Obedient to Christ
As I wondered to myself, Did I Get It, I really felt the Spirit telling me this. “If you want a deeper walk with me, begin by descending“. Remember the quote I gave you on Day 6?
“Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility.” Quote by Saint Augustine
As I read through Andrew Murray’s book I began to place his words in my mind. As I did, I felt them sinking deep into my heart. They were words like:
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Relationship to God can only be one of unceasing, absolute, universal dependence.
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Present yourself an empty vessel, in which God can dwell and manifest His power and goodness.
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Humility, is the place of entire dependence on God.
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In Heaven and earth, pride, self-exaltation, is the gate and the birth, and the curse of Hell’.
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Jesus Christ took the place and fulfilled the destiny of man, by his life of perfect humility. His humility is our salvation. His salvation is our humility. Philippians 2:8
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Humility is not a thing that will come of itself, but that it must be made the object of special desire and prayer and faith and practice. All Quotes by Andrew Murray
We may feel we are honestly and actively practicing what we believe, but is it rooted in humility? All of our personal effort will not overcome pride or place in us meek and descending hearts. Andrew Murray says, “It is only by the in-dwelling of Christ in His divine humility that we become truly humble.”
On the first Sunday of each month, the youth at our Church, have a breakfast to raise money. Last month as Ed and I were finishing our breakfast, I saw something very special in one of our youth. There was a young lady, who has a physical challenge, trying her best to walk to a table with a cup of coffee. It was very difficult for her physically. As I watched, a young man got up and took her cup of coffee and escorted her to the table. I think it is in those everyday acts of kindness and caring that we show “who we are”. Certainly this young man was exhibiting his meek and descending heart. He is learning this, I’m sure, from the very heart of Christ. It is a love that totally forgets oneself and finds blessing in blessing and honoring another. Our true test of humility will come in our concern and service toward one another. It has nothing to do with what we can do, and how well we do it. Or, the attention we get from doing it.
So, I found myself and I am still finding myself in the descending mode. I pray that I will always find myself in that mode. I find myself hiding in the Word, to hide it in my heart. One of the passages of scripture that I believe has been a blessing and help to me is in 2 Corinthians chapter 10.
“The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
2 Corinthians 10:4-5
Today, if there is anything in your life, any thought(s) that you need to take to Christ in obedience, just do it. Hide the words in your heart, Lord, take my thoughts and life captive so that I might descend to a life of humility. None of us will ever write that book, Humility and How I Attained It. That would not be a humble heart at all, would it? But, because we are Christ’s followers we must make it the object of special desire and prayer and faith and practice.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 18th, 2009 at 11:33 pm and is filed under Bible Studies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
