Friday Open Heavens Devotional - Keep Yourself Humble

MEMORISE: Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt   you in due time: 1 Peter 5:6.

READ:1 Samuel 15:17-19.
17.And Samuel said, when thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the LORD anointed thee king over Israel? 18.And the LORD sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed. 19.Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the LORD, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the LORD?

MESSAGE

Several years ago, I was on a visit to a parish of our church in Ilesha (a town in southwest Nigeria) on the same day that a Bible Study service was to take place. Because I wanted to be blessed, I sat down in the congregation waiting for the Bible Study teacher to commence the lesson for the day. However, an overzealous usher announced that I was around, and so the Bible Study teacher refused to teach while I was sitting in the congregation. When he insisted, I offered to interpret the message for him. In spite of this, he still would not teach. I then ordered, “As the General Overseer, I command you to teach.” Not wanting to disobey me, he started teaching, though he was uncomfortable having me as his interpreter. It was a humorous scene, but we had a wonderful time. One great undoing of present-day minister is pride. Humility can be discerned from your relationship with your superiors and subordinates. When you respect your subordinates as though they were your superiors, you are beginning to learn the principles of a humble life. There is nothing good that can come out of arrogance and pride: only destruction. Some people are humble when their ministry is still modest, but the moment they gain publicity and popularity, they become so proud and see themselves as infallible. The same Saul that was hiding when he was being made king started disobeying God without remorse when he became settled. Do you know that a simple “I am sorry, Lord” from Eli could have saved him from being rejected and destroyed by God? Instead, his response to the situation at hand showed that he was not bothered about God’s judgement (1st Samuel 3:18). Rather than asking for God to show mercy, he told God to “do as He pleases.” May God not “do as He pleases” in your life in Jesus' Name. If God is to do as He pleases, nobody will be able to stand (Psalm 130:3). When you clothe yourself with humility, your life becomes blessed and favoured (James 4:6&10), and you become a channel of blessing to everyone around you. Jesus Christ, our Master and King, humbled Himself to die a shameful death (Philippians 2:8). Let the mind of Christ be in you always. He made himself of no reputation. He took the posture of a servant through the spirit of humility. It is against this backdrop that God decided to exalt Him highly and gave Him a Name that is above every other name. Pride usually goes before a fall. Pride is excessive self-esteem. It brings about the misconception that one is better than others. This is dangerous because God is the only one who can help you in the fulfilment of your destiny. With humility, you can conquer the world.

KEY POINT: It is better for you to humble yourself than for God to humble you.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: JOSHUA 19:40-21:45 AND MATTHEW 22:15-46.