Cultivating Humility

Whenever you and I insist on on elevating ourselves - refusing to humble ourselves before God - lets just call it what it is - sin - and as a result God Will oppose us

why because we are trying to be the God of our life

So we will be at odds with God

God will stand against us - we do not loose our salvation - but we do face divine discipline

however when we choose to cultivate humility in our life Peter tells us that God will pour out his grace

so I don’t know about you but if the choose is up to me I would much rather have God stand with me than oppose me

that is why we should work at cultivating humility in out life

One more thing before we get talk about how to cultivate humility

There is a few things we need to understand

First of all when it comes to cultivating humility the struggle is real!

becasue we are naturally driven towards pride - pride comes easy for us - we do not have to work at it - we want ot be 1st - we want to be heard and we want to be right

this is backed up by the fact that everything in society goes against the grain of humility

one more thing that I want you to be on the look out for - once we start to walk in humility and things start to go good - When God starts to pour out his blessings and His grace - our tendency is to let pride creep back in

think about it when your marriage is going great while everyone else around you is struggling

your business is striving while everyone else is barley making ends meet

or your ministry is exploding while no one else is experiencing growth at all

you tend to start thinking i must be doing something right - i must be the secret sauce behind all of this sucess - when in reality it is God who is pouring out blessings

not that we covered the basics let’s look at the how

How can we cultivate humility on our lives?

This is another one of those questions that we could spend hours upon hours on but I want to give you three steps that I think will help you cultivate humility on your life

Step # 1 - Use the Word of God as a spotlight in your life

this is a practice that only recently has come dear to me that has become dear to me

but as I read the bible - usually in the morning - I use it as a spotlight on my life - asking God to so in me what I can not do on my own

for example out verse this morning in 1 Peter 5:5

1 Peter 5:5 (ESV)

Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

so after reading this and allowing God to speak to me I will pray to him askhim to show me areas in my life that I have not clothe myself in humility

or I might be reminded how I did not react in humility towards someone this week - so I would pray - first of all asking for forgivness but then i would pray for God to show me how to make this right so that me His servant could could reconcile with that person in a way that would bring My Lord honor and Glory - so that together in unity me and that brother could shine the love of Christ

Or you could turn to Corinthians and rear the chapter on love - when you come to the part taht says love does not insist on it’s own way - you may be reminded about how you did not measure up to that this week

Church let the word of God be a light to your feet and build in you humility and a light that shines the love of Christ

let me give you to suggestions on how to make this part of your routine

Create an on ramp the night before

It is not about quantity it is about - quality

Let God drop the anchor

Do not say Amen at the end of that prayer - but use it as a springboard

Step number 2 - Model Jesus

as I prayed through this one I discovered that while this one is not easy to understand it is probably one of the most important steps

so because of that I spent hours in prayer asking God to help me be able to explain it in a way that would allow you His church to grasp it and really take hold of this step

Here is what he showed me

when it comes to humility what is usually the first thing that comes to mind is our sin and our depravity

and becasue of that we sometimes one to avoid the subject - becasue it make us feel bad

now don’t get me wrong this definitely a big part of humility

but there is also great joy in humility - there is beauty in humility

Jesus modeled humility for us - but as we know Jesus never sinned - the humility of Jesus displays the perfect will of God and as you and I practice humility we begin to grow more and more into the image of Jesus

when it comes to eternity we are counted righteous when we humble ourselves at the foot of the cross and make Jesus the Lord of our life

but until we go to heaven we will not be fully restored to His image - we still dwell in our fleshly tent - but that does not mean that we should just go about doing what we want - we are called to walk on the footsteps of Jesus - we are called to imitate our Lord and Savior - and that takes humility

So then it is safe to say that the joy Paul talks about can be found when we follow the example of Jesus - and walk in humility

He is the perfect example of humility

the washing of his disciples feet

constantly withdrawing to seek the fathers will

willing to do the will of the father even up to teh point of dyign on the cross

realizing that outside the will of His father he could do nothing

so far we have said that we need to use the Bible as a search light and we need to model the life of humility that we see in Jesus

the last step is

Step # 3 - Let yourself be motivated by the grace of God

In 1 Peter 5:5

1 Peter 5:5 ESV

Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

We are told that God opposes the proud but look at that last part again - He gives grace to the humble

Now I don’t know about you but I could always use more of Gods Grace in my life - let that be your motivation to cultivate humility

just like pride is the gateway to sin - humility is the gateway to experience more of God’s Grace

as we walk in humility - God will show up - and God will show out

as we walk in humility we will experience the manifestation of His power and Presence in ways we have never seen before

Have you guys heard about the revival that is taken place in Asbury right now - What a perfect example for us

I was watching an interview on how it got started and one of the students said we were just praising God - doing what we always do - and then something amazing happened God showed up - they had been seeking the presence of God - seeking revival - humbling themself before God and he showed up in a mighty way - she said when it come time for them to wrap up service and go home the just kept singing - students and faculty begin to cry out to God - praying over one another - talk about humility professors are being prayers over by students - sins are being confessed - tears are being shed - and you know what the best thing is - their are no fog machines - no fancy worship team - no big name pastors preaching God’s word - it is all God - it is his show

what we see is revival break out becasue these students developed a hunger for God and His presence - that is what revival is - it is when ordinary people - humble themself - and in desperation cry our to God

Next week we are going to did deeper into Step number to as we learn how to remain in Jesus

but this morning - no music - no hype - I am going to invite you down to the front - for those of you willing to come - I want you to pray for two things

first of all I want you to pray for what is going on in Asbury - praising God for what he is doing - for what he is doing through individuals who have humbled themself before an almighty God seeking His presence - ask him to continue that work in those students long after the revival is over

I want you to ask him that if he sees feet that he would fan the flame of revival here in our church and in our community - ask him to show you where you may have strongholds in your life that would prevent that

So if you are willing to come pray with me make your way to the front

How will you Respond to what God has done on your heart this morning?

Write down one thing - one application that you will take away from today’s service

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