Monday, April 26, 2010

"...will HUMBLE themselves..."

Am I sinning against God in the area of my thankfulness towards Him? Meditate on the verses then answer the questions below. Any affirmative answer is sin and should be confessed. Confession alone will not put us in the position we need to be for revival to come. We must ask God to change our heart and then we must also cooperate with God by changing the way we think then our behavior will follow. This take time and determination on our part…I believe this process is part of what is an “effective, fervent prayer.’
Job 1:21
And he said:
"Naked I came from my mother's womb,
And naked shall I return there.
The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away;
Blessed be the name of the Lord."
Psalm 34:1
I will bless the Lord at all times;
His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
Ephes. 5:20
giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
I Thessalonians 5:18
“In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”
Philip. 4:6
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;
Col. 3:17
And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
Hebrews 13:15
Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.

Are you worrying about anything? Do you pray about everything?
Have you failed to thank God for all things? Do you thank Him for the seemingly bad as well as the good? Is there a trust problem that causes you to forget He is always good and always does good?
Do you neglect to give thanks at mealtime? Do you truly focus on what you are praying or do you just quickly go through the motions?
Are you praising God enough? What are the majority of your words related to?
Is your thanklessness a result of your thinking you deserve more or better? This can lead to jealousy, covetousness and discontent. Do you feel cheated or that life isn’t fair? Do you feel sad when you look at others and what they have?
Put Off Put On
Ungratefulness (Rom.1:21) Gratefulness (Eph. 5:25)
Covetousness (Luke 12:15) Contentment (Heb. 13:5)
Discontent (Heb. 13:5) Contentment (1 Tim 6:8)
Murmuring/Complaining (Phil. 2:14) Praise (Heb. 13:5)
Jealousy (Gal. 5:26) Trust (1 Cor. 13:4)

If you like me are seeking revival then we must start asking ourselves the hard questions. I am going to prayerfully go through each of these verses and questions seeking God to show me the truth. I don’t want to deceive myself one iota. I don’t want to miss revival because I just didn’t want to take the time to examine myself before Him. I don’t want to be the cause of my church experiencing all God wants. This won’t be easy…it takes time and wrestling.

If anybody out there is joining me let me know so we can hold each other accountable and pray for one another.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Humble Yourself

Sunday morning my pastor gave us challenge to desire revival personally and corporately. He gave us a vision and challenge from 2 Chronicles 7:14. I want to take that challenge seriously. The first thing His child is to do is to humble himself. I have been around the block enough to know that I would much rather humble myself than have God have to humble me; been there a few times and don't want to repeat the experience again. I will humble myself.

Ok, so what does it mean to humble yourself? How do you do it? Where do we begin?
Humbling ourselves we know will require work on our end.

I found some quotes that I found interesting:

"Humility is nothing but truth, while pride is nothing buy lying."
Vincent De Paul

"Humility is strong - not bold; quiet - not speechless; sure - not arrogant." Estelle Smith

"Nothing sets a person so much out of the devil's reach as humility"
Jonathan Edwards

"The boughs that bear most hang the lowest."

"Humility is to make a right estimate of one's self.' Charles Haddon Spurgeon



To be humble means:

*having the proper attitude toward God and the things of God
*having proper dependence on God
*having proper perspective of ourselves (not self-abasement nor self-deprecation)
*having a strong awareness of our unworthiness not our worthlessness
*without pride (pride being the direct opposite of humility)
*not self-centered but God centered

"Humility is to make a right estimate of one's self." This is what I want to do the next few weeks. I have an idea that may help me to do a proper estimation of my self and you too if you would like to join me on the journey. I want to go through a check list if you will to discover any hidden sin, habitual sin and certainly any self-centered or prideful attitudes. I want to humble myself before my God because I trust Him when He say it is the way to His healing.

Check in tomorrow for the beginning of our self-evaluations. It wont be easy but it will be worth it. Soli Deo Gloria.