Summer of Prayer 9 - Growth and Humility
Growth is one of our core values:
Word of Life Core Values #2 - COMMIT TO STRETCH
“Growth doesn’t just happen. Nobody improves by accident. Growth must be intentional. You have to pursue it, go after it, and make sacrifices for it. Too many people settle for good enough when they could be great—simply because they never made the choice to grow.”...“Small disciplines repeated with consistency every day lead to great achievements gained slowly over time. Greatness isn’t one big leap—it’s a thousand small steps in the same direction. Most people underestimate the power of consistency.”...“If we’re growing, we’re always going to be out of our comfort zone. Growth stops when you lose the tension between where you are and where you could be. Stretching always requires change, and change always requires leaving something behind. That’s the price of growth.” John Maxwell - The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth
What matters infinitely more is what the Bible says…
Colossians 1:10 Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.
2 Thessalonians 1:3 Dear brothers and sisters, we can’t help but thank God for you, because your faith is flourishing and your love for one another is growing.
1 Corinthians 3:6 I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. 7 It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow.
What is Sanctification?
The responsibility for every believer to partake in the ongoing perfecting and growth of our faith and our character.
Three facets of Sanctification.
The moment when we first believe where we are declared righteous because of Jesus' death and resurrection.
Ongoing sanctification - growing and maturing
The permanent and completed sanctification that will only be accomplished when we go to Heaven.
Sanctification Requires Cooperation.
The Holy Spirit is committed to cleaning us up BUT He requires our cooperation.
Galatians 5:16 So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. 17 The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires…25 Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.
Philippians 2:12b…Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. 13 For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.
2 Peter 1:5a In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises…
1 Corinthians 15:34a Think carefully about what is right, and stop sinning…
James 1:21b…humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls. 22 But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.
It takes time in prayer with humility, caring about growing and maturing as a person, and being more and more reflective of Jesus and His Kingdom.
Key Scripture
Revelation 3:19 I correct and discipline everyone I love. So be diligent and turn from your indifference.
Sanctification Requires Cooperation: The change God wants to do in my heart, because He loves me and He wants what’s best for me, requires me being deliberate, intentional and diligent.
The key element in all of this is humility.
A prideful disciple is a difficult tool for God to use and a sparkly church is not winning the next generation back to Christ. These truths also existed during Jesus’ ministry and the early church too. But the sauce of Jesus and His ministry was His humility and His very real outworking of it. You and I follow a God who radically humbled Himself for our sake. Yet for some reason, very few of us feel compelled to seek that same humility. Instead, we’d rather pursue other things deemed more winsome or effective like followers, platform, or washboard abs…Humility is the simple and freeing agreement of the biblical assessment of who God is and who I am. It is rooted in our belovedness and adoption of the Father so we aren’t tricked into timidity or start feeling like a worm. This humility is walked out in friendship with Jesus, relying on His example and grace when we falter and initiated and empowered by the Holy Spirit because we could not do this by pure will or our own hard work. Zach Meerkreebs - Lower: Igniting Spiritual Awakening Through Radical Humility
1. Understanding Humility
Matthew 5:5 God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth. (NLT)
Matthew 5:5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. (King James Version)
The word ‘meek’ has often been confused with words like shy, retiring, even being walked all over! In Matthew 11 Jesus describes himself as being ‘meek and humble (lowly) of heart’. It’s true that the Greek for ‘lowly’ originally meant to be near the ground. It’s hard to think of Jesus being ‘near the ground’ or even ‘lowly’, humble or meek – in the way in which we think and use these words today.
In the BC days writers such as Homer the Greek for ‘meek’ referred to the breaking in of an animal. A good example is the breaking in of a horse…The purpose of ‘breaking in’ is not to damage the animal, nor to weaken and destroy its spirit but, in the case of a wild horse, to bring together and channel a beautiful high spirited animal’s strength and strengths. A wild horse can be beautiful, magnificent, ferocious, fast, strong and agile, but it’s wild because none of these characteristics are co-ordinated and channelled together. We often say that we are saved to have a purpose, and preachers frequently encourage us to ‘know what our purpose is’. This is absolutely right! We enter the Kingdom for the purpose of serving it and its King, making disciples, baptising them, teaching them and making a difference in the world. However, I am made up of strengths, beliefs, aspirations, opinions, weaknesses, intellect, hobbies, interests, prejudices, responsibilities, experience etc. Thus, when I enter the Kingdom I need to be ‘broken in’ to maximise my ability to serve King and Kingdom; to have all the things I’m made up of ‘channelled’ - brought together under Jesus’ headship and rule, so that his purposes for me will be fulfilled by me. I need to become ‘meek and lowly of heart’, that is, submitted and disciplined to and under the ways and purposes of Jesus. - Rev. Chris Wood - The Kingdom of God and the Beatitudes
2. The Obsession with Self - Take my eyes off of myself, and onto God
The remedy is to replace thinking about myself is to fix my eyes on Jesus.
3. Think of God More
Instead of being consumed with self, turn our attention and our obsession towards Jesus. In prayer, reflect on Him, His words, His character, His authority.
God’s Love Towards Us Is Both The Most Humbling, And Also The Most Uplifting Truth We Can Hear.
The Bible speaks a lot about having our eyes and our focus on God…
Psalm 123:1 I lift my eyes to you, O God, enthroned in heaven.
Isaiah 17:7a Then at last the people will look to their Creator and turn their eyes to the Holy One…
Hebrews 12:2 "We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.
When we fix our eyes on Him:
1. You Are Not the Hero of Your Own Story
John 3:30 He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.
2. Sheep, Wolves …or...Shepherds
John, Peter, Paul and Luke all talk about the importance of believers acting like shepherds.
3. One Way To Think About Your Life Is As A Collection Of Roles
You will be better in every role if God is stretching you.
4. Various Imperfections
What is God Changing About Me?
Things I Want To Be Different
Things I Don't Care About
Things I Don’t Know About
This is an important aspect of prayer. Asking the Lord to work in our hearts and minds. When He answers we are changed.
Philippians 1:6 And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns…2:3 Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4 Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too…13 For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him…15b…Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people…3:12 I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. 13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.
If we cooperate as we pray and the Holy Spirit is sanctifying us and cleaning us up - we’ll undeniably mature as a believer and strengthen our character.
Our sense of identity and value and self worth and self esteem won’t come from ourselves, but we’ll be grounded and rooted in remembering how amazing God is and how much He loves us.
God’s Love Towards Us Is Both The Most Humbling, And Also The Most Uplifting Truth We Can Hear
Luke 9:23 Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. 25 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?