Only 3 more episodes of Prison Break :-(

“Nothing is more blessed than to be nothing, so that God may be all…This is the true self-denial to which our Saviour calls us: the acknowledgment that self has nothing good in it except as an empty vessel that God must fill, and also that its claim to be or do anything may not for a moment be allowed. It is in this, above and before everything, that the conformity to Jesus consists. It is the being and doing nothing by ourselves so that God may be all.” Humility, Andrew Murray

I have earned myself the bad reputation of reading several books at one time and taking quite a while to finish them.:-) I’m on a mission to rid myself of that reputation so last night I grabbed the book, Humility by Andrew Murray that I had borrowed from my friend Becca. As I read, I started to cry. I was majorly convicted!! “All wretchedness in this world has its origin in what this cursed, hellish pride- either our own, or that of others- has brought us.” I’ve heard before that pride is the root of many sins. Last night I was convicted of the pride in my own heart, not condemned, convicted. I pretty much cried through the two chapters I read as I realised how my pride keeps me from walking in forgiveness. Yes, people have hurt me, and God cares greatly about my pain, but my forgiving them has nothing to do with them and everything to do with the choice between pride and humility. I would like to type the whole two chapters, but that might be a little time consuming and long. J I have been on this journey of forgiveness, frantically searching for answers on how to ‘successfully forgive’. I can’t forgive, not in myself. There is nothing in me of myself that can. I must humble myself, put aside all bitterness, pain, and even my own strength and let God be all- all of which I need His strength to do anyway- and then let Him live, love, and forgive through me.

“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who …made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant… He humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him.” Philippians 2:5-9

“He considered Himself to be the servant of God for the men whom God made and loved. As a natural consequence, He considered Himself to be the servant of men, so that through Him the Father might do His work of love. He never for a moment thought of seeking His own honour or asserting His power to vindicate Himself. His whole spirit was that of a life yielded to God so that God might work in it…. Our place is to yield to him (God) in perfect resignation and dependence in full consent to be and do nothing of ourselves.”