All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because,
“God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble.”
but gives grace to the humble.”
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.~ 1 Peter 5:5-6
(This is part 3 of the Join the Resistance series, to catch up go to http://truthisanarrow.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/join-resistance-part-1.html and http://truthisanarrow.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/join-resistance-part-2.html)
Revelation 12:12 Tells us that the earth is occupied territory, and the Devil is the dictator. And in this series we have been looking at some ways of joining the movement of resistance. Peter tells us 'Resist the Devil, standing firm in the faith'. And so we have looked at the verses surrounding that instruction to get some idea just how to do that.
Yesterday we looked at being Sober and vigilant, being watchful for the devils schemes, free from guilt and shame and not giving him a foothold, be it through a holiness of lifestyle or with the grace grenade of God's forgiveness.
Today we take a slightly different turn.
Humility
Initially it seems odd to me, to start here (and really I have been working backward through the verses, so today we have reached the beginning and the end) but I suppose being right with God is an absolute prerequisite of fighting the enemy.
You need to be on the right side.
There are no independent mercenaries in this movement. To fight in God's army, to have the resources of heavens arsenal at hand, then you must be on the right side.
And it is clear that pride is the chief sin that prevents us from joining, truly joining, the army of God.
In military initiation worldwide, the boot camp is almost universally used to test a soldiers metal.
My brother told me of horror stories of his boot camp when he joined the RAF. He told me of being told to polish the floor of a huge hall with inadequate materials, and to an exacting standard. And so a job that would have taken an hour with the right equipment or machinery took something closer to half a day.
And when his CO inspected it, at about 10pm, he dug his heel deliberately into the floor, chipping away at the polish, until there was a scratch in it.
He then told my brother and his colleague that this was no good because there was a mark on it. He ordered them to take the whole lot off and reapply a new coat of polish.
They finished their task at about 3am.
They then crawled into bed, only to be shortly woken by a screaming drill instructor, ordering them to the mess room for breakfast. Then having had but two mouthfuls of his food they were told to leave immediately on a ten mile run, complete with weighted backpacks.
I have to tell you, that would have broken me.
I never would have been for that kind of army.
And the whole point of that exercise is to wheedle out those who cant take it, to break their resolve and make them utterly dependant on their commanding officers.
In the heat of battle you need to know you can rely on your troops to unquestionably follow the orders they are given. It is critical and it saves lives.
And humility is an entry level requirement for serving in the resistance.
To put yourself above God can endanger you spiritually. and in the light of eternal consequences, it too is a matter of life and death.
Jesus said that to follow him we must die to ourselves daily, by taking up our cross.
Pride does not bear a cross well.
Humility was built to carry it.
But the humility of the kingdom is not akin to humiliation. Far from it. It is more of a shift in priorities.
Humility as the world sees it is often a lowering of oneself. But, spiritually speaking, it is the pathway to greatness.
Jesus said that the last will be first and the first will be last. And here Peter tells us that to lower ourselves under God's mighty hand means an elevation by the same hand in due time.
So why speak of humility?
Because if we are truly submitted to God then we are Devil proof. We spoke yesterday of not giving him a foothold. And humility IS that unassailable wall. If you are not proud then the Devil has nothing to work with. Remember the garden....the Devil's first appeal to humanity was on the basis of pride and vanity. "You will be like God".
And James tells us;
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.~ James 4:7
The words 'submit yourselves' can also be interpreted as 'humble yourselves' (NLT)(This is part 3 of the Join the Resistance series, to catch up go to http://truthisanarrow.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/join-resistance-part-1.html and http://truthisanarrow.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/join-resistance-part-2.html)
Revelation 12:12 Tells us that the earth is occupied territory, and the Devil is the dictator. And in this series we have been looking at some ways of joining the movement of resistance. Peter tells us 'Resist the Devil, standing firm in the faith'. And so we have looked at the verses surrounding that instruction to get some idea just how to do that.
Yesterday we looked at being Sober and vigilant, being watchful for the devils schemes, free from guilt and shame and not giving him a foothold, be it through a holiness of lifestyle or with the grace grenade of God's forgiveness.
Today we take a slightly different turn.
Humility
Initially it seems odd to me, to start here (and really I have been working backward through the verses, so today we have reached the beginning and the end) but I suppose being right with God is an absolute prerequisite of fighting the enemy.
You need to be on the right side.
There are no independent mercenaries in this movement. To fight in God's army, to have the resources of heavens arsenal at hand, then you must be on the right side.
And it is clear that pride is the chief sin that prevents us from joining, truly joining, the army of God.
In military initiation worldwide, the boot camp is almost universally used to test a soldiers metal.
My brother told me of horror stories of his boot camp when he joined the RAF. He told me of being told to polish the floor of a huge hall with inadequate materials, and to an exacting standard. And so a job that would have taken an hour with the right equipment or machinery took something closer to half a day.
And when his CO inspected it, at about 10pm, he dug his heel deliberately into the floor, chipping away at the polish, until there was a scratch in it.
He then told my brother and his colleague that this was no good because there was a mark on it. He ordered them to take the whole lot off and reapply a new coat of polish.
They finished their task at about 3am.
They then crawled into bed, only to be shortly woken by a screaming drill instructor, ordering them to the mess room for breakfast. Then having had but two mouthfuls of his food they were told to leave immediately on a ten mile run, complete with weighted backpacks.
I have to tell you, that would have broken me.
I never would have been for that kind of army.
And the whole point of that exercise is to wheedle out those who cant take it, to break their resolve and make them utterly dependant on their commanding officers.
In the heat of battle you need to know you can rely on your troops to unquestionably follow the orders they are given. It is critical and it saves lives.
And humility is an entry level requirement for serving in the resistance.
To put yourself above God can endanger you spiritually. and in the light of eternal consequences, it too is a matter of life and death.
Jesus said that to follow him we must die to ourselves daily, by taking up our cross.
Pride does not bear a cross well.
Humility was built to carry it.
But the humility of the kingdom is not akin to humiliation. Far from it. It is more of a shift in priorities.
Humility as the world sees it is often a lowering of oneself. But, spiritually speaking, it is the pathway to greatness.
Jesus said that the last will be first and the first will be last. And here Peter tells us that to lower ourselves under God's mighty hand means an elevation by the same hand in due time.
So why speak of humility?
Because if we are truly submitted to God then we are Devil proof. We spoke yesterday of not giving him a foothold. And humility IS that unassailable wall. If you are not proud then the Devil has nothing to work with. Remember the garden....the Devil's first appeal to humanity was on the basis of pride and vanity. "You will be like God".
And James tells us;
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.~ James 4:7
If you are not submitted to God then you do not have his authority, and whilst I will not comment on the state of salvation, I will say that you have no grounds to fight Satan effectively.
Remember the sons of Schiva who attempted to use Jesus' name to drive out demons and ended getting a kicking?
Why?
Because they were not under the authority of that name.
We know Jesus, the demons had said, and we know Paul, but who are you?
And in laying aside our pride we start to walk in purity and holiness. I don't think anyone alive or dead has ever achieved this completely, but I am sure that our spiritual effectiveness and authority is directly related to our submission and obedience to God. I would stake my life on it.
And there is this amazing encouragement in these verses.
Humility is not perfection. It is a heart attitude and a state of mind. And get this,
To the Humble, he gives his grace. And grace lets us stand in the light of all our imperfection and short-fallings. Grace returns us to forgiveness every time. Grace restores and maintains our holiness and Grace renders us righteous in God's sight. We are saved by Grace.
James says;
But He gives us more grace. This is why it says: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” 7Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Today, if there is any pride in our hearts that comes between us and God, if there is any foothold,
Father we come and draw near to you, we humble ourselves before your throne, in light of the one we love, who did not consider equality with God something to be grasped but became nothing, purify us we pray and give us your grace so we may live for you,
This day,
And all days,
Amen.
A clear resolve to humble , submit today with mind , body and soul , to live and walk in my life as a mum , shopper , and driver on M6 , I will report back ....how do we do this every day , Every day ?
ReplyDeleteThank you Gana. Let me know how you get on. I think submission is something like forgiveness or an elderly Grandparent, in that it needs to be revisited as often as possible.
ReplyDelete