humility

 Art Katz tells the story of thinking he was going in one direction with his life and when he put the decision before the community, one of the youngest members of the community stood up and nervously said words that Art immediately knew were from God and would completly change his decision/direction.

That ability to stay humble, to stay in a place of humility is key. Many haven fallen beacuse they forsook community, the turned away from being in the lives of others in such a close way that they could be corrected.

Beware, satan, only has the same three tricks all these thousands of years, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life.

Cling to the one whose yoke is easy and whose burden is light.

Humility, The Gift That Protects Us From The Fall

God is at war with pride.
Humility is the weapon He makes available to us.


It follows necessarily that true humility is not something we can obtain.


We must go to Him, His life is humility.


His life as always is what we need.


Pride is available 24 hours a day via the self.


Humility is only in Him.


Oh to be living in such a way that we are moment by moment aware of the conviction of the Holy Spirit.  Oh to be aware of our faults so that we can confess them and be healed. 


May God continue to hold up, His Love, as the standard and may we redeem the time.

Do not try to prove you are better than others.

"Do not try to prove you are better than others." Philippians 2:3a  WE

"Do nothing from factional motives [through contentiousness, strife, selfishness, or for unworthy ends] or prompted by conceit and empty arrogance. Instead, in the true spirit of humility (lowliness of mind) let each regard the others as better than and superior to himself [thinking more highly of one another than you do of yourselves]."   Philippians 2:3 AMPC

Sadly my tendency to want to prove that I am better than you carried over into my life following the Messiah.

But now, by His grace, He has pointed it out, so soon and very soon, by His Spirit it will be defeated.

I wonder if the challenge is to see that the body, believers working together is indeed better than any one follower of the Lord.

I wonder if the call is to truly see the body and your place in it, and to completely and totally give up the unworthy ends of self-exaltation.

I wonder if the most prevalent idol of all is self.

Thank you Lord, when You reveal sin, we repent, You forgive and You begin the process of replacing the tree of the knowledge of good and evil with the tree of life.

I rest in You, I trust in You.

I wish...

I wish every follower of the Messiah would set aside time to listen to this and allow the Lord to speak to them of this "chief distinction in the heavenly kingdom." 
He that is least among you all shall be great. 
Whoever will be chief among you will be your servant. 
The lowliest is the nearest to God.  He that is greatest among you shall be your servant. 
For whoever exalts himself shall be abased and he who humbles himself will be exalted.
 If I then the Lord and Master have washed your feet, you should also wash one another's feet. 
I am among you as He that serves. 

Only got 2 minutes then go to 1:47:03 and listen for 2 minutes.

Humility by Andrew Murray

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLuWJc_VR8c&t=1866s

Dispensational Theology and Humility

 The word translated dispensation occurs 6 times in the Greek scriptures.  We should look at how it is used to get a correct understanding of what it means.  Luke 16:3,4 

 1 Cor. 9:17, Eph. 1:10 and 3:2 and Colossians 1:25. It has been used as a word that divides but when you look at the context you see that it is actually a word that explains that Paul was given a stewardship of the mystery of God that the Gentiles, (us) were going to be included in the Messiah's ever expanding loved family, under one Father.

Looking at the word stewardship/dispensation and seeing

that it seems to mean, something that you are given from someone

else and you are assigned to dispense it.

So, Paul was shown a mystery (which is something God has

always known but reveals to man at a set time) that the Gentiles

were going to be fully included in God's family because of the Messiah.

We looked at Acts 13:46-49 to see how incredibly happy the Gentiles

were when they heard that the Messiah's death and resurrection totally

brought them into the family of God. We are 2,000 years removed from

this being ground breaking, earth shaking news, but as we read Eph. 2 and 3

we can see how truly far away the Gentiles were and how absolutely

amazing it was for the Messiah to gather them into the Father's one family.

 God's love expanded to include

the Gentiles, this is what we read Paul saying when he speaks of his

dispensation, but some people (probably 90% of the Christian church) has

used the word dispensation to exclude the Jew and set apart the church

as God's new chosen people.  There is nothing in the text to indicate this.

That kind of thinking stems all the way back from this verse in Genesis 9:27

"May God enlarge Japheth, may he dwell in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be his slave.”

It is key to remember we are descended from Ham(Canaan), Shem, or Japheth.

Most of European descent are from Japheth.  Japheth is always looking to

enlarge, or take over, so when Rome got a hold of the gospel, they tried to

take over and make the church the new chosen people, but the only way we

are to be blessed is if we (Gentiles) bow to enter the tents of Shem (Jewish)

people.  The key to understanding the gospel and coming into the "fullness of God"

is humility.  For Japheth to agree with God that the Jew is His chosen people, but

that we are being allowed to "dwell in the tents of Shem" is to express

humility.  "Thank you God for including me" is our attitude, not "look at me I'm the center."

Paul in Romans 11 makes it clear that Gentiles need a strong warning not

to become arrogant, that has not changed.

The Gentiles being included was foretold in Isaiah and Hosea and other places and

Simeon included it in his blessing in Luke.  Also it is key to see that Satan in Luke 4:5-8

was offering the Gentiles to Jesus if He would bow to him, but Jesus says, No I

am only worshipping God, but He would have had a little "twinkle" in His eye at

that moment, because as a result of worshipping God and going to the cross, He would

come to rule over more Gentiles from every tribe and tongue than a man could number. (Revelation)

All this was a mystery because if God had fully revealed it at the time Satan would

not have followed through with His plan to crucify Jesus.  (1 Corin. 2:8)

Once we (Gentiles) see and accept this with humility, then the way is opened for

us to truly see the love of God for us and to enter into what Eph. 3:19 calls

"all the fullness of God."  Wow!

Serve you

Speaking the truth in love.
Being patient and gentle, and understanding that God has taken many years to work some truth into me.  Sharing and then backing off and giving God time to work by His Spirit.
About two weeks ago, God impressed these words on my heart,
"Stop doing what seems right."
Out of love or concern I would act or write or send gifts and no visible good came of it. 
It takes humility to "wait on the Lord" before you act.
It takes humility to listen to another persons point of view until you really hear what they are saying.
It takes humility to be heard.  Arrogance is a universal turn off.
Oh God work in us the delight You feel in bending low to serve.

Humility or bust

               In Christ, there is no such thing as a story beyond redemption. There is only resurrection, restoration, and rejoicing, even in the most unlikely of circumstances and with the most unlikely of subjects, like me!

              
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

D              My son, Christian, and I were discussing "great" philosophers today and the truth was revealed that without humility, these philosophies are empty and do not do any good, "down here" in the real world. 

                          His life in me produces humility, is the source of true


             humility.  His life, such a gift, and in that gift, I am, "At rest, in Him."

Disc

another reason for post-trib

Our ultimate call individually and corporately is the same.

  To be brought into a place of bearing the image and likeness of Jesus Christ.

Do you think for one second that the path to that place will not be a path of suffering?  Do you for one second think that iron sharpening iron within the body will not involve offense and fear and trembling?  Do you think for one second that the humility, the sacrificial giving, the righteousness unto the death, the joy of serving others, will come to you without suffering, without a death to the flesh through a Word that is sharper than a two-edged sword.  This word dividing between soul and spirit will reveal false motivations, and drive you to confess your faults one to another.

Arise by falling on your face.

Be grateful and receive every cup that the Father hands to you.

Stop coddling your SELF.

Grace and Humility

3 Thoughts that I believe God can weave together without my adding any comments. 

1)
If we are willing to agree with the will of God that we are "not

 a people" then, broken and bruised by the truth of His 

sovereignty we can finally receive His love and be "His 

people." 


2)

Romans 9:16 So then [God’s gift] is not a question of 

human will and human effort, but of God’s mercy. [It

 depends not on one’s own willingness nor on his 

strenuous exertion as in running a race, but on God’s 

having mercy on him.] Amplified

3)
"The only people who have a right to point out dirt on

 another's feet are those who have a towel about their

 waist, a basin of water in their hands, and are willing to

wash them. If I'm not willing to come alongside someone

 in humility and love I have no right to point out the dirt I see

in him."