3:14; underline mine)
The Bible Greek for the word `love’ above is `ag-ah-pay’. It is a word used exclusively for divine love. It has two important elements in its meaning: affection and benevolent. Some care but don’t do anything. Some do without any caring. We must both care and do. That’s God’s love.
But it’s much more than that.
Now concerning things offered to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. (1 Corinthians 8:1)
When we have knowledge, maybe we think that others could benefit from it. But if there is no love, our knowledge means nothing. Knowledge is like bricks, and love is the cement. We can stack up knowledge like bricks, but without the cement, it is not a wall.
A slight push, and the brick will come tumbling down. To make bricks into a wall, we need the cement of love. Love glues the bricks together, and pastes them to make the wall even stronger and more durable. Now the wall looks nice, and you can paint any color or design.
Others will be built-up by our knowledge, if we have love. Love edifies. The meaning of the word `edify’ is derived from the word `edifice’ i.e. a building.
Without love, knowledge puffs-up – soft and fluffy. How would you like a building which is soft and fluffy? It can collapse anytime at the slightest wind!
As someone said, “it is not the size of your head that counts, but the size of your heart.”
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. (1 Corinthians 13:1)
A sounding brass or a clanging cymbal: is no music at all. Lots of noise; but nobody is enchanted; nobody is soothed, nobody is happy, nobody is relaxed. We have the silver tongue, but we are an irritation. We have the gift of the gab, but nobody genuinely, sincerely, welcome us. Without love.
And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:2)
Lucifer was the most gifted archangel, but he did not have love. A gifting, absent of love, is destructive. It is a ticking time-bomb.
I may be something to myself, but I am nothing to God. I may think I have achieved something for men, but it will come to nothing. That is, without love.
And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:3)
What an irony!
All our goods to the poor, our body literally burned for others, yet we profit nothing.
We are not supposed to profit anything. But the thing is that, there are those who do these things without love, would be looking to profit something in return i.e. publicity, recognition and etc.
Dear brothers and sisters, the admiration will not profit you. The praises from men count for nothing. The praise of God to you will last forever!
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; (1 Corinthians 13:4)
If you are impatient and unkind, then ask God’s love to fill your heart. If you are impatient and unkind with yourself, then you need God’s love for yourself.
You need God’s acceptance because God’s love is unconditional.
God’s love is equal to all mankind. He changes not. And His love has no preferences. We envy because we have an esteem problem. God’s love makes all of us equal. God’s love makes all of us valuable.
I can’t say anything, except God’s love is supernatural. We are to empty ourselves, and let God fill us with His love – so that others be blessed, our family be blessed, our generation be blessed. If we love others, we would ask for the gifting of God to bless others. We want to be a blessing. Not to parade ourselves, but be a real blessing.
does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; (1 Corinthians 13:5)
Why do we become rude? Largely because we are hurt; we are offended. God’s supernatural love heals our soul. God’s love smoothens the rough edges.
When God pours out His love, it will overflow you. You can’t help touching others with God’s love. You stop thinking of yourself. You will think of God; His love; and His love to others. Are you selfish with your time; your goals; your plans? Are you willing to give them up for others?
God’s love makes us stable and strong. We are in the Spirit of God. We are not easily provoked, like the worldly people. We will not react when we are treated unfairly: when we are treated with contempt by other motorists on the road. We will not have hatred or anger, when we see how impatient and selfish other drivers are. We do not think of how many ways to retaliate, to teach them a lesson.
does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; (1 Corinthians 13:6)
You are not happy if evil has been done, even if it benefits you. You will not be happy in the expense of someone else’s pain. You will not participate in any crime because someone else will be hurt and will be suffering. You will not victimize anyone. These will be faraway, foreign, to you. Because God’s love has constraint you; hold you; taken you. You are in a different dimension; in a different world – the unbelievers will not understand, but appreciate – they are confused, but accept your love.
You will love to preach the gospel because it is the truth that will bless many: eternity, righteousness, the Spirit and God.
bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. (1 Corinthians 13:7-8)
God’s love will give us the ability very much like the car suspension power. It sustains us during the hard impacts on the road, and on every type of terrain.
God’s love sustains us with any sort of people, in every situation. Those who succumbed to God’s love will conquer all. Love lasts forever.
Let all that you do be done with love. (1 Corinthians 16:14)
Can we accept this standard? We are measured by love. It is the divine measurement. Everything we do will be measured by this yardstick.
But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and brought us good news of your faith and love, and that you always have good remembrance of us, greatly desiring to see us, as we also to see you— (1 Thessalonians 3:6)
You see the affection here. Let us love as Paul had loved, and the church of the Thessalonians had loved.
In a vision, I saw people marching, singing and dancing ...circling a mountain. And I understood that this mountain was Jesus. You see, Jesus is the center of what we do. The reason we have disunity is because we have taken our eyes off Jesus. When we begin to put our eyes on Him; He will unite us. He will unite us by His bond of love. On the other hand, God is not desirable that we have a Tower of Babel unity, which is purely focused on corporate accomplishment.
We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other, (2 Thessalonians 1:3)
who have borne witness of your love before the church. If you send them forward on their journey in a manner worthy of God, you will do well, (3 John 1:6)
As genuine believers of Christ; if we don’t have love for one another, our love to the world is hypocritical. The outside world will see the situation in the church. If what we do is worse than them, how can we preach the gospel to them?
If we have God’s love, the unbelievers may not understand about how such a thing as God’s love exists, but they will appreciate. God’s love is beyond normal. The unbelievers may not understand, but some will accept it into their hearts!
The result of love is people who are patient, kind, stable and secure in themselves, non-exhibitionism, polite, unselfish, cool and calm, have purity of mind, do not support immoral actions but uphold fairness and justice, emotionally strong, positive, optimistic, staying there even if things go bad, and stick to it even during bad times.
Yes, these are what God’s love can do.
God’s love is incomparable!
And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.” (1 Peter 4:8)
If we fail in anything, with one another, let’s not fail in love. Let us fight for love. Let all other failures go under love. Let them pass. Let love remain. Let this be in the church. Let love be our banner with one another. And let love be our banner to the world.
Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith, (1 Timothy 1:5)
Any guideline, any principle, any proposal - has to be derived from the stand point and view point of love. It has to be purely from that. Do a love-check using our conscience, and from a real sincerity of heart. Behind everything, has to be love. Love moves all. Love measures all. The world measures tangible results, material gains and financial profits. God’s highest scale is love. He is love. And He measures by love.
God’s Love Doing The Impossible
My wife called-out to me. Someone sent her a disgusting picture in the e-mail warning of a skin disease. The picture showed a number of larvae living in holes appearing in the skin. The written description said that the larvae were eating the fats under the skin.
Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. (Romans 5:5)
Many of our lives are horrible in the eyes of God, like that picture in the e-mail. Yet, God pours out His potion of love into the holes made by the larvae of sin in our lives. The larvae are killed. His hand and His scalpel of love remove the larvae. His medicine of love puts an end to the infection of sin. His potion of love closes-up the holes in our lives. He makes us whole, holy and beautiful in His sight. He makes us whole, holy and beautiful in the inside. It is evident to those around us.
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. (Ephesians 5:25-27)
Some of our hearts are like plastic, but God’s love can melt us. And the rocks will cry out, “He Is Love!”
Quotations of Thomas a Kempis
“How seldom we weigh our neighbor in the same balance with ourselves”
“Love feels no burden, regards not labors, strives toward more than it attains, argues not of impossibility, since it believes that it may and can do all things. Therefore it avails for all things, and fulfils and accomplishes much where one not a lover falls and lies helpless.”
“He does much who loves much.”
“Love is a great thing, a good above all others, which alone maketh every burden light.”
“Love is swift, sincere, pious, joyful, generous, strong, patient, faithful, prudent, long-suffering, courageous, and never seeking its own; for wheresoever a person seeketh his own, there he falleth from love.”
“Love flies, runs, and rejoices; it is free and nothing can hold it back.”
About The Author
Thomas a Kempis (1380 - 1471) was a German monk and author of Imitation Of Christ, one of the most well-known Christian books on devotion.
THE SPIRITUAL APPAREL OF THE TRUTH OF CHRIST
Let the truth of Christ be your covering. Do you see with your spiritual eyes; the covering of Christ coming upon you? Wear the apparel of Christ. Slowly and surely, the apparel of Christ will be embedded in your skin. The nature of Christ will be your first nature, then second nature. Your life will be hidden in Christ; lost in Him.
It’s a battle. But it’s got to be done.
Things might be scrappy at the moment. But God will give you His supernatural grace.
It’s an on-going decision-making to surrender yourself. But God will see you through.
You may fear for losing your own consciousness, self-existence and identity which belongs to your past, your first day until now. But God has something better for you, a better deal.
“O taste and see, that the Lord is good. For He taste like honey in the rock.”
Do you know this song?
You may struggle, but I urge you to trust the Lord, to put everything in His hands.
The greatest challenge in my life is to be like Jesus.
We must make it our aim. If we don’t aim, we won’t miss, because we have no target.
“To be like Jesus, to be like Jesus. All I ask, is to be like Him. All through life journey, from earth to glory. All I ask, is to be like Him”
I remember this song.