LOWLY: 1. humble in feeling, behavior or status 2. modest; unpretentious 3. evolved to only a slight degree
“…thus says the Lord God, ‘Remove the turban and take off the crown; this will no longer be the same. Exalt that which is low and abase that which is high (Ezekiel 21:26, NAS).”
“Take My yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls (Matthew 11:29, KJV).”
“I dwell on a high and holy place, and also with the contrite and lowly of spirit… (Isaiah 57:15, NAS).”
“For though the Lord is exalted, yet He regards the lowly, but the haughty He knows from afar (Psalm 138:6, NAS).”
We must each look at ourselves with new vision – Kingdom Vision – with the ability to see things supernaturally as does God because our fleshly (human) vision limits us greatly hence impairing true clarity about any given situation.
It is imperative that we acknowledge the magnitude of the filth of our personal sin nature; how unholy, ungodly and unclean we are before we received the grace of God. You personally, just as I, offended our Sovereign Lord prior to humbling ourselves before Him. God says that each of us were His enemy when He died and rose again; when Jesus allowed pain, sorrow, and death to come upon Himself. Jesus had to face being forsaken by His Father, and He did all this for you and me before we were thought of or had ever committed our first sin. He died for us knowing we would rebel against Him, but He did it anyway because of His unfailing, unwavering love.
Bear in mind that He died and arose for our overall sin nature that was birthed through Adam, not just individual sins. If we view things from the standpoint of “my sins aren’t as heinous as so-an-so” we could justify the idea of “so-an-so needs Christ’s grace and forgiveness far more than I. I’m okay compared to that scoundrel!” Understanding the fact that He died for the nature of sin in us ceases the “who is better than whom” game. Outside of Christ, we are all sin-sick and destined for hell therefore the playing field is level for all, all needing grace, all needing forgiveness.
With what Christ did on the cross, the entire world for every generation is now completely forgiven! In fact, if we are going to be sticklers about it, one should never pray, “O God forgive me of this or that.” We are already fully forgiven. What should be prayed is something like, “O gracious God, I repent of _______ and I position myself to fully receive and apply to my life the forgiveness You gave to me at the cross of Calvary.”
The forgiveness is not presently given at your confession; it was previously given a long time ago. The repentance of sin for a believer is simply an act of humility (lowliness; acknowledging our error and need of grace) on our part that ushers back into our lives the open door to God. In this, you will begin to realize that it is actually blasphemy against His death, burial and resurrection to perpetually beat yourself for your past as though your sins are too terrible for His provision of forgiveness to be sufficient. As hard of a concept as it may be, God has made it simple – readily accessible.
Forgiveness of self comes only through recognizing one, the magnitude of the sin nature that needs forgiveness in order to stand before and become united with our Holy God as one, and two, recognizing the boundless love the Father has bestowed such a wretched, loveless, sinful people (you and me). We must see God’s truths as facts as He intends instead of insults as Satan intends. Seeing truths as facts allows us to remain unemotional and clear minded concerning them, but seeing them as insults keeps us bound in emotionalism which leads to “I’m not worthy therefore I am too tainted to come to Christ.”
We must see everything from the heavenly perspective and not the earthly lest Satan come in and pervert truth through human pride and selfish thinking. Satan wants you condemned, full of shame, and walling in self-pity. God wants you delivered, redeemed, and set free from all that waylays you. Humility as Christ Himself was humble will usher to you into the lap of holiness, purity, Christ-mindedness, and true fulfillment of peace and joy.
Hope you’ll come back next week for the continuation of this study!
Peace and blessings,
Alexys V. Wolf
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Fiery-Sword-Global-Ministries/185299884822251
Categories: FAITH FOR TODAY, INSPIRATIONAL ARTICLES, THE WORD OF GOD FOR TODAY
Luke 21:36 "Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man."