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property of the author and may not be reproduced by any
means without the written consent of Paul K. Weigel, © January 2000-2011.
A
Journey In The
Wilderness
From
Page 64, The
Wilderness
God
took Israel into
the Wilderness, in part, to humble them. I once thought of humbling as
the occasional spiritual spanking God gave us when we got out of line.
I have since come to see humbling in an entirely different light. I see
the beauty of being of humble circumstances or position. Jesus’
whole ministry was characterized by this attitude. He could have
“wowed” the most prominent people of Israel but He
didn’t. Humility is also the character of the Holy Spirit. He
will always lead us into a place of weakness, poverty and humility
because that is His very nature. If we embrace humility, we have put on
one of the greatest battle garments available to any Christian. In our
weakness, God becomes our defence. We will find intimacy with Jesus in
our lowest of moments because that is where He will be found. He is
with the lowly, empty, and oppressed. As painful to the Flesh as
lowliness is, it is the most beautiful state to be in because that is
where Jesus can truly be found.
As
Believers, we are called to humility
so we will be like Him. We will either choose humility or we will be
taught humility by God’s humbling circumstances. Humility is one
of the “pearls of great price” of the Kingdom which is
worth selling everything for in order to acquire it. Our embracing
humility and welcoming lowliness and poverty is pivotal in our
acquisition of the Kingdom of God. It is in humility we gain intimacy
with Christ. It is in our humility we gain grace which saves us from
every enemy of the Kingdom. Jesus had all the power of the universe
behind Him. He understood that it was not by power or by might, but by
the Holy Spirit (Zec. 4:6). The Holy Spirit is manifest in His fullness
in our lives only when we choose to humble ourselves. If grace and
truth are to come to this world through the Church, it will come
because we have chosen humility as Jesus did. We may think we have the
right as heirs of a Kingdom to live as Kings, but this will not change
the world. Preparation for our ministry will include learning the
beauty of humility just as God taught all the mighty men of Israel. We
too, must also be taught it.
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