Put On Humility
God has been dealing with us the last few weeks in the area of pride. He has been stripping us of this garment that so hinders His life from growing within us. Pride comes when one thinks they are better than another, or is when one is jealous of another. Someone who is proud cannot be taught, they cannot change because they don't recognize there need to change. God cannot move among proud people. The sad thing is we in our pride are as ignorant as can be; we all have been around people who act as if they know everything, but truly they know so little, yet we sometimes can be those people.
We have learned that when one is born again they become spiritually alive. The thing is though if we are not being led by the spirit of God then other spirits will lead us. God has exposed to us the spirit of Leviathan which is the spirit that comes to use us against one another. God says his desire is to crush the head of Leviathan, I believe this is what He has been doing in our midst the last few weeks. It is now time that we humble ourselves before God and instead of being used against each other, we submit to each other.
1Pe 5:5-6 Likewise, younger ones, be subject to older ones, and all being subject to one another. Put on humility. For God resists proud ones, but He gives grace to the humble. Therefore be humbled under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you in due time
God resists the proud. So if anyone of us wants to be used by God we must be humble. It is God's grace that He involves us in what He is doing. We all have people we know who do nothing but talk, and if we try to give them advise they just don't listen. See God cannot reveal what He is doing to proud people for they just don't listen. Revival will only come when we put on humility, for only then can He be exalted. Those who are humble are those who are led by Him and not led of themselves. They realize that they are no better than another, and in fact need each other, so therefore they subject themselves to each other.
Rom 12:4-8 In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. The body we're talking about is Christ's body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn't amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ's body, let's just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren't. If you preach, just preach God's Message, nothing else; if you help, just help, don't take over; if you teach, stick to your teaching; if you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don't get bossy; if you're put in charge, don't manipulate; if you're called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with the disadvantaged, don't let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face.
So we see here that we cannot really discover our meaning without the body as a whole. Pride cuts us off of the body for we are trying to become something that we are not. If we are going to be part of Christ body we must all learn to work together as one, each of doing our part alone. The bible says that each of us will be rewarded in heaven by what we did in our bodies on earth. Our reward will come only by our obedience to what God called us to do. It is pointless to try to do or to judge what someone else is to do. Remember death and life is in the power of the tongue, why would we want to cut off parts of our own body, just like we will be rewarded for what we did in the body, we will also be judged for what we did to the body.
2Co 5:10 All of us must appear in front of Christ's judgment seat. Then all people will receive what they deserve for the good or evil they have done while living in their bodies.
Mat 12:35-6 A good person produces good deeds and words season after season. An evil person is a blight on the orchard. Let me tell you something: Every one of these careless words is going to come back to haunt you. There will be a time of Reckoning. Words are powerful; take them seriously.
We will all be made accountable for each careless word we speak. The bible says that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Pride is a heart issue. Our words will never change unless our heart changes.
Jam 3:2-10 And none of us is perfectly qualified. We get it wrong nearly every time we open our mouths. If you could find someone whose speech was perfectly true, you'd have a perfect person, in perfect control of life. A bit in the mouth of a horse controls the whole horse. A small rudder on a huge ship in the hands of a skilled captain sets a course in the face of the strongest winds. A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything--or destroy it! It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell. This is scary: You can tame a tiger, but you can't tame a tongue--it's never been done. The tongue runs wild, a wanton killer. With our tongues we bless God our Father; with the same tongues we curse the very men and women he made in his image. Curses and blessings out of the same mouth! My friends, this can't go on.
We must take control over our tongues if we are going to move on with what God wants to do, for if we don't whatever God does will be destroyed. But we see here that our tongue cannot be controlled, that is true, but the bible does say that we can be transformed by the renewing of our mind (Ro. 12:2). Our heart is a product of the world around us, what is in our heart depends on what we allow in our ears. If we change what we hear we will eventually change what is in our heart. The key to a change of heart and to being led by His spirit is being filled with His word. The bible says He is the Word (Jn 1:1), and if we abide in Him and His word abides in us (Jn. 15:7), it is His word that will guide the words that come from our mouth and His word that will guide us in what we do. Death and Life is in the power of the tongue (Pro. 18:21), so life (revival), to come forth it must come from within, out of the abundance of our hearts (transformed by His word) the mouth speaking what is good, and acceptable, the perfect will of God (Ro. 12:2). For it is His word that activates His Spirit which creates what is spoken (Gen 1:1-26).