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Psalm 25:9
The meek will he guide in judgment:
and the meek will he teach his way.
To receive from God you must first become meek. Meekness is humility. It is a willingness to listen and a trust to act upon that which God tells you to do. God has promised to guide us in judgment when we are meek. He has promised to teach us HIS way.
James 1:21
Wherefore lay apart all filthiness
and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive
with meekness the engrafted word, which is
able to save your souls.
1 Peter 2:1-2
Wherefore laying aside all malice,
and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,
As newborn babes, desire
the sincere milk of the word, that ye may
grow thereby:
Receiving with meekness also requires us to lay aside the negatives. (see: Receive with Meekness ) We must desire God's Word as a newborn baby desires his mother's milk. When we approach God with this kind of meekness He engrafts - implants - His Word in our hearts.
Jeremiah 6:10-11a
To whom shall I speak, and give
warning, that they may hear? behold, their
ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot
hearken: behold the word of the LORD is unto them a reproach; they have
no delight in it.
Therefore I am full of the fury
of the LORD; I am weary with holding in: I will pour it out upon the children
abroad . . .
This is a very interesting figure of speech which is only used a couple of times in the Word of God. These believers could not hear - could not receive God's Word - because (figuratively) their ears where covered with a foreskin. Their ear was uncircumcised. They took no delight in hearing God's Word. In fact, it had become a reproach unto them. The fact that the believers in Jerusalem were not listening to God did not stop God from "pouring out His Word." But it did stop them from receiving it.
2 Chronicles 34:27
Because thine heart was tender,
and thou didst humble thyself before God,
when thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants
thereof, and humbledst thyself before me,
and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before me; I have even heard thee
also,
saith the LORD.
Josiah was a great example of a believer, who in the face of a whole nation (including his father and grandfather) that had turned against God and His Word, took a stand for God. At 16 he began to seek after God and brought God's people back to God. Because of his humility to God and His Word, Josiah received God's Word and the blessings thereof for himself and the Children of Israel under his reign.
Colossians 3:12
Put on therefore, as the elect
of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness
of mind, meekness, longsuffering; . . .
God has chosen us. We have been made holy.
We are beloved of God. Now, as God's children we are to put on humbleness
of mind and meekness. There is so much more available to us than
God had for the Children of Israel. But God's principles have not
changed. To receive from God you must first become meek.
Michael
& Christine Cortright's Fellowship Homepage