Category: Meekness

Meekness, Gentleness and the Storage Pit, NT!

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I am writing to you from beautiful Williamsburg, VA. I am most grateful that Chris Hughes and Pastor Van have been writing this week so that I could take a break. Thanks, guys!

I would like to ask the Freedom Fighter family to be in prayer for singer/missionary, Bobby Michaels. Bobby has been a faithful friend for well over 20+ years. Bobby and Lee have been in Cambodia on a short-term missions trip, and Bobby had a massive heart attack and had to be resuscitated several times. He is in critical condition. Would you please life Bobby and Lee up to the throne of grace.

If you’d like to send them a note, reply to the Freedom Fighter and I will forward it to them. Thanks.

Meekness, Gentleness and the Storage Pit, NT!

“Now I, Paul, myself urge you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ,- I who am meek when face to face with you, but bold toward you when absent! I ask that when I am present I may not be bold with the confidence with which I propose to be courageous against some, who regard us as if we walked according to the flesh.”
2 Corinthians 10:1-2(NASB)

Yesterday I told you about the notes I found in, what I call, the Storage Pit. Our family has a spot on our property where we store what we would like to keep and probably what we should say a fond farewell to. I shared with you some of what was on the notes that I had taken on gentleness and meekness from the Old Testament. Today it is the New Testament’s turn.

As I read through the rest of these notes on gentleness and meekness I found myself writing down different versions to the first part of the aforementioned verse’s. The CEV puts the first verse like this, “Do you think I am a coward when I am with you and brave when I am far away? Well I ask you to listen because Christ Himself was humble and gentle.” The NRSV put it this way, “I myself, Paul, appeal to you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ-I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away.”

Now stop the presses for a moment here. Now I know why I had to go over this subject while in the colony. And why I struggle with it today. The old man in me is completely vexed by the notion of being bold or brave while off in the distance and humble and meek when face to face. I was an “in-your –face”, ready to go toe-to-toe with anyone and a “you better pack a lunch” kind of man B.C. (before Christ). Now the man A.C. (after Christ) has to…I say it again…has to own up to his weakness so that Jesus Christ can show His strength. As I wrote in my colony notes, “And I have found throughout the New Testament the words gentle, meek and humble is a man named Jesus and He was a rebel to the everyday of His time. But I did not find the word “weak” when it came to Christ Himself.” Jesus was a rebel? That I can respect and that’s what caught my attention to the work that was done on the Cross.

“Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.” Matthew 5:5 (KJV)
The famous “Sermon on the Mount” was directed to His disciples and not to the multitudes. Not that they could not have a seat and listen but Jesus meant this to be for the regenerated believer. Someone who’s faith would be based on the Word of God and His work of redemption.

Right now I am studying the church at Corinth. This city was known for its vices and wicked ways throughout the Roman Empire. After all it was a port city and I am finding that Paul had to defend his ministry all the time. After all, he was a “in-your-face” zealot who, at one time, wanted Christians dead. It must have vexed the many who listened to him preach Christ crucified and Christ-likeness to their faces and then expressing his anger towards the false apostle’s and the heresy of their teachings by letters sent from abroad.

But want to know something? It sounds like they waited for him to leave before they disagreed with him. After leaving Galatia, Jewish Christians began to undermine Paul’s teaching by merging Jewish law and Jewish customs into it and calling it the true way. Maybe this is why he wrote this to the Galatians from abroad. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such there is no law” Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV)

I finished the page by saying, “No matter how I cut it, God wants us to be gentle, humble, meek-KITTY KAT (with retracted claws)- for there is no wrong in it or any law against it. It is a lifelong way of being for a true believer. Those words have rung true for a long time before me or before anything I could trace on a family tree. But for today I praise God that He is using me to put some fruit on that tree now. Thank you Jesus!! — Chris Hughes is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy.

God’s WORD for YOU: Proverbs 24; Joshua 16-18; Luke 2:1-24

Great Quote: Obedience to God’s Will is the secret of spiritual knowledge and insight. It is not willingness to know, but willingness to do God’s Will that brings certainty. Eric Liddell

Meekness, Gentleness and the Storage Pit

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Meekness, Gentleness and the Storage Pit, OT!

“In your majesty ride out victoriously for the cause of truth and meekness and righteousness; let your right hand teach you awesome Psalm 45:4

This is a bit ironic but just the other day my wife, Kathy, had been telling me that while looking for something in our storage pit she came across a box titled, “The History of Christianity.” Initially, she thought it was a set of DVDs on the subject but something told me they weren’t. So into the pit I went and found them to be VHS tapes on the subject. I had received these from a Pastor friend of mine sometime ago and I guess I had forgotten about them. And even though I still have a VCR to watch these tapes, that is not why I am writing this; it is something else I found that caught my attention.

The last Freedom Fighter I wrote was based on someone else’s notes that fell into my lap while studying from a Matthew Henry commentary I had bought from the Keswick bookstore. Well, this one is based on my own notes on the subject of “gentleness and meekness.” Yikes!! When did I write these? Answer: during my time at the Colony. I found these notes on a day when I had to do just what was written. Since this was another one of those “Divine Moments,” I would like to share with you what I found out; that in my weakness, the strength of Jesus shines through. I began in the Old Testament and I started my notes off with a question.

So what’s a bull doing in a china shop? Browsing for gentleness and meekness in a Cruden’s Concordance, that’s what. Where do you find this in the good book? In 2 Samuel, I came upon a song spoken to God by David. The Lord had just delivered David from his enemies and from the hands of Saul. “You have given me the shield of your salvation, and your gentleness made me great.” 2 Samuel 22:36 (ESV) Here the word gentleness is to refer to God’s strength. You can take a look at Psalm 18:35 (ESV) where David writes, “You have given me the shield of your salvation, and your right hand supported me, and your gentleness made me great.”

Then as I read on I had something from Proverbs. “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” Proverbs 15:1. This is what God must have wanted me to see on the day I found these notes. I have to be as careful with my tone of voice as I have to be with the words I use in a sentence. It had been one of those days where, at a moment’s notice, someone could have been offended. And I was in the hot seat for a good part of the work day.

As I continued reading, I had a few verses and comments on meekness.
Divine intervention shall come for those of “an- a-wah” (this must be in the Hebrew). For out of long-suffering comes meekness. The glories of the Messiah and His bride come for the causes of truth, meekness and righteousness. “Seek you the Lord, all you meek of the earth, which have wrought His judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be you shall be hidden in the day of the Lord’s anger.” Zephaniah 2:3 (KJV)

“Yahweh” is the Lord of all the earth. We all are accountable to Him. Before the Old Testament finishes, it tells its readers that the Lord, our God, demands gentleness and meekness of His people. And from Adam to David, it seems that man cannot practice these two simple principles. He creates in love (agape) with gentleness and supplies us with a strength that should make all of us meek among each other. It is not until we get into the New Testament that God provides a Man that gives us an example of these two qualities.

Just a few thoughts from the Old Testament for your kind review today. Did I hit the mark today for you? Please Brothers let me know and praise Him for it. — Chris Hughes is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy

God’s WORD for YOU: Proverbs 23; Joshua 13-15; Luke 1:57-80

Great Quote: People cannot become perfect by dint of hearing or reading about perfection. The chief thing is not to listen to yourself, but silently to listen to God. Talk little and do much, without caring to be seen.God will teach you more than all the most experienced persons or the most spiritual books can do. You already know a great deal more than you practise. You do not need the acquirement of fresh knowledge half so much as to put in practice that which you already possess. Francois Fenelon