Tag Archive for humility

Humility

2020-09-11 Devotional with Hymn, Uncategorized No comments

From Him and through Him and to Him are all things.
To Him be the glory forever. (Romans 11:36, NASB)

Humility is seeing God.
Humility is worshiping Him.
Humility is loving Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Humility is loving others fully and joyfully.

Humility is truth.
It is seeing the world and ourselves as we really are.

Humility is sweet freedom from life’s
most constant and most crushing burden:
the burden of self-concern.
Humility is the freedom to release selfish anxiety and
embrace Christ for all He is.

Father, humility is knowing You.
It is one of the gifts of knowing You are with me.
Thank You, my Lord!

Don’t despise your own
weakness and smallness.
They glorify God.
He uses them to display
His power and greatness.

Hymn: Meekness

from Prepare Yourself for Worship

2017-08-11 Devotional with Hymn, Prepare Yourself for Worship No comments

Help Me Remember

Father, as I gather
in Your presence
with Your people,
I may be tempted to become
negative or critical,
impatient or unkind.

Help me remember
Who You are, Father.
You are the compassionate God,
the Lord of all mercies.
You loved me,
sought me, and
forgave me
when I was far away,
ignorant,
completely corrupt, and
totally unworthy.

And Father, help me remember
who I am.
I am nothing without Your mercies every moment.
Nothing, Lord.
I am deeply,
completely,
constantly
dependent on
Your patience and
Your untiring forgiveness.

Help me also remember
who they are.
They are as needy as me,
as dependent on Your mercy as I am,
as helpless without Your tender compassion.
They are the ones for whom
You sacrificed Your precious Son.
They are Your glorious work in progress –
You are so proud of them!
They are Your treasured possession.

Father, today may
my only thought,
my only word
be Your pure love. 

Listen and sing:
Hymn: How Precious Are Your People
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The Blind Man of Jericho

2015-05-24 Devotional with Hymn No comments

As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” 

He called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 

Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more. “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 

Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” 

“Lord, I want to see,” he replied. 

Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God. (Luke 18:35-43, NIV)

What if you were the blind man, doomed to spend every day begging as life went on around you? Then suddenly you learn that your only hope for healing is passing nearby, right now, at this very moment. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

“Jesus…have mercy on me!” (v.38)

It was a cry of weakness and need, of complete helplessness. “Jesus, I’m desperate! Please notice me! Help me! Lord, care about me!”

Have you ever noticed what happens when someone speaks too loudly or has an emotional outburst that seems inappropriate? It disrupts decorum, and the whole atmosphere becomes tense. Everyone is suddenly uncomfortable…and annoyed.

Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet. (v.39)

But he was desperate, so he yelled even louder and more insistently:

Son of David, have mercy on me! (v.39) 

This cry arose from the depths of his heart, all the way up through his being. Propriety, reputation, and embarrassment didn’t matter. Nothing else mattered. He was in the presence of One who could give him his sight. “Jesus, HELP ME!”

We can approach God like that man. All of us have felt some measure of what the blind man felt before God: crushing need, helplessness, desperation. When you feel that way, cry out to God. He is not offended by honesty, no matter how brutal. Read the Gospels. Read the Psalms. He honors faith.

Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.” (v.42)

No poverty should make us too ashamed to come to God. Whether the need is moral or emotional, large or small, you are welcome in His presence. You are an invited guest. And He will look you straight in the eye, straight in the heart, and work in your life. He may not act according to your plan or on your timetable, but trust Him through your pain. His wisdom and love will prove themselves perfect.

He received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God. (v.43)

Listen and sing:
Hymn: From These Depths, O Lord
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Humility

2014-10-09 Devotional with Hymn No comments

From Him and through Him and to Him are all things.
To Him be the glory forever. (Romans 11:36, NASB)

Humility is seeing God.
Humility is worshiping Him.
Humility is loving Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Humility is loving others fully and joyfully.

Humility is truth.
It is seeing the world and ourselves as we really are.

Humility is sweet freedom from life’s most constant and most crushing burden:
the burden of self-concern.
Humility is the freedom to release selfish anxiety and
embrace Christ for all He is.

Jesus, humility is knowing You.
It is one of the gifts of knowing You are with me.
Thank You, my Lord!

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Meekness
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

Hard Changes

2014-09-16 Devotional with Hymn No comments

Confrontation:
The Big Showdown.
I know I am right!
So much seems at stake.
The opponent is tough,
but my cause is “just”.
Everything within me strains forward,
strengthened by fear.

Yet the object feels more and more immovable,
so large that I can’t even see around it.
Righteous indignation fuels my frustration and anger, and
confusion sets in.

Then I remember that You, Lord, are here with me,
and I turn to You for solace and direction.
In Your presence, I begin to see the situation in a new light.

Lord, if the change should be in me,
if the real obstacle is my ignorance, and
the only things at stake are
my ego and
the comfort of the status quo,
soften my heart;
pull down my pride.
I open my clenched fists and
spread my arms to You,
bowing in Your presence.

In Your mercy, grant me
a trust that is willing to turn loose,
a humility that is gracious and joyful,
a Spirit that ever longs to give and heal.

But the lingering unknowns?
The hurts and unresolved fears?
I release them to you, my Savior, resting in
a wisdom that is always selfless and patient, and
a justice that overflows with mercy.
I know You care for me –
for me, Lord,
and that is more than enough.
I love You, my God!

Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. 

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:3-8, NASB)

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Glorify Your Name
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Holy Pride

2013-05-26 Devotional with Hymn No comments

This is what the Lord says:
“Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom…
or the rich man boast of his riches,
but let him who boasts boast about this:
that he understands and knows me.”
(Jeremiah 9:23-24, NIV)

Lord, I grow proud at the slightest excuse.
It doesn’t take much for me to start imagining
how great and wonderful I am.
It sounds foolish, God,
but You know it’s true.

Who makes you different from anyone else?
What do you have that you did not receive?
And if you did receive it,
why do you boast as though you did not?
(1 Corinthians 4:7, NIV)

Lord, You’ve left me with only one thing to brag about:
You and all the wonderful things You’ve done!
I will take pride only in You.

Listen…and sing if you want:
Hymn: Isn’t He Good?
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