the 542nd post!

"Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time." (I Peter 5:6)

***I'm taking a bit of a break from the internet. If it is God's will, I will continue this sometime in the future.

subject with humility

"Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble." I Peter 5:5

links in a chain

"The laws of our holy religion are so far from clashing and interfering, that one Christian duty very much furthers and promotes another. The fruits of the Spirit are like links in a chain--one draws on another; and it is so in this; many other graces contribute to the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit."

meekness means a peaceful heart

"It is spoken of as the happiness of the meek, that they 'delight themselves in the abundance of peace;' others may delight themselves in the abundance of wealth, a poor delight, that is interwoven with so much trouble and disquietude; but the meek, though they have but a little wealth, have peace, abundance of peace, peace like a river, and this such as they have a heart to enjoy."

a meek spirit is physically healthy

"The quietness of the spirit will help to suppress depression; and this, as other of wisdom's precepts, will be health to the body and marrow to the bones: length of days and long life and peace they shall add unto you; but wrath kills the foolish man."

pray with meekness

"Prayer is another duty which meekness disposes us rightly and acceptably to perform. We do not lift up pure hands in prayer, if they are not 'without wrath.' Prayers made in wrath are written in gall, and can never be pleasing to, or prevailing with the God of love and peace. Our rule is, 'First go and be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.' And if we do not take this method, though we seek God in a due ordinance, we do not seek Him in the due order."

follow the Lamb's example of meekness

"Now it is the character of all saints that they follow the Lamb: as a lamb they follow him in his meekness, and are therefore so often called the sheep of Christ. This is that part of his copy which He expressly calls us to write after: 'Learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart.' If the master is mild, it ill becomes the servant to be froward. The apostle is speaking of Christ's meekness under his sufferings, when he says that he 'left us an example, that we should follow his steps."

meekness- true courage

"Meekness is commonly despised by the noblemen of the age as cowardice and lowliness, and the evidence of a little soul, and is posted accordingly; while the most furious and angry revenge is celebrated and applauded under the pompous names of valor, honor, and greatness of spirit. ...True courage is such a presence of mind as enables a man rather to suffer than to sin; to choose affliction rather than iniquity; to pass by an affront though he lose by it, and be hissed as a fool and a coward, rather than engage in a sinful quarrel."

put off all wrath, anger, and malice

"This is that meekness and quietness of spirit which is recommended to us: such a command and composure of the soul that it does not become unhinged by any provocation whatever, but all its powers and faculties preserved in due temper for the just discharge of their respective offices. In a word, put off all wrath and anger and malice, those corrupted limbs of the old man; pluck up and cast away those roots of bitterness, and stand upon a constant guard against all the exorbitances of your own passion: then you will soon know, to your comfort, better than I can tell you, what it is to be of a meek and quiet spirit."

makes us for a day of persecution

"[Humility] makes us fit for a day of persecution. If tribulation and affliction arise because of the Word--which is no foreign supposition--the meek and quiet spirit is armed for it, so as to preserve its peace and purity at such a time, which are our two great concerns, that we may neither torment ourselves with a base fear, nor pollute ourselves with a base compliance."

quietness is the composure of the meek

"Quietness is the evenness, the composure and the rest of the soul, which speaks both the nature and the excellency of the grace of meekness."

Pray when anger arises

"Pray to God by His Spirit to work in you this excellent grace of meekness and quietness of spirit. It is a part of that loveliness which He puts upon the soul, and He must be sought unto for it. If any man lack this meekness of wisdom, let him ask it of God, who gives liberally, and does not upbraid us with our folly. When we begin at any time to be froward and unquiet, we must lift a prayer to Him... for that grace which establishes the heart. When David's heart was hot within him, the first word that broke out was a prayer (Psa. 39:3-4). When we are surpised with a provocation, and begin to be in a ferment upon it, it will not only be a present diversion, but a sovereign cure, to utter a prayer to God for grace and strength to resist and overcome the temptation: 'Lord, keep me quiet now.'"

a disposition to strive against and strength

"Meekness, in the school of Christ, is one of the fruits of the Spirit. Gal. 5:22,23. It is a grace wrought by the Holy Spirit both as a sanctifier and as a comforter in the hearts of all true believers, teaching and enabling them at all times to keep their passions under the conduct and government of religion and right reason. I observe that it is worked in the hearts of all true believers, because, though there are some whose natural temper is unhappily sour and harsh, yet wherever there is true grace, there is a disposition to strive against, and strength in some measure to conquer such a disposition. And though in this, as in other graces, an absolute sinless perfection cannot be expected in this present state, yet we are to labor after it, and press towards it."

meekness will curb the tongue

"Meekness will curb the tongue, and 'keep the mouth as with a bridle' when the heart is hot. Even when there may be occasion for a keenness of expression, and we are called to rebuke sharply--cuttingly, Titus 1:13--yet meekness forbids all fury and indecency of language, and every thing that sounds like clamor and evil-speaking."

meekness reconciles grievous and afflicting circumstances

"When the events of Providence are grievous and afflicting, displeasing to sense and opposing our worldly interests, meekness not only quiets us under them, but reconciles us to them; and enables us not only to bear, but to receive evil as well as good at the hand of the Lord; which is the excellent frame that Job argues himself into: it is to kiss the rod, and even to accept the punishment of our sin, taking all in good part that God does; not daring to contend with our Maker, no, nor desiring to advise him, but being dumb, and not opening the mouth, because God does it."

meekness: a gracious easiness

"We must be of a MEEK spirit. Meekness is easiness of spirit: not a sinful easiness to be debauched, as Ephriam's, who willingly walked after the commandment of the idolatrous princes; nor a simple easiness to be imposed upon and deceived, as Rehoboam's, who, when he was forty years old, is said to be young and tender-hearted; but a gracious easiness to be wrought upon by that which is good, as theirs whose heart of stone is taken away and to whom a heart of flesh is given. Meekness accommodates the soul to every occurrence, and so makes a man easy to himself and to all about him. The Latins call a meek man mansuetus, which refers to the taming and reclaiming of creatures wild by nature, and bringing them to be tractable and familiar. James 3:7-9. Man's corrupt nature has made him like the wild donkey used to the wilderness, or the swift dromedary traversing her ways. Jer. 2:23-24. But when the grace of meekness gets dominion, it alters the temper, submits to management; and there is nothing to hurt or destroy."

do not overrate yourself

"The humble man, is ever the patient man. Pride is the source of irregular and sinful passions. A lofty spirit, will be an unyielding and peevish spirit. When we overrate ourselves--we think that we are treated unworthily, that our trials are too severe--thus we cavil and repine. ...you should have such thoughts of yourself as would put a stop to these murmurings. You should have lower and more humiliating views of yourself than any other one can have of you! Get humility--and you will have peace, whatever you trial is!"

the meek are steady in God

"The meek man is like a ship that rides at anchor, movetur, sed non amovetur--'is moved, but not removed'. The storm moves it (the meek man is not a stock or stone under provocation), but does not remove it from its port. It is a grace that in reference to the temptations of affront and injury quenches the fiery darts of the wicked (as faith in reference to temptation in general). It is armor of proof against the spiteful and envenomed arrows of provocation, and is an impregnable wall to secure the peace of the soul there, where 'thief cannot break through and steal,' while the angry man lays all his comforts at the mercy of every wasp that will strike him."

knowledge of unworthiness & dependence on God

"Humility consists of having low thoughts of ourselves, founded upon the knowledge of our unworthiness and dependence on God's aid. The sense of the weakness of our understanding, which is the effect of humility, is a temper of soul which prepares it for faith: partly as it puts us on a serious consideration of those things which are revealed to us in the Word; partly as it stops all curious enquiries into those things which are unsearchable, and principally as it entitles to the promise, 'God giveth grace to the humble.'"

what it means

"Meek means yielding, gentle, mild, patient, calm, and soothing; not aggressive or self-assertive or bossy; cheerfully putting up with wrong and present disadvantages for the sake of eternal good.
Meek people are self-controlled people and they have great power for good influence. It is a training to controlling the flesh. It is the attitude that can best help others."

in a much better position to enjoy life

"Christianity, as we know, demands humility. That is a hard course to steer when the rest of the world (and many Christian preachers with it) urges us in the other direction. But whatever can be said against humility, this much can bes said for it: the humble person is in a much better position to enjoy life. He is, because he can still be surprised. He can take unexpected pleasure in life because anything he gets is more than expected.

The proud man, on the other hand, can never get much satisfaction because what he gets is always less than what he feels he deserves. It's not that good things don't come his way. It's just that when they do, he can't maintain any interest in them. His focus on himself crowds out the appreciation of what is not himself."

the mark

"Humility is the mark of all the faithful."

accept His dealings as good

"Meekness toward God is that disposition of spirit which we accept His dealings with us as good and therefore without disputing or resisting."