Inherit the Earth

Matthew 5: 1: And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: 2: And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, ….. 5: Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

 

What does it mean to inherit the earth?  The meek get to do it.  We can inherit money.  We can inherit a business.  We can inherit land.  What does it mean to inherit the earth?  Must we wait for someone to die?  What does it mean?

 

Jesus was meek among meek.  Moses was declared the meekest man.  Both of these men were bold beyond measure.  Both were powerful with miracles. Conflict surrounded them.  Both were directive and unashamed of their message.  Is that meek?  Yes.  Both allowed God to be their defender.  Both protected the dignity of the individual.  Both were full of kindness.  Meekness represents confident power self-controlled.  It does not put others down.  It considers the plight of all.  It demands correct response.  Meekness never puts the person above others in order to achieve a goal.  The meek rightly know who they are and act confidently and considerately to achieve Godly goals with compassion.

 

These meek inherit the earth in this life.  There is no need for the death of anyone to inherit this earth.  When we meet Jesus, we receive great authority and power and call to task.  To move in meekness means to proceed to get our assignment done with all resources supplied.   The earth, the world system, submits to the meek.  The earth will comply for the meek.  Others move out of the way for a person of confidence on a mission.  Many will quickly give resources to them to steward, understanding a good return will be had.  They inherit the earth and all it has to give.

 

Blake scratched his head.  For the sixth time this week, someone called and offered him what he needed to arrange his meeting.  First a caterer called and asked if he had any needs.  They had a few dates open in April and would like to give him a discount to try them out.  The first date was the date of his meeting.  Second, he was at lunch and overhead a person waiting to be seated talking about their business of supplying meeting rooms.  He arranged with them for the date for half of his budget.  Then his sales assistant informed him she was starting a part-time personal printing service from home.  She agreed to help him design all the invitations and handouts in exchange for using the business name as a reference.  This was too easy.  He was confident from day one this was the right thing to do, but it seemed everyone was cheerfully willing to embrace the idea with him and help.

 

ACT!  Meek?  Do you know your own strength?  Do you know the strength of God that is with you? Are you submissively confident so that others can see?  The next time you approach someone about a decision you want them to make, believe in yourself and God’s ability to bring it to pass.  Then talk to them.  See what happens.

 

PRAY!   Father, teach me the truth that it is not by my power or my might, but by Your Spirit that the task is accomplished.  Teach me that You own and the fruitfulness of the earth.  Teach me that You have equipped and accepted me to do what is ahead of me in the day.  Teach me that I don’t have to put myself forward, put others down, or force anything to happen.  Instill in me confident power exhibited with meekness.  Let me see this earth submit to Your will even as the angels in heaven respond to Your commands.  Thank You for being You.

 

 

Phil Larson, 508 Tumbleweed Dr., Yukon, Oklahoma 73099  405-388-8037

 

Watching the fountains at the Bellagio.. Where is Danny Ocean?

A friend reminded me of a quote in this little essay.  "Accepting reality while pressing for change is the task of a real believer."  It makes sense.  Tonight, I am in Vegas speaking at a conference for an international equipment dealer.  Really I am here for many reasons.  Learning.  Giving back to others.  Looking for a God appointment of a new client.  Listening to others who struggle with similar issues.  Maybe I'm just here to enjoy the fountains.  Set against the Eifel tower replica at the Paris, they are phenomenal.  It is relaxing to sit above all the noise and chaos and just enjoy the pleasantness in the evening.  So here is a thought from some day earlier this year.

By the way, don't forget the Father/Daughter Summit.  Time to register and bless your daughter, Dad.  Time to register and bless your dad, Daughter.  http://www.fathers.com/summit  

 

Ecclesiastes 11:3 If clouds are full of water, they pour rain upon the earth. Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where it falls, there will it lie.

The rain falls where the rain falls.  Be blessed.

While I write this, a pleasant and cool rain is blessing the cooked earth.  It has been a normal and hot summer.  Today, the rain blesses.  Other days, the rain has caused pain with lightening and power outages.  Enjoy the rain.  There is a pleasant detoxification in watching the rain with a cup of coffee early in the morning.

Over the last few weeks it has been a source of comic relief to think on the amount of control we would like to have over the world.  Interacting with many ministries and business and community entities a fluid thought comes up quite frequently.  How do we make this world conform to our view and expectation?  Why does the world just do what it does and not meet our definition?  How long will it take to gain the understanding needed to make today’s decisions?  What is left that we don’t know?  Why do some fail and some succeed?  Can’t I just shout at the mountain and it will disappear?

Really, these questions and the underlying quest for conforming others to our definitions can lead us to frustration.  The premise that the world should conform to our view is hilariously warped.  Sure, we are here to carve a notch in our sphere of influence and bring more of the kingdom of God into reality in our neighborhood, our metro.  Sure, we should leave the world a better place than what we found it.  But there is a reality at work that this world will groan in birth pains until the day of Jesus’ appearing.  Every worshipper of the Creator God looks for this.  The Jew looks.  The Christian looks.  The Muslim looks.  They all look for the Messiah to come and stop the madness.

Accepting reality while pressing for change is the task of a real believer.  Getting mad that it doesn’t work as fast as we would like is the mark of immaturity.  Staying unsettled and unsatisfied so that we keep working on it is an indicator of a healthy world-changer.  Just make sure you laugh at yourself often.  Just make sure you have fun in the mirror while comparing the enormity of the task with your personal inadequacy.  Just be ready to find out that some doctrine you have made into a sacred cow may have to fall dead in the face of reality and lifetime learning.  Just stay open to God peeling away layers that took you years to secure and anchor against His breath of lifelong revelation.

There is blessing to receive in every day.  There is pain to confront every day.  Our choice is one of life or death.  We can speak life.  We can speak death.  We can receive life.  We can receive death.  Both are open opportunities every moment.  Trees are falling where they will fall around us every moment.  There is a dance of avoiding too much pain and accumulating massive blessing that is our lot on earth.  Enjoy the journey.  Don’t get too hung up in making a perfect dance.  Every once in a while one of those trees will fall close and cause the pain of disease, death, abuse, slander, gossip, envy, jealousy, attack, or some other violence or loss.  Every once in a while one of those trees will fall close and cause the reality of conflict, friction, misunderstanding, or some other present reality of relationship.  Every once in a while one of those trees will fall close and bring a bucket of blessing unexpected and welcome.  Don’t get too convinced that you have as much control as you think you have.  Sure, doing the right things bring the right results.  Sure, there are principles that are unfailing.  Just remember there are trees falling, too.  It is one of the principles.

Relax and watch the rain with wonder.  Take a falling tree to lunch and laugh with them.   Call a fallen tree and have a quick chat with an encouraging word.  Listen to a tree split by the electricity from the sky and render more compassion and less judgment.  Enjoy God’s creation that defies our control and conforming desires.  Some days, it is okay to just enjoy the rain.  Be blessed.

Take Action:  Not today.  Just enjoy.

Let’s Pray:  Father of Blessing, help me to dance the dance.  Help me to place my bucket to catch more good rain than bad.  It falls all around me.  You put me here in this forest.  You placed me in this moment.  I accept the charter to live within it and bring it closer to Your will.  It resists.  It fights.  It falls hard and in places where I don’t want it to fall.  Yet, the blessings outnumber the pains.  I choose to take heart, You have overcome the world.  There is trouble, but You have overcome.  There is pain, but You have overcome.  After the heat, comes the refreshing rain.  Give me joy in all moments.  You stay connected with every moment in my life that my joy might be full.  Let Your promises overwhelm my premises.

 

 

Phil Larson, 508 Tumbleweed Dr., Yukon, Oklahoma 73099  405-388-8037

 

Crushed - Healed - Spoken

Jeremiah 8: 21 Since my people are crushed, I am crushed;
       I mourn, and horror grips me.

 22 Is there no balm in Gilead?
       Is there no physician there?
       Why then is there no healing
       for the wound of my people?

Elijah was a Gileadite.  His assignment was healing of the nation.  His assignment was getting the people back in relationship to the Father.  His assignment was getting people back in right relationship in family, child to father and father to child. 

The key to national success is outlined in Deuteronomy in the Shema.  Deuteronomy 6:  4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.  5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Elijah was working to get it back in order. Elijah is still working to get us back in order.  It is first the father and then the mother and fully the extended family and community’s responsibility to give guidance according to the scriptures to our children.  Too often we give this up to the pastors and youth leaders and video lessons from bible teachings.  Dad, it is first your responsibility.  You have been designated as the key influencer of that child entrusted to you.  Mom, you are next in line.  All the rest, you are next.  What are you doing about it?

Action:  Find some time to interact face up with a child this week.  Listen for questions that come up.  Give them a scriptural answer.  Don’t have one?  Get one.

Prayer:  Father, I’m struggling.  All around me are children looking for hope and answers.  Open Your words inside of me.  Bring them to my remembrance to give good and useable answers.  Help me to be clear and direct and comforting.  Help me to speak comfort to Your children.  Though they may be into their adult years, Lord, they still need comfort.  They still need Your words of life and counsel.  Bless.  Use me.  Talk through me.

Father/Daughter Summit October 3^rd Oklahoma City, The Cathedral.  http://www.fathers.com/summit 

 

The Preacher

Matthew 4: 23: And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.

 

Preaching the gospel of the kingdom was a continual activity for Jesus.  Throughout the gospels we meet Jesus, the Preacher.  He preached good news.  He preached with conviction.  When I think of preaching, I think of someone passionate about whom they are, what they say, and their mission and message.  Passionately speaking good news is a great description of Jesus.

 

Preaching is so much fun for me.  Yes, it is pensive.  Yes, it is work and takes great preparation.  Yes, it is sometimes a frustration when the message does not seem to get across.  But, preaching is great fun for me.  It is the fulfillment of call and passion expressed all at once.  Seeing people come alive with the gospel through an illustration or comparison is wonderful fun.

 

We ought to have fun doing what we are made to do..  God made me to be a preacher.  This devotion is a preaching of sorts.  When it hits home with people, I come alive and thank my Father for His faithfulness.  Seeing someone do what they were born to do is so much fun.  Do what you were made to do.

 

ACT!  Think on something about which you have passion and conviction.  Does it make your blood stir up?  Jesus gets stirred up about you being in His family.

 

PRAY!  Father, thanks so much that Jesus gets stirred up about the good news that I can be a member of Your family.  I am so excited about being in the kingdom, in the family of God.  Stir in me that same passion and conviction that others might be able to meet the same Jesus, the Preacher, whom I know.  In me and in Carol, light the fire to fulfill my call.  That for which You have made us make alive in us.  We commit ourselves to it.  We joy ourselves to it.

 

The rain fails

Ecclesiastes 11:3 If clouds are full of water, they pour rain upon the earth. Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where it falls, there will it lie.

The rain falls where the rain falls.  Be blessed.

While I write this, a pleasant and cool rain is blessing the cooked earth.  It has been a normal and hot summer.  Today, the rain blesses.  Other days, the rain has caused pain with lightening and power outages.  Enjoy the rain.  There is a pleasant detoxification in watching the rain with a cup of coffee early in the morning.

Over the last few weeks it has been a source of comic relief to think on the amount of control we would like to have over the world.  Interacting with many ministries and business and community entities a fluid thought comes up quite frequently.  How do we make this world conform to our view and expectation?  Why does the world just do what it does and not meet our definition?  How long will it take to gain the understanding needed to make today’s decisions?  What is left that we don’t know?  Why do some fail and some succeed?  Can’t I just shout at the mountain and it will disappear?

Really, these questions and the underlying quest for conforming others to our definitions can lead us to frustration.  The premise that the world should conform to our view is hilariously warped.  Sure, we are here to carve a notch in our sphere of influence and bring more of the kingdom of God into reality in our neighborhood, our metro.  Sure, we should leave the world a better place than what we found it.  But there is a reality at work that this world will groan in birth pains until the day of Jesus’ appearing.   Every worshipper of the Creator God looks for this.  The Jew looks.  The Christian looks.  The Muslim looks.  They all look for the Messiah to come and stop the madness.

Accepting reality while pressing for change is the task of a real believer.  Getting mad that it doesn’t work as fast as we would like is the mark of immaturity.  Staying unsettled and unsatisfied so that we keep working on it is an indicator of a healthy world-changer.  Just make sure you laugh at yourself often.  Just make sure you have fun in the mirror while comparing the enormity of the task with your personal inadequacy.  Just be ready to find out that some doctrine you have made into a sacred cow may have to fall dead in the face of reality and lifetime learning.  Just stay open to God peeling away layers that took you years to secure and anchor against His breath of lifelong revelation.

There is blessing to receive in every day.  There is pain to confront every day.  Our choice is one of life or death.  We can speak life.  We can speak death.  We can receive life.  We can receive death.  Both are open opportunities every moment.  Trees are falling where they will fall around us every moment.  There is a dance of avoiding too much pain and accumulating massive blessing that is our lot on earth.  Enjoy the journey.  Don’t get too hung up in making a perfect dance.  Every once in a while one of those trees will fall close and cause the pain of disease, death, abuse, slander, gossip, envy, jealousy, attack, or some other violence or loss.  Every once in a while one of those trees will fall close and cause the reality of conflict, friction, misunderstanding, or some other present reality of relationship.  Every once in a while one of those trees will fall close and bring a bucket of blessing unexpected and welcome.  Don’t get too convinced that you have as much control as you think you have.  Sure, doing the right things bring the right results.  Sure, there are principles that are unfailing.  Just remember there are trees falling, too.  It is one of the principles.

Relax and watch the rain with wonder.  Take a falling tree to lunch and laugh with them.   Call a fallen tree and have a quick chat with an encouraging word.  Listen to a tree split by the electricity from the sky and render more compassion and less judgment.  Enjoy God’s creation that defies our control and conforming desires.  Some days, it is okay to just enjoy the rain.  Be blessed.

Take Action:  Not today.  Just enjoy.

Let’s Pray:  Father of Blessing, help me to dance the dance.  Help me to place my bucket to catch more good rain than bad.  It falls all around me.  You put me here in this forest.  You placed me in this moment.  I accept the charter to live within it and bring it closer to Your will.  It resists.  It fights.  It falls hard and in places where I don’t want it to fall.  Yet, the blessings outnumber the pains.  I choose to take heart, You have overcome the world.  There is trouble, but You have overcome.  There is pain, but You have overcome.  After the heat, comes the refreshing rain.  Give me joy in all moments.  You stay connected with every moment in my life that my joy might be full.  Let Your promises overwhelm my premises.

Worth Following

Matthew 4: 21: And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them.  22: And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.

 

The daily drudge can easily cause us to miss opportunity presented.  Jesus is such an opportunity.  It takes guts to break the daily drudge and follow Him.

 

He is worth following.  He is worth more than our business and busyness.  He is worth more than our blood family.  He is worth more than any occupying of our time and life.  Jesus is just worth following.

 

In a business meeting recently, it struck me how many originally did not want to be a part of this team.  They had resisted and fumed and made noise in private and to my face.  We persisted.  In fact, a colleague new to the company persisted.  She continued to present the positive and the pressing needs.  She continued to follow up with them and with me.  What did I want to communicate?  How could she help?  She had been following me.  They followed her following me following the executives following the business needs of our customers.   What could happen if we fell in line following Jesus like that?

 

ACT!  Follow Him today.  Stop the daily drudge for 2 minutes and see if you can hear Him call.

 

PRAY!  Father, I'm listening.  I've put down my daily drudge, and am listening.  Call me.  Call me to follow Jesus.

 

Leaving Home

Matthew 4: 21: And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them.  22: And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.

 

Two Gents

 These two gents are leaving home.  They are taking up their own place in life.  What must Dad be thinking?  What must all of their lifelong friends be thinking?  They left their father.  They left the family business.  They left reputation.  Would you?

 

Apostles are different?

Oh, Phil, this is what an apostle does.  They have a big calling.  No.  No.  No.  We all have a calling that makes us leave home and family and go on to our own faith.  Zebedee had a faith.  James and John had to get their own faith.  They had to take a leap into the world each alone.  Sure, they went together.  But each had to decide. So, we have to decide.  We face moments where we need to break away from all that is beside us and take on a new life and perspective.

 

Unity Calls

Some years ago, while serving as a pastor in a large multi-cultural denomination, such a decision came.  The call meant leaving the ship, the mother church.  The call meant walking out into a new world of relationships and leaving behind many others.  It has been a scary proposition.  Going back to the congregation left behind recently felt like visiting the house I grew up in.  It is familiar and different.  It is not me anymore.  James and John surely faced this as they moved away from home and father and became new men.

 

Going Back

In the last few years a friend had a career shift.  None of the managers around him believed in it.  His own staff was reticent to follow the new direction.  It took boldness.  It was lonely.  Sure a few supported in words and pats on the back.  But when the hard part came, and it always does, he found himself plenty alone.  Alone with his thoughts, over and over he has had to commit again and again to the same decision.  Sharing with him recently made me think of this scripture.  Surely James and John thought about going back many times.  All of us do.

 

Emotions

Just as a man and wife have to leave the families of their birth to form a new one, so there are moments of departure should we take the call of God and obey.  Emotions must separate.  Physical space must separate.  Mind sets must separate.  It is a part of becoming the new creature in Christ from glory to glory.

 

Many Calls

There are many calls in life.  Not all require complete shifts of location and relationships.  All require shifts of thought and commitment.

 

ACT!  Follow Him today.  He is calling.  He is demanding a separation and a new step.

 

PRAY!  Father, this is a little frightening.  What if I fail?  What if I fall?  If I have left the ship and left my father, who will catch me?  You?  Do I trust You?  Really trust You? 

Father, You are able in me.  Christ in me is the hope of glory, of success, of making it in the tough spots.  Build me.  Challenge me.  Don’t let me fail through not giving it my all.  Don’t let me fail by staying behind when You call me to come out.  Let’s move, Father.  Let’s make a big difference in our world.