Words of Encouragement

The flowers of the field are clothed in the beauty of God. How much more will he clothe us in righteousness, if we humble ourselves before him?




"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." - Matthew 11:28-30

Humble Yourself. Rest for the burdened. What an invitation. Jesus calls to us and says, come and I will give you rest. Jesus says, take my yoke upon you and learn of me. A yoke is a device used to keep an animal in line by it owner. It also represents a burden upon that animal. However, Jesus says my burden is not heavy it is not oppressive.

He also says he is humble in heart. Jesus is humble! He could make demands because he is the supreme one. Yet, he says he is not assuming, but is humble. If Jesus can humble himself to come to where we are, then we should be able to humble ourselves so that we can be lifted up to where God is.

He says we can find rest. I don't know about anybody else, but the comfort of knowing that the things that upset me, or that cause me to be restless can be given to God. When I give them to God and humble myself, he promises that he will give me a break from those things. In other words I don't have to carry the heavy burden (yoke) anymore of those other things because they weight me down. If I exchange that burden or yoke for Jesus', his is easy and and light.

As we go to worship this weekend, let us go thanking God for the blessings he offer to those that humble themselves. Lord help us to live humbly before you and when we do, you promise that you will hear our every word.

Words of Encouragement

Inside the sanctuary of the Langley Avenue Church of God.

He said, "Daniel, you who are highly esteemed, consider carefully the words I am about to speak to you, and stand up, for I have now been sent to you." And when he said this to me, I stood up trembling. Then he continued, "Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia. - Daniel 10:11-13

Humble Yourself. Your Words are Heard. Daniel had a vision and began to fast because of it. No one with him saw the vision, but they experienced something and it made the run for the fear of it. Daniel is confronted with the angel Michael who tells Daniel you are highly esteemed and to listen to the words he is speaking to him.



Daniel is given a great greeting and a encouragement that all of us would love to hear. Daniel was told that since the moment he set his mind to gain understanding of God's way and to humble himself, God has heard his words. And now here was Michael here in response to his request.



We must be careful here. Many would look at this and began to rejoice in the fact that an angel has shown up. What we should rejoice in however, is in the fact that God says he will answer our prayers from the moment we seek him for understanding and humble ourselves.



Not only will God answer our prayers but the wonderful thing is that nothing that our enemy tries to stop our answer from coming, will be defeated. God will send the help we need so that no forces can stop the answer from coming.



I pray for us today that we find comfort in knowing that God answers the prayers of the humble. Your words, your request, your seeking for understanding and wisdom are all heard. Lord help us to humble ourselves so that we can receive your answer to the questions in our lives.

Words of Encouragement

Picture taken by James S. Williams. What a thought, I can be lifted above the things that would want to pull me down, bind me up and keep me from seeing the vastness of God's goodness before me.

The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. - Matthew 23:11-13

Humble Yourself. God will exalt. Talking about humbling yourself isn't a popular thought in our society today. Listen to any motivational speech and you hear the go get it all lines. Grasp all you can. People fight for positions, for names, for recognition without care of anyone else they may hurt.

Yet, we miss something great. God does not give honor to those that will walk over another for their own purposes. Instead, God says humble yourself. Don't exalt yourself because those are the ones that God will bring low. Why? God wants no one to place themselves above his ways and his will. When you refuse to be concerned with others, you have placed yourself above what God requires from his children.

In this scripture it even speaks about those that have exalted themselves to the place of supreme authority. What that means is there are those that have made themselves the authority on how others should do things (in this instance worship the Lord). The message to them is you are hypocrites. You do not even follow what is right yourself and then you cause difficulty for those that want to do it right.

I pray for us today that we humble ourselves before God and when the time for promotion comes, he will be the one that will exalt us.

Words of Encouragement

Picture taken by James S. Williams. When you look at the fields or flower gardens, they may not look like this now, but given time and care, they will flourish to look like this. Isn't that what God does for us? He gives us what we need so we can grow and flourish.

Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways. He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way. All the ways of the LORD are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of his covenant. - Psalm 25:8-10

Humble Yourself. To Learn of God's way. One thing that I find interesting about scripture is when it first starts with giving God honor before it talks about man and his ways. I believe the writers of the scripture is trying to tell us an important point, that God should always be first in whatever we say or do.

This is important for us to understand, especially when we try to understand what it means to be humble. The prideful places themselves first. I have heard someone say, I did this, or I achieved that and no one helped me. The prideful take all the credit. However, the humble understand that everything they achieve, have and will ever have, comes because of the graciousness of God.

The psalmist writes that God is good and upright and because of it, he will teach sinners his ways. He will guide the humble and teach us his ways. What a reason to rejoice, God will teach us and guide us. He will do this so that we can be obedient to him and understand his ways.

I pray for us today that we would humble ourselves so that we can learn God's ways. It takes a humble spirit to acknowledge the need for help. We need God's help in all the things we do.

Words of Encouragement

This is Foxy. I have never seen a dog more "human" than this one.









Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit. The LORD sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground. Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; make music to our God on the harp. - Psalm 145:5-7

Humble Yourself. The Lord Sustains. In a world were we are told to go and get for ourselves, the scripture tells us otherwise. The word of God encourages those that humble themselves by affirming that God will sustain. We are told to sing and give thanks to God for his sustaining power.

The dog you see is named Foxy. I have seen this dog do an interesting thing. When she has done something wrong and her masters call her name, she presses herself low to the ground and inches slowly toward them. She will even come and lay her head on their feet to accept the punishment for her "sins".

I have seen her disciplined, but because of how she presents herself, she most often receives the love and encouragement from her masters afterwards.

You and I can learn much from Foxy. When we know that we have done wrong, we should lower ourselves before the Lord and accept the correction that he gives. What we find when we go to our master is not only his correction, but also his affection.

We can rejoice in the Lord's ability because he will take care of those that humble themselves. He is the power that sustains us and protects us not only from our enemies but from the effects of a haughty spirit.

I pray for us today that we rejoice in the Lord for he is mighty and powerful. He has no limits and he will keep us as long as we continue to humble ourselves.