In 2 Chronicles 7:14 God says that If my people who are called by my name will HUMBLE themselves and PRAY and PROMISE TO SEEK MY FACE and TURN FROM THEIR WICKED WAYS I will hear from heaven and heal their land...
Notice the first thing that we have to do - demonstrate humility...!
Humility is not demonstrated in simply praying and asking God to do particular things in your life. Not at all!! You can pray til the cows come home, but if you are a proud person, your prayers aren't even going to hit the ceiling let alone into the presence of Almighty God.
Humility is the exact extreme opposite of PRIDE. And pride is easy to identify with. Yes there is the Pride of Life - for material possessions. You know like "Jane has those brand X shoes, so I have to get brand Y which is more expensive (& I really cant afford, but will go into debt for it anyway)" or "The Smith's live in suburb X and their house is 45 metre square and they have a lounge from Harvey Norman department store. So the Jones' go off and buy a 60 metre square house in the same suburb and get 2 lounge suites from Myer's department store. Sure they may not be able to afford it, but never mind Husband Jones will work two jobs, his wife will work full time and run a small business from home too and the kids will just have to grow up with all the material possessions money can buy but without a real relationship with their parents.Just so they can live "the life" - a covetous pride based life that is shallow, meaningless and costs them their health and relationships in the long term.
But PRIDE has many faces.
PRIDE is the very nature, the personality, the character of Satan himself. It was because PRIDE was found in Lucifer that he got kicked out of heaven (Isaiah 14:12-15).
Some other examples of the nature of PRIDE include but are not limited to:
1. When you get cut-off by another driver on the road, and you get angry. Hey who are you to judge?! For all you know their wife is having a baby and they're rushing to the hospital. Or a loved one is dying, and they're in a rush to get to them...Sure some people aren't very good drivers. But you don't know why they are in a rush. So give them the benefit of the doubt and bless rather than curse. You will feel so much happier for it.
2. Christians, it may be easy to forget that you were on your way to hell too...! Sure you may never have smoked, or taken drugs, or got high on weed, or got drunk or slept around or murdered someone or committed theft...you may never have done any of those "BIG" sins...but anyone who has not accepted Jesus as their Saviour is bound for a lost eternity - basically all those who are unrepentant. The "holier than thou" attitude has to drop. There are a lot of people out there that are hurting. Jesus is their answer. You know it. I know it. So let them come on in with their baggage. With their dirt. The Blood that Jesus shed can wash every and any sin away. Don't allow RELIGIOUS SPIRITUAL PRIDE to prevent you from shining the love of Christ to a needy world. Jesus never looked down on our sins and hid away from the world. Rather He is the Light to the world...don't let some pride stop you from shining your light.
3. YOU ARE NOT THE SMARTEST/BEST LOOKING PERSON IN THE WORLD. Everyone are beautiful in their own individual ways. No one is ugly. If we all looked the same, we would be very boring. No one is dumb. You may have a PhD in robotic engineering. You may have dropped out of school at 15 to become a mechanic. The robotic engineer can sure learn a lot from the high-school dropout mechanic. Likewise the mechanic can learn some engineering tricks from the robotic engineer. You may be knowledgeable in your area of expertise. But there is always someone else out there who knows a bit more. Who has done a bit more. You can learn from them. Don't get big headed about your skills and talents. Use them to lift up others. In doing so, you will unwittingly lift your own joy and happiness up.
4. Don't ignore a beggar. WHO ARE WE TO CONDEMN OR JUDGE THEM? Hey we are not in their shoes. And if we were, would we have the courage to do something so demoralising as beg? That takes a lot of courage. You don't know why they are in that situation. But don't look down on them from your higher up throne of comfortable living and financial security.
The best example of humility is Jesus Christ. Think about it. He left heaven's and splendor to come down to earth. He the Creator. God manifest in human form. Comes down to us. For one purpose. To save us. He did not sin. And yet went as a Lamb to cross. Carrying our sin on His body. Wounded for our transgressions. Crushed for our iniquity. The punishment of our peace was on His shoulders. The whipping He took was for healing of our sicknesses (Isaiah 53:5). And yet HE did NOT COMPLAIN. HE did NOT CONDEMN. Rather HE asked for FORGIVENESS on OUR BEHALF.
Now that is humility for you.
:) anneline
