UCB Word For Today

To be ‘meek’ doesn’t mean to be a doormat or to be indecisive, timid, fearful, or spineless. It does not mean to act like a loser or a cowardly wimp. Meekness is ‘power under control’. The Bible says Moses was the meekest man on the face of the earth in his day (see Numbers 12:3). Yet he was willing to go toe-to-toe with Pharaoh, to lead a grumbling people across a wilderness, and to climb a smoking, shaking mountain to meet personally with almighty God. Jesus described Himself as ‘gentle and lowly in heart’ (Matthew 11:29 NKJV). Yet He was the most courageous man who ever lived. What made Moses and Jesus meek? They manifested supreme power under control. Proverbs 16:32 (NKJV) describes this kind of power: ‘He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.’ Proverbs 25:28 (NASB) tells us the flip side of meekness: ‘Like a city that is broken into and without walls so is a person who has no self-control over his spirit.’ The meek are those who have the power to hurt but choose not to. They have knowledge to destroy someone’s reputation, but they don’t use it. They have reason to hate but refuse to act on it. Such people exhibit meekness, which is simply strength harnessed and used to do good. And those who exercise meekness walk in God’s blessing. The meek persevere until good overcomes evil, answers are found, remedies are generated, and reconciliation overcomes estrangement. And the meek sleep well at night – because their trust is in the Lord!

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

Jesus was not necessarily speaking about mourning the loss of a loved one, but that those who mourn over their sins will receive God’s comfort. When you weep over your sins and the trouble they brought to yourself and to others, you put yourself in a position to receive God’s forgiveness. True repentance does not focus on self. It’s not morbid or despairing; it doesn’t come from false humility or from wallowing in self-pity. It is acknowledging openly, plainly, and simply that you need God’s mercy and grace. As long as you delight in your sins, try to justify them, or blame others for them, you cannot be forgiven. It is only when you pray, ‘I confess that I have sinned against You in my thoughts, my words, and my actions’ that you put yourself into a position to be cleansed of your sin. The Bible says, ‘If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness’ (1 John 1:8-9 NKJV). And in that is your comfort! It is God’s forgiveness that produces genuine joy and comfort in your souls. It is God’s forgiveness that heals your deep inner wounds, and that restores you to intimacy with your heavenly Father. David said: ‘I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the LORD.” And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone’ (Psalm 32:5 NLT).

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

What does it really mean to be ‘poor in spirit’? This phrase has nothing to do with finances or status. It means that you become conscious of your own spiritual emptiness – that without God, you are nothing, you have nothing, and you can do nothing of consequence or eternal benefit. To be poor in spirit means you know that all of your self-righteousness is as filthy rags and all of your self-propelled achievements are short-term and fleeting at best (see Isaiah 64:6). To be poor in spirit means that you know you need God. Why would this cause you to be ‘blessed’? Because you are open to receiving God’s free gift of salvation and allowing the Holy Spirit to work in your life. You are willing to humble yourself and pray: ‘Lord Jesus, I need You. I accept You as my Saviour. I want to yield my life to Your will and do things Your way to the glory of Your Name.’ If you are poor in spirit, you are willing to declare yourself spiritually bankrupt. And in so doing, you lay down your pride of spirit, your pride of will, your pride of intellect, and your pride of heart at the feet of Jesus. If you are poor in spirit, you open yourself to God’s saving mercy and grace. Consequently, you are able to enter God’s kingdom and enjoy all of its benefits and its blessings. ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven’ means you can sincerely pray, ‘Lord, I acknowledge my total dependence on You.’

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

In an old book titled Prevailing Prayer, author Eli Wigle described John Wesley’s prayer life this way: ‘As a matter of habit and rule, John Wesley’s ordinary private praying consumed two hours a day. At times he would gather his company and pray all night, or till the power of God came down. Nothing was considered too great or too small to take to the Lord. Seized with pain in the midst of preaching, so that he could not speak, “I know my remedy,” he said, and immediately kneeled down. In a moment the pain was gone…Being seized with a pain, fever and cough, so that he could scarcely speak, “I called on Jesus aloud to increase my faith. While I was speaking my pain vanished away, my fever left me, and my bodily strength returned.”…Wesley…stirred the world with the fire of his zeal, because he had stirred heaven by the fire of his prayers. His pleas had access to men’s consciences, because they had access to God.’ Why did Wesley spend two hours each day in prayer? 1) Because he saw prayer as a cleansing and correcting force. In one of his prayers he said, ‘Oh, fill up all that is wanting, reform whatever is amiss in me, perfect the thing that concerns me.’ 2) Because he knew that God’s will is the only plan and purpose that God is committed to. ‘Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us’ (1 John 5:14 NKJV).

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

The Scarlet Letter is the story of a woman found in adultery and required to wear a scarlet ‘A’ on her dress as a symbol of shame. We do the same thing, don’t we? We label people based on a mistake. Sadly, it’s just as true in some churches as it is in the culture. That isn’t how God sees us and labels us. He takes off the grave clothes of sin and covers us in the garments of salvation (see Isaiah 61:10). He gives each of us a new name, a new identity, a new destiny. There’s a storyline in John’s gospel that’s not unlike Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. A woman was caught in the act of adultery. The religious mob was ready to stone her to death when Jesus stepped in. His defence was pure brilliance: ‘He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone’ (John 8:7 NKJV). One by one, they dropped their stones and walked away. Then Jesus told her, ‘Go and sin no more’ (v. 11 NKJV). When you hear about someone’s failure, remember John Bradford’s famous adage: ‘But for the grace of God, there go I.’ Live by the maxim, ‘Love people when they least expect it and least deserve it.’ That’s how you change someone’s life. That’s what Jesus did with this woman. When the Pharisees were writing people off, He was writing them in. When everyone else showed them the door, Jesus showed them grace. Grace is the catalyst that turns guilt into gratitude. One act of grace can turn the worst moment into a defining moment in someone’s life. And you can be that agent of grace.

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.