PRACTICE HUMILITY

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

HE must increase [in prominence], but I must decrease. - John 3:30 AMP

If you will humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, in his good time HE will LIFT you up. - 1 Peter 5:6 ESV

Be always humble, gentle, and patient…Ephesians 4:2 GNB

How willing are we to be humble?

Are we willing to DECREASE so that GOD can INCREASE?

We are a proud lot by nature.

Yet how often does pride cause us to stumble? It does cause “falls” as Proverbs reminds.

C.S. Lewis remarked that…

“As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down you cannot see something that is above you.”

OUCH!

Yet it IS very easy to get caught up in ourselves.

At least it is for me.

I have to daily guard against it.  Those who know me well know that I struggle with the “desire” for approval.  I even lean on a book or two to help with the affliction. (Approval Addiction – Meyer/It’s NOT about Me – Lucado)

And yet THANKFULLY GOD has not tired of my weakness, I BELIEVE that!

He will use you to accomplish great things on the condition that you believe much more in his love than in your weakness – Mother Teresa

I do believe in HIS love.

Therefore, I am thankful for GOD and His desire to refine me to make HIS GLORY my motivation; that the applause of men/women is secondary to His glorification.

Yet if I or we needed further convincing about this “humility thing”, Jesus himself is pretty “clear cut” when it comes to “applause seeking” …

“Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don’t make a performance out of it. It might be good theater, but the God who made you won’t be applauding.

“When you do something for someone else, don’t call attention to yourself. You’ve seen them in action, I’m sure—‘playactors’ I call them—treating prayer meeting and street corner alike as a stage, acting compassionate as long as someone is watching, playing to the crowds. They get applause, true, but that’s all they get. When you help someone out, don’t think about how it looks. Just do it—quietly and unobtrusively.

That is the way your God, who conceived you in love, working behind the scenes, helps you out. - Matthew 6:1-4 (MSG) 

Did you catch that last little phrase?

That is the way GOD “helps you out”.

That fits perfectly with what PETER implores when he reminds us that when WE humble OURSELVES it is GOD who does the lifting, GOD who does the exalting, that GOD does the energizing and inspiring.  No need to draw attention. 

GOD has EVERYTHING covered.

So today let’s practice humility so that GOD may be GLORIFIED, and we may be lifted  and energized today!

For...“Pride must die in you, or nothing of heaven can live in you.” ― Murray…

I love you ALL!

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