DAY 05 - NURTURING HUMILITY
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FOOD CALENDAR:
Daniel Fruits, Veggies, Legumes, Grains
DEVO:
How are you supposed to become humble? How do you impact your heart so that it will respond to God in authentic surrender?
James 4:10 (NKJV) Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.
Psalm 35:13 (NKJV) I humbled myself through fasting.
All through Scripture you are exhorted to "Humble yourself before God." This is something YOU do. Sometimes you may ignorantly ask God to take your pride away. But pride is something you GIVE up, God doesn't TAKE it from you. It is a choice.
What is humility? Humility is dependence on God. It's not just thinking less of yourself. It is thinking of God, His Word, and His Ways INSTEAD of yourself. If God says something about you, it is humility that embraces that truth as being absolute. Pride, on the other hand, continues to push your intellect, experience, and academia forward for consideration. Humility declares, "I am what God says I am!". Pride says, "Not so fast, you might NOT be what God said, and here is why…."
Humility towards others is thinking of others in preferential ways and acting in their best interests, instead of your own. Humility is never putting yourself down or being self-deprecating. Humility is honoring God with the greatness He has put in you and others, and then preferring others with grace (strength in their own weaknesses).
Humility is bold and uncompromising about truth. Humility doesn't refuse praise, it is just honest about both strengths and shortcomings. You can receive praise from people as a relationally bonding exchange (even God rewards and praises you for your choices), but then turn your heart’s affection to God knowing He is the real and honest source (by His grace) of even your choices. And humility is equally honest about when you have failed and need to apologize. Humility is simply a realistic and Biblical view of yourself.
One of the greatest qualities you can develop is humility. When humility is present, grace multiplies. When grace multiplies, there is supernatural and miracle-working power to engage everything in life. When you think of the huge category of character, think of the simple concept of developing humility. The greatest in the Kingdom of God are the ones who are most developed in humility. So, you can be great, you can know you’re great, and still be humble; you can know that humility brought grace and grace brought greatness.
So how do you grow in humility?
First, you choose God’s Word as your final authority for life, thinking, believing, and acting. This puts you in a position of surrender to God. Secondly, you exercise your heart by serving others with joy. This requires that you point your brain, mind, heart, and emotions towards people you are serving. By being present emotionally, you will release chemicals in the brain and calibrate your heart to consider the interests of others as more important than your own. Finally, by understanding “boundaries”, you’ll know what you want and don’t want, who you are and who you are not. This is important because humbling yourself, and someone else making you be subservient, are totally different things. Once you are clear on who you are, you can serve gladly as you choose to humble yourself, understanding that you weren’t forced to.
All of these things being exercised in your life works out your heart, just as physical exercise works out your body. Over time, growth and development happen.
Decide today that you are going to work on humility of heart, enjoy great grace, and see God in people you have never seen before.
PRAYER:
Lord God, I submit to the authority of your WORD as my final authority in life! Give me the strength to turn away from all other authorities that compete for my loyalty. Prompt me to serve other people today with joy, being emotionally present towards those I serve. Give me revelation of how to set boundaries so that I can decisively exercise my heart in acts of service. Help me process my heart in exercises that make my heart look like yours. I receive!
PRAYER PLAN:
Church Faith Community to Have Fresh Immersions - That EVERYONE at my local church faith community would encounter fresh "Baptisms" in Spirit
SUGGESTED READING: Galatians 5 (NIV)
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
2 Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. 3 Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. 4 You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
7 You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth? 8 That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. 9 “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.” 10 I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is throwing you into confusion, whoever that may be, will have to pay the penalty. 11 Brothers and sisters, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished. 12 As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!
13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
DECLARATION:
God’s grace, His power revealed in my human weakness, is surging through my spirit, soul, and body. I am of God and have overcome him (satan), for greater is He that is in me, than he that is in the world (I John 4:4). I will fear no evil for you are with me Lord; Your Word and Your Spirit they comfort me (Psalm 23:4). I am far from oppression and fear does not come near me (Isaiah 54:14). I am a doer of the Word of God and am blessed in my deeds. I am happy in those things which I do because I am a doer of the Word of God (James 1:22).
WORKSHOP SATURATION:
Workshop saturation is taking spiritual topics and listening to them until they change the way you think, believe, and live. During the Awakening fast, we encourage you to binge-listen or binge-watch our Workshops the way you would binge-watch a show on Netflix. See Workshop Saturation for more information and instructions for accessing the Workshops.
COMMENTS:
Throughout your 21 days, please leave comments of how these Daily Devos have encouraged, inspired, and comforted your heart and faith. Read other people's comments and respond. Let's have a conversation!
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