Friday, August 10, 2007

Humility is Key

When I sit and consider how Jesus Christ saved me from a terrible fate, I am filled with humility. I do not deserve to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I am extremely repentant of my life before the Lord saved me from it. I was in no way ready for Him when He came for me. I was not only a terrible sinner, (committing sin of such magnitude that I could not understand the gravity of it), but I also knew better. I was the most ugly of sinners that I have ever seen. I should be in hell for a very long time.

Jesus Christ saved me by offering His own flesh, which was untarnished by sin, unto God, in exchange for my worthless sinful soul. I am and shall always be humbled and grateful for this magnificent gesture. Needless to say, since the King of Kings purchased my life with His own blood, it no longer belongs to me.

The Lord Jesus left in my heart the shame of my past sins. This was not only so I would remember not to commit them but also it would keep me from being overcome by one of my worst enemies in this new life, pride.

When you consider that you are filled with the Holy Spirit of God, humility is extremely important. You must always be humble and obedient to His instruction.

Pride is a terrible enemy. It is an enormous hindrance to your growth in the Spirit. Pride has been presented to you by the world as being not only good but also necessary. You must have pride in your country, your appearance, your work, your family and even yourself. It is even taught that you must be proud of your “Christianity”. This is all a blasphemous lie.

Pride is sin. Where there is sin, there is every nasty evil thing on the earth. You cannot be proud and filled with the Holy Spirit at the same time.

One must be completely humble to be ready to receive the Holy Spirit. My shame over my past sins has been a wonderful ally in my struggles with pride. When I am tempted for some stupid reason to be proud, the shame of my past sins and the mercy of Jesus to save me from them come to mind. Then instead of pride, I am filled with a humble thanksgiving for the thing which I thought to be pride worthy. All glory belongs to Jesus Christ.

If you are humble, this next part will be easier to understand. If you are not humble, you need to be.

When we are confronted in any way, humility can be our best friend. Because of my beliefs, I am often times confronted by those to whom my testimony is a conviction. They find themselves confronted by the Word of God through the Holy Spirit. Those that are not repentant and open to the instruction of the Spirit, are sure not going to confront God or Jesus. Therefore they confront the messenger. I have asked the Holy Spirit about this and this is His answer.

When we are subject unto the Holy Spirit and we find ourselves confronted in any way, we should immediately be fully aware of the presence of Jesus Christ. We should therefore be completely humble.

If you have chosen to accept the most wonderful gift ever given, then your life is no longer in your own feeble hands. It was paid for by the torture and murder of the perfect fleshly life of Jesus Christ, God’s own Son. With that sacrifice, He saved your soul. When you accepted His wonderful gift, you gave unto His strong hands the rest of your fleshly life on this earth. This life in the flesh that we are living, as long as we are on the earth, belongs entirely to Jesus Christ through the willing obedience to the Holy Spirit of God.

When those who have chosen not to partake of the gift of Jesus Christ are faced with confrontation, they usually solve this problem by confronting it. This makes about as much sense as using a blowtorch to fight a house fire. Although I must confess it was my first reaction to any confrontation before I was born again. This never has a good result.

Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. He is here to receive the choice of each and every soul concerning His rule. All that mankind does, He now does it unto the Lord Jesus Christ. Contrary to religious teaching, this does not depend on whether or not they accept it. This is just a fact.

If we have chosen to accept His marvelous gift, then our part in the choosing is over. We are now only witnesses of the coming of the Lord and our testimony must be honest concerning what we see. All of the rest is between each soul and the Lord Jesus Christ.

When we are confronted by anything, it is not time to talk or act. It is time to listen. Since our lives now belong to Jesus, they are now confronting Him. We must be ready to do whatever the Holy Spirit tells us to do. What the Spirit tells us to do is usually the opposite of what we would do.

Jesus Christ is not here to contend with mankind about anything. He is here to hear the choice of mankind concerning His gift. All the rest has been taken care of by God before He even made the earth. In the beginning God created the Heavens and the earth. He had not made the earth but He had already created the way that it would go from start to finish.

We must never be ready to contend or confront anything. Always be ready to forgive and have compassion for those in contention. If they steal from you, never try to get it back. If they hit you, never hit them back. When we love and have compassion for those who contend with us, the Lord is well pleased. When the Lord is pleased, you cannot lose.

The gift that the Lord gives is given because of His mercy on you. It is a gift and there is no price. He does not want you to do anything for Him. All of the commandments of God and Jesus are for your own great benefit. They are not sacrifices you must make.

Suppose you own a house and it collapses on top of you and you are buried in the debris and stuck. A stranger or a neighbor comes along and hears your cries for help. They immediately begin to take apart and remove the debris that is on you and free you from your prison. They are not tearing up your house and possessions. Your house and possessions are already torn up. They have now become your prison. Although it took considerable work and demolition of the remains of your house, it was an act of true unselfish kindness to free you from it.

Your fleshly life is the same. When I began my life, it was full of hopes and dreams and seemed real nice most of the time. As I lived it, sin and corruption kept eating away on it until it finally all caved in on me. My hopes and dreams became disappointment and obligation. What used to be my happy life became my prison.

The Lord Jesus Christ came along and started removing all the debris that was my life. He completely tore apart and removed my entire past life. He was not tearing it up or wrecking my life. It was already torn up and wrecked. Instead of my life, it had become my prison. It took considerable longsuffering and work to remove it and free me from it. This was a true act of unselfish kindness and I shall be forever grateful.

Jesus Christ didn’t stop there. After freeing me from the trash pile that was my life, I was homeless. The Lord took me in and let me live with Him. He has never left me or forsaken me. He has worked side by side with me and helped me to rebuild a life that will never collapse or corrupt. He has paid all of the bills and has not asked for anything in return but thanks.

I am and shall always be thankful. I am awe struck and humbled by this unbelievable act of love and mercy by the King of Kings. I truly love the Lord God and will serve Him with a true heart forever and ever.

I hope for you that you have or will accept His gracious offer to help you.

May the love, joy and great peace that comes with obedience to Christ Jesus be with you forever. Amen & amen.

2 comments:

Cheryl said...

Yes, isn't it awesome that God chooses us! We are ALL chosen! It is nothing that I do, but all that He does!

Isn't grace awesome? We do not deserve anything, but he gives us so much.

I have a suggestion for you. Write shortly articles. You have a lot of thoughts here that could be broken down to small blocks. Most people will not read long posts. :)

Keep lov'n Jesus

Anonymous said...

Yes you are probably right well let us think about the life that we have and the way life changes through the years and your beliefs and tolerances, Today I come to you through Immaculate conception to say that there is change in the air,there is beauty in life and we all should head toward this change, a change to to unite all humanity,a time to create friendships with others. We all worship the same god how do I put this, well it is like this you are born and subjected to different ideals of life towards your parental god. God only comes from with in, and it is this inner god that we should feel in our day.