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Humility ; Key to Greatness

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Post  Savioroftheworld Sun 11 Apr 2010, 8:00 pm

AS CHRISTIANS, WE SHOULD HAVE THE "MIND OF CHRIST."

Philippians 2:5-11 says "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: [ let this mind be in you] 6Who, being in very nature[a] God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8And being found in appearance as a man, e humbled himself and became obedient to death even death on a cross! 9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

THE CHRISTIAN MIND LIKE CHRIST'S MUST BE CHARACTERIZED BY HUMILITY.
Humility is the key to greatness in the kingdom of God . Virtues Like submission and obedience, service to others , can never manifest without humility , Jesus connected greatness as he humbled himself and submitted to the will of the father. Through Humility he connected greatness and exaltation; it is the same way God chooses those who will be great. Those who have leant to say nevertheless not my will but thine be done are destined for greatness, but they also connect the greatness through many afflictions. Each time we pray this prayer we are submitting our will to God's will.

When you are persecuted as Christ was, do you pray such prayer of submission? When all you have worked for, God asks you to place it on the altar, do you pray as Christ did? When all your aspirations for years, God ask you to sacrifice like Abraham was asked to sacrifice Isaac, do you submit to God and say let your will be done? Like David do you submit and refuse to lift a finger or touch Gods anointed, even though at the expense of dying to your own flesh?[ Gods anointed in your life could be your parents, your husband , your mentors , your pastor , your boss and even your government / power belongs to God and whoever God anointed to stand in position of authority to you , you must submit to ] examples of this abound in scripture , Isaac sub mitted to his father Abraham , even to the point of death he became exceedingly great, Elijah submitted to Elisha , Joshua to Moses, In the new testament Jesus submitted to government authorities , he paid taxes , he said give unto ceasers what is ceasers and unto God what is Gods. He reiterated severally that power belongs to God; the disciples said the same that Christians should submit to all power and ordinances for the Lords sake. Timothy also submitted to Apostle Paul, several scriptures abound on submission to spiritual leaders, children are enjoined to submit to parents in Ephesians 6 ;1,and wives are asked to submit to husbands in Ephesians 5:22 .Other scriptures abound on submission as a Christian virtue, bible interprets this submission as unto the Lord , since all power comes from God.
A life lived in submission to God [ultimately as we submit to others] is a sign of deep heart humility. On searching through the word, everybody God elevated into a position of greatness had this key to greatness. A heart totally submitted and bowed down to the will of the almighty. Such a mind characterised by humility is the tool God is looking for in his people. The bible says he is searching to and fro round the world to make himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are right before him.

WHAT ARE THE STEPS WE NEED TO TAKE TO DEVELOP A HEART OF HUMILITY
1. Develop the spirit of meekness , It is the foundation of humility .Isaiah 61; when speaking on those the anointing is for says the anointing is to preach to the meek .{ISIAH 61;1-4]This shows me that God sets the foundation requirement / qualifier of those who will come into his kingdom as meek people . when Jesus Christ also preached in Mathew , The Sermon on the Mount he said blessed are the poor in spirit , because they are the ones who are citizens of the kingdom of God .[Mathew 5;1-3] Salvation depends on humility meekness and seeing poverty in the spirit ,growth also depends on humility , when we stop being meek and start fighting our battles , we tell God we don't belong to your kingdom anymore .Christianity is based on the cross and the exaltation of resurrection power. If you reject the cross, you have no part in the kingdom power. The cross can only be carried with a spirit of meekness and poverty in the spirit; many Christians have thrown away their cross. Jesus Christ said if you want to be my disciples take up your cross and follow me. The cross signifies self denial and obedience to the will of God as revealed in his word, irrespective of whether people around you do their part ,you do yours and carry your own cross ,as you submit to the word.

We must all ascribe to him. He said He who humbles himself shall be exalted. We must humble ourselves. It is a personal thing . We must intentionally abase ourselves. When we start it is first difficult, Our flesh will cry, this is why it is a cross . But when we learn to develop a spirit of meekness we don't justify sin any more . We understand Gods justice and that , God is balanced. We can then start enjoying our relationships . Children will obey and honour their parents; parents will not provoke their children. Ministers will serve and , members will honour those who serve them.

Husbands will love their wives, wives w ill submit to their husband. Church members will submit to and respect their leaders and the leaders will not rule over them like Lords who expect to be served by the members. Etc God is balanced. He is talking to you personally don't rationalise his words. Humility to God gives you grace, even in relational problems. Those who have bad children, spouses, member of congregation, or ministers . Humble yourself under the mighty hands of God, do your own part, let God see you carry your own cross by obeying him as you deny your rights , I can assure you in his due season he will exalt you . Humility leads to greatness. Luke 14:27 says " whoever will come after me must deny himself and carry his own cross .Denying ourselves means we deny our position , our abilities , rights , just to glorify Christ. By so doing we abase ourselves. This is the key to being honored and glorified by God . Jesus said the father will honor those who serve him in spirit and truth. Those who like Paul said, will do like Christ and have the mind of Christ as shown in Philippians 2 :7-8 above, Jesus had a mind of humility because h e, " made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8And being found in appearance as a man,h e humbled himself and became obedient to death even death on a cross!" when we too lay our lives down for him. Even when we have the honor of this world and rights in this world , we must die to it and lay it down ,so we can receive the honor of the father. This means like Jesus said. "Except we are converted and become [meek] like little children we cannot enter the kingdom of Heaven". The journey of salvation starts with meekness, abasing ourselves, yet even when we enter into the kingdom of God we remain citizens as we continue in meekness. Then in due season He will exalt us .Amen

2. We also learn humility by developing a Servant heart. Like Christ, we should have a servant's attitude, serving out of love for God and for others, not out of guilt or fear. You can approach life expecting to be served, or you can look for opportunities to serve others. (See Mark 10:45 for more on Christ's attitude of servant hood . When you serve others people will serve you . Don't go through life wanting to be served , be more concerned about what you can do for others , family , friends , church members, your nation , the body of Christ . Not what they should do for you . People who go through life with a sense of entitlement get disappointed. In . Luke 22:25-27 talking to his disciples
25Jesus said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. 26But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. 27For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves ? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves

The desire to be on top will always hinder any Christian, not help you. It is God that promotes, wait for it , don't seek it. When God promotes, he will stun you by the people who will bow to you for one simple reason, because they know God is with you. Wait for it , don't seek it.

Rather than seeking to have your needs met by others and complaining that people are not serving you well ,look for ways that you can minister to the needs of others. Service is the way to get ahead.
The basic trouble in the human situation is that men wish to DO as LITTLE as possible and to GET as MUCH as possible. It is only when we are filled with the desire to put into life more than we take out, that life for us and for others will be joyful, happy and prosperous. Service keeps us humble .
I spend about average of 15 hours, sometimes 20 hours preparing the word and reading it on the average weekly, the reason for the time is that I have to receive the word before I can give out what I have received. when I am writing a book I spend close to 60 -70 hours , I have to cook and freeze a week before , because during the week I am writing , I can't do anything else , I am locked up in an atmosphere that can't relate on the temporal .When people tell me that they read the books and they begin to vibrate under the anointing , I do understand , because I know I did not write most of the books , The Holy spirit did , I was just available .When I read them myself I also vibrate , that is how I honestly and truly know it is nothing to do with me.

Some years ago I lost all my old manuscripts for four new books as my computer collapsed, I was devastated. Again it happened about a few months ago for about 4 years of sermon notes . When I asked the Lord why?, he said because I am trying to keep you receiving fresh manna .He said he does not want stale food being given out to his people , he wants fresh manner and fresh revelations .He said "if you have access to all the materials you have written in those hours you have spent in the word, a time will come , you will stop studying and receiving , you will only deliver and recycle message , he sad that is the most dangerous place a minister can be". So I realised that all things work together for the good of those who are called by God according to his purpose.

Sisters and brothers are you making yourself available by service to others , when we are available God will energise us.. When we are filled with the desire to put much into life by helping others, God see's our service and uses it beyond our dreams. A lady , told me once you are working hard and sending all this bible studies to other pastors who use them [ many pastors do tell me that they use the weekly studies ], she said, you are just cooking and pouring the food out without any reward. I laughed and quoted the scripture that says cast out your seed and scatter it because you do not know the one that will grow. I told her the word is God's word, the church is God's church, the revelations are God's revelations and the people being blessed are God's people. Freely we receive, freely we must give. When we serve others God is the one who rewards us not man. No man can pay my salary only God can and he has been extremely faithful.

One day I met a lady whom I have not seen for five years and she brought out two of my books from her handbag bag and said ,These are always with me , they are my life line ,I read the bible study every day , when I finish the book ,I start again , she said " I have done that for five years ", she also brought out the prayer book and said I use this to pray every day on my way to work and back . She told me she did not understand the bible enough to read and understand, but these books explained the bible to her, that she now has a relationship with Christ and she has been experiencing his providence and miracles in her life. I used the opportunity to lead her to Christ and requested that she join a living church in her neighbourhood. This lady was quoting all the scriptures explained in the books, I could see she had the light and life of Christ in her . I got home that day and bowed down for hours too stunned to pray, In my wildest dream , I never expected any of the books to impact a person ,[ especially ,one who was lost in the world , partying and prostituting] to the extent that she will say they have been a life line to her for 5 years and she has changed her ways and now has a relationship with Christ, No pastor , no church , just two books.
She in fact said her mum died and she was weeping and was alone for 5 days, even thinking suicidal thoughts when God told her to go and read the bible study , that from then she has been in-seperable from the books.

I was stunned.

My point is that there are gifts in you that the Holy Spirit wants to breathe on to make a life line to somebody sinking in life.

For Jesus, Greatness consisted, not in reducing other men to His service, but in reducing Himself to their service. The test was not, what service can I extract, but, what service can I give? Jesus Christ our Lord said " The son of man did not come to be served but to serve others."
He took the form of a servant he humbled himself in service unto the point of death, that is why God highly exalted him.
What service are you giving to others?
What is your impact on others lives?
How many times have you fasted and prayed for others?
What gifts are you using for the good of others?
In which way are you denying yourself to meet the needs of others?
Are you even serving your family ? Let alone other christians?
Until I started serving , I never knew that the greatest sense of worth a person has comes from their effect on others lives . Serving gives you a purpose in life , a reason for living , it makes you know you are needed .Gods plan is to make his children find purpose as they serve others.
Many Christians do not even know about humility, service and self denial, no wonder the church is filled with proud people .Unfortunately proud people are resisted and can't find grace and promotion from God.

Service break you down to put other's needs ahead of your own needs .It humbles you. Service glorifies God because you acknowledge that of the much he has given necessity is laid on you to give back to others. Still as you give time, money, talent or whatever you have, you still feel more inadequate for not doing enough.
You can't out serve God or out give God. Our best can only be a little in the ocean of Gods mercies. The more we do the more God increases his own blessings .God is a rewarder of those who are diligent in serving and seeking him.
Service always makes a person humble,
Service makes a person great beyond their dreams.
Jesus Christ gave himself and served others, that was the route to his exaltation and promotion, start to serve today and I assure you will become humble , then in due season your own exaltation is certain just like Christ is exalted .

Titi Oluwadare is the Vision Coordinator of His Grace Evang Min. The Ministeries include , His Gem worship centres in the Uk and Nigeria. Kingdom women{Kwic] in London,Nigeria and South Africa and Gem Commmunity ventures . She is married to David Oluwadare and they are blessed with Children.

Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com-CHRISTIAN WRITERS
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Post  WARRIOR Mon 12 Apr 2010, 4:21 pm

Thank You for posting this article. I needed to read this for myself.
I myself have lost two thirds of all of my writings for a book. The Lord
told me he wanted me to seek Him anew for fresh writings, to get me into
the word more. I read your experience and truly can relate to it. Thank you
for sharing this. Blessings. Cinda
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Post  raven888 Sun 25 Apr 2010, 8:42 am

Yes. thanks for posting this. I really need to remind myself about this as well.
Sometimes, as humans, we really can't help to be proud.
Thanks for reminding me that God wants us to have the mind of Christ.
We must humble ourselves, even to those who are not the same level as ours because we still need to respect each other and
we still need to love each other as what God wants us to be.

thans for this post. I am blessed.



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Post  Waqar Daniel Sun 25 Apr 2010, 6:52 pm

Thank you for joining CHRISTIAN TALK. May your visits bring blessings to us.

God bless you



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