SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/30/2020
11:26 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 “Achieving
Humility”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew 5:3
Message
of the verse: “3 ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven.”
We have
been looking at this third verse from Matthew chapter five for some days now
and one of the things that I want to review about this verse and for that
matter the entire Sermon on the Mount is that no one can keep all of the things
that Jesus is preaching about in this sermon, which is exactly what we are
suppose to learn from it. We are all “poor
in spirit” when it comes to obeying the Lord Jesus Christ. The only way that a person becomes a believer
is by realizing that they are poor in spirit and can do nothing at all to make
themselves good enough to stand before God in order to be accepted by Him. Pride will certainly keep billions of people
from entering the kingdom of God for that is the opposite of being poor in
spirit.
We have
been also talking about humility a lot and a person who realizes that he is
poor in spirit has become humble. I keep
thinking about Colossians 2:6 when it comes to believers walking in humility
before the Lord: “Therefore as you have
received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.” How did we receive Christ Jesus? Well we became humble as the Spirit of God
gave us an effectual call, and therefore accepted the gift of salvation which
Christ provided for us. So how do we walk
in Him? We have to be humble knowing
that we can only please the Lord in our walk with Him by obeying what the
Spirit of God calls and enables us to do as seen in Ephesians 2:10 “For we are
His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared
beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
We left of
yesterday’s SD stating that there are three steps in experiencing humility but
did not name those three steps. I will
again quote from John MacArthur in order for us to understand what he says
these three steps are.
“The first step in experiencing humility is to turn our
eyes off ourselves and to look to God.
When we study His Word, seek His face in prayer, and sincerely desire to
be near Him and please Him, we move toward being ‘poor in spirit.’ It is the vision of the infinitely Holy God
in all His sinless purity and perfection that allows us to see ourselves as
sinners by contrast. To seek humility,
we do not look at ourselves to find the faults, but at God Almighty to behold
His perfection.
“Second, we must starve the flesh by removing the things on
which it feeds. The essence of the
fleshly nature is pride, and to starve the flesh is to remove and avoid those
things that promote pride. Rather than
looking for praise, compliments, and popularity, we should be wary of
them. Yet because our human sinfulness
has a way of turning even the best intentions to its advantage, we need to be
careful not to make an issue of avoiding praise and recognition. The evil is not in being given praise but in
seeking it and glorying in it. When
without having sought it, we are praised or honored; to ungraciously reject the
recognition may be an act of pride rather than humility.
“The third and balancing principle is coming to humility is
asking God for it. With David we should
pray, ‘Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within
me’ (Ps. 51:10). Humility, like other
good gift, comes only from God. Also as
with every other good thing, He is more willing to give it than we are to ask
for it, and He stands ready to give it long before we ask for it.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: Perhaps after all of this time seeking to
learn more about humility I have never asked the Lord for it, to be given it
from Him, so that is what I ask for today, and for that matter every day for
the rest of my life that God would give me humility.
My
Steps of Faith for Today: For God to give me Humility, contentment, and
joy as I study His Word each day.
3/30/2020 11:51 AM
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