A NEW GRACE IS COMING!

The last few months the LORD has been doing a new work inside of me.  This work is BIG!  It is so big that I am only scratching the surface of what God is trying to do in His people - inside of me!,  The richness of this grace that is being poured out onto humanity will far exceed anything I can ever imagine.  It will change the course of our world, our personal world, and I am trembling to my core with excitement at the very thought of what is about to happen.  There is a grace coming into our lives that will take us places we have never been before.  The grace that God wants to give to us right now is honor.  Not that we get honor, but that we begin to give it.  This is HUGE!


When Todd King, pastor of High Mesa Cowboy Church in Brownwood, Texas  www.highmesacc.com, started teaching on honor in March of 2018, his teaching hit something deep inside of me.  I knew that I had fallen so short of honoring the people that God has placed in my life.  I came home and started meditating on what honor meant.  I googled the meaning, and it said to give “high respect” and “high esteem” to someone - to bring them glory.  Wow!  According to this definition, I knew of no one who is receiving honor right now.  I don’t see honor given in our homes.  I don’t see honor given in our workplaces.  I don’t see honor given in our school systems.  I don’t see honor given in our governing authorities.  I don’t see honor given anywhere, and I did not see it in my heart.  I so very much wanted to remedy that, so I started at the very beginning.   In Deuteronomy 5:16, God said, “Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God commanded you.  Then you will live a long, full life in the land the LORD your God is giving you.”


Both of my parents are gone.  They were both good, honorable people, but my heart never gave them the honor they deserved, and I knew that.  Things got in the way.  Words said.  Things done.  I don’t think that either one of them ever intended to hurt me, but hurt happened and it got in the way.  But I wanted to honor them.  I did!  So I posted on Facebook, and I shared my heart.  Crazy things happened as I began to write.  Somehow I got out of the way, and I could see them clearly.  Honor entered my heart, and I could see the great gift God had given me when He gave me my parents.  I started to cry.  My heart flooded with gratitude.  The following is what I wrote on Facebook in March?


OK. I have to say something. I want to blog, but I don't have time. Todd's message Sunday over honor is hitting me to my core. I googled what honor means. It means "high respect" and "high esteem," to glorify someone. Wow! High respect. Where do I see that? Not in America. I saw it at the royal wedding. England still knows what that means, but we don't. I don't see respect anywhere, let alone "high respect." Then Todd said that respect and honor are taught. We have not been taught to respect or honor people. Wow. It is true. So what I want to do is to publicly do what God is commanding us to do in scripture.


To give honor is a choice. It does not depend on the character of the person being honored. When God says honor someone, He doesn't say, "Honor them if they deserve it." He says, "Give honor: high respect, high esteem, and glory. Give honor with your words. Give honor with your actions. Give honor with your attitude." It is a choice, and I am going to choose to honor. If all goes well, I will do this as often as I can. Just scroll right past me if you want, but if you want, you can join me. The first commandment God gave that comes with a promise is to honor your father and your mother, that it may go well with you, and you will live a long life.  So I want to start out honoring my father and my mother. Neither one are living right now, and I don't know if I honored them when they were alive. I know that I respected them very much, but I don't know if I honored them. I want to do that now.


My dad was an amazing man. He did not do things the way that others thought it should be done, he did things in his own way and his own time. He left home before he graduated and took a job on a seismograph crew. He traveled a lot. His traveling took him through Oshkosh, Nebraska where he met my mother. He was 19 at the time. When he left, a little fourteen year old girl was pregnant. He wrote a note on a napkin, and he said, "I will come back." And he did. Their life was not an easy one, but that man worked hard to provide for his family. He gave us a safe place to grow up. He protected us, and he raised us to be honest, hardworking productive people. He taught us right from wrong, and he expected us always to do what was right. He taught us to always tell the truth - no matter what. That was a gift beyond measure. I don't know that I have ever fully appreciated until now all of the good gifts that man gave to us.  Thank you, dad, for being my dad. I wish I would have told you this when you were alive. I wish I had been able to tell you how valuable you are. I think you needed to hear it. I just didn't know how to say it.


I also want to honor my mother. She, too, was amazing. By the time she was seventeen years old she had three children. At a time when all of her friends were going to school and parties, she was at home with babies, and she was just a little girl herself. She worked hard to make a home for us. She gave and gave and gave. All of you mothers know what I mean. She had her own issues she had to work out, and she did. In her early forties she was diagnosed with cancer. It was at that time that she began to fight hard to live. She forgave people. She laid her burdens down, and before she died - after five long, hard years of surgeries and chemo - she called me and she said, "I know what you are talking about. I have taken up my cross, and I am following Jesus." My mom is the bravest, most self-sacrificing woman I know. I do not think I could do even a fraction of what she did and what she went through. Mom, I wish I would have told you this when you were alive. Maybe I did. I don't know. If you were here now, I know that we would be best friends. That is what my heart always longed for. One day I will be able to hug your neck and tell you how much I love you. Thank you for being my mom. Thank you for all you gave up. Thank you for always taking care of us. Thank you for loving my dad. Thank you for keeping our family together. Thank you for your unfailing love.
I love you both so much,
Terri


Even as I am copying and pasting the Facebook post, my heart is filled with gratitude - such overwhelming gratitude for the parents God gave me.   I wanted to cry.  Then God said, “Honor your grandparents.”  They also played the part of “parents” in our lives.  My brothers and I spent every summer with them.  When I set about to honor my grandparents, honoring my grandmother came easy.  She loved me.  She loved everyone she saw.  My heart has always honored her, but my grandfather was a different story.  When I set about to honor him, there was not one thing that I could think to say that would bring him honor.  He was an alcoholic, and he was very selfish, so I said, “God, I will just honor my grandmother instead.”  But He said, “No.  Honor them both,” so I did.


The minute that I turned to God in obedience to do what He was asking me to do, a spirit entered my heart.  It was the Spirit of Honor.  My heart was able to give “high respect” and “high esteem” to a man who didn’t deserve it.  I saw him in a different light.  I saw past the years of selfish decisions into the heart of a man who was created in the image of God.  It was beyond breathtaking!  HONOR!!!  Then I set my heart to understand HONOR.


Proverbs 14:31    He who oppresses the poor reproaches his Maker, but he who HONORS Him has mercy on the needy.


Proverbs 18:12       Before destruction the heart of a man is haughty, and before HONOR (high esteem and high respect, glory) is humility.


Proverbs 20:3.     It is HONORABLE for a man to stop striving, since any fool can start a quarrel.


Proverbs 21:21     He who follows RIGHTEOUSNESS and MERCY finds life, righteousness, and HONOR.


Proverbs 22:4        By humility and fear of the LORD are riches, HONOR, and life.


Proverbs 27:18    Whoever keeps the fig tree will eat its fruit, so he who waits on his master will be honored.


Proverbs 29:23    A man’s pride will bring him low, but the humble in spirit will retain    HONOR.


Ecclesiastes 10:1    Dead flies putrefy the perfumer’s ointment and cause it to give off a foul odor; so does a little folly to one respected for wisdom and honor.


Mark 7:10        For Moses said, “Honor your father and your mother;” and “he who curses father and mother, let him be put to death.”


1 Timothy 5:3        Honor widows who are really widows.


1 Timothy 5:17    Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of DOUBLE HONOR,    especially those who labor in the word and in doctrine.


1 Timothy 6:1        Let as many bondservants who are under the yoke count their own    masters (bosses) worthy of all HONOR, so that the name of God and His                    doctrine not be blasphemed.


1 Peter 2:18        You who are slaves (employees) must submit to your masters with all respect (HONOR).  Do what they tell you - not only if they are kind and                reasonable, but even if they are cruel.


1 Peter 2:17        HONOR all people.
            Love the brotherhood.
            Fear God.
            HONOR the king.


1 Peter 3:1-6        Wives must accept the authority of your husbands.  Sarah obeyed her husband, Abraham, and called him her master.  You are her daughters when you do what is right (HONOR him) without fear of what your husbands might do.


1 Peter 3:7        In the same way, you husbands must give HONOR to your wives.  Treat    your wife with understanding as you live together.  She may be weaker than you are, but she is an heir together in this grace of life, that your prayers be not hindered.


Revelation 5:12    Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and    wisdom, and strength and HONOR and glory and blessing!


Revelation 5:13    And every creature which is in heaven and on earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying,                    “Blessing and HONOR and glory and power be to HIM who sits on the                     throne and unto the LAMB forever and ever!


Now this is not a comprehensive list of scriptures on HONOR.  What I was looking to find is WHO we are suppose to honor, and according to God’s word, it looks like we are supposed to honor all people.  That means that we are to look at everyone with “high esteem” and “high respect” and to give glory to.  This does not mean that all people are worthy of honor.  Proverbs 26:1 says, “As snow in summer and rain in harvest, so HONOR is not fitting for a fool.”  We have to speak the truth in love.  But even when a person does all kinds of selfish, cruel, unkind things, we can look past what he did and see who he is.  He is a person that God created in His image.  1 Peter 2:17 says, “Honor all people.”  Wow!  Would this change the world?   


What does HONOR look like?  According to the above scriptures, honor looks like humility - thinking of others as more important than ourselves.  Philippians 2:3-4 puts it this way:  Don’t be selfish, don’t try to impress others.  Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.  Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.  So to HONOR someone means to think of them as important - more important than we are.  We are in essence putting their needs and interests above our needs and interests.  Wow!  In other words, if we treat people - all people - the way we would want to be treated, we would HONOR them.  If we want to be honored, we have to give honor.   


HONOR YOUR FATHER AND YOUR MOTHER:


It starts with our parents.  If we have not learned to honor our parents, honoring others in authority will be hard.  But look at what Mark 7:10   Moses said, “Honor your father and your mother,” and “he who curses father and mother, let him be put to death.”  PUT TO DEATH!  WOW!  We have messed up so bad.  Father forgive us for not honoring our parents.  LORD, teach us how.  It starts here.  Teach us how to glorify our parents.  I know that they have not been perfect, but God, none of us are.  PLEASE, LORD, teach us how to honor our parents.


WIVES, HONOR YOUR HUSBANDS:


1 Peter 2:13-21 talks about slaves submitting to their masters, but it is also talking about wives submitting to their husbands. (1 Peter 3:1-2)  “You who are slaves (wives) must submit to your masters (husbands) with all respect.  Do what they tell you - not only if they are kind and reasonable, but even if they are cruel.  For God is pleased when, conscious of His will, you patiently endure unjust treatment.  Of Course, you get no credit for being patient if you are beaten for doing wrong.  But if you suffer for doing good and endure it patiently, God is pleased with you.  For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you.  He is your example, and you must follow in His steps.


We have lived in a time period where men do not receive any respect.  We have not been taught respect, and on top of that, we are living in a time period where women are put on a pedestal.  We can’t cross a woman.  If we do, there is hell to pay.  This has made it so difficult for men to be the leaders in the home or anywhere else for that matter.  We won’t let them.  We want to control them.  We put them down at every opportunity.  Our homes are out-of-order.  It’s a mess, but it could all change if we would start giving HONOR (high respect, high esteem, glory) to our man.  We would be surprised at the results of being obedient in this area.  There is a book written by Debi Pearl that is rocking my world right now, CREATED TO BE HIS HELPMEET.  This is the best book I have ever read on our role as a wife.  Ladies, we have messed up so bad!  But it is never too late to change.  God is in the restoration business.


But what about those husbands who are cruel?  Honor them.  CREATED TO BE HIS HELPMEET addresses all the situations.  Most of the time husbands will change when we begin to treat them the way they were meant to be treated.  For the rest, let the law handle them.


HUSBANDS, HONOR YOUR WIVES:


In the same way, you husbands must give honor to your wives.  Treat your wife with understanding as you live together.  She may be weaker than you are, but she is your equal partner in this grace called life.  Treat her as you should so your prayers will not be hindered.   (1 Peter 3:7) Did you know that your prayers could be hindered if you are not treating your wife with honor.  Would this make all of the difference in the world if we would honor one another and walk in the roles God gave us.


HONOR THOSE IN AUTHORITY:.


1 Timothy 6:1        Let as many bondservants who are under the yoke count their own     masters (bosses) worthy of all HONOR, so that the name of God and His                     doctrine not be blasphemed.


1 Peter 2:18        You who are slaves (employees) must submit to your masters with all     respect (HONOR).  Do what they tell you - not only if they are kind and                     reasonable, but even if they are cruel.


I know that many of us have bosses who are not kind or fair, but God did not ask us to honor only the good ones, He is asking us to honor all of those who are in authority over us.  This includes our President - whether you like him or not.


Romans 13:1-7 Everyone must submit to governing authorities.  For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God.  So anyone who rebels against authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and they will be punished.  For the authorities do not strike fear in people who are doing right, but in those who are doing wrong.  Would  you like to live without fear of the authorities?  Do what is right, and they will honor you.  The authorities are God’s servants, sent for your good.  But if you are doing wrong, of Course you should be afraid, for they have the power to punish you.  They are God’s servants sent for the very purpose of punishing those who do what is wrong.  So you must submit to them, not only to avoid punishment, but also to keep a clear conscience.


Pay your taxes, too, for these same reasons.  For government workers need to be paid.  They are serving God in what they do.  Give to everyone what you owe them.  Pay your taxes and government fees to those who collect them, and give RESPECT and HONOR to those who are in authority.


I see no respect for our President.  That makes me sad.  But what makes me more sad is that we did not show honor and respect for our previous President.  It is God’s will that we HONOR all of those in authority.  We have fallen so far short.  LORD, please forgive us.  Let us start now to bring honor to those who are over us.  I ask this in Jesus’ name.  AMEN


HONOR GOD AND HONOR JESUS!


Revelation 5:12    Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and    wisdom, and strength and HONOR and glory and blessing!


Revelation 5:13    And every creature which is in heaven and on earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying,                    “Blessing and HONOR and glory and power be to HIM who sits on the                     throne and unto the LAMB forever and ever!


This is what it is all about.  Honor God.  Honor Jesus.  We do that when we honor people.  James 3 talks about this.  “Sometimes our tongue praises our LORD and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God.  And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth.  Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right!  Does a spring of water bubble out with both fresh water and bitter water?  Does a fig tree produce olives, or a grapevine produce figs?  No, and you can’t draw fresh water from a salty spring.


How can we bless (HONOR) God who we have never seen and curse (DISHONOR) man who is made in the image of God?  We can’t.  This is HUGE!  God is honored and glorified when we honor other people.  He is honored when we think of others as more important than ourselves.  He is honored when we value others - even when they don’t deserve it.


I don’t know about you, but this HONOR thing is rocking my world.  It is pure grace to be able to walk in honor, but I want to.  LORD, teach us Your ways and show us Your paths.  I ask this in Jesus’ name. AMEN