Humility and Faith 5-3-05

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I bow down at Your feet, so that You may lift me to Your face. Cleanse me of sin, so that I may enter in. Humility before You is the path to intimacy with You. As You taught us through the heart of John the Baptist, "He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3.30). Increase, Lord Jesus. ... Your Word teaches us humility: "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. ... Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you" (James 4.6-10). And at the same time, Your Word teaches us faith: "And without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would approach Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him" (Hebrews 11.6). Your Word teaches us to not doubt, as You said to Peter, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?" (Matthew 14.31). Yet, at the same time, Your Word teaches us to "test everything" (1 Thessalonians 5.21). Lord, as we listen for the leading of Your voice, how do we hear with both faith and humility, not doubting yet testing everything? How do we grow in intimacy with You, trusting the voice of our Good Shepherd, without growing too proud to know that we can be confused or deceived if we do not test what we hear? Teach us how to walk in the path of faith without falling into the ditch of pride and how to walk in the path of discernment without falling into the ditch of doubt. Teach us how to be the "led by the Spirit of God" (Romans 8.14), but not be deceived by the spirit who subtly "disguises himself as an angel of light" (2 Corinthians 11.14). ... You seem to be bringing this Scripture to mind: "So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes from the word of Christ" (Romans 10.17). It seems You are saying: "All things must be in their proper order. It is first the word and then the faith, not first the faith and then the word." When we hear what we believe is Your word to us, we must test it against Your written Word because Your living word cannot contradict Your written Word. We must also test it against the witness of our spirit -- does it ring true? We must allow room to test it in the counsel of others, lest we become isolated and unaccountable. In this way, Your word brings faith and in the intimacy of relationship with You, You build our faith to receive and affirm Your word. Then, discernment is not doubt and our faith is not pride. Humility is the path to intimacy, and intimacy builds our faith -- faith to believe Your words are true and they can be trusted. Thank You for being our Teacher, Lord. Help us never stop learning from You and never come to place of thinking we have no more to learn. In Jesus' name we, pray. Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe/reply please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- "preparing the way of the Lord" -- MessiahMin@aol.com Our mailing address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502. God bless you!