Why We Should Choose Humility and Let Go of Pride

I'm slowly working my way through James and I've come to the Humility section. The examples of Moses and David have left me wondering if I'll ever be truly humble. 

Moses, Scripture tells us, was the most humble man on the face of the earth. Despite the thousands of years since then, I doubt anyone has exceeded him in humility.

I'm not sure Moses was the most humble man on earth when he was a youth in Pharaoh's court, but forty years in the wilderness, tending sheep, provided a much-needed lesson in humility. 

Chasing sheep over the rocky hills, tending them, and guarding them are not pride-building exercises. It's hard work, often frustrating, and sometimes heart-breaking. 

During those years, Moses left his life of elegance and glamour behind and embraced simplicity and faith. It changed him at his core, and he never went back to his old life.

The word translated as humble indicates a person with a modest, lowly opinion of himself, someone who would prefer to bear an injury than to cause one. We might call a person with that mindset a "wimp," but God would call them great.

Our culture rewards those who are confrontational, arrogant, and speak with derogatory words toward others. We need look no further than the plethora of "viral" posts on the internet to see the truth of our craving for word-bashing. We think we know best. Always. 

Pride abounds.

In the perfect culture of God, we, His people, would recognize that He knows best. We would bow to His authority and treat each other with respect and honor. 

I believe that's how it is in heaven. God is on His throne and everyone behaves as if they know it, because they do.

We, the body of Christ, could adopt the humble mindset now, if we would grasp the enormity of God. Moses didn't wait for the Red Sea to part to become humble. It was burned into him through years of sacrifice, simple living, and hard work.

That's how humility comes to us, too, not in fancy clothes, bespoke suits, or big bank accounts, but in the simplicity of a life of faith. It comes from following, not demanding the right to lead. In seeing ourselves as we are before a great and mighty God. 

There was a time in my life when the simple life seemed foolish to me, strange and unwieldy and senseless, but those days are long gone. I crave a return to living on the land, a vibrant community of like-minded individuals working together to accomplish a greater good, a life of simple faith lived simply. 

Even in this busy, mixed-up world of ours, we can embrace a heart of humility. I believe it begins by doing what Jesus said. Loving God more than anything else and loving our neighbor as much, and in the same way, as we love ourselves. 

Why bother with love and humility? Scripture tells us pride comes before a fall but God gives grace to the humble. I'd much rather have grace than a painful fall, wouldn't you? 

There's something that, in a way, is even better, though. The seeds of humility in Moses' heart grew into a deep relationship with God in which they spoke as man to man, friend to friend. No one else dared to risk it, but Moses walked into the presence of God. It's grace on an entirely new level. We can have the same relationship, if we're willing to let go of pride and embrace humility. 

Today, let's ask God for an humble, gentle, Moses' heart. It will change our lives, for it's a request He's sure to honor. 

"But He gives a greater grace. 

Therefore it says, 'God is opposed to the proud, 

but gives grace to the humble.'" 

James 4:6 nasb

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In case you missed yesterday's post, here's the link: President's Day Ponderings
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#humility 

Lessons from Sam: Just Plain Sam

I've spent the week sharing stories about my friend and neighbor, Sam Wiley. He's been astonished by your reception of the Sam-stories. 

When I told him someone said he was a national treasure, he rolled his eyes and shook his head. "I don't know about a national treasure. What I am is just plain Sam. That's who I've always wanted to be and that's who I am."

Every once in a while, my family and closest friends will tell me, "You are being so Leanna." They don't usually mean it as a complement, but I take it as one, because I've learned from Sam.

Be who God created you to be.

Not long ago, Sam was worried that he might be getting uppity or putting on airs. He's getting forgetful, and he's worried that he might have forgotten himself a little bit.  Just to be on the safe side, Sam checked in with the man who runs the store where he likes to drink coffee. 

"Am I being Sam?" he asked the man. 

The man didn't quite know what to think, but he smiled and said, "Yes. You're always Sam."

"No. I mean I want to be sure I'm being just Sam Wiley, same as always, all the time."

That conversation may sound confusing to you, but not to me. I've known Sam for nearly 30 years. Sam has never wanted to be called Mr. Sam or Mr. Wiley. He's wanted to be just plain Sam for as long as I've known him. 

Sam says being "plain Sam" helps him remember, "I'm nothing special. Just plain ole Sam." He wants to be who he is, every day, all day long. Nothing put-on. No pretensions.

The important thing about being plain ole Sam is that he never has to worry about what "side" he showed you yesterday. You get the same view of him every time you see him. He's never uppity and he never puts on airs. (He checks with his buddies just to be sure.) 

Sam's as humble as they come, and it's served him well over the years. He's also the most loved and respected man I know. 

I'd like to be a lot more like Sam than I am. Simple. Humble. Gentle. Kind.

When Sam gets to heaven and hears those blessed words, "Well done, Good and Faithful Servant," I think he'll be surprised. He's been plain Sam so long, he'll find it hard to be GFS (Good and Faithful Servant). 

I can hear him now. He'll stare at Jesus, give him a little frown and shake his head like he always does. "What're You talking about? You know I ain't been nothing but Just Plain Sam, all my life."

In the words of Sam Wiley, "Be who God made you, and do it every day." 

"Be completely humble and gentle..." Ephesians 4:2 niv

"When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom." 

Proverbs 11:2 niv

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In case you missed one of the Sam stories, here are the links:

Hunger and the Importance of Having Enough

Education and Reading the Bible

The Importance of I Love You

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Sign up for the Hosea study is still open. Message me or leave a comment.

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#humility #Sam #faithlife #linesfromleanna

Remembering Paris

I have wept for Paris again. 

In 1999, we went to Paris for our honeymoon. It is a beautiful city, a romantic city, and I loved it. Four square miles of culture, cafes, and art. And, of course, people. I wept for the people back then. Despite the beauty, there were many sad faces, and I wanted to tell them about the One who could put joy in their hearts. But I did not.

The people were kind to me, patient with the residual of my high school French. They must have heard left-over French before, because we managed to communicate. We roamed all over the city. I was in love, and I fell in love with Paris and her people, as well. 

I still love Paris.

I wept last night when I heard of the violent, vicious acts of terror committed there. Pointless murders of innocents who had not harmed the perpetrators. I grieve for those who died, for those who were wounded, for all those who have been affected by the attacks. 

I grieve for us all. 

When such violence erupts in a city, it affects every one of us. This is not war. This is not even a religious crusade. 

This is wickedness. 

What kind of evil promotes this depraved wickedness? Ultimate evil. ISIS/IS, or whatever they call themselves this week, has claimed responsibility for these murders, these attacks. They celebrate these deaths of unarmed civilians as if it proves their power, their "right". It does not. It only proves the wickedness of their souls.

How can we combat such evil? 

The world will not want to hear the solution, but only Ultimate Good can deal with this kind of evil. 

When faced with an impending Aramean attack, Jehosophat prayed, "We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on You." (2 Chron 20:12) 

When faced with the threat of the Assyrians, Hezekiah prayed, "And now, O Lord our God, I pray, deliver us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that Thou alone, O Lord, art God." (2 Kings 19:19) 

They were in desperate need of intervention from the Most High God and they knew it.

When those great kings prayed for deliverance from evil, deliverance was given. 

So must we bend our knees and humble our hearts in prayer for deliverance from this great evil that threatens us.

I prayed for the people of Paris last night, and for all those who love Paris. I will continue to pray that their suffering will not be wasted. I pray that the One who created them will heal their broken hearts and that, somehow, great good will come from this.

I did not want to pray for those attackers, but yesterday I spent hours writing of one who had prayed for his attackers and loved his enemies, even though it was hard. 

I did not want to, but I prayed for the terrorists last night.  I had no choice, for Jesus said, "love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." (Matt 5:44)

I prayed that this will be the event that breaks ISIS, that God would so convict those who participated in the attacks, whether by planning or doing, that repentance will result. I prayed that such confusion and trouble will compound their efforts that the precise orchestrations of all the evil they attempt will be thwarted from within.

I pray that their sin will be ever before them and their only relief will be in repentance.

This is a battle that will not be won with guns and bombs and strategy. 

It is a battle to be won on our knees. 

We can do more than we know for the people of Paris. We can do more than we realize to fight the terrorists of ISIS. We can do more, but our weapons must be those of humbled hearts, bent knees, and impassioned prayers for the intervention of God. 

We can do more than we know, if we will.

There is much to distract us today, but those who are grieving in Paris will not be distracted. Let us take time to help them. Let us take time to pray.

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photo courtesy of freeimages.com
In case you missed any of the past week's posts, here are the links: Grateful Heart: Superheroes and Missions Conference , The Blessings That Were Not,  Loss of Power, Grateful Heart: Veterans, Grateful Heart: Laughter and Grateful Heart: Worldwide Kindness.

The most read posts of the past week: The Grateful Heart: Orchestration of God

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#ParisAttacks #Prayers4Paris #TheIslamicState #PowerofPrayer

Teach us to pray, part 45: Thine is the glory

"Pray, then, in this way: 'Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. 'Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. 'Give us this day our daily bread. 'And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 'And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [ For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.' ] (Matthew 6:9-13 NASB

Just before I hit the "publish" button yesterday, I realized that what I had written was not at all what I had intended to write. Today, I'll try to correct that.

The final phrase found in the Model Prayer of Jesus (Matthew 6) says, "For Yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever." The word translated as "glory" is doxa
and indicates "the kingly majesty which belongs to God as supreme ruler". Doxa is sometimes used to indicate His Shekinah glory.

When I pray, asking for provision, forgiveness, and deliverance, I am to pray with the understanding that God does not answer my prayers with the objective of demonstrating what a fine believer I am. He answers my prayers in ways that conform to Who He is, in ways that demonstrate His attributes, and ways that reveal His glory to me and to those around me. The answers to my prayers are designed to reveal the truth that God is the supreme ruler of everything and all majesty belongs to Him. If I pay close attention to the way that God answers my prayers, I will find His majesty, His glory clearly revealed. 

What I'm about to write is astounding, even to me. When I pray in ways that are consistent with the will of God, for things that God longs to do, His response to my prayers can bring me a bit closer to His Shekinah glory. 

Selah. Pause and consider.

That breathtaking eminence is reason enough to pray with an humble, seeking heart. As I pray, I am praying for (or because) all power and all glory belong to God. He is able to respond to my needs, my prayers because He has all the power needed and because of His great majesty.  

It is almost too much to grasp that my prayers can help to reveal the glory of God to a lost and dying world, but it's true. There is a caveat, of course. When I pray "amiss" for selfish things that glorify only myself, it does not reveal the glory of God. When I am willing to pray for God's will in my life, however, He can be glorified in ways that make His goodness evident for all those around us to see.

Imagine for a moment all the ways God might move if you and I were intentional about asking for things that would glorify Him, instead of glorifying ourselves and those we love. What a beautiful outpouring of His power and glory we would see! As we approach our Lord in prayer today, let's pray for our needs to be met in ways that glorify our Father in Heaven, that all the world can see how good and kind He is to sinners such as you and me.

Teach us to pray, part 13: Jehovah Nissi

And He said to them, "When you pray, say: 'Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. 'Give us each day our daily bread. 'And forgive us our sins, For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.'" (Luke 11:2-4 NASB)

Jehovah Nissi

Jehovah Nissi is translated as "The Lord My Banner". Nes is a Hebrew word that is translated as "banner", which is the insignia under which an army would fight. We might think of it as an identifying flag, the sight of which would give courage and hope to the soldiers. 

It is used only once in the Old Testament, in Exodus 17:15. The Israelites had just finished fighting Amalek and his army. While the men fought, Moses stationed himself on the top of a hill with the staff of God in his hand. As long as Moses held his hand up, Israel prevailed, but if he left his hand down, Amalek prevailed. Eventually, his arms were so tired that he couldn't hold his arms up any longer, so Aaron and Hur dragged a big stone over for Moses to sit on and they stood on either side of him, holding up his hands. The two men held his arms up until after sunset, and Joshua and the army won the battle. 

Afterwards, Moses built an altar and named it "The Lord is My Banner", or Jehovah Nissi. While the men were fighting, they could look to the top of the hill and see Moses with his hands raised, holding the staff of God. It would have been easy to think that Moses and his upraised hands were the banner over them, the rallying point and the source of their hope and courage. After the battle, Moses, the most humble man who ever lived, built an altar to God and named it Jehovah Nissi. In doing that, he made it very clear that neither he nor his upraised arms were the banner over them. It was Almighty God alone who was their source of hope, their source of strength, their source of courage. It was God, and God alone, who had delivered them, and it was to Him alone that they should look for help in time of trouble. He is the banner over us, under which we work and do battle. 

We would do well to remember this important lesson. No matter how it looks, no matter the circumstances, any victory that is achieved is not because of our ability, because of how well we obeyed, nor because of the ones who helped up to accomplish the task. All the credit, all the glory, must go to God alone. When we know God as Jehovah Nissi, we look to Him for our hope and our courage. We look to Him in the midst of battle, and He is the banner to which we look when our faith falters. As long as the flag still flies, an army is not defeated, and we serve a God whose banner never falls. 

How, then, do we hallow the name of Jehovah Nissi? We must be careful to honor Him as Moses did, giving Him all the credit, all the glory, and, especially in victory, pointing toward our Lord and away from ourselves. He is our banner. Let's be sure we keep our eyes fixed on Him.

"He has brought me to his banquet hall, 

and his banner over me is love"

Song of Solomon 2:4

Who is greatest?

And there arose a reasoning among them, which of them was the greatest. (Luke 9:46 ASV)

The disciples had been busy. Most of them had been left behind to manage the ministry while Jesus took a break for prayer, accompanied by Peter, James, and John. Things had not gone well, and an upset father confronted Jesus upon His return with the news of their failure. His son had a demon causing convulsions and they had not been able to remove it. Jesus intervened, removed the demon, and healed the child. 

Afterwards, He spoke to the disciples about the importance of remembering the things He had taught them. He would be arrested and they would need to carry on. They didn't understand and they didn't ask questions. No one wanted to know what He meant, nor what was to come. 

Some time after this exchange, a disagreement broke out among the disciples. They were discussing which of them was greatest. When you think about it, this was a crazy argument. Who was greatest? Jesus was. There should have been no argument about that. The question then became which of them was second greatest. 

There were two groups. The larger group had just failed miserably in the area of healing and miracles. The second group, made up of Peter, James, and John had just slept through the transfiguration, waking only as Moses and Elijah, Jesus' heavenly visitors, were departing. It is pretty clear that neither group had much cause for celebration. If they had seen themselves as they were, with all their flaws and failures, I'm not sure they would have found much about which to argue. Who was greatest? None of them. 

The disciples had a problem from which we all suffer, and it's called pride. They saw the good in themselves and the negative in the others. Their skewed opinions caused unnecessary friction in the group. A clear understanding of their own heart would have eliminated all cause for argument, but they saw what they wanted to see, much as we do. Those flawed disciples had much good in them, but they also needed to grow and mature. Years later, these same men would evangelize the world with the good news of Jesus, but they had a long way to go before that would happen. 

Most of us have that same pride problem. It may not manifest in the same way, but it's a common affliction. There's a common solution, too. When we see ourselves as we are in comparison to who Christ is, our self-importance begins to fade. We would do well to ask God to show us our own hearts. When we see our sin in comparison to the spotless Lamb of God, there is no doubt. Who is the greatest? Jesus. Only Jesus. 

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The new book, The Waiting: When The Answer to Your Prayer is Delayed and Your Hope is Gone, is now available at www.leannahollis.com/online-store/. Get yours today!

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Link to last night's post: http://leannahollis.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-wonder-dogs-get-bath.html

 

The Journey, part 20: The One in Charge

When the apostles returned, they gave an account to Him of all that they had done. Taking them with Him, He withdrew by Himself to a city called Bethsaida. But the crowds were aware of this and followed Him; and welcoming them, He began speaking to them about the kingdom of God and curing those who had need of healing. (Luke 9:10-11 NASB)

After the disciples returned and gave their report to Jesus, He planned what might have been a little retreat. Jesus took His disciples with Him to Bethsaida (home at one time or another of Philip, Andrew, and Peter, James, and John). Scripture tells us He "withdrew by Himself" with the twelve. 

Of all the places they could have gone, why did He choose Bethsaida? Perhaps it was because five of the twelve had lived there previously and had either acquaintances or family there. Maybe they could count on hospitable accommodations in Bethsaida. 

What occurs to me, though, is that "a prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house." (Mark 6:4 KJV) Perhaps Jesus was using a trip home to remind the disciples Who was in charge and who was not. Some of those very prominent apostles sometimes had a little difficulty with what position they occupied. (Remember that the mother of James and John wanted seats on either side of Jesus in His kingdom for her boys.) Perhaps Jesus knew that those five would be warmly welcomed but not exalted and lauded in Bethsaida. There's nothing like a trip home to bring you down a notch or two in the sweetest way imaginable, is there? 

At the same time, the crowds followed Jesus. They were not looking for any of the apostles. They wanted Jesus. The seeking crowd knew that, if they wanted the best, they needed to go to The One who was clearly in charge. After the Journey of Obedience, during which the apostles had been doing the preaching and healing, it must have been a little bit of a let down to go to their hometown and take a back seat to Jesus. 

It may have been a let down, but it was an important reminder that the power and authority with which they had been equipped for their journey had come only from Jesus. The changed hearts and lives, the healed bodies were accomplished only by the power that Jesus had given to them. Not one bit of the results of their efforts had come solely because of them, and this trip to Bethsaida made that abundantly clear. 

Sometimes we, too, need a little reminder that the fruit of our labors in the vineyard of God come as a result of our Lord alone, don't we?  The enemy of our soul has been whispering temptations toward pride since the Garden of Eden. "You can be like God," he whispers. No. We can't. There is a God, and we are not it. Only Jehovah is The Triune God and only He can create something beautiful from nothing, change despair to hope, bondage to freedom, death to life. Only God alone. Our role in this exciting life of faith is a gift of participation that is completely unmerited, and we do well to remember it. 

As we go about our day, let's be sure to thank God for the success we see and ask Him to show us all the ways He is at work in our lives. When we fix our eyes on God, we will not be able to look toward ourselves. All we will we see is our Lord, and that is the most beautiful sight of all. 

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Today is a much anticipated day here in Blue Springs. Our new park opens today with a ribbon cutting at 10am and Friday Night Jam with live music in the park at 5:30, then Stories Under the Stars at 7:30. I'd appreciate prayers for pretty weather, good attendance at all events, safety for those who come, and that God would be honored in all we do. Thanks! 

The Power of Position (Luke 7:38,49)

and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume.

Those who were reclining at the table with Him began to say to themselves, "Who is this man who even forgives sins?" (Luke 7:38, 49 NASB)

Real estate agents often say, "Location is everything".  In these verses, we find the importance of location before God as well. 

In the first instance, the repentant, weeping woman positioned herself behind Jesus and at His feet. It was the position of a follower (from behind) and of humility (at His feet). When she dried His feet with her hair, she was not only behind Him, she was kneeling at His feet, a position of penitence. Her physical position wordlessly demonstrated the attitude of her heart toward Christ. She was a repentant, humble disciple and, as she knelt at his feet, her sins were washed away and her eternal destiny was secured. She became a clean, new woman. 

The other guests took a very different position. They were "reclining at the table with Him".  These people chose a position of equality with Christ. They sat beside Him. There was no humility. There was no evidence of penitence or discipleship. In the end, they recognized that the woman, that weeping bundle of brokenness on the floor, had gained something they had not, and wondered about it. Her sins had been forgiven. There seems to have been no doubt about it. "Who is this man?" they wondered. They wondered, but neither their position nor their hearts changed, and their question went unanswered. 

The position, or "location" we choose to assume before God is vitally important, and has eternal consequences. Do we opt for an equal position, expecting that our opinions and desires have equal merit before our righteous and holy God? Do we assume the position of penitence, humility, and brokenness? There is a vast difference of heart accompanying those two positions, and we do well to examine our own position before God. 

Giving our own desires and opinions equal or greater weight in comparison to God's may be the way of our world, but it is not the way of forgiveness and healing. Only one person left the dinner party that night with a soul redeemed by mercy and grace, and it was not one of those sitting at the table. It was the weeping bundle of brokenness on the floor. Her position of humility before Christ may have seemed untenable to those at the table, but it yielded her an eternal reward, and it can do the same before us. 

Pray today that the position we and our loved ones assume before God will be one of humility and penitence. Pray, too, for the brokenness that leads to true discipleship and a life redeemed by mercy and grace. 

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Link to last night's post: http://leannahollis.blogspot.com/2014/06/all-kinds-of-knowing.html

Recognizing Our Unworthiness (Luke 7:6-8)

Now Jesus started on His way with them; and when He was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to Him, "Lord, do not trouble Yourself further, for I am not worthy for You to come under my roof; for this reason I did not even consider myself worthy to come to You, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man placed under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, 'Go!' and he goes, and to another, 'Come!' and he comes, and to my slave, 'Do this!' and he does it." (Luke 7:6-8 NASB)

This centurion was an officer in the Roman army. He commanded at least 80 men, and, if he was a high ranking, or senior, centurion, he would have had 480 men under his command. (Because he built the synagogue, he almost certainly had the authority of a senior centurion, thus a larger command.) In Roman-occupied Israel, he was "important" by almost anyone's standards. 

What is truly amazing is that this professional soldier saw himself as unworthy to make a request of Jesus in person. Eventually, it would be Roman soldiers who carried out the crucifixion of Jesus, but this soldier would not even approach Him because of his own unworthiness. 

His attitude is more than just humility. He had a clear sense of his own unholiness in contrast to the absolute holiness of Christ. He saw his unrighteousness in comparison to Christ's righteousness and found himself sadly lacking.  He saw himself as a sinner in need of the sinless lamb of God. 

I'm not sure how it has happened in our culture, but there has been a diminution of the understanding of our position before a holy and righteous God. It seems that sin is not viewed with the same abhorrence with which God views it. Ours has become a culture that demands instant gratification and indulges in the disposable, ranging from plates and cups to relationships and lives. The problem is one of values and priorities. Our desires have become more important than God's, and it has changed the priorities of our lives. We are the worse for it, and the problem is not just one of those outside the church. 

The question for us today is how do we see ourselves in comparison to Almighty God? Do we "just want what we want" or do we most desire what God wants? 

Pray today that God would allow us and our loved ones to see our hearts, our desires, our priorities in comparison to His own. Pray that we, like the centurion, would recognize our own worthiness and approach Christ with the humility that comes from an understand of who we are not and who Jesus is. 

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Here's the link for last might's post: http://leannahollis.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-tornado-relief-effort.html

Lenten series # 6: Moses

"The child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter and he became her son. And she named him Moses, and said, "Because I drew him out of the water." Now it came about in those days, when Moses had grown up, that he went out to his brethren and looked on their hard labors; and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. So he looked this way and that, and when he saw there was no one around, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand." (Exodus 2:10-12 NASB)

The Pharaoh in Egypt was killing all the Hebrew babies, but Moses' parents took one look at him and loved him. They were desperate to protect him. After three months, it was no longer possible to hide him, but his mother had a very unusual plan. She put the baby in a floating basket and put it in the reeds at the edge of the Nile, then she set his sister nearby to see what happened. Amazingly, Pharaoh's daughter found him and decided to adopt him. In an even more amazing twist to the story, she hired his own mother as Moses's wet nurse. When he was weaned he became her son, he lived as a prince, and grew up in the palace, where he was trained in the leadership expected of Pharaoh's grandson.  

When Moses was grown, he saw an Egyptian beating one of the Hebrew workers. Pharaoh's daughter might have pretended he was her son, but it is clear Moses knew about his Hebrew heritage. He saw the man beaten and was enraged. In fact, it was a rage that resulted in the murder of the Egyptian. In an attempt to hide his crime, Moses buried the Egyptian in the sand, but his crime was discovered, and he ran for his life. 

In what seemed like the blink of an eye, Moses went from being a Hebrew baby in a basket to an exalted prince of Egypt to a fugitive murderer. Here is where the story takes another twist. He fled to the wilderness of Midian, where he became a shepherd. 

Forty years later, he saw a burning bush, God called to him, and he approached the bush. When he realized that it was God calling, he was afraid and hid his face. In that instant, God's plan began to come together. The years of training in administration and leadership in Egypt, followed by the years as a shepherd in the wilderness were not wasted. They were part of the essential preparation for the most important job Moses would ever undertake. He was to lead the Hebrew people out of Egypt and to the promised land. 

Over the course of the next forty years, Moses walked with God. In fact, he became a friend of God, so much that he met face to face with Him. Afterwards, his face shone so much that, instead of hiding his face from God, he had to cover his face with a veil and hide it from the people. (Exodus 34:34) Being in the presence of God left a change in Moses that everyone could see. His experiences caused another change, too. Instead of the angry, vengeful young man, Moses became the most humble man on earth (Numbers 12:3).  That humble man led millions of Hebrews to freedom from slavery as he walked with God. 

Remember the people in Sodom? Those people weren't humble. They were filled with pride, arrogance, and selfishness, and it ultimately led to their destruction. Moses, on the other hand, left his world a different place because of his humility and his faithfulness to God. Despite his rocky start and his immense sin, our God of second chances gave Moses a fresh start and the opportunity to change the world, and Moses ultimately embraced it.

Perhaps you, too, have made mistakes and have had a rough start to your life thus far.  In the shortest time imaginable, you can answer the call of God and He can begin to unfold your second chance.  He can reveal His plan to use all the mistakes in your past to make a difference in your future. No matter how far you have run, how low you have sunk, how long you have been mired in sin, our Lord can deliver, cleanse, and transform. We can't do it on our own. That's why we needed Jesus. He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we can ask or think. The most amazing thing is that He can use people like you and me to accomplish that work!  

  

Position Prayer

While He was in one of the cities, behold, there was a man covered with leprosy; and when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean." (Luke 5:12 NASB)

We haven't mined all the gold from this verse yet!  There are two Greek words used here that demand a closer look. The two words translated "Fell on his face" are piptō and prosōpon. 

Piptō is used to indicate moving from an upright to a prostrate position, but it is also used to indicate a descent from authority or prosperity as well as the position of respect and worship before a deity or authority. Prosōpon is used to indicate the face as well as one's outward appearance. There is an assumption that this man was poor, and having the worst case of leprosy, he may well have been, but not necessarily. These two words are correctly translated as "fell on his face", but we can easily miss the richness of the word picture and symbolism. This leper was symbolically laying down any position of authority or financial security he possessed in submission to the higher authority of Jesus. His position symbolically demonstrated his acknowledgement of Jesus's power and authority. 

By falling on his face before Jesus, he was placing outward appearance at the feet of Jesus. Because of the nature of his disease (leprosy is a very disfiguring disease), he was symbolically placing his appearance as a result of his disease (the consequences) in Jesus's hands to do with as He would. 

Now all that is the prelude for the next very important point. Don't miss this! His physical position and his words matched. When this leper spoke to Jesus and asked Him for healing, he was simply voicing what he had already demonstrated by his choice of position before God's Son. His actions spoke volumes before his words were ever voiced. We would do well to emulate him, for we will soon see that Jesus granted this man's request. 

Today, as you approach the throne of God on behalf of our loved ones, assume a position before God that reflects the sincerity and humility in your heart. Like the leper, let your position be the first part of your prayer.