Humility before Promotion! : By James Lantz
Jesus, at His Father’s command, modeled the path to greatness, promotion, and increase! Jesus as the Son of God, humbled Himself, gave up His divine privileges and was born a human being. His own creation ridiculed Him, and refused to recognize Him as their creator. John 1:11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not. Jesus became sin for us bearing our iniquities and dying a criminal’s death on the cross. He bore all our sicknesses and pains so that by His stripes we might be healed. He became poor that we might be made rich! Jesus purchased us with His own blood and we are the apple of His eye. Jesus brought His Father a holy family and received a bride for Himself and was given the highest place at His Father’s right hand! Phil. 2:9-11 NLT Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
One characteristic of our heavenly Father is that He does not demand that people and even angels serve Him. God gives us a choice, tells us to choose life, and declares that heaven and earth is recording our choice! God’s greatest desire is that we choose to love Him so we can receive of His grace! God is sovereign in that His will will ultimately be accomplished in the earth as it is in heaven, but no one will be forced to do His will. Those who harden their heart, stiffen their neck, and refuse to humble themselves will be rejected and God will use those who yield themselves to His plan. Heaven is God’s model for the earth and everyone who exalted themselves above Father God got thrown out of heaven. Satan was cast out of heaven when he led one third of God’s angels in rebellion against God! Luke 10:18 And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. God is love and love does not force someone to love them back. God loves every person but only those who love (obey) God are received into His family.
Love desires that we humble ourselves so He can exalt us!
John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. After we are born again we learn to submit ourselves to the Father’s will or pay the price for disobedience. Tithing teaches us the fear of the Lord! God’s word (wisdom) will promote us and bring us honor when we embrace her! Pro. 22:4 NLT True humility and fear of the Lord lead to riches, honor, and long life. The opposite of long life, honor, and riches is what happens to those who refuse to humble themselves as a little child under the Lordship of Jesus. 1 Cor. 11:30 NLT That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have even died. If we want to receive what only God can do for us (healing, deliverance, prosperity) we must do for God what only we can do for him and that includes being a supplying joint in the body of Christ. Jesus has become eternal life to all who obey Him! Heb. 5:14 NLT Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong. God corrects and disciplines those that He loves! As I stated earlier, God doesn’t force us to love and serve Him, but He does require us to love and serve Him in order to walk in health and to prosper. James, Jesus’s half brother in the flesh, writes that we Christians need to humble ourselves under God’s mighty hand and submit ourselves to His plan and His ways. Submission is not easy for anyone and is not even considered politically correct in today’s society. However, those who have entered into the kingdom of God have submitted themselves to the word of God. Submission is an act of humility and we are to continue to respond to God by putting His things front and center and our things last. James 4:6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. It is a big mistake to forget that our life is not our own! We humbled ourselves before God and acknowledged that Christ was the only way to receive eternal life and gave our lives to Him so that we could receive His life. Now that we belong to Christ, we are to separate from the world and live holy (consecrated) lives. James 4:8 NLT Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. As christians it is easy to read past the words, you sinners, and think that God is now speaking to the unsaved. God is still speaking to the brethren who need to wash their hands and purify their hearts and commit themselves fully to God and His work in the earth.
Promotion is often used as to mean, bring up, or to raise up. God is the one who puts down and sets up another. Ps. 75:6&7 For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another. All through the scriptures we see the common theme that God establishes governments, kings, leaders, ranks of authority and that depending on how that person responds to his or her assignment will depend on how things go for them. Pride, sin, and evil speaking brings judgement which generally shortens their reign or their life. Humility, obedience, faith, and fruitfulness all lend towards a lengthy reign or long life. For our purposes we are thinking in terms of promotion now in this life and in the world to come. When we received Jesus as our Lord we were promoted out of Satan’s family into the glorious family of God. This promotion from death to life is a gift from God but must be received by faith and is only made available to the one who humbles himself and repents. Another huge promotion that many of God’s children have received is being baptized in the Holy Spirit which grants us powers of the world to come. Jesus spoke of the promise of the Father which is the infilling of the Holy Spirit! Acts 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. The Holy Spirit is our unseen helper who tells us what He hears from the Father and from Jesus and he is the member of the Godhead who creates and does miracles here in the earth. The God of heaven is so gracious, so good, and so kind and merciful. He didn’t have to send Jesus to suffer and die for our sins and to be raised for our righteousness, but He did. He didn’t have pay attention to our need to be healed and our need to prosper while on the earth, but He did.1Pet. 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. Healing has been freely provided for all who will receive! We are partakers of grace through faith and faith works by love! God sent His word and healed them! Pro. 4:20-22 My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health ( medicine ) to all their flesh.
God greatly desires for us to prosper and be healthy!
God wants every one of His children to prosper so He had Jesus become poor so that we could be made rich! Gal. 3:13&14 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Our part of experiencing the blessing of the Lord is to be willing and obedient. This word willing does not mean, OK, I will do it if I have to. This word willing is being glad to do whatever God asks us to do and eager to do whatever it takes to accomplish the task we are given. The Lord is searching the whole earth to find someone He can show His strength to. God wants to promote you and me! There are some tests that need to be passed before we enter into the promised land that God has picked out for us! I call it the manna test and the kingdom of God first test! Remember how God sent the children of Israel manna to sustain them in the wilderness. The manna test is to see if we will trust God and do exactly what He tells us to do. The instructions given were do not pick up more than you need for that day. So what did some of them do, they picked up more than enough because they wanted to be sure they had some for the next day. You know what happened, worms got in it overnight and it stank. Then on the sixth day they were told to pick up extra so as not to have to pick it up on the Sabbath day. Again, some of them went looking for manna on the Sabbath day but no manna was given that day. The kingdom of God first test reveals what is the most important thing in our heart. Whatever desires we have first place in our heart will be what gets priority attention of our time, talent, and treasure. You can take a look at your daytimer, your check book, and your hobbies to see where your priorities are! Now there is good news even if you are sure that God’s kingdom and His righteousness are not yet first place in your life. Your desires can change by changing what you are looking at, what you are saying, and who you are hanging out with. You must look at what God said, speak what He says, and hang out with the saints in the light who are putting the kingdom of God and his righteousness first. Abraham looked for the city which had foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Lot looked toward Sodom. God made Abraham rich but Lot lost all his wealth. Being poor is not being humble and having lots of stuff does not make you rich in God. Listen to the Good Shepherd and follow Him and He will lead you into your prosperous place!
All who have received Jesus the Christ have been lit from within making us the light of this world!
John 1:4 NLT The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone.
Mt. 5:14 NLT You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.
