Humility Power vs Pride Power

Humility power vs Pride power
Humility power.  Seems like an odd paradox.  Two words that in our English language appear to be contradictory, or, are they?  Is there such a thing as humility power?  Humility defined is:
'the quality or condition of being humble; modest opinion or estimate of one's own importance, rank.' It allows us to elevate the importance and value of others, above our perceived importance of ourselves.  It requires of us to be self-less, not self-more as the rest of the world is.  Humility power is courageous and requires sacrifice of ourselves.  It requires resilience, strength, integrity, tenacity to break through insecurities that prevent it.  
Pride-power is based on valuing others below ourselves. Recognizing our own self-importance, our own authority or perceived power over others. Pride-power always looks for our own best interests, it requires sacrifice from others to place us in a seat of power and respect. It is taking every opportunity to admire ourselves and what we have done.  

Who benefits is the filter to examine both ideas through.  

In a world that is shrill, loud as a clanging bell and obsessed with self-importance, self-love, and self-interests, choose humility power to stand apart from the crowd.  #LetLIfeWin in how we use our power to value others.  

The path to wisdom travels through humility, by being able to say, "I was wrong, I'm sorry, will you forgive me."  Ret. Sec. of State George Schultz

 

Our Last Full Measure

 As I watched the program reviewing the people from 911 and the Attack On America, there were two striking moments during the show that grabbed my attention.  The first was when President Bush was being flown to a secure location and looked outside the airplane window where he saw a fighter jet flying alongside his plane.  He told his staff, "That pilot is flying alongside because if a surface to air missile is shot towards this plane, he will put his plane in it's path to save ours."  The next was when they narrated the last call from Todd Beamer to the operator that he had been talking to.  He told her of their plan to rush the terrorists and take back control of the plane, he asked her to call his family and tell them how much he loved them, he asked her to pray the Lord's prayer with him, and then, he was silent, took a deep breath, and said, "Let's roll," as he prepared to lose his life for a higher purpose.  

Both the pilot who offered the unconditional full measure of his life, and all of the passengers of Flight 93, laser focused on what was most important in life saw clearly what they were offering and willingly offered that full measure.  There was no rhetoric no questions about how we got there, who was to blame, or  the wrongness of the attack, none of that mattered now.  The actions of those two incidents and the actions of so many more in the aftermath of the attacks is what brought us together as a nation, one people, one culture, one color, and one purpose, to selflessly give of ourselves for the good of others.  There are still many people today that offer that same full measure for the good of others.  They are all cultures, all colors, and all genders.  Today, 20 years later, let's join that purpose to selflessly give for the good of others.  #LetLifeWin in what is important in life.    

Jesus Knew Her

Jesus Knew Her

 

Jesus knew she would be there.  It wasn't an accident.  Jesus knew His disciples wouldn't understand why He wanted to go through where the hated Samaritans, the half-breeds, lived.  Jesus led the way.  He saw the woman at the well and told her about the 'living water' He gave to all who asked. 

 

She had been rejected and shunned so many times by her culture and society, and not just by men, but by women as well.  She didn't fit in.  She had made mistakes but even when she did things right, it didn't matter, all her culture and community saw was the things she didn't do well.  And, we don't know if she had done things wrong to be divorced, or even if she was divorced.  If she was divorced, it's a man's world and he could divorce her for any number of reasons. He could have liked her sister more, she could have burned his toast, she might not have been able to bear him a son.  If she wasn't divorced, she could have lost her husband to death or war.  It didn't matter what the reason was, everyone saw her filtered through the lens of her past, and filtered through the lens of her present, with no husband. 

 

That didn't scare Jesus at all.  He wasn't concerned about her past, He saw her today and her tomorrow.  He knew she was a veteran of Genesis 3:15, 'I will put enmity, 'deep seated hatred,' between you and the woman.'  That is the verse which goes on to say 'and between her seed and your seed,' and because every word in the bible speaks truth we can't jump over the first part of the phrase, nor the significance of it.

 

And so, the woman at the well was a veteran of that war and Christ knew she was exactly the right person for the job of running through the streets of the Samaritan community calling out, "Come see a man……"  She wasn't worried about rejection.  Her entire life had been filled with rejection.  She wasn't worried about shunning.  Her every day was filled with it and is why she went to the well during the heat of the day so she didn't have to see or hear the muffled voices of the other women openly shunning her. 

 

But that didn't scare Jesus at all.  He knew she would run into the village as one of the first missionaries of the gospel and eternity would be different because she did.  What could they say or do to her that they had not already said or done?  And on that day, it no longer mattered. She was free!  Men and women would come out to meet Jesus to get His 'living water,' which she spoke of. 

 

Jesus knew her, the good, the bad and everything in between.  Jesus knows me and you, the good, the bad, and everything in between.  This Christmas, let Him give you His living water.  That is the true Gift He is to us.  This Christmas……I invite you…..Come see a Man!  Come see the freedom the woman at the well received.  Your life will never be the same, and, your eternity will not either.  John 4:1-42 

 

We are not better at sinning, than God is at forgiving. 

 

Getting On The Train

Getting on the train

Do you remember Nolan Ryan?  He played with four different teams throughout a four decade career.  He was one of the first pitchers to throw a ball over 100mph.  There is some controversy of whether he actually threw 108 mph on his fastball because they didn't have the same technology in 1974 that they have now.  Point is, if he were throwing to his son or daughter, how would he do that?  Would he wind up and smoke one over the plate?  Nope.  What about an overhand throw?  Nope.  He would start, the same way we all would start, with a slow underhanded pitch to make sure that his child was able to catch the ball without becoming afraid of it.  What Ryan knows, is what we all know, using all of our skills and talents and then combining it with our experience means that we can overwhelm someone and cause them to shut down, fear the information or the talent, skill or capacity, and never have an opportunity to develop the experience to move forward and get on the train of whatever we are teaching.   

Jesus knew that too.  He knew that if He came to earth with all of His power, authority, and capacity, we would never be able to catch His Kingdom, to step onto the train of forgiveness and grace He offered.   So He set aside His power, all of it, and humbled Himself to become equal to us.  To walk with us through taking the first step of getting on the train.  He knew otherwise we wouldn't understand, become overwhelmed and miss out on the greatest gift ever given to humanity, forgiveness and grace. 

God wants us all on the train of grace and forgiveness.  He provided the way for it to happen.  We don't need a theology degree, or years of research to know, "Jesus loves me," or, that He came to pay the price for my sin so I could spend eternity in heaven with God.  Get on the train Christian.  Step onto the train of grace and forgiveness and bring as many with you as you can. You don't have to be perfect before you toss out the ball.   Take the grace and forgiveness you received and give it to as many people as you can find and explain why.  Your life here and in eternity will never be the same.  #LetLifeWin in giving the grace and forgiveness you have received to others.  (Original idea from Robb Beirbaum, Associate Pastor at New Life New Mexico sermon)

 

The War Cry of Heaven

The War Cry of Heaven

They all knew this would happen.  God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, working in perfect unity, each coordinating their part ending in the perfect trifecta of events to restore dominion of the earth to God and His people.  You can't declare war when you are 2 weeks old.  The intent is good, the effectiveness of it, not so much.  In the bible every baptism happens after someone has made a decision to follow Christ.  There is baby dedication, but not baptism.  That is why baptism is considered the war cry of heaven. 

 

When Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were torn open and God said, "This is my Son, the rightful King of the throne of heaven, in whom I am well pleased."  God was saying to Satan, "It's on!"  You tricked the humans, and stole from Me, My Creation.  Now, nothing you can do will stop Me from restoring what was stolen from Me, and humanity." 

 

In foreign countries, people don't get excommunicated or ostracized from their families when they profess Christ.  It is when they get baptized that the bullets start to fly. 

 

As He came out of the water, He was immediately taken out to the wilderness.  Why?  Because God's human son, Israel, had failed in the wilderness.  Jesus would overcome the wilderness.  Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days.  Israel wandered the desert for 40 years.  Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness, why?  Because the first man, Adam, failed the temptation.  Jesus would not. 

 

God's original plan was to create Eden and spend eternity with His children.  His plan has always been the 'great commission,' go make disciples, so He can spend eternity with us.  It was supposed to be Adam, it was supposed to be Israel, and it was supposed to be the church.  It is Jesus.  Jesus is the solution and we are to take His forgiveness and restoration to the world. 

 

Christ took the weapons of hell away from hell.  Christ gave us that authority to prevail over sin through His death on the cross.  Colossians 2:15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

 

God is on the move Christian.  Accept Christ as Savior, confess sin, get baptized and then tell others about the new freedom in your life. Time is running out! 

 #LetLIfeWin in the War Cry of Heaven!  (From a sermon by Robb Bierbaum, New Life New Mexico.)

 

Freedom or Guilt?

When I counsel women for a divorce, if there is physical, mental, or emotional abuse, I don't guilt them and tell them that God hates divorce.  They have lived a lifetime of diminished value with......ALLLL.... that is entailed in that abuse, and sometimes they accept it because they know God hates divorce.  Let me tell you what else God hates.  God hates sin and when a spouse is abusive verbally, that is sin, emotionally, that is sin, physically, that is sin, and sexually, that is sin!  If our bodies are the temple and we allow others to sin in our bodies by abusing us, is that not sin itself?  Sin to the abuser for their part, and sin to the receiver because they were more afraid of humanity than of God?  Does God want us to live in diminished capacity because we have allowed others to tell us what is right and wrong?  If we are abused by others and we leave that abuse, or, our abuser tires of his or her game of abusing us and leaves, then, yes, there is divorce and God hates that, however, He hated watching the spouse that He created and loves be abused.  He hates, knowing that He created the spouse for more, and yet their voice is silenced because it takes all of the strength they have to just exist another day in abuse.  As women, we want things nice and complete.  Who's job is that?  Who owns the responsibility for a whole complete family?  Is it us?  NO, it is God.  We are commanded to seek God first.  That means it doesn't matter how it works out, where there is divorce, or division, or separation, it will be okay because God is there. 

Stress creates toxins, chemicals in our body that work to destroy our internal organs.  It works against us being physically and mentally healthy.  When an abuser abuses us, and, puts in place the chain of effects of stress inside our bodies, is that not sin?  What I counsel women going through divorce from abuse is it is okay, you can scream out to God and let Him know you are angry at Him because this life of abuse is so unfair.  That you, (I,) trusted, loved all that could be loved, and did everything  possible to make this thing work, to make this man love, to keep our family whole and it didn't matter, it couldn't be done enough; fast enough, often enough, or well enough to make that happen.  God may gently tell you, "I created you, I created the emotions, your anger is one of them and I will be here when you are not so angry.  I love you, and I will forgive you."  And, He will watch every tear that you cry and hold it in His hand and return that to you as jewels when you meet Him face to face. God created tears and tears are one of only a few physical changes in our body that will clean the stress toxins out of our bodies.  He gave us tears to help us stay healthy. 

There are times when both husband and wife living in godliness, allows God's shield to keep the family whole and together, but, not always.  And, most often, when only one of the spouses carry the banner of godliness, our enemy gets a foot hold and does what he does best, destroys.  He whispers the failure that we accept because we took God's responsibility as our own.  We were responsible for keeping the family together and without us, everyone would divide and separate.  What if our families learned more about God, His grace, His mercy, and His love because we refused to accept that abuse, left, and lived a godly life after? 

What if the church gave our enemy a foothold in society because they refused that grace and mercy to abused spouses and left them in guilt, (what did you do to cause your husband to beat you, or what did you do to cause your husband to cheat on you, and you know God hates divorce,) and shame, feeling incomplete without a spouse?  Some, accepted abusive situations because they didn't want to feel like they had failed, that it was their fault the marriage didn't work, or be unacceptable to the church. 

We have an enemy who wants to silence our voice, and abuse does just that.  It keeps us from loving others that God needs loved.  For women, He specifically gave us the capacity to show love, (even when we are not happy,) to others. Then, because we are divorced, the church silences our voice, or, we silence our own because we believe the lie that we can't teach because we are women, or, we are divorced, or, for some other reason.  That is why we teach, love, minister, and speak the gospel outside of the church.  When Jesus broke the barriers of the day by speaking to the woman at the well, she went out as a missionary and preached the gospel to others and they believed Christ because of her testimony.  She couldn't do it in the church, because the church would have never recognized her as a viable model, an acceptable source for knowing God/Christ.  But, Jesus didn't think she was unacceptable.  He knew that He would give His life specifically for her.  And, He did, and, she did.  She took the good news to those outside the church, many of whom would never set foot in church and they heard the good news of Jesus Christ.   Divorce isn't God's first choice for our life, however, knowing God the way I do, I know that somehow, God will bring honor out of any situation that life sends our way, no matter how hard, He Is Enough, God Needs People That Don't Scare Easily.   

Fathers Day 2018 



Dad, it’s Father’s Day again without you.  You left us 36 years ago.  I think about you often and the lessons you taught me.  About those talks we had when I was growing up and the wisdom you shared with me.  I remember so much of it now and wish for so much more; wish that I had listened more, asked more questions, and, heard, really heard more.  Even without that, I learned and gained so much from your lessons.  It was your gracious, courageous love that allowed me to see God for the gracious courageous Father that He is. 

I always credited mom with being the barrier breaker in the family.  I now realize that in large part, you were the barrier breaker.  It was you that gave me a baseball mitt for my 5th birthday.  A gift that girls didn’t get in the 50’s.  It was you that taught me how to play baseball.  You were a “south paw” golden glove street boxer growing up and you used that to teach me how to defend myself, to fight back when someone wanted to take advantage of me.  It was you that taught me to defend others, to stand up for the weaker in life, those that couldn’t stand up for themselves.  It was you that taught me to use tools, to work hard and get dirty, to not be afraid of broken things because they could be fixed if we took the time to do that.  It was you that taught me that sometimes you must risk it all for the sake of integrity and honor.  And, I’ll never forget when you told me, “Sometimes, a good man hangs on, even when he doesn’t know what he is hanging on to, or, why, he just hangs on.”  You taught me courage that I didn’t know I had.  You taught me war, and most important, peace and forgiveness.  That true strength was being strong enough to be kind and honest with ourselves and others.  That the strength of quiet confidence was a gift not everyone has.  On this 36th Father’s Day without you Dad, just know that your legacy lives on.  That your family carries it with us, each one of us a piece of you that is a gift to the world, leaving it a better place than we found it.  I can’t wait to see you in Heaven Dad.