Being Humble

Romans, Chapter 12: 3-8 (NIV)
For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. ⁴ For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, ⁵ so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. ⁶ We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; ⁷ if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; ⁸ if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

I find that being humble makes me more receptive to the word of God and His guidance for me. I have also been at a point when I was snobbish in my walk with Jesus, thinking I was better than others and higher in my knowledge than others about the word of God and what he has given me as gifts.  When my pride is high, God will always present to me a word or a though, or us others to put me in my place and bring me back to being humble in my spirit, mind, and heart.  

To me, the devil wants me to be prideful, because he uses my pride to distance myself away from Christ and His teachings. He wants me to think that I'm good at what I do and the knowledge I have so that I don't pray or study the Word in the Bible.  I'm human, and I've fallen into this trap of thinking before. Yet God in His Grace finds ways to remind me that I need to be humble in my ways and my walk with Jesus.  I'm reminded by Christ that I am lowly and sinful and that I can't rely on myself to walk with the Lord but must rely on His Grace. This includes the gifts the Lord has bestowed on me.

As far as I can determine, as proclaimed to me by other brothers and sisters in the Lord and my pastor, I have the gifts of discernment and hospitality. 

My house is always open to others and we hold church activities at my house. I've been told on many occassions that my home feels like a home and people feel real comfortable with us in our home and the hospitality we show to others is very clear. To me and my wife (one of her gifts also), this is just a natural thing to do: have our hosue open to others and always welcoming to our brothers and sisters in Christ. 

My other gift is discernment. I can usually look at someone and/or after a short converstation can feel in my heart things about them that others cannot. This helps me greatly in praying for others and helping them work through issues and concerns they have about life in general or with their spiritual standing.  I find that the more I learn about people, the more discerning I am based on my initial insights. I feel Jesus uses me in this way to help people and to bring them closer to Him.

I feel very humbled that God has given me these gifts. I'm humbled that people feel comfortable in my home and I feel humbled that I can discern aspects of peoples lives and needs with little digging and questions to them to help them in their walk with Christ and can give them advice and directions to help them.

Thank you for my gifts Jesus. Without You and the Holy Spirit, I am nothing. With You and the Holy Spirit, I am able to work for your kingdom and I pray that I am always humble in my walk with you and that I am humble in my gifts of hospitality and discernment and that you use me and my gifts to introduce others to You and your plan of Salvation. I also pray that my gifts help bring those sitting on the fence of salvation over to you. I pray that my gifts help those that are saved to be stronger in their walk with you and they become stronger in faith as You use me through my gifts. All praise and glory to my Lord Jesus.