James 4:10 Humble Yourselves
Food for Thought
An all-creatures.org Guide to Kingdom Living. True Christian living requires us to live according to Kingdom standards which bring Heaven to earth

By Marni Montanez

James 4:10 New International Version

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

It is easy to bow low and pay homage to our King or lay prostrate in reverence to God as a way of showing humility. But to truly humble ourselves before the Lord is a matter of the heart. Our body can act out humility but if our heart is prideful and arrogant,  then we have not truly humbled ourselves.  This happens when we allow our flesh to be dominant and have its way.  Galatians 5:16 (NIV)  So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

Our flesh will not submit to anyone.  That is why we must practice walking in the spirit.  

To humble oneself before the Lord is to walk in peace, trusting that God will take care of us and believing it is safe to relinquish all control to Him.  When we thank God before we see the answer to our prayers we are humbling ourselves before Him.  

There is a promise that comes with being humble.  When we present ourselves before the Lord with a heart that is surrendered, He is able to do more in and through us.  He will exalt us to a higher place where we can glorify Him.  Otherwise if we are in the way we will fall at the first attack of the enemy.  God’s promises only work if we are under His domain and His protection.

When we try to do things in our own strength we are leaving God out of the equation and setting ourselves up for failure.   God is ready and willing to establish us in His house, but we must be willing to let go of our agenda and our insistence in being “god”.  

Prayer: Father, we as humans, don’t know how to surrender fully.  Do it within us Lord so that we are fully emptied of ourselves and full of the Holy Spirit. Help us to walk according  to your will, surrendered and willing.

God bless,

Marni

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The purpose of this series is to encourage people to live as loving, compassionate, and peacemaking children of God: Jesus tells us to pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:10) God tells us through Micah (6:8), "He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God." And we know from Revelation 21:4 that there will be no more mourning, or crying, or pain, or death. Thus, Christian living requires us to set the standards of these conditions here on earth for our fellow human beings, and for the other animals, as a witness to the rest of the world. To do otherwise is not Christian.