Christianity is heavily built on personal discipline and character. It is a training that we must undertake to resemble our Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that God will bring understanding in our message today. It concerns pride. There is nothing wrong with pride in itself, the problem will always be boasting in the wrong things.2nd Corinthians 11:30(“If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness”)Paul understood that he needed to have a clear distinction of what to boast in. This is something I have learnt to value in the walk with Christ.
God thrives in our weaknesses. In the areas of our lives where there is nothing to show for. 1st Corinthians 15:9(“For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by God’s Grace I am what I am….”). I really bless God for who He is. His choosing is beyond human understanding. There are Graces of God that are received by the dead in self, the unworthy in the eyes of men, the looked down upon and people who have come to the end of their lives. God will always use all means to ensure that He has completely killed pride in the people He desires to us. They become dead in their flesh and human desires. Galatians 2:20(“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”)
I have heard of many servants of God who God choose while in prison, others who had tried suicide severally, the lame and many other people who are completely imperfect in their abilities. People whom life has greatly humbled; some due to conditions on their bodies and life struggles that had brought total disregard from the community surrounding them. Some had even turned out to be a burden and limitation to their families but God finds a servant in the wreck. There are Graces of God that dwell in total humility. When God is choosing people to use, he undertakes them through a training in humility that they cannot at any one point stand to boast in their abilities, education and other strengths but will always gives all praise and honour to God. Ephesians 2:8 (“For you are saved by Grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gifts-not from works, so that no one can boast.”) How I desire to undertake my training in the Lord quickly.
I can say that I have been through part of this. I developed a condition that made me feel so humbled and to some extend killing my pride in the flesh. This is because every time I looked at myself, I could only see the imperfection on it.I began to hold high regards for other people despite the situations that they could be going through. God finds strength in our weaknesses.2nd Kings 7:3-20, God used four leapers who always stayed outside the gates to bring food to the Shunammite land. People who had nothing to boast in and all they were waiting for was death. This brings praise and honour to God fore who He really is. Romans 5:11 (“More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”) If there is anything that we should boast of, it is that which we have received from God.
This is a moulding that God does to make us submissive to His will , clearly bringing to our knowledge that it is no longer by our works but by the power of God. It makes us true vessels which have nothing to take pride in except from serving their master. Some vessels will take too long to align with God’s will like the Israelites who wandered in the wilderness for forty years as God was trying to mould them into a new creation. I desire to die in my flesh that God’s power may prevail upon my life. I pray that you shall desire the same.
Psalms 34:2 “I will boast in the Lord; the humble will hear and be glad”. Shalom.
The Latter Grace 