Clelie

On an ending note , I want to express my deep appreciation for the team of joyfulhearts for their patience, love and dedication to bring this topic on humility to enhance my love for God the Father and our Lord Jesus and His perfect plan for us on earth. God bless you all.

I became more tolerant to those who do not hold to my faith in Jesus Christ but I pray for them. Dying to self in the power of the Holy Spirit helps me to put Christ first . To live among non believers. Be Christ like and show love when critised or judged. Keep quiet and avoid unfruitful arguments which will only make situation worse. Pray unceasingly for God to work out His plan for them and and for me.

Having abundance of wealth and knowledge can create a feeling of pride and superiority so we are puffed up. It can tempt us to forget that it is God who provides the ability to be wealthy or full of knowledge . Those who hold false teachings and heretics are deeply convicted that they are the right ones. They live a lie and are being deceived through their arrogance and cannot accept contradictions. We must acknowledge that wealth is a gift from God and need to be a good steward of it. Not used for our selfishness but share it with those who don’t have with a humble and grateful heart . Same for those who are gifted in knowledge bearing in mind that God is the owner and Giver of all good gifts. He is the One to Whom we have to give an account of our use of His gifts as we handle them with humility and gratefulness. .

We are all created in the image of God and God loves us all unconditionally . We are all,sinners and need the Saviour. If Jesus has come on earth in humility to save us, who are we to consider ourselves better than the poor,the homeless and those we consider of low class. Jesus told us to consider everyone rich or poor equal because He came for the whole world. The poor, the vagrants, the rejected of the society,and many others are considered lowly.There should be a ministry to integrate the lowly to a dignified position but this will have to be consolidated further. Church and Christians should show example of non favoritism in its congregation, for the world to see Jesus alive among His followers.

Unforgiveness comes from a proud wounded spirit . There is no love for ennemies. Repaying evil for evil, seeking revenge are the marks of a proud person who can,t let go of any affront. personal forgiveness is letting God do the judgement.Some issues need to be judged in public prosecution. A judge or a panel of judges will determine according to the law how to execute punishment to the culprit.

Judging others shows pride which is incompatible with humility. This world is fallen because of the pride of Satan who rebelled against God.Non believers live in the spirit of this world and we need to show mercy to them because they are under the power of Satan.But within church community we need to practice humility with love and compassion considering others better than us. when we compare ourselves with others,we are showing we are better or higher which is pride not humility. Backbiting, criticizing is qualified as pride and this is a judgemental spirit..

Conceit is pride, which produces impatience, criticism and every negative feelings that make it impossible to live in harmony with others. Jesus and his apostles know that unity in the Spirit is important to keep the members of the body of Christ as one . Sometimes there is intolerance , impatience and lack of love that threaten the unity of the Spirit.

Appropriate submission is obedience,respect and ready to do whatever is right. opposing church leaders shows that we are more capable or knowledgeable than them ,which is pride and judgementalism. impatience and outburst is lack of self control which is a fruit of the Spirit. Forebearance comes through situations God allow us to be patient waiting on Him for answered prayers. when two people get married they both come with their own upbringings which may differ from each other .They both have to make room to understand each other and to accept each other for their own good,peace and harmony.

Respecting others and honouring them is showing humility to them for they all are created in the image of God.If we do not have this attitude, we can’t minister to them because we’ll be judging them through the lense of pride. When we are rude our speech shows a character of disrespect and arrogance not humility. Interrupting a person is unrighteousness for James 1:19 says be swift to hear and slow to speak.

Temperance means very moderate in the drinking of an alcoholic beverage, to be under control avoiding excess and abstinence is refraining from or not having any. Alcohol and drugs disrupt physical and spiritual functions to the point that those who are under its influence loose self control. Self control is being in control of self to live according to the Spirit not the . self. we cannot live our Christian life in moderation but fully committed to God and for that we need to exercise self control over things that may be contrary to the call of God.

Humility that comes from loving God prompts us to reach out to those who are in need as commanded by scriptures. Doing good to others , showing love, giving and helping are all marks of compassion and humility as modeled by Christ. In the early church sharing with people who are in need, selling properties and distributing the proceeds to those who needed help were some of the acts of good deeds especially to those of the family of believers. Faith without deeds is death as James expressed it.

Pride is serving self. Self does not give in easily to the other and this causes conflict . Fighting and quarreling is again wanting to satisfy one’s desires in the flesh so it is a state of opposition that causes strife . The root of our fighting comes from wanting to satisfy the pleasures of self. where there is conflict, to be solved , we need to have wisdom, patience ,love , kindness and above all the help of the Holy Spirit who produces the fruit to face the issue. To deal with conflicts, it is necessary to see the others point of view and decide to give in or to agree to disagree in a spirit of tolerance.

God has forgiven our sins through Jesus paying our ransom on the cross. The love of God leads us to have a change of mind and we become humble before Him.We obey Him and do His will in obedience to His commands on earth.

Pride from satan has caused his downfall and the fallen world. God hates anything that rises up against the knowledge of Him,and being proud is opposition to His authority and that causes Him to take measure against the one who acts rebellious with chastisement . . Jesus was the very example of humility . All His disciples understood and followed after His example after his death . Example comes from above , from the leader or parents . To set good examples is to show the right way to achieve the purpose of Christ to save mankind. when we humbly submit ourselves to God, we allow Him to use us for His glory and we are lifted up as a servant worthy fir his kingdom.

The word world in the context of Jesus teaching means anything that is not the will of God, which is the system of the devil of this fallen world. Being worldly means participanting in the life of a fallen world where sins abound including pride, feeling a.no need of God. we are in the world but not of the world. We are citizens of heaven and thus living a life that pertains to God in obedience of Him who rules and reigns in our hearts . Stealing the glory that belongs to God means taking what is His as ours. We own nothing ,everything we have is from Him and to Him alone do we give back what is due to Him.glory, honour, merit ,praise etc. Taking for ourselves the glory that solely belongs to God is considering ourselves equal to God. That very attitude of satan which has caused his downfalll .