PRAY FOR.....HUMILITY

He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble His way (Psalm 25:9).
If there is one thing God hates, it is pride. In fact, it was pride which led to the downfall of the once great worship leader of heaven - Lucifer, who declared himself to be greater than God. (Read here to see how vile Lucifer's pride was). The opposite of pride is humility - real humility, not the false which which causes the religious to stand in the market place like the pharisees did. They looked the part, appeared to be holy and acted like they were fasting, but their hearts were full of religious pride and sin before God.

Humility which causes God to give grace (while He resists and rebukes the proud) is not just a freedom from arrogance and pride, but a genuine, conscious and intentional attitude which regards others as worthy of your service and mine. It is the kind of meekness like Jesus, Whose meekness could never be confused with weakness. He was, after all, the Son of God. We are, after all, if we are born again, sons and daughters of God. Our meekness and submission to the Will of God (love God first and love others) is BASED on this positional truth!

To be clearer, our firm and sealed position as joint heirs with Christ in the Kingdom of Heaven is what affords us the privilege and opportunity to be like our Lord, and to be completely grateful for our salvation by walking this thing called Life out as, Micah 6:8 instructs us! God says this, which applies to our point: "He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?" (Micah 6:8).

In this verse, we see the following:
- God has shown us what is good (our salvation and sealing via the Holy Spirit until the Day of Redemption or when we die and go to Him).
- Because of this fact, He requires something in return of all Christians: 
  1. Be fair with everyone in our dealings and to not take advantage of ANYONE.
  2. Love people and be compassionate towards them, as God is to us.
  3. Live a Christian life of surrender to Christ daily, in true humility.

This is an equation which gives life while summing up the Christian Journey. Most believers are somewhere along the scale of humility when converted from darkness to light. However, too many in the west use our wealthy churches and its ministries - from the vast and exciting world of Christian media and to parachurch ministry - use their position in Christ to not so much enrich themselves but as to become very turf-oriented, forgetting from whence cometh their gifting. So let us resolve to pray, no matter what our status in the Journey with Jesus, for humility and surrender as we begin each day, so that we may receive guidance, direction and blessing with a humble heart and soul. Let us pray:

Heavenly Father, I thank You that You gave Your Son as a ransom for many, that sinners - vile and unworthy though we are - could and would be saved if we believe the Gospel, repented of those sins and accept the finished work on the Cross for our salvation.  Help us to be more like Him oh Lord. To be like the Humble, suffering Savior Who gave Himself and served and loved and put others before Him, knowing all along that He was God, the Ancient of Days.

Help us to understand how blessed and fortunate we are as Your children, that we don't need to call down fire and judgment and hell from heaven on bad people, even though we may feel like it, but to remember at those times that we should be grateful that our names are written in Your Book of Eternal Life! Help us to put aside ALL encumbrances which clog our communication lines with you and could cause us to stumble that we may remain humble, like Your Servant Moses, whom You called the "most humble man ever on the earth". Lord, we love, adore, worship and magnify You and Your Name above all others and that includes, most certainly, ourselves. Help us to remember WHO You are so we can remember Whose we are and our lives will reflect this gratitude and truth, in the Mighty and Strong Name of Jesus, we pray, amen and amen and amen!!!

OTHER VERSES TO MEDITATE UPON TO GROW IN HUMILITY:

Matthew 18:1-4 “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

Philippians 2:3-4 “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.  Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

First Peter 5:5-6 “Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you.” 

DAY 23/40 DAYS OF PRAYER FOR AMERICA

         AMERICA OFF BALANCE, PART 4

PRAYING IN HUMILITY

When God helps us in our doubts and fears, and restores us to rightful fellowship with Him - if we are truly His - the response should be complete and total humility.  We see in the Bible that God resists the Proud, but gives Grace to the Humble ( Proverbs 3:34; James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5).  It behooves the praying Christian to not only remember this but to operate in this paradigm forever! 

The world will not get the Grace we receive until it gets rid of the pride which brought the downfall of Satan before Creation. This is important to note as we just passed the midway point, during this crucial time for the destiny of this country, and as we pray not just FOR our Families, Children, Community and Nation, but against the propagation of evil and anything anathema to the Word of the Lord.

I love what EM Bounds said about Humility (in prayer) at three different times:
Humility is realizing our unworthiness....(it is) the feeling and declaring of ourselves as sinners because we ARE sinners.
Humility springs from a lowly estimate of ourselves and (what we thing we) are deserving (of).
Humility holds in its keeping, the VERY life of Prayer. Neither Pride or Vanity can pray!

Father, Abba Father, God of the Universe, in the Name of Jesus, You Who gives Grace to the Humble and turn Your Head away from the evil prideful things of this world and those who promote them, I cry out to You on behalf of those who are not able, through lack of understanding and/or obedience, to humble themselves before You to seek Your Face in holiness and righteousness. One, may they come to a realization that pride is vanity and all perdition begins and ends because of it. May they come to a realization that we must be like our Humble Savior, Who was born in a lowly cold, dark and dirty cave in Bethlehem....Who never had a home or place to sleep during those three years of ministry....Whose possessions were those He wore....Who, even though He was and is the King, came riding into Jerusalem as we behold Him riding on a donkey. What Humility! Hallelujah, What a Savior!

Help us to be more like Him, more Christlike, as we seek Your attention in our hour of need, in these dark days...the days which for sure are only about the material and temporal, but which have significant meaning for the type of people and nation our families grow up in; or in which we minister the Gospel to others who see only the natural and NOT the Supernatural things of God, our Father. Lord, we know what Pride can bring - all kinds of disaster - if we buy into all the things the world, the flesh and the devil try to sell, so now, touch our hearts, minds, body and soul for Jesus and therefore, for others, as we pray for a future of peace, less anxiety and more Faith and Trust, on behalf of our families and friends, in Jesus' Holy Name, amen and amen!

(image courtesy Beinspirashion.com)