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Psalms
119:150-159 They draw
near who follow after wickedness; They are far from Your law. You are near, O LORD, And all Your
commandments are truth.
Concerning Your testimonies, I have known of old that You have founded them
forever. Consider my affliction and deliver me, For I do not forget Your law.
Plead my cause and redeem me; Revive me according to Your word. Salvation is far from the wicked, For they do
not seek Your statutes. Great are
Your tender mercies, O LORD; Revive me according to Your judgments. Many are my persecutors and my enemies, Yet I do not turn from Your
testimonies. I see the treacherous, and am disgusted, Because they do not keep
Your word. Consider how I love Your precepts; Revive me, O LORD, according to
Your lovingkindness.
Father God, show us when we are puffed
up and haughty so we can repent, amend our ways, and abide in your Grace abundantly. In Jesus name we pray, Amen!
Matthew 5:5 NKJV
This
Beatitude is about being “meek”. The definition of meek is:
1.
Mild of temper; soft; gentle; not easily provoked or irritated; yielding; given
to forbearance under injuries. (Now the man Moses was very meek, above all men.
Numbers 12:3 Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all men who were on the face of the earth.).
2.
Appropriately, humble, in an evangelical sense; submissive to the divine will;
not proud, self-sufficient or headstrong; not irritable and apt to complain of
divine dispensations. (Matthew 11:29 Christ says, "Learn of me, for I
am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest to your souls.")
How
well do you practice meekness in your life? Are you quick to anger? Do you get
irritated over something of insignificance easily? Are you gentle and soft
spoken, or stand out in a crowd? Are you yielding to others or always have to
have your way? In a relationship can you give and take, or is it always taking?
If someone wrongs you, do seek revenge? Can you truly forgive and express that
forgiveness to the person you wronged? Are you self righteous, or open to new
things? Are you self-sufficient, or do you let others help you? Are you too
proud in your opinions or can you accept what the Bible teaches and believe it?
Are you humble enough to be totally submissive to Jesus and His word?
These
are all very good questions and questions we should ask ourselves often. They
are Christianity check questions. Let’s see what this Beatitude has in store
for us spiritually and fleshly.
5 Blessed are
the meek, For they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are the meek; Meekness goes against what the world
promotes. Modern day society says to do whatever it takes to get what you want,
even if it means stepping on people. When was the last time you were in a
meeting at work and the boss promoted meekness for the company to succeed? Have
you ever heard a football or basketball coach inspiring the team to go out
there and be meek to win? Is meekness a trait that politicians have and
exercise? What about a commander in the armed forces, does he send his troops
up the hill with a charge to, “be meek?”
Being meek is not something looked upon as a success factor. Most people look
at meekness as someone without a spine, non-confrontational, submissive,
subservient to a fault, but meekness is the way of God’s Word.
Meekness is patience in
the response of injuries whether physical or mental. It is not meanness or a
surrender of our rights, or cowardice; but it is the opposite of sudden anger,
of malice, of long-harbored vengeance; self righteousness. Christ insisted on
his right when he said, John
18:23 ……"If
I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why do you strike
Me?" Paul
asserted his right when he said, Acts
16:37 ……… "They have beaten us
openly, uncondemned Romans, and
have thrown us into prison. And
now do they put us out secretly? No indeed! Let them come themselves and get us
out." Jesus was the very model of meekness. It was
one of his characteristics being holy; Matthew 11:29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and
lowly in heart (meek), and you will find rest for your
souls. Jesus and Paul
endured a great deal of wrong, and endured it patiently. They bore all
patiently. They did not press their rights through thick and thin, or trample
down the rights of others to secure their own.
Meekness is the reception
of injuries with a belief that God will vindicate us. “Vengeance is his; he
will repay,” Romans
12:19 Beloved, do not avenge
yourselves, but rather give
place to wrath; for it is written, "VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,"
says the Lord. It is
not our place to take on the role of God when it comes to vengeance, and to do
what he has promised to do.
Meekness produces peace.
It’s proof of being rooted in Jesus Christ, and true greatness of soul. It
comes from a heart too great to be moved by little insults. Meekness is not a
personality trait of constantly being agitated by every little insult or injury
that comes ones way. A person that is not meek is like a raging river that has
no peace.
Peter gives us a prime
example of Jesus meekness. 1
Peter 2:21-24 For to this
you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example,
that you should follow His steps: 22 "WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS DECEIT FOUND
IN HIS MOUTH"; 23 who, when He was reviled, did not revile in
return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges
righteously; 24
who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to
sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. As a human being Jesus submitted
wholly to God His Father.
The first two Beatitudes
referred to, “poor in spirit” and “they that mourn”. They both were in
reference to our inherited sin nature. When a person comes to the realization
that they were born with a nature that separates them from God (poor in
spirit), it brings them to the state of repentance and asking Jesus into their
heart to rule and reign. At this point in a new believers spirit they mourn
over their past life, now knowing they were sinful by nature and separated from
God’s Grace. As a result of the first two Beatitudes, meekness is born in the
heart of the new Born Again Saint. So “meekness”
is not possible to those who are not “poor
in spirit” or do not “mourn” over
their spiritual poverty.
For they
shall inherit the earth; What Jesus is saying here is not that the meek would own great property
or have many lands here and now, but that they would possess special blessings.
The special blessings pertaining to Born Again Saints at some point in time,
would inherit the earth after the Second Coming of Jesus when He will rule and
reign after the Battle of Armageddon.
Many times in common life
a meek, patient, mild person is the most prospered. An impatient and
quarrelsome man raises up enemies; often loses property in lawsuits; spends his
time in disputes rather than in sober, honest industry; and is harassed, vexed,
and unsuccessful in all that he does. 1 Timothy
4:8 Godliness is profitable unto all
things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. 1 Timothy 6:3-8 If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent
to wholesome words, even the
words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with
godliness, 4
he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over
words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, 5 useless
wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that
godliness is a means of gain.
From such withdraw yourself. 6 Now godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we
brought nothing into this
world, and it is certain we can
carry nothing out. 8 And having food and clothing, with these we shall
be content. A meek
person has great wealth within their inner being.
Old
Testament Meekness; In
Psalm 37 there are 5 places where the Beatitudes, that Jesus gives us has
reference.
·
Verse 9; “….those who wait on the Lord, they
shall inherit the earth.”
·
Verse 11; “But the meek shall inherit the earth....”
·
Verse 22; “For those blessed by Him shall
inherit the earth….”
·
Verse 29; “The righteous shall inherit the
land….”
·
Verse 34; “Wait on the Lord, and keep His way,
and He shall exalt you to inherit the land….”
In verse 9 & 34 did
you notice the word “wait”? Wait/patience go hand in hand with meekness.
Another verse from the OT that fits right in is in Exodus. Exodus 14:14 The LORD will fight for you, and you shall hold
your peace."
Here are three individuals
of the OT that practiced meekness because they lived by faith in God. They
trusted in God for all things and knew that God would provide for them. They
didn’t worry or fret, because they trusted in God.
Job is the first one; he
lost everything, his children, livestock, wealth, and respect. He still had his
wife, but if you know the book of Job you know she surely didn’t give him any
support. She told Job to curse God, but Job’s faith was strong and he was
patient, even though he didn’t understand the reason for the things that were
happening to him. His faith was in God to bring him through the tribulation; he
waited and was blessed for his faithfulness and meekness. Job 1:21 And he said: "Naked I came from my mother's
womb, And naked shall I return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken
away; Blessed be the name of the LORD." Job 13:15
Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. Even so, I will defend my own ways
before Him.
Mary, the mother of Jesus
was a meek person. As a teenager in her culture to discover that she found
favor with God, and was to give birth to His Son, she responded with meekness, “Behold, the maidservant of the Lord! Let it
be to me according to your word.” She could have protested, asked many
questions, collapsed in fear, fretted about what others would think, worried
about the shame brought upon the family, worried about being stoned to death,
and also worry about what Joseph would think, but no, in meekness she consented
because she lived by faith in God Almighty and she knew He would see her
through it all.
The greatest example of
meekness is Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. (PS this is still the OT. Jesus
death and resurrection starts the NT.) Jesus could have argued and refused to
be our sacrifice, but even with the weight of the sins of the world bearing down
on Him, He conceited that the Fathers will be done, and not His.
We must wait on the Lord,
commit ourselves to Him, allow Him to control our lives, trust in Him for all
things, and believe all will be well. By trusting in Him, we will inherit the
blessing of His fulfilled promise for our life. We will inherit the earth one
day.
New
Testament Meekness;
The OT is different than
the NT in the aspect that in the OT, the patriarchs are viewed as walking with
God. In the NT the comforter (Holy Spirit) enters the person’s heart when they
accept Jesus as their Saviour. In the OT God controlled, NT Holy Spirit
controlled, but of course God is in control in both the old and new because of
the Trinity and the Holy Spirit is the 3rd person in the Trinity. Galatians 5:22-24 But the
fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there
is no law. 24 And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and
desires.
Jesus defined himself as
“gentile and lowly in heart”; Matthew 11:29.
In doing this He brought to life a perfect definition of NT meekness, “power
under control”. A meek person can feel righteous anger in the right situations,
just like Jesus did; but a meek person never flies of the handle, out of
control with his anger in a self-centered way. A meek person acts with power
under control.
Many people make Jesus out
to be a kind, loving, gentle, soft spoken person that never got angry. These
people have missed all the times Jesus raised his voice against the Scribes and
Pharisees, or the times He ran everyone out of His Father’s house with a whip.
What about when He healed a withered hand on the Sabbath and the Pharisees
criticized Him? He rebuked them Mark 3:5.
What about the time the disciples were keeping the little children from coming
to Him? He rebuked them Mark 10:14.
What about Jesus stating that anyone hurting one of the little ones, it would
be better off if that person had a millstone around his neck and drown in the
sea Matthew 18:6. These and many more
are examples of power under control or righteous anger found in the New
Testament, and not just with Jesus, but with the Apostles too. This anger it is
not anger centered on self, but anger focused on sin that is enmity toward God.
It is anger that stands up against evil. It is anger that stands up against
others self-centered, fleshly desires. We may get angry at others words and
actions, but still love the person because they are God’s creation. This is
unconditional love.
visible and invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
All
things were created through Him and for Him.
Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of
the glory of God,
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our
Lord.
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, Most assuredly, I say to you,
unless one is
born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
Bill
Wiesbrock https://www.facebook.com/bill.wiesbrock?ref=tn_tnmn
The
Lighthouse Full Gospel Church
Sinners Prayer; Pray this, and if you believe
it with your heart, Jesus will save you!
“Lord Jesus
I know I am a sinner. I confess my sins
to you; I am sorry for my sins; I repent (Meaning, desiring to turn from a
sinful lifestyle.) of all my sins, and I am asking for your forgiveness of all
of my sins. I believe that only you can
forgive sin. I commit my life to you and
ask you to come into my heart, direct, and take charge of my life. I believe that you died to set me free from
my sinful lifestyle and you rose from the dead to give me eternal life, and
right now you are seated at the Right Hand of God Almighty. I believe you are
the Son of God; the only Way, the only Truth, the only Life, and my
Savior.” I believe this and have faith
you will make a new person out of me, by sending the Holy Spirit to dwell in my
heart and lead me in a new life. In Jesus name I pray Amen.” (John 3:16,17;
Romans 3:23; 6:23; 5:8; 10:9-13; Ephesians 2:8-10; 1
John 5:11-14; 1:6-10) (Sin: Rom.
1:22-32; Gal. 5:19-21; Eph. 5:3-7)
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