Tag: pride

The Inspiration of God in Our Work

1 Corinthians 3:19
For the wisdom of the world is foolishness to God. As the Scriptures say, “He traps the wise in the snare of their own cleverness.”

Satan’s craftiness is witnessed in the way that he gets us to focus on good things that we are good at, knowing that we will find praise in our efforts. Satan in his cleverness knows that if he can get us to stay in our comfort zone, we will never meet our full potential. More importantly, Satan recognizes that in the process of relying on our own capabilities that we will completely by-pass God’s inspiration in our work.

It is easy for us to take on projects that we are comfortable with and ones in which we feel our probability of success is very high. There is nothing wrong with this position as long as we go to God for confirmation that the project is one that He ordains.

God inspired projects, however, are more likely to have us question our abilities to successfully complete them. God is not concerned about our capabilities. If He ordains something, it will be done. God is looking for the opportunity to have His power and His glory, not our capabilities, reflected in the things that we do. May we learn to seek the counsel and the might that He offers.

Let us forsake the wisdom that the world offers, lest we be trapped by our own pride. Let us seek Godly counsel in all things. Let us move forward with the urgings of the Holy Spirit, even if they are outside our comfort zone.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your Holy Word that teaches how Jesus was interested in doing only those things that You asked Him to do. In Jesus’ life, every project was carried out in accordance with Your will. We pray, Father, that the Holy Spirit will teach us how to seek You first in all things. We pray for the grace to be able to accept and act upon the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. May all that we do be for Your glory. We ask all these things in the name of Our Blessed Hope and Assurance, Jesus Christ.

Learning from the Foot of the Cross

Philippians 2:8
Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

The fact that Jesus left His divine state to become a man illustrates an act of humility that surpasses anything that any human could imagine. Accepting the lowliness of man, it would have been reasonable by any human standard that He would a least appear as a king. Not so for this divine man, He took not a royal station but accepted a position in a lowly manger. His state within humankind never advanced to any level above the lowest elements of society. He worked His entire ministry in the streets and hillsides among the common people.

Aside from His transfiguration before Peter, James and John, His splendor was never to be seen by man until He ascended to His seat beside His Father in Heaven. In the meantime, He endured a life of poverty and suffering which ended in an exposition of public hatred, ridicule and scorn. Then, having no place for personal pride, He accepted death so that we may have life.

Let us lie at the foot of His Cross each day and learn from Our Savior King. Let us take note of His complete obedience to the Father under all circumstances. Let us allow our personal pride to dissolve in the face of knowing why He made these choices – to save us from our sinful and prideful nature. Let us be inspired by His faithfulness and His promises. Let us humble ourselves to the point of putting the old man in our lives to death so that our new man in Christ may live.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we humbly bow before Your throne, asking Your forgiveness for our sins. We thank You for providing the way for us to overcome our sinful nature. May we cling to the Cross of Our Savior. May we learn to set aside our pride and serve those around us in the manner that You call us. May we ignore the scorn of the world as we are obedient to Your calling on our lives. We ask all these things in the name of The Captain of Our Salvation, Jesus Christ.

Eloquent Prayer: A Potential Hindrance?

1 Corinthians 2:4
And my message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit.

Why is it that when we pray in public we are so concerned about our eloquence? This pride can limit the power of the Holy Spirit. We can actually block the movement of the Holy Spirit by putting ourselves in the way. In an effort to impress men, we can hinder the movement of God in their lives and our own.

The truth of the matter is that we will never reach our full potential as disciples of Jesus Christ if we concern ourselves with the accolades of others. The only person that we need to concern ourselves with is the person of Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Savior.

It is part of our ongoing spiritual maturation to learn to let go of our desires to please man in all that we do. We must learn to let the Holy Spirit help and guide us as we seek to please God first. We must learn to trust that supernatural power can be released through us simply by following the urgings of the Holy Spirit. We must humbly accept that all the good work that comes from what we do is the result of the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives. If we surrender to the urgings of the Holy Spirit, we will experience an extraordinary release of power in our lives…well beyond our imagination and certainly well beyond our natural capability.

Let us seek to please Our Savior first and foremost. Let us manifest to the world His power through our submission to Him and our subsequent living testimonies.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for equipping us through the Holy Spirit to please You in all that we do. We pray that the Holy Spirit will show us how to let go of the desire to please men and will enlighten us to put You first in all things. May we see the release of fruit in our lives as we allow the Holy Spirit to inspire us and empower us to do Your good works. We ask all these things in the name of the Strength of Our Lives, Jesus Christ.