Humility pt 1

I had posted this on Facebook about a year ago and I had this particular article on my heart all last night so I’ve decided to repost it in hopes that it will bless someone. This is something the Lord brings me back to time after time.

This is for those of you who know that God has called you to great things...Which I know is all of us.

Even buildings fall for the lack of integrity. The word integrity means several things but the one im focusing on is the quality or state of sound moral principles; uprightness, honesty, and sincerity. Another one is the state of being complete; unbroken condition; wholeness.

If you watch the news you’ll hear about bridges and buildings that fall for no apparent reason, they`ll talk about the integrity of the structure being COMPROMISED. This is probably because the people building it were in a hurry to build the building that they compromised in the foundation or support of the structure. So because of that, it didn’t last when pressure was applied.

Ever heard the phrase that your gift will make room for you but your character will keep you there and take you further? Well the same is true here. Sometimes we get too busy building a ministry or something the Lord has given us that we forsake the integrity of what we are building. It may look great for a time but it will fall with a storm because we favored a big ministry or influence at the time we wanted it instead of focusing on the foundation and support of it and letting the Lord grow it.

I just felt the Lord encouraging me not to rush into what he has put in me but take my time with the foundation of it all so that when it does grow it will last and withstand the storms. It doesn’t mean do nothing but as a friend of mine always says...character before anointing/gift. It is an encouragement for us all to not forsake the foundational times of our lives but work diligently to prepare for what God has called us all to. Don’t rush his hand. Let him continue to mold and shape you.

A picture that i keep seeing in my head is a soldier sitting in his room with his sword. He is diligently examining his sword and is sharpening it. Even though he is not in battle right now he is preparing for the battle so that when it comes time he will be ready and every attack he makes will be thorough and effective. He will have confidence in his weapon and in his use of it.

Brothers and Sisters, become that soldier that diligently prepares for the battle.

Even more than that, as I rode home last night I saw someone looking at blueprints for something massive. The first thing they began to do after seeing the plans was dig a deep hole. The key to successfully building a massive structure is to dig a deep hole for the foundation. In translation, if you have aspirations for something great in your life the key is going to be great humility. The key to going up is going down.

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Jars of Clay

                I’ve prayed a lot recently about wanting to understand the “riches that are in Christ” or our “inheritance that is in Christ”. I’ve prayed many prayers lately modeled after the following verses,

“That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints” Ephesians 1:18

“To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you the hope of glory.” Colossians 1:27

I sat at Church the other night and began to think about these verses and the Lord began speaking to me about how valuable our relationship with Christ is and how awesome it is to have the opportunity to commune with Christ and the divine life that is in him.

Lately I’ve been on this journey to constantly live by divine life, because Jesus himself said that apart from him we can do nothing, John 15:5. But recently the Lord has challenged me to draw ALL my strength from him even for situations that look easy. Scripture says in numerous places to not put confidence in the flesh. The moment we put confidence in what we can do, it sets us up for failure, maybe not immediately but somewhere down the road.

Last night I was meditating on all of this and I came to 2 Corinthians 4:7 “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.” As I read it I just began to reflect on how fragile our life in this fleshly existence is. I reflected also on how our strength is still weak in comparison to what we have available in Christ.

I was humbled very much when I truly reckoned myself to be a jar of clay, I know that sometimes I have never really seen myself as a mortal strengthened by divine life but more so at times I saw myself as a vessel of steel and used divine life, Jesus’s strength, as a plan B, meaning I put a lot of confidence in my flesh and what I could accomplish. Many of us do it and only very few of us see it that way and even fewer are willing to admit it. A large majority of us Believers treat the Glorious riches that we have in Christ as an emergency power supply, as did I.

If we could truly understand the battle we stand in and what wages war against our souls we would see that the emergency is now and your strength and will is of no power or effect. That you must be vigilant at all times because your enemy is looking for the moment to overcome you. But we have no reason to fear because our Lord leads us into Victory by his life giving spirit.  Once we can see ourselves as those jars of clay and that we truly can do nothing apart from him it puts us in a position to truly appreciate the treasure that we have been given. Its then, that we are able to put great value on what we have obtained in Christ.

Its then we join the Apostle Paul when he stated to the Philippians “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” Phil 3:8.

Truly brethren, it is not until we reckon ourselves weak that we become strong. When we reckon our power and strength obsolete and our ways futile, then we open the way for Christ’s power to flow through us.

                “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Cor 12:9-10

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