"In those days Hezekiah
became sick and was at the point of death. He prayed to the Lord, and He
answered him and gave him a sign. But Hezekiah did not respond according to the
benefit done to him, for his heart was proud. Therefore wrath came upon him and
upon Judah and Jerusalem. Then Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his
heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the Lord
did not come upon them in the days of Hezekiah.... Hezekiah had very great
riches and honor.... Hezekiah prospered in all his works.... God left him to
himself, in order to test him and to know all that was in his heart" (2
Chronicles 32:27-31).
Our pride draws Your
wrath, yet our humility draws Your riches. In Your mercy, You allow the
sicknesses and sufferings, the trials and tribulations of our lives to test us
and show us the pride that remains in our hearts. And in the process, Your heart
is not to condemn us, but to free us; not to break our spirits, but to crucify
our flesh; not to wound our pride, but to put it death. Then we can truly live
and truly prosper in the fullness of our destiny for the glory of God. "Humble
yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up" (James 4:10,
NKJV).
Like the gift of faith,
we need the gift of humility. We can love You because You first loved us, and we
can trust You because Your Spirit first reveals Your nature to our hearts. It's
the same with humility that slays our pride. We can choose to humble ourselves
in Your sight because You give us the grace to see our need to willingly choose
to be desperately dependent upon You alone. "For it is God Who is at work in
(us), enabling (us) both to will and to work for His good pleasure" (Philippians
2:13).
So I thank You for the
testing and the trials that come to us all in our journey of faith. They are
never pleasant at the time, but they produce the fruit of Your righteousness in
us-right relationship with God, with one another, and within ourselves. It's the
loving guidance and holy correction of our perfect Father Who wants the very
best for each one of His children (Hebrews 12:4-13).
We are Your children,
as we are moved and empowered by Your Spirit to die to the pride of our
independence, self-centeredness, selfishness, and desire for control apart from
entrusting ourselves completely to You. "For all who are led by the Spirit of
God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall
back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, 'Abba!
Father!' it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are
children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with
Christ-if in fact, we suffer with Him so that we also may be glorified with Him"
(Romans 8:14-17).
Christ is always our
example. So Christ is our example to make our choice in response to Your gift of
grace in humility as well. "Let the same mind be in (us) that was in Christ
Jesus ... He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death-even
death on a cross. Therefore God highly exalted Him ..." (Philippians 2:5-11).
When we humble
ourselves in Your sight, You lift us up. As we learn to completely entrust our
lives to the One Who completely cares for us, we are set free from fear and
filled with faith; we are healed from our sicknesses and forgiven from our
failures. And like Hezekiah, who humbled himself from the pride of his heart, we
position ourselves for You to honor and prosper our lives for the glory of Your
name and the advancement of Your Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. In Jesus'
name I pray, Amen.
Be
encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays
Friends, the more I continue the ministry of
inner healing and spiritual formation, along with my own personal journey of
faith toward spiritual maturity, I have a growing belief that humility is
perhaps one of the greatest keys of the Kingdom of God we've been given in
Christ (Matthew 16:19; Philippians 2:5-11). I pray for the humility of Christ to
fill your heart and ask you to pray this for me, as we journey in prayer
together. God bless you and prosper you, even as your soul prospers! (3 John
2)
Please keep us in prayer, as Sylvia and I travel
to San Antonio, Texas to minister together this week in healing prayer and
prophetic ministry. Please let us know if your church or community would like to
make arrangement for us to come to your area as well. God bless you!
Tommy
& Sylvia Hays
