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Falling Down: The “Trip” of Humility or Pride?

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Zephaniah 2:3 Seek the Lord [inquire for Him, inquire of Him, and require Him as the foremost necessity of your life], all you humble of the land who have acted in compliance with His revealed will and have kept His commandments; seek righteousness, seek humility [inquire for them, require them as vital]. It may be you will be hidden in the day of the Lord’s anger.

Since our church-wide fast in January I have been asking the Lord, What does humility, or humbling myself, look like – practically? There are several implications in this passage. “…seek humility [inquire for them, require them as vital].” Seek humility? Inquire for it? Require it? Humble people seek the Lord. Those who are seeking to humble themselves or put it into practice – SEEK the Lord through worship, thanksgiving, prayer, obedience, repentance, change in lifestyle, practicing things they have clearly been shown in Scripture – but have been ignoring, or disobeying. They seek the Lord through seeking after His Manifested Presence. They change their schedules to make room for more of His Presence. They open the Door of Revelation 3:20 – to spiritually “hear” the WAYS He speaks; to “feel” around to discover, Am I spiritually hot, cold, or lukewarm? They open the DOOR to Jesus, the DOOR, to “see” spiritually – asking, What Are You Showing Me? What do You want me to see – spiritually? Seekers – humble people, those who are trying to humble themselves before the Lord – will open the DOOR to make room for all of these things.

John 10:7 So Jesus said again, I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, that I Myself am the Door for the sheep. Only Jesus’ sheep go through His DOOR. You have to belong to Jesus to go through these kind of “doors.” You have to be able to “hear” and “see” to follow Jesus – to recognize His Voice. You have to be a sheep – not a goat. John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy…” What’s the thief going to steal, kill and destroy? You and I being sheep. What do sheep do? They eat, drink, and flock with other sheep. They follow the Shepherd. Where’s a shepherd going to be? With the flock – with the sheep. If you are following Jesus, the Shepherd, you are going to follow Him to where the flock is. The thief is going to convince you that you can be a sheep all by yourself. (Of course you can – while the “wolves” of life destroy your life)

Jesus’ sheep are humble. They are teachable. They follow the Shepherd. They recognize His Voice. They see and hear spiritually. As they humble themselves God’s Grace is abundantly supplied. Yet, God opposes all those who set themselves against His Shepherd (disobedience is opposition). As Scripture says, He knows the proud from afar. The Grace, or empowerment, desire, and thoughts – to seek God’s Presence, to humble yourself, to walk in humility, to be Jesus’s sheep, to follow the Shepherd, and enter the DOOR – is minimized. And Scripture is fulfilled: Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. (Proverbs 16:18) Isn’t it interesting that the word for prostration in the Hebrew is often translated “fall down?” There you have it: fall down on your own – in humility OR fall down in destruction – because of pride and haughtiness. What kind of “trip” do you want to take? Humility or PRIDE?

The Last!

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Revelation 1:10-12 I was in the Spirit [rapt in His power] on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a great voice like the calling of a war trumpet,11 Saying, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last. Write promptly what you see (your vision) in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia—to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.12 Then I turned to see [whose was] the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands,…

Natasha Bedingfield penned the lyrics to the song, Unwritten. Here are the lyrics: I am unwritten – Can’t read my mind – I’m undefined – I’m just beginning – The pen’s in my hand – Ending unplanned. Staring at the blank page before you – Open up the dirty window – Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find. Reaching for something in the distance – So close you can almost taste it – Release your inhibitions – Feel the rain on your skin – No one else can feel it for you – Only you can let it in. No one else, no one else – Can speak the words on your lips – Drench yourself in words unspoken – Live your life with arms wide open – Today is where your book begins – The rest is still unwritten. I break tradition Sometimes my tries are outside the lines – We’ve been conditioned to not make mistakes – But I can’t live that way.

Only there are a couple of things I would disagree with: The pen’s in my hand? Mother Teresa once said: I am a little pencil in God’s hands. He does the thinking. He does the writing. He does everything and sometimes it is really hard because it is a broken pencil and He has to sharpen it a little more. In 2 Cor. 3:3 the Apostle Paul reminds us: You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. NIV

Ending unplanned? Your ending is planned. There’s a curious Scripture passage which states: And all the inhabitants of the earth will fall down in adoration and pay him homage, everyone whose name has not been recorded in the Book of Life of the Lamb that was slain [in sacrifice] from the foundation of the world. (Revelation 13:8 AMPC) Jesus was crucified before the foundation of the world? Your life has been planned. Take part in His Plans.

As Natasha reminds us: We’ve been conditioned to not make mistakes. Stop it. Drench yourself in His Words and release you inhibitions. Try outside the lines of your comfort zones and break your tradition. Quit living that way. Reach for the One in the “Distance” that according to Acts 17:27 really isn’t that far away. And don’t just open a dirty window (your limited vision) but open up the Door you have been commanded to open (Rev. 3:20). You are the one with the handle. He’s knocking on the other side waiting for you to make room for Him; to open the Door. Walk with Him in the Light of the Lampstands, or Menorahs of His Holy Spirit.