God Gives Grace to the Humble

Grace to the Humble

Humility is God consciousness. Pride is self consciousness. All sin begins with pride.

True humility is God-consciousness. Pride is self-consciousness and it begins as you take the eyes of your heart off of God and begin to look to yourself. All sin comes from deception and pride is the beginning of deception. Pride can begin unnoticed as a subtle distraction that causes you to take your eyes off God and begin to focus on something else. As the eyes of your heart loose focus on God your imagination begins to wander into scenarios that trigger emotions and soon your mind is on a journey of introspection which does not include God. Pride is when you consciously or unconsciously begin to believe that the universe revolves around you. This can lead to any type of deception followed by sin.

Humility keeps you focused on God and His ways. Humility helps you see the big picture which is that the universe is vast and revolves around God. This gives you a more accurate perspective and helps you keep your confidence and trust in God as you look to Him and depend on Him for everything.

Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding. In all your ways know, recognize, and acknowledge Him, and He will direct and make straight and plain your paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6 AMP)

The scripture above tells us, “in all our ways know God.” This means in every experience of life we are to know Him. If our heart is focused on Him we will see God working in every situation. When we know that He is good we will trust Him even when we do not see His goodness; because we trust Him more than we rely on our own understanding. If you trust Him with your whole heart, and learn to know Him more with every life situation you will see that He is guiding you and preparing the way before you.

He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way. (Psalms 25:9 NIV)

Humility is not true humility unless it lines up with truth. For instance we work with many poor people in The Philippines, mostly kids. Sometimes an older kid may be hungry and has not eaten for a day or two but when you ask him if he is hungry he will say no. The reasons may be he is embarrassed to admit his situation. In his mind he may think that he is being humble by choosing to suffer. However, it is really pride that is keeping him from eating when we offer him food. The truth may require him to humble himself. Truth lines up with humility. In our ministry we always do things in ways to avoid embarrassing any one. When we feed the hungry we feed all of them together. Only when I am talking with a kid by himself do I ask him about his needs. We treat every one with respect and honor because each person is special and created in the image of God.

If a person has a talent from God for singing and you tell them they have a beautiful voice sometimes the person may react with, “I’m not really very good”. That can also be false humility because they know they are good and they know it is a gift from God. It is ok to say “thank you it is a gift from God”. Humility and truth go together. When your character includes truth, humility, and righteousness you will do great things.

And in Your majesty ride prosperously because of truth, humility, and righteousness; And Your right hand shall teach You awesome things. (Psalms 45:4 NKJV)

There is a spiritual law that pride comes before the fall. Before his downfall a man’s heart is proud, but humility comes before honor.

(Proverbs 18:12 NIV) God gives grace to the humble and lifts them up. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up. (James 4:10 NKJV) When God lifts you to a new level there is a temptation to become prideful again. It is very important to maintain humility so you can keep going up or else the floor you stand on will become your ceiling again.

Patterns of failure can be caused by patterns of recurring pride. This is a cause of being double minded. When things are good we tend to forget about God and pride can move in.

“GOD RESISTS THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.” Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up. (James 4:6-10 NKJV)

Below are some of the differences in attitude between being proud and humble.

Here are some other promises for the humble…

For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, With him who has a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble, And to revive the heart of the contrite ones. (Isaiah 57:15 NKJV)

The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom, And before honor is humility. (Proverbs 15:33 NKJV)

By humility and the fear of the LORD Are riches and honor and life. (Proverbs 22:4 NKJV)

He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8 NKJV)

Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for “GOD RESISTS THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.” Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. (1st Peter 5:5-7 NKJV)

Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though He was God, He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, He gave up His divine privileges; He took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When He appeared in human form, He humbled Himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. Therefore, God elevated Him to the place of highest honor and gave Him the name above all other names,
(Philippians 2:3-9 NLT)