Hey y'all!

Thank you Margaret and a I hope you also have been blessed this season! (and everyone else, too)

Hi everyone. I have been meditating on so many things but have had so little computer time. I do plan to come and share yet. Right now I just want to say that as a group we have finished lesson 3 and we now have until Jan. 4th, to finish lesson 4. The videos that come with this study have been very helpful to me. I would recommend them to you if you have not been able to watch them anywhere.

God bless you all as we seek!

Just wanting to wish all my blogger friends a very Merry Christmas and a blessed new year. Great is the Lord our God and greatly to be praised....

Am I Free from Pride?

Isa 57:15 “For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly (humble) spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly (humble), and to revive the heart of the contrite.”

If we want God to dwell with us (make his home in our heart), according to this verse, we need to have a contrite and a lowly spirit.

What do you think it means to have a “contrite and lowly spirit”?

The answer I gave, to this question, was: a right view of God and ourselves. But I wasn’t satisfied with it so I looked it up and was blessed. Hope you are too!

CONTRITE : Literally, worn or bruised. Hence, broken-hearted for sin; deeply affected with grief and sorrow for having offended God.

Are we broken-hearted for sin or deeply affected for offending God?

LOWLY : Having a low esteem of one's own worth; humble; meek; free from pride.

HUMILITY : Freedom from pride and arrogance; a modest estimate of one's own worth; a deep sense of one's own unworthiness in the sight of God. Biblical humility is not a belittling of oneself, but an exalting or praising of others, especially Christ and God.

Am I free from pride?

Psa 51:17 “… a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.”

Ps 34:18 “The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, And saves such as have a contrite spirit.”

Let us have our hearts changed so that the Lord can draw nigh to us!

The pride and self-righteousness of the Jews were the stumbling block in the way of their acknowledging Christ. (JFB Commentary)

Our supreme example:
Php 2:7-8 “But made himself (Jesus) of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men… he humbled himself…”

Joh 3:30 “He must increase, but I must decrease.”


Kathy Thiessen
Dec. 8, 2008

More of Proud/Humble

Here are a few more differences between pride and humbleness that I thought were good reminders:

Proud people
Feel confident in how much they know
Are self-conscience
Keep others at arms length
are unapproachable or defensive when criticized
find it difficult to share their spiritual needs with others
Want to be sure that noone finds out when they have sinned
Are concerned about the consequences of their sin
Don’t think they need revival but are sure everyone else does

Humble people
Are humbled by how very much they have to learn
Are not concerned with self at all
Are willing to risk getting close to others and to take risks of loving intimately
Receive criticism with a humble, open spirit
Are willing to be open and transparent with others as God directs
Once broken, don’t care who knows or finds out (their sin) ; are willing to be exposed because they have nothing to lose
Are grieved over the cause, the root of their sin
Continually sense their need for a fresh encounter with God and for a fresh filling of His Holy Spirit

“We should not wait for God to humble us. God says we must humble ourselves. When we do , God is always there with open arms of grace and love. “

Proud / Humble

I really have had to examine myself through lesson 2. On Day 5: Making it Personal, there was a list of examples of a proud people vs. humble people. This is what was on it:

Proud People

1. focus on the failures of others

2.have a critical spirit, fault finding spirit;look at everyone else's faults with a microscope but their own with a telescope

3. are self righteous; look down on others

4. have an independent, self sufficient spirit

5. have to prove they are right

6. claim rights; have a demanding spirit

7. are self-protective of their time, their rights, and their reputation

8. desire to be served

9. desire to make a name for themselves

10. desire self-advancement

11. have a drive to be recognizedand appreciated

12.are wounded when others are promoted and they are over-looked

Humble people

1. are overwhelmed with a sense of their own spiritual need

2. are compassionate; can forgive much because mauch has been forgiven them

3. esteem all othersbetter than themselves

4. have a dependent spirit; recognize their need for others

5. are not argumentative

6. yield their rights; have a meek spirit

7. are self- denying

8. are motivated to serve others

9. are motivated to be faithful and to make others a success

10. desire to promote others

11. have a sense of their own unworthiness; are thrilled that God use them at all

12. are eager for others to get the credit and rejoice when others are lifted up

We are in a world that teaches us to basicly only look out for ourselves; do what makes up happy no no matter what that might be. We are taught to be so independent that we might not even see the need for God in our lives.

I know I see the need for God in my life and without Him everything will fail. Going through this list though showed me areas of pride in my own life. One thing I always wanted was others' approval. I can see how that too is pride. I guess that is caring about your reputaion and wanting everyone to think good of you.

We can also have an attitude where we are so confident that we don't care what anyone thinks; I'm always right, who cares what they all say. I will do what I want to do and I don't need approval from anyone.

This lesson gave examples of people in the Old Testament who headed for disaster because of their pride. God wanted to help them but the only ones who could be helped were those who humbled themselves.

If that is the only way, I can be close to our Heavenly Father and do His will, then I definately want to be humbled!

Lets continue

We finished lesson 2 over this past week. I've been wanting to come on here and share but just had very little computer time. I will try to post over the weekend and also for anyone else who has anything else to share on lesson 2, your input is welcome.

Lesson 2 Day 1

Okay, I don't know exactly what I'm supposed to be sharing here, but I will do my best. So here goes..........There are three things that stuck out the most to me in this lesson. Here's the first : After reading the faith building story it made me question my own issues with pride. The man in this story said that he thought his families' "problems" bothered him because it might make him look bad. I thought about this and the issues I face daily with my family, my children especially. When they misbehave...I become easily irritated and frustrated. I can't help but think that some of that stems from pride in my life........worried I will be looked down upon by others when my children don't act as I think they should........ I don't want to look bad. This is crazy! Why would I want to pretend that things are perfect? This isn't helpful to me , my children or to those that are watching my life.

Second: The man in this story made a comment at the end "the weaknesses and needs in others aren't so bothersome to me. I feel a new compassion and patience toward people" I want this for myself. I want to recogonize others weaknesses as weaknesses, not taking them personally. Accepting others needs, even if it is a need that I don't have or understand. I want to feel compassion not frustration , hurt or anger. I want to be able to joyfully push aside my feelings and "rights" without being offended.

Third: I had not noticed it before but in 2 Chronicles 7:14 God lists humbleness as the first requirement for revival. It makes so much sense that He would require that of us. If we are not humble we would see no need to pray, seek his face, or turn from our sins. We wouldn't see our need because our sinful pride would be hiding it from us.

Plowing the Field

Yesterday, we watched the first part of the video by Nancy Leigh Demoss.

She talks about a farmer and the things he has to do to prepare his field;

The plowing that needs to be done to break up a hardened ground. This takes a lot work on the farmer's part.

Often this is how it is with our hearts. We become hardened and we have to let God dig in and break us up before we can be used by Him. Let Him get to the root of our problems, dig up any bitterness, fear and worry. We can't do this ourselves, just as a field can't prepare itself. The field requires a farmer, just as we require the Holy Spirit to do this work in us.

Are we ready to let Him do this?

Are we ready to let Him dig in and search our hearts?

Are we ready to admit where we have done wrong and make these things right?

Can we let go of our expectations of other people and just let God be # 1?

Is He our first love; if not do we want Him as our first love?

Do we want to be revived?

If so, He is able to do great things in us!

He will refresh our spirits and renew our minds. We will be able to resolve any conflicts and let go of hurts. Some of these things sound a little painful, but I want to trust that He will do good things through it.

I am not sure yet what God all wants to do with my life, but I know He wants to be close by my side. I know that is what he wants with all of His people. So be glad and excited, that He loves you that much. He really does love us first, before we even know how to love Him back.

May God speak to us as we begin lesson two this coming week.

"Teach us Lord, how to love you back with our whole hearts."