here’s just a few things that I have been learning the past few days- I’m just typing what is already written in my journal or making a summary of it- and I hope God speaks to you through it…
– Pride and Humility.
– 1 Peter 5 encourages and talks about humility:
5 In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because,
“God opposes the proud
but shows favor to the humble.”[a]
6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. 11 To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.
Pride is SO UGLY. Like actually repulsive and I feel like a slave to it at least once, often times more, every day. I am not above anybody, wiser than anybody, better than anyone, in ANY way. Why do my thoughts reflect otherwise?
Being humble towards other humans should be so simple. We are all sinners, equally sinful in the face of the Lord. So if we’re all equally sinful, why is it so easy to think we’re better than others? It actually doesn’t even make any sense logically to be prideful.
– So how does pride play out?
– Around other humans, a prideful person puts themselves on a pedestal above everyone else. It creates a god complex within themselves that only they worship. When that person who worships themselves also is called to worship God, it doesn’t work. You cannot worship two things. How are you supposed to be dependent on God if you view yourself so highly? How are you supposed to worship God, when you spend majority of your time worshiping yourself? How are you supposed to be meek and humble and be a servant to everyone around you when, in your mind, you’re better than everyone around you. It just doesn’t work!!!
– Pride allows you to think that you can handle situations and your life better than anyone- including, and especially better than God could.
– I don’t want to live a prideful life. I want to live a humble life. I will pray to be clothed in humility every day and in all circumstances. I will pray for the Holy Spirit to conflict me and make me aware of anytime that I am being prideful.
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– Being humble enough to kneel before God and surrender everything that is burdening you and causing you anxiety. How great a gift! That we can bring anything and everything to the Lord- without making it look pretty, or fixing it partly so He won’t have to deal with the whole thing- in rawness and ugliness and giving it all to Him.
– In South Africa, the teacher who we helped out had her students all go on a walk. It was mid afternoon in South African summer and it was HOT. We had to walk to this field and each get a rock. The rocks had to be heavy enough where we struggled to carry them (if they weren’t big enough, she would send you back to get a bigger one). We had to all stand in the drive way and hold the rocks above our heads. People were shaking and trembling after a few minutes. The teacher explained that we are holding onto so many things and not surrendering them to God. That we choose to carry burdens, thoughts, hatred, secrets, etc. around with us constantly. It’s like holding these huge rocks above our heads. We can only do it for so long before we collapse. But God gives us another option. When we are humble enough to admit we cannot hold it up anymore and hold on to these things anymore and ask for his help, He takes it all from us.
– I asked God what I should read before I left for ministry and immediately just heard Isaiah Zechariah 64. So I decided to read both…
– Isaiah 64:
– I opened to Isaiah 64. The chapter started close to half way through a heading from chapter 63 that was titled, “Prayer for Mercy”. So, I just started from Isaiah 63:15 to have a little background and start at the beginning of the prayer.
– Half of verse 17 says, “O Lord, why do you make us wander from your ways and harden our heart, so that we fear you not?” Lately I have been so discouraged about how powerful and entrapping my flesh feels. But this verse was so peaceful in reminding me that sin is in my nature, it’s constantly going to be pulling me away from God, and trying to make me wander. It’s expected that I will feel disheartened when I’m trying to serve God in a secular world (I also know it’s not okay to remain in that place and give up).
– From Isaiah 63:15-6:12, Isaiah is praying for God’s mercy. Verse 9 says, “Be not so terribly angry, O Lord, and remember not iniquity forever. Behold, please look, we are all your people.” Isaiah is begging God to not hold their sins against them for eternity. He is wanting God to show them any amount of mercy and asking, “Will you keep silent, and afflict us so terribly?” (verse 12).
– Today…. we sin, ask for forgiveness, and no matter the sin, we immediately receive it, are drenched in mercy, and God pursues us more and more. God blots out our sins and Jesus stands before us, so we appear as righteous as Him before our Father. Just a reminder of what an absolute blessing and gift it is that God sent His son to take our place and we get to live life with mercy, forgiveness, and unconditional love.
– Zechariah 64:
– Well Zechariah only has 14 chapters. But it never hurts to read from the bible so I though maybe I’ll read chapter 6 verse 4?? It said, “I asked the angel who was speaking to me, “What are these, my lord?” I had no clue what that meant and I was just starring at my bible and saw that Zechariah 7 was entitled similarly to Isaiah 64 (“Prayer for Mercy” & “A Call For Justice and Mercy”), so I just read chapter 7 instead. Essentially, the people of Bethel want to know if they have to fast and mourn again for another month. They ask the priests and Zechariah the prophet. And the Lord answers them through Zechariah….
– 9 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, 10 do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.”
– Firstly, that is an incredible reminder about how we need to live righteously. “Let none of you devise evil against another in your heart”- we are not allowed to conserve, think up, dream up, formulate any evil against any other person in your head, in your heart, our loud- anything.
– Continuing on……. “11 But they [the people of Bethel] refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear. 12 They made their hearts diamond-hard lest they should hear the law and the words that the Lord of hosts had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets…”
– They asked God for an answer and He gave them the answer. But the people thought they were wiser than God. They decided it didn’t sound appealing and, therefore, it was wrong and they did not have to abide by it.
– How many times have you and I begged God for help and He gives us an answer that doesn’t sound appealing or easy or fun or popular? And when we do get that answer, do we just say something along the lines of “no, that wasn’t actually from God” or “he just doesn’t understand that I have to do this instead”?
– How dare I ask God for help/an answer/a solution and then I decide that the GOD OF THE UNIVERSE IS WRONG…???????
– God is always faithful to me. I am called to be faithful to God. Obedience and follow through are difficult when Someone so righteous is calling us to live in the exact same way in a secular world… that doesn’t allow for us to use it as an excuse. If anything, that should remind us that we are set apart, that we are called to higher standards, that we get to serve God (!!!!!!!) and therefore have a reason to live differently!
– The last thing that God has urged me to write in this blog is a simple reminder. Before all the different types of armor that are listed in Ephesians 6 (when it talks about the armor of God), it says (in verse 14) “Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth….” STAND THEREFORE. We are not the ones fighting, God is fighting on our behalf. Trust in the Lord and not yourself. We have no need to be anxious or worry and are reminded in Psalms 23, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.” Stop fighting by yourself. Surrender and stand firmly having all trust in God. “6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” (James 1).
