Have you ever been in prayer, asking God to powerfully move in a certain area of your life, hoping that God’s will would line up with yours? Yeah, all of us, right? But have you ever had that particular prayer remain unanswered for what seemed like a long time and wondered why? If you think I have the answer for you, it’s somewhere in my misplaced notes, so we will have to settle for no answer for now. However, I want to talk about humility and how it relates to our prayers and how we go about life with expectations from God.
“Humility, in ethics, freedom from pride and arrogance; humbleness of mind; a modest estimate of one’s own worth. In theology, humility consists in lowliness of mind; a deep sense of one’s own unworthiness in the sight of God, self-abasement, penitence for sin, and submission to the divine will” (King James Bible Dictionary – Reference List – Humble).
The word ‘humble’ is found in the NKJV of the Bible 85 different times. That statement alone should tell you how important this topic of discussion is. In the past, I have not shied away from being transparent with my readers and I am not going to do it now. My husband had been given a leadership position at church and our pastor was going to announce it in front of the church the following Sunday during service. I will not lie to you; I was so excited. I couldn’t wait to stand in front of people as Pastor said our names. It wasn’t even a ministry I had anything to do with, yet I was making it all about me and my accomplishments. I was so prideful about it, and I knew it. Then Sunday came and my husband informed me that Pastor changed his mind (the reason why is irrelevant) and I was immediately angry about it. “Why,” I asked harshly, with such a nasty tone in my voice that even I was surprised to hear. My husband simply said, “it doesn’t matter.” Later, I had to ask God to forgive me because I knew I made it about myself and nothing to do with serving God. I felt that, in a way, God humbled me by taking away the spotlight keeping me from being puffed up with pride.
I know, right? A Christian with an enormous amount of pride! No way! But it’s true; every word of it. I wish I could say I learned by lesson that day and was never prideful again, but I’m a fallen human just like all the rest. I wanted my next topic to be about humility because for the past several weeks ‘humble’ has been popping up all over the place; devotionals, sermons, YouTube videos, etc. Whether by God or not, it really doesn’t matter to me, but it caused me to pause and research the importance of being humble and what the Bible says about the proud. The verse that stuck out that most was, “But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6)” I recently heard a sermon on this portion of scripture it was so impactful that by the end of it, even moments throughout, I was asking God to remove pride from my nature. Will it go away completely, maybe not, but I know that if I am to improve, I have to be aware of the things I need to flee from, and pride is one of them.
Pastor Castillo, of my fellowship, preached this sermon a few months ago. A friend of mine sent it to me when I asked her if she had anything to do with being humble. I was not disappointed. I’ll link it here: https://www.youtube.com/live/aQY1Le8ktI0?si=3-36j4e6bLYq4ITX
I wasn’t ready for the amount of conviction I felt. I come from a very rough life, so validation has always been something I longed for. Anytime I am acknowledged, I am filled with dopamine and it’s extremely addictive. However, as a disciple of Christ, I have to remember that my life isn’t about me. I already told God that I would take up my cross and follow Him. Every time I get puffed up with pride I’m going back on my promises to God. Thankfully, He is full of endless grace and mercy.
Pastor Castillo began by speaking about applause and how we are addicted to it. Fame, approval, special recognition, attention of any kind, we eat it up like we are starving. He goes on to say that if we aren’t careful, we can bring that carnal nature into the church and into the ministries we serve. Nothing chokes the Spirit of God like a prideful person giving themselves credit for something they could never do without Him. The Pastor spoke about his own struggles with pride, and I found myself more comfortable listening to someone speak about their own dealing with sinful pride. It’s no wonder the LGBT community has named their abomination “Pride.” It’s all about self. But we believers can be the same way at times, and it is important to recognize it before it’s too late.
The Christian community, myself included needs to remember the importance of being teachable, having the capable of hearing rebuke and desiring to changed. At the end of the day, we have to keep our hearts right with God. We need to listen to the Helper and allow conviction to stir us to repentance because there will come a day where each of us stand before God and give an account of our time on earth. If you are reading this, it isn’t by mere chance. God is trying to reach you and let you know that He loves you and wants a relationship with that goes beyond the four walls of the church, beyond you being raised as a Christian and being baptized as a small child, beyond praying a short prayer you recited one day at the altar. Living for God and having a relationship with Him requires faith. “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6)” If you lack faith in God and you do not have a relationship with Him, now is the time to reconcile yourself back to Him.
For the believers reading this, I shared this with you so that you can be aware of the dangers of pride. The word “resist” in James 4:6, ἀντιτάσσεται in Greek, means to oppose. It’s a literal fighting word. God will work against you because of your pride. Often people think it means to stand in front of, to hinder, but it’s deeper than that. God will turn a ministry that was once fruitful into the dead sea all because of pride. We really need to pay attention to this and make sure we repent when our pride becomes an issue. I say this because I know from experience what pride can do if left unchecked. I look around at our world and see the devastation that pride has made just in my lifetime, and I don’t want it leaking into our churches anymore. The enemy wants us to be ignorant of these things, so we have to prepare for battle accordingly.
I appreciate you all taking the time to support my blog. I am praying that God will deliver it to someone who really needs to hear this message, so please feel free to share it on your social media. Continue to pray for my family and I as we prepare for discipleship that will one day lead to us pioneering a church. If you don’t know what I am talking about and want to know more about the fellowship I am involved it, check out our website here: Victory Chapel of Spring Lake.
Again, thank you for being a valued reader. If you have any questions or would like to have a personal conversation of any topic or need prayer, feel free to send me an email at support@biblebreadcrumbs.com
Thank you and God bless!
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