AN ENCOURAGEMENT FOR THE HUMBLE (and to stay that way)

....therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time....(1 Peter 5:6)

The humble He guides in justice, and the humble He teaches His way. (Psalm 25: 9)

....but, He gives more grace. Therefore He says: "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." (James 4:6)

As I read these verses this morning, I found myself absorbing how very much God really does desire for His people to walk in humility. If you are a disciple of Jesus, the truths of the Gospel and of the Kingdom of God are very different than how we learned things BEFORE understanding Jesus. Leave it to God to use a humble heart as one of His ways to grow His kingdom, to strengthen and change lives. In all other kingdoms, the idea is to be the strongest, the fastest, the smartest and the richest. The most handsome or the most beautiful so as to stand out above all others. If we are completely honest though, we will admit that it can be frustrating at times to see the proud and loud, or the person that could care less about God, seemingly get a head in life. It's hard to keep in mind that those ways are ALWAYS temporary. In some cases even though they may even seem to last a lifetime, the bottom line is that the ways of the proud are the ways of the earth and they will remain with earth. Just like our mortal bodies return to the ground from where they came, so the riches of this world remain constrained by the boundaries of this earth. They will never be permitted to enter the realm of the eternal. God resists the proud, but gives grace and even promises to exalt the humble. Breath in.....relax.....and just think about that for a moment. The very creator of the universe delights in giving grace to the humble. By stark contrast, many of the people who strive to get a head and obtain riches by doing it the "American way" are often very envious, even jealous of the people who find contentment and peace with what they have, or even what they don't have. They can't understand the concept of not always wanting more, especially if it is only for self pleasure. I'm not saying that God doesn't want us to enjoy life and to have things that we enjoy. He surely does, but with the right motives. The concept of this kind of peace often elusive to those that think Jesus was off His rocker! How much better it is to live according to God's principles, instead of the ones that belong to the ways of the world. Sometimes, though, we need to encourage or remind each other of these God things. I hope to do just that for you today!

I really enjoy the Word of God. That is no secret. So it is only natural for me to get excited when I see the Word being lived out in someones life. Recently, I breathed in a deep breath of fresh air from, of all places, the sports world. My love of sports, especially baseball, is no secret either! In the middle of the relentless arrogance that we see day after day from athletes who think that they are bigger than life, there is a story that I want to tell you about. One that has intrigued a city and is even reaching beyond. It's the story of the underdog, the story of a man who believes in never giving up, who believes in the hard work ethic. It's the story of a baseball player and his wife who believe its better to treat others well, than to worry about how others treat them. I will say that I don't know this family on a personal level, even though that would be nice, but I have read enough and seen enough interviews with them that I am able to recognize the finger print of God smudged upon their lives. As I have become more aware of the name Erik Kratz and his family, I am reminded once again that when things are done God's way, that it is much better for everyone in the long run and makes for great inspiration. God's kingdom will be advanced and peoples lives will be touched.

Up until recently, Erik Kratz was a career minor leaguer. At 30, most guys in the minors would have called it quits by now. Erik, a catcher, played in the minor leagues for seven years in the Toronto Blue Jays organization before joining the Indianapolis Indians in 2009, the Triple A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Erik, though, was recently rewarded with a call up to the Pirates and actually played his first major league game last Saturday in Pittsburgh. Kratz, who was having a pretty solid year with Indianapolis when he was called up, now looks like that kid in the candy store as the saying goes. It's not just that a 30 yr. old finally gets his shot at the majors, which in itself makes for a great story, but everything I read about Kratz is something worth mentioning. Kratz has worked in construction in the winter besides playing baseball, in order to keep food on the table. His teammates in Indianapolis, many who are now with the Pirates, speak very highly of him and I really enjoyed some of the quotes that the Pittsburgh Post Gazette printed from him. Kratz was quoted as saying that, "There are only a couple of things that we can control, how we treat other people and how hard we work at what we are trying to accomplish." His wife had this to say according to the Post Gazette: "We are taking this one day at a time, it is God's plan for us. I just can't tell you how much I admire and respect my husband for never getting negative about things and always staying positive." Pedro Alvarez, the Pirates new third baseman added: "He's a great human being and a family person and more people like that deserve an opportunity like this. I can't find a better person who is more deserving."

I wish I could say to Kratz, who graduated from a Mennonite college, "Way to go Erik! Your perseverance and faith are a great testimony to the teachings of Christ. Nobody can tell me that God isn't now rewarding and lifting Eric up. My wife Kay, son Matthew and I are committed to praying for this man and his family on a regular basis. We even praised the Lord for the opportunity Erik had to be the starting catcher for the Pirates on Saturday night and I found myself praying for him with every pitch. (By the way, Kratz went 2 for 5 with an RBI and a run scored on Saturday, not bad for a major league debut!!) We are praying not only for God to bless him in baseball, but to guard his heart and his testimony. Praise the Lord!

Why do I share this story with you? Maybe it doesn't mean as much to you as it does to this long suffering Pirate fan, but it reminds me once again that God's Word is true. You and I may never have the chance to be in the spotlight on a professional sports level, but if we continue to walk with our God and to walk humbly with Him, He will reward us. There WILL be a time, or times, when He chooses to exalt you!! Yes, YOU!! God does those things just because He is God and because He can. I am reminded right now of yet another verse that comes out of the book of Micah: "He has shown you, oh man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:8) Keep going after Him with a passion, my friend.

For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. (2 Chronicles 16:9)

Peace.

AN AMAZING LOVE

I hope I can clearly say what I am feeling tonight. I want to talk with you about the love of God, but God's love is so very vast, so magnificent and so powerful that I'm not sure how I can even come within a fraction of even touching on how much God loves you. How He loves us, His creation. What has stirred these recent thoughts within me is a fairly new song by Kari Jobe. For those of you not familiar with Kari's music, she is an extremely talented and anointed worship leader who has the gift to be able to bring you more deeply into God's presence just by listening to her songs. She appears to be very humble and sincere and you get that sense just by watching or listening to her sing. "You are for Me" is a tender song that talks about God's faithfulness, steadfastness God's love towards those who love Him. As I listened to this song a couple of nights ago, my heart began to break for people who think that God is mad and angry either with them or with the nation. God is not mad. God is full of love.

Over the past several years whenever there has been a huge disaster like 911 or Katrina, you often hear certain preachers talk about how God is judging, or pouring out His wrath on America. Now while I respect the man and the opinion, I find myself questioning that approach to disasters with much concern. I think it breeds the wrong message. Is that the nature of God? We do see the judgement of God quite often under the old covenant; before Christ. We see God wiping out nations and threatening Israel for their unfaithfulness going back to when they were wandering around the desert. The prophets warned over and over of the judgement and wrath of God.

But then something happened. The incarnation. Jesus happened. The cross happened. I believe that changed everything. Before Christ there was nothing that blocked God's eyes from staring directly with anger at His people when they sinned. But then we had the Great Exchange. The price was paid. Now I know that God still hates sin. I'm sure it makes Him angry and we need to knock sin out of our lives. We still need to do our part, but when God looks at our sin, there is a filter. A filter of red. The blood of Jesus. The trail of blood left by the Messiah that began in the garden when He wept. Have you ever really thought about how the pouring out of Jesus blood began when He prayed with so much agony in the garden? Luke records how Jesus sweat "became like great drops of blood falling to the ground." It started in the garden and those first drops were not in vain. It is because of that blood and for this reason that I find it so hard to believe that things like 911 or Katrina are God's wrath being poured out. Romans 5 is a great chapter which speaks of God's love. The entire chapter is excellent, but I will highlight for you verses 6-9: "When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, no one is likely to die for a good person, though someone might be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God's sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God's judgment." (New Living Translation) Did you catch the end of that passage? The New King James says it this way: "...,we shall be saved from wrath through Him." The Greek word for saved (sozo) in that verse means much more than just being saved from eternal judgement. Perhaps one day we will talk about the word sozo, but not this time. This time is to share the love of God.

There is a lot of ugly in this world. Sometimes there are people that don't even act human by performing hideous acts and crimes. Mixed in with that ugly, though, are a lot of people ready to rise up under the banner of Jesus Christ and proclaim the good news of our God. God's love is powerful and piercing. It cannot be overpowered by sin. The word for this kind of love is "agape" and agape describes the unconditional love God has for the world. If we can begin to really grasp what this love is all about it will change lives. If we carry it out to the streets it will begin to change people and people will change cities and cities will change states and states will change a nation. In spite of what some may say, this nation is not going down. No, not yet. Because of people like you and me this nation is going to be turned upside down as we walk in the power of God's love. We are on the verge of the next Great Awakening as more and more people experience for the very first time the force that is behind God's love.

And this great love is for you. Maybe it even starts with you. Intimately for you. (And if you are a tough guy reading this, get over it. God wants to shower His love over you, too.) God's gaze is so full of love for you. You are the apple of His eye. Do you need to be reminded of that? To borrow a thought from Kari Jobe, I want to remind you that God is so passionately and madly in love with you; He's not mad at you. No matter what level your faith is at, sometimes we all need to be reminded of that. A couple of nights ago, as I watched and listened to Kari sing "You are for me," I couldn't contain the tears that welled up in my eyes. You see, I too, need to be reminded that God's love will never let me go. I need to be reminded that God is indeed for me and that He is faithful and ever present, even when it doesn't feel that way. Sometimes it is just so good and right to let your guard down and just fall into His presence. May you allow that to happen to you now and in fact know that it is happening. Kari's video can be played at the end of this writing. Watch it and experience His warmth and love as it pours all over you!

Peace.