Are You Really Humble?

Philippians 2:8-11 (NLT)

8 he humbled himself in obedience to God
and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

9 Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor
and gave him the name above all other names,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

Jesus humbled Himself. How did He humble Himself? By being obedient to God and dying on a cross. "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." (Luke 22:42). He didn't want to go through it. But true humility is doing what God asks of you.

God does not demand anything from us. We have freedom of choice, which is why people are sick. The Word says, "Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep." (1 Corinthians 11:29-30)

You see here that people are weak, sick, and dead because they did not recognize the body of the Lord. What exactly does that mean? It means that if you know the definition of His body broken for you, you understand that "by His stripes we are healed." His body was broken for us, and by His stripes we are healed. He paid for our healing at the atonement.  If you simply take communion and never grasp the reality and truth of His body being beaten and broken for your healing, then you will never reap the benefits from it.

If it were not for freedom of choice, we would simply be robots. God asks us to do certain things through the Bible. We don't have to do them. He does not force us to do what He asks. That is what the parable of the two sons is about. One said he would do what his father wanted him to do, but didn't. The other said no, he would not do what his father wanted, but turned around and did it. They both had a choice to make, whether to be obedient to what their father asked them to do, or not.

God does not take away our freedom of choice. But Jesus commanded His disciples to do things in His Name. Then He told them to teach others to do the same things He commanded them to do. So we are supposed to be doing the same things they did. In fact, Jesus said that we would do the same things as He, and even greater works because He went to the Father. Jesus also said, "If you love me, you will obey what I command." (John 14:15) IF you love me. So anyone who says they love Jesus and doesn't do what He commanded does not really love Him.

He told His disciples, "If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I." They were His friends, how could they possibly be glad that Jesus was going away? This is how: If their will aligned with God's will, they could be happy because God's will was being fulfilled. It makes men happy when Gods' will comes to pass. We have a role to play. We are ambassadors for Christ as though God is making His appeal through us. (2 Corinthians 5:20)

"And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again."(2 Corinthians 5:15) We are here to live for God. How do we live for God? By humbling ourselves. How do we humble ourselves? By being obedient to God. If we love Him, we should be glad to do His will. True humility is not saying condemning things about yourself like, "Oh, I'm a sinner," or "I'm nothing." That, in reality, is pride. How is it pride, you ask? By overriding what God has already said about you. God says that we are a holy nation, a royal priesthood, His beloved, His children, the righteousness of Christ, we are hidden in Christ, we are blameless. Shall I go on? If you think putting yourself down to lift Jesus up is right, you're wrong! God has lifted Jesus high above every name. Putting yourself down in front of God is sin, because you are telling God that He is a liar, or that you can somehow override what He says about you.

It doesn't get any clearer than this. God has said every good thing about you, and He never says anything bad about you. God never brings up your past; it is the devil who is the accuser. So stop listening to the devil and believe what God has already said about you.

Is It OUR Warfare?

Revelation 17:14

"They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers."

1. What occupations require you to carry weapons?
Military, law enforcment, secret service, security guard.

2. What do all these have in common?
They all protect something or someone.

With weapons, they protect themselves, they protect others, they uphold the law, they stop criminals.

3. What kind of weapons does God say we have?
God says that the weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. (2 Corinithians 10:4) The Word also says, "in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left" (2 Corinthians 6:7)

John 18:36
Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.”
So Jesus has His kingdom, but it is not of this world. Jesus also says that His kingdom lives inside of us ("nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you." Luke 17:21)

Acts 5:38-39
"Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God."
A Pharisee named Gamaliel stood up in front of the Sanhedrin and told them that if what Peter and the other apostles were doing was of human origin, it would fail. But if it were from God, the Sanhedrin would be fighting against God.

4. So what does it mean to fight against God?
It means going against what God wants, even if you think you are following the law to the "t". If you set yourself against people who are doing the will of God, even if you think you are right and they are wrong, then you are fighting God.

1 Corinthians 9:26
Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air.
According to this verse, Paul fights. But he doesn't fight like a man beating the air.

5. What does it mean to fight like a man beating the air?
It means doing things that make you think you are fighting, but seeing no results from your efforts, and you are not really making any difference for God's kingdom. You have to have tangible results in order to be doing any good for the kingdom.

1 Timothy 1:18
Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight

1 Timothy 6:12
Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

2 Timothy 4:7
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith

All the verses above mention fighting.

6. Who are we fighting?
The devil and his demons.

7. Are we effective when we fight?
Only if we know what the weapons are that God gave us, and how to use them.

Ephesians 6:17
Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
As we see here, the sword of the Spirit is the Word of God.

8. Why would we need a sword?
Because 1 Peter 5:8 says, "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." Self-controlled and alert describe all the occupations that use a weapon. Our ENEMY the devil prowls around seeking whom he can devour. That means he can't devour everyone. He is seeking someone to devour. We have to fight with the sword to keep him off us.

9. Are we really in a battle?
Yes. God's Word says so by talking about the weapons of our warfare. It is OUR warfare because we are the body of Christ. It says that God will crush satan underneath OUR feet.

10. Why does God's Word say that we must fight the good fight?
Because we MUST fight. If we are sitting around doing nothing, the devil will find us and devour us.

11. Does anyone fight sitting down or while they are sleeping?
Not normally. That usually means you are not self-controlled and alert.

Hebrews 4:12
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

12. If we have the Holy Spirit living inside of us (1 Corinthians 6:19), then don't you think we are supposed to be active and continue the ministry of Jesus Christ?
Yes. He gave us His Spirit for a reason. In this world we are like Him, and we are His ambassadors. We do the same things as He did, and even greater works for this reason. (2 Corinithians 1:22, 1 John 4:17, 1 Corinthians 5:20, John 14:12)

Hebrews 10:32 (NKJV)
But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great fight of afflictions. (The Greek word for fight is altheo, which means "a struggling, as in an athletic contest.")

13. Why would we struggle when we get saved? Isn't it supposed to be all peace and love once we are in Christ?
The reason we struggle is because we have an enemy, the devil. He is against everything good, and he is the author of sickness, disease, and everything that is against God. Once we are saved, we become members of God's household and the kingdom of God. The devil then actively pursues a battle against us. Peace and love come from God, and we can have peace in the midst of hardship, but we should never say that it is God giving us sickness or disease. When you do that, you are calling God a liar, because God is always good. Jesus says that no one is good except God. If parents can love their children more than themselves, and God loves us far more, He would never give us a sickness or disease to teach us a lesson. If parents can love their children this much, and Jesus walked the earth doing good, and then He turns around and says that even loving someone that much is not as good as God, then why do people blame God for the sickness the devil gives them?

2 Corinthians 10:3
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.

14. So then, how do we wage war?
With the weapons God gave us, by following Jesus' example. When the devil tempted Him in the wilderness, He used the Word of God to fight back. When the devil had His cousin John the Baptist murdered, He went out the next day and started healing people. That is how we gain ground for God's kingdom.

15. How do you know that sickness and disease is from the devil?
Because Acts 10:38 tells us that Jesus "went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed of the devil." That shows that the people were sick because they were oppressed by the devil, the devil gave them the sickness to oppress them.

1 Peter 2:11
Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.

16. What does it mean that sinful desires war against our soul? I thought our fight was against the devil, not our own sinful desires.
There are many places in the New Testament that show where our natural mind fights against us. But if we are living by the Spirit, we are spiritually-minded. It also says that our natural mind is enmity, or at war, against God. The King James Version is closer to the definition of the Greek word for natural mind. The problem with the NIV is that it says our sinful mind is against God. If we are saved, we have the mind of Christ, and our mind is no longer sinful, we simply have to renew the way we think to think more like God thinks. So the KJV saying our "carnal mind" is against God is much more accurate because it means that our mind before we were saved, before we had the mind of Christ, is against God. That is why Jesus told Peter, "Get behind me, Satan." Because Peter was thinking with his natural mind and not with the spiritual mind; not with the mind that supports God's purpose.


Revelation 12:17
Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring—those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.

17. Who is the devil at war against?
Us! We are God's people and we hold to the testimony of Jesus.

Revelation 19:11
I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war.

Revelation 19:19
Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against the rider on the horse and his army.

18. Who is the army that is with the rider on the horse?
We are.

19. How do you know?
Because "whoever is not for Him, is against Him." (Matthew 12:30)

Revelation 2:16
Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.