Humility is the foundational attitude for spiritual formation and
transformation. Humility is foundational for prayer, since conversational
prayer requires listening, and to really listen we must be humble.
Jack Deere has some good things on "humility" from
his excellent, clearly-written little book TheBeginner's Guide to the Gift of Prophecy. Here are some highlights.[1]
- God values and esteems a humble person. "This is
the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at
my word."[2]
- The humble hear and understand the voice of God. God
deals with the proud from a distance, but with the humble "it's up
close and personal."
- Sermons on humility are rare. Deere writes
(astonishingly!): "I've never heard a sermon or a theological lecture
on humility. I've heard lots of sermons on faithfulness, service, purity,
giving, judgment, grace, mercy, obedience, prayer, meditation and
spiritual gifts, but I can't remember ever hearing humility talked
about."
- "Humility is the virtue to which our flesh is most
opposed, because it is the soil from which so many other virtues
grow."
- "Humble people are small in their own
eyes." Listen to what the prophet Samuel said to Saul: “Although
you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of
the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed
you king over Israel.”[3]
- "Humility is not the denial of our attributes; it
is believing in our hearts that our best qualities are not good enough to
cause us to deserve God's attention, or even to gain us the lowest
position of service to Him."
- "Humble people know it is not their physical
strength, nor their intelligence, nor their luck, but the Lord who
determines the outcome (see Prov. 21:31; 16:9, 23)."
- "Humble people put their confidence in the mercy
of God rather than in their abilities or character (see Rom.
9:15-16)."
- "Humble people put their confidence in the Holy
Spirit's ability to speak, not in their ability to hear. Humble people put
their confidence in Jesus' ability to lead, not in their ability to
follow."
- "Humble people are willing to associate with and
serve people of lower position, just as Jesus and our Father do."
- "Humble people have learned to embrace their
weaknesses."
- We can't get humility by reading about
it. "No one becomes humble without pain doing its work. Often
that pain takes the form of desert experiences. Humility is almost always
acquired in the desert."
- "The desert is necessary because no human
being has the character to bear perpetual success."[4]
- Acquire humility by hanging around humble
people. "Humility is produced by pain, being with Jesus, being
with humble people and is a life-long process (see Phil. 3:12-14)."
Francis Frangipane once referred to
pride as "the armor of darkness."[5]
C.S. Lewis called pride "the complete anti-God state of mind."[6]
If our hearts are proud we won't hear from God, which makes it unlikely that we
will truly prophesy (in the sense of 1 Cor. 14:1-4).
How important is humility, when it comes to the desire to prophesy? Mike Bickle writes: "This is not a good time for a "know-it-all," but rather it's the proper time for the virtue of humility expressed in a teachable spirit as we go to greater depths in the prophetic."[7]
I am praying "Lord, teach me humility."