Category Archives: Humility

Did you already build your house?

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“being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;”

 -Philippians 1:6 NKJV

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On the day of our salvation, God started a “good work” on each of us. Of course we aren’t immediately made like Christ. Instead it is a gradual process, that happens everyday. It’s not an easy process. Sometimes it hurts. Oftentimes, we have to be broken from the inside out, to be rebuilt again. And, we don’t always understand what God is doing, but He always has a plan. James 1:2-4 NIV says,  “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds,  because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” We must be willing to allow God to remove and add to us. But, most importantly we must be patient and not give up.

“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of – throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”  – C.S.Lewis

Have you planned out your life and what you want to be like? Did you already decide on all of the details of your future?  Proverbs 19:21 says, “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” We may have plans, but God has bigger plans. His understanding and wisdom is infinite. Isaiah 55:9 reminds us that God’s ways are higher than our ways. It says, “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” We can’t just give up, because things don’t seem to be going our way. We need to trust God to not only mold us, but lead us to where He wants to take us. Hebrews 10:36 NIV says, “You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.” Are you willing to allow God to mold you and change you from the inside out? Are you willing to exchange your plans for God’s plans? We may not understand what God is doing with us or our lives, but if we trust Him and cooperate, He will transform us and our lives into something better than we could ever imagine.

Dear Lord Jesus, please give us hearts that are willing to submit to Your alterations and the patience we need to wait for Your guidance. Please help us to trust You, when we don’t understand, what You are doing with our lives. Please help us to remember Your plans are always the best. Amen.

 

How to be Ambitious Without Falling into a Trap

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“Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life[f] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?”  

-Matthew 16:24-26 NIV

tightrope

What does it mean to deny yourself? I think denying yourself means being willing to give up your life desires and ambitions. What are ambitions and aren’t they good? 1 Thessalonians 4: 9-11 NIV says, “Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other…. Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more, and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life…” This is a very different picture of ambition than what the world paints for us. The world portrays ambition as aggressively pursuing riches, power, and recognition. It almost justifies chasing after earthly ambitions or relentlessly climbing the corporate latter: not stopping until you have the best job, the best house, the best car, the best of everything, and all of the fame and admiration from the those around us. But, God didn’t intend it to be that way. God gave us gifts and talents to bring Him glory by pleasing Him and serving others. 2 Corinthians 5:9 NASB says, “Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.” God gave us passion and drive to use our talents for His glory, not just for our own gain. Of course we need to work to provide for ourselves and our families, but He doesn’t want us to become so caught up in our talents and our abilities, that we fail to remember where they came from. This reminds me of walking on a tightrope. We need to be ambitious, but not so ambitious that our goals, jobs, accomplishments, and fame become more important to us than serving God and others. But, I do understand that sometimes humans fall into the trap of using their gifts and talents to gain recognition, approval, and/or attention from others. And in these cases, if others cease to give us that attention, we end up feeling empty, unappreciated, unsatisfied, insecure, and/or angry. But, we never should have been relying on other people’s approval in the first place (we were mistaken into seeking human approval over God’s approval).

“Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.”- Galatians 1:10 NIV

Furthermore, Philippians 2:3 NIV says, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” We must strive to use our work and ministries as an opportunity to bring glory to God and improve the well being of other’s lives.

“My purpose remains
The art of losing myself
In bringing You praise—Everlasting
Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending
Your glory goes beyond all fame”

-Hillsong United

Dear Lord Jesus, please help us to use Your gifts and talents to bring You glory. Please help us not to use your gifts solely to receive recognition, praise, and approval from others. Help us to remember, that You gave us unique gifts and talents to serve You, and not solely for our own gain. Amen.

 

 

The Best GPS

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“I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten.”

 – Joel 2:25 KJV 

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 In Joel 2, the Israelites were called to turn from their ways, and to turn back to God. Sometimes, we are really hard on ourselves after we make bad choices or mistakes. We feel like we don’t deserve any good things. But, God is still working on us and still loves us. When we make so many bad choices, that we end up in the wrong place; God is still there with us to help us find our way to where we need to be. He is like our built in GPS. Deep in the back of our minds, He is telling us to head a certain direction. And, when we go the wrong direction, He reroutes for us to get to the destination, that He intended for us. We just need to listen to God and obey His directions. Furthermore, “When we make bad choices, it’s hard to believe anything good can grow in our lives again.” (Nortker, 3-Minute Devotionals For Women, p.322) But, Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Notice how it says, “all things” and not some things. All things means not only our good choices, but also our bad choices. God knows everything. Isaiah 46:10 reminds us that, God knows “…what will happen in the end…” This means He even knows the mistakes we will make in the future. When we make these mistakes, God will still love us and have plans for our lives. God is bigger than our mistakes.

 “Only God can turn

 a mess into a message,

a test into a testimony,

a trial into a triumph,

a victim into a victory,

 a problem into a prayer.”

 -Nishan Panwar

We just need to be patient and willing to follow His directions, when He is rerouting our lives. Amen.

Reference:

Brigitta Nortker, comp. 3-Minute Devotionals For Women. Uhrichsville: Barbour, Ohio. Print.

Putting Out Fires!

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I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go, I will guide you with My eye. -Psalm 32:8 NKJV
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At times, our lives can feel like they are “careening out of control, so much so that you feel like a firefighter running from here to there, extinguishing fires breaking out in your life or the lives of those around you.” (Nortker, 3-Minute Devotionals For Women) Everywhere we look their are new issues threatening to burst into flames. And then, there are those explosions that take us by surprise. How can we find peace with all that is happening around us? But, we can’t let outer circumstances control our lives. What we see, hear, and feel around us tends tamper with our emotions. But, we can’t let our emotions control us, or else they will become like fuel thrown into the fires in our lives. As you can understand, uncontrolled emotions only exacerbate the problems in our lives.

We have to stop, drop, and roll.

1. Stop immediately reacting to our emotions
2. Drop to our knees and pray
3. Roll into listening mode

 stop drop and roll 042213_0138_ThinkLikeGo1

1. Stop immediately reacting to our emotions

“My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.” – James 1:19 NIV

2. Drop to our knees and pray

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”-Philippians 4:6-7NIV

“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.”-John 5:14NIV

3. Roll into listening mode

“But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth…” -John 16:13

For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”-Luke 12:12 ESV

As Christians, we need to let the Holy Spirit lead us instead of our emotions.

“When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him.”- Psalm 91:15 ESV

That way, we allow God to rescue us from the fires in our lives. Amen.

 

Reference:

Brigitta Nortker, comp. 3-Minute Devotionals For Women. Uhrichsville: Barbour, Ohio. Print.

The Barren Tree

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“He must increase, but I must decrease” – John 3:30 ESV

“The tree was bare. Every leaf had been shed. Winter had arrived. Yet, beyond the barren tree, the sun peeked its head above the treetops. Dawn was breaking. As the sun ascended higher, it’s rays were visible through the bare branches. Before long, the entire tree was glowing as the sun’s radiance shone through it.” (Nortker, 3-Minute Devotionals For Women, p. 91)

 barren tree

“Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.”

 -James 4:10 NKJV

 

What is humility? The Living Bible translation of James 4:10 describes it as seeing ourselves as worthless. It says, “Then when you realize your worthlessness before the Lord, he will lift you up, encourage and help you.” Humility is one of the most misunderstood concepts. There is a quote by C.S. Lewis that sums it up pretty good, though: “True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.” When we think about it like that, we have to ask ourselves the following question: how much time do we spend thinking about ourselves (our wants, our desires, our happiness, our dreams, our goals, our plans, our finances, our things). I’m sure that most will find that we spend more time thinking about ourselves than thinking about God or others. But, if we spent less time thinking about our problems, wants, needs; how would our lives be different? Maybe we would be less stressed about our own lives and a bigger blessing in other’s lives? The author of the excerpt above describes a tree, that doesn’t have any leaves or blossoms. It’s been stripped of everything that could give it physical beauty, power, glory. In the same way, we need to be able to let God strip us of our desires and our visions of self-importance. We need to humble ourselves, before The Lord, and offer Him everything we have and want. That way, God can take the pride and other ungodly attitudes from us. If we do that, we will not be hindered by our own selfish will from fulfilling His complete and ultimate purpose for our lives. What if we made God’s will and God’s plans our will and our plans? Since the tree had less of itself, the glory of the sun (Son of God) could shine through it making it a more glorious sight than if it would have stubbornly retained its leaves. We need to be like the tree. We need to decrease, so that God can increase (“He must increase, but I must decrease” – John 3:30) and His glory can shine through us and past our insufficiencies. Amen.

 

“Jesus said to His followers, “If anyone wants to be My follower, he must forget about himself. He must take up his cross and follow Me.”-Matthew 16:24

 

#humble

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Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.  -James 3:13

Iran-Deserts

 What does it mean to be understanding? It can feel pretty difficult to put yourself in the shoes of all those around you. You have to feel their pain and hurt. It could be painful. But God wants us to be able to:

  1. Feel how they feel
  2.  Think about how they feel
  3.  And, react to their (perhaps irrational) reactions                                                        in the same way that He would (with love).

 I think another key word here is humility.

“not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature[a] God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature[b] of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!”

-Philippians 2:4-8

In this verse, Christ sets the ultimate example of humility.

But, what is humility? I remember reading article about the word humble. It turns out it is trending for people to misuse the word “humble.” They #humble and say that was a humbling experience, but really they are boasting. When you really think about it: is it humble to say, “I am humble”? Isn’t that giving yourself credit and talking good (boasting) about yourself?

So, James 3:13 says, “by deeds done in humility.” How do we act in humility? The same way Jesus did. “He made himself nothing.” He knows how we feel. But, He also knows our words and actions (the ugly ones). He chose to react with love, even if it meant “taking the very form of a servant” and ultimately giving His life for us. May our Lord Jesus Christ show us how to live in humility with understanding hearts. Amen.