What is Humility?  Do I want it?

First, Let's Take a Look at Pride

You know the story... trouble comes into your life. You can hardly make ends meet; you lose your job, your house maybe even your family. In the trenches of such turmoil you think, "Well, at least I still have my pride."  We as humans grasp onto anything that makes us feel better in times of trial.  Pride is a false comfort, it is a trick of the enemy to make us believe we have the ability to pull ourselves up by the boot straps and make it through on our own.  This belief system is a worldly philosophy and will never add to our Christian walk.  If we are willing to yield our hearts in absolute surrender there is no end to what God will do in us!

Pride can work itself into every area of our Christian life.  Our service for God can be infected with it, our prayers can become selfish and motivated with personal gain, and even our hospitality towards others can be lined with ulterior motives.

It all started in the garden long ago.  Eve had everything she needed, even a personal connection with God. She and Adam were asked to do an important thing for God, TRUST HIM!  They were not to eat of the forbidden fruit and just trust that God had their best interest at heart. Satan came in and being he was very familiar with pride (having fallen himself) convinced Eve that God was holding out on her.  Let us read it in Genesis 3:1-6...

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’? ”

² The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, ³ but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
⁴ “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. ⁵ “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
⁶ When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.

We know the rest of the story, Adam also eats of the forbidden fruit and the fall of man happens, creating a divider in our intimacy with God.  The good news is that Jesus Christ came to save us from such division and he reigns on the throne today. The word speaks about such liberty in John 3:16...

^" For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

Jesus made it possible to have an intimate, father to son, father to daughter relationship.  How we become a part of God's glory is by fully submitting to it. We give up self-glory and surrender to God's glorification.  In this place of humility and surrender we find ourselves.  As we decrease his light increases in us. We begin to notice the weeds in the garden of our heart and as we lay it at the altar the Lord removes them.  This  creates good ground for his word to take root thus being transformed by the renewing of our minds.

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is —his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:2 (NIV)

 Ever heard of the expression, "He is so full of himself?" An example of the oppressed would be those who are arrogant, prideful, and yet have no idea why they are void of an intimate relationship with the Lord. The scripture warns of pride and encourages humility.

James 4:6 - But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.

Proverbs 3:34 - He mocks proud mockers but gives grace to the humble.

Proverbs 16:19 - Better to be lowly in spirit and among the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud.

A minister in the early 1900's by the name of Andrew Murray talked on this very subject with great revelation. He said, "Beautifully, grace has come to restore what sin has corrupted, and bring man glory by the pathway of dying unto himself living solely for the glory of God."

So what is humility? Humility is the outcome of a surrendered heart.  It is not something you can bring to God.  Many times we pray, ( I know I have in the past)  "Lord I come to you in humility". This is not possible. You can come to God in "surrender" but even your will to do so was inspired by the Holy Spirit. Humility is not something we can offer to the Lord.  Once self-denial takes place, humility then moves in and "self" moves out.

  Humility is the result of "selflessness." What I am saying is, all that you are able to surrender, equating to humility , is given to you by the working of Jesus in you.  You cannot even exert humility out of your own effort.  Humility and surrender go hand and hand and they are both inspired and brought to full maturity by the Spirit of the Lord and through the redeeming blood of Jesus.  All we must do is acknowledge we are nothing without Jesus and ask the Lord to groom our hearts so we can live as he did. 


 Matthew 16:24 "Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."


You may be asking, "How will I know where and when to deny myself? The answer is... do so in everything, asking the Lord.  No one can give you the right answer but Jesus himself. The more you let Jesus work on your heart the more the carnal nature will lose it's hold. We must believe Jesus will do a complete work in us. The power of faith being we believe in the power of eternal life that works in us daily, giving glory to Jesus who is our life. Philippians 2:3 says it best,

"Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; 4do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. 5Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."

At all costs starve pride.  Give it nothing to feed on. Let God alone always obtain the glory. Observe all that is good in his children, praying earnestly for the areas that you know need revelation of the truth.  The nearer we are to God the less we are in ourselves and the stronger we are in Him!  Humility trusts in God for the outcome, pride trusts in man's wisdom.  We should try not to trust in our own human wisdom about things that are of the spirit. We must renounce the sinful self. Pride is the root of all sin, learn to hate it!

What does humility require and do I want it?

Humility requires you to be completely yielded to all that glorifies Christ. It requires you to be stripped of the attitude of entitlement and have gratefulness for everything that God does for you including the fact you exist for him. Humility will require that you give up who you think you are so you can become who God destined you to be!  Do you want it?  This is only a question you can answer but the scripture states that you will be content, joyful and secure when humility is diligently working in your heart.

Humble( surrender) yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. (1 Peter 5:6-7 KJV)

Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. (Matthew 5:5 KJV)

I leave you with this quote again from Andrew Murray, our predecessor who strove to abandon the self to become as Jesus' likeness..."It is easy to think we humble ourselves before God: humility towards men will be the only sufficient proof that our humility before God is real; that humility has taken abode in us;and become our very nature;that we actually, like Christ, have made ourselves of no reputation."

Let us pray and ask for humility with a pure motive; hungry for radical change within the heart. 

Lord,

I need you!  I cannot do anything without you.  I breathe because you ordain it to be. I ask that you would forgive me for all pride, self-gain and glory stealing tactics.  I want your heart Lord.  I pray for humility. I want what you desire for me and what you desire to do through me, giving all glory to your Son Jesus Christ!

In Jesus holy name,
Amen


I pray this teaching blessed you and brought you to a new level of understanding.  May the revelation of the word of God be evident in your life and may the Lord's wisdom be ever present in your heart.

In His grip.

Kelly Stark