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 .

Anyone holding Small business and wants to promote their own enterprise should deal honestly with the customers. Many people are afraid of being duped and being open and honest will bring confidence to the buyer or accept a good deal in their business. Humility is being honest and credible in the sight of God.

Flattery is empty ,it does not produce results that please God. God desires genuine .sincere praise not the false hypocrite appreciation of flattery.

A leader should have the drive to improve, change and achieve the purpose of building a betterment in the sphere of his responsibility. No ambition , no positive results.

A leader should have the drive to improve, change and achieve the purpose of building a betterment in the sphere of his responsibility. No ambition , no positive results.

By faith in the truth of God, a Christian can speak out with confidence. Same for showing the courage to go for that which is right in his opinion , done though with love. Assertiveness in submission is defending what is right because the humble person stands up for himself when he needs to.. Assertiveness is not opposed to humility. A spirit of fear, timidity, lack of self confidence can keep leaders from being assertive when they need to be.. The heroes of the faith showed faith and courage in their assertiveness to stand up for what they considered right.

Moses obeyed God in spite of knowing that he was not qualified to be the leader to set the people of Israel free from Egypt. The essence of his humility is his complete dependence on God. The essence of Jesus humility is his submissiveness to God. leaders should be humble and submissive to God in obedience to Him. .

Motives come from the heart and hearts could be deceitful and all our thoughts are known of God. So our motives should be pure without any hidden agenda so they are genuinely humble. Pure motives are from a heart that belongs to God where He reigns on its throne. Guarding our hearts is to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit that brings conviction and helps us to see our mistakes or errors and repent .

Widows and orphans are deprived of a provider, protector, helper and are vulnerable. To look after them and to help them is showing them the love of Christ in humility for Christ was humble. Dorcas and mother Teresa were humble as they served others without any thoughts about themselves.

Jesus exemplified what He taught. He came to save the sinners by giving up Himself a sacrificed lamb . He taught us His humility in serving others even those who don’t deserve it as we all are. We are taught to be humble and be servant to the smallest and lowest in human eyes as depicted in the giving of a cup of water and the parable of sheep and goat .. Needy people as the word described it are those who are helpless and cannot much provide for themselves either physically, financially or any other ways. If many non believers practise these acts of love and humility, how much more should disciples of Christ show the love of God in not only providing for them physically but also pointing them to Christ their provider , healer, and Saviour.

Jesus their Lord was doing something that the disciples considered unacceptable which made them feel very uncomfortable because their rabbi was doing something so menial as washing their feet. Jesus wanted to instill in his disciples the true notion of real humility in becoming small in social status as to even washing feet of someone considered of no much importance or of a lowly ststus.